CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Finished recounting the hit and run to the people sprawled around the Alpha pair’s living room, Luke looked at his mate. She stood near the fireplace, her arms folded, her face blank, her eyes hard.

Blair had come rushing out of the cul-de-sac just as he’d returned. She’d faffed and fussed and hugged him tight, snarling “I’ll kill him.” Then they’d all come inside, and she hadn’t spoken a single word since.

She was also keeping a physical distance from everyone. Even him. Her body language screamed “stay back.” Her inner female was just as edgy—he could sense it.

There was no tumultuous knot of emotions at the other end of their mating bond. Not since a cold anger had washed over Blair, drowning out everything else. Now she was gloriously pissed, and she showed no signs of calming.

Like everyone else, he was giving Blair and her animal the space they needed. But he didn’t like it. He wanted to close the gap between them. Wanted to hold Blair, touch her, thank her again for remaining here. His cat hated that they couldn’t. But she was too worked up to accept comfort right then.

It gave Luke a small taste of how hard it must have been for her not to go to his side while he was hurting. He didn’t believe that was Blair’s reason for silently demanding space—she wasn’t passive-aggressive, and she wouldn’t purposely hurt him. But it gave him a taste of how she’d felt all the same.

“Well I think it’s safe to say that Blair’s stalker is escalating,” said Tate. “That hit and run was no accident, and I can think of no other person who’d specifically target you that way.”

“It had to have been him.” Luke cut his gaze back to his mate. “He wanted you to ‘come home.’ You didn’t. He likely blames me for that, not you. In his mind, that was bad enough. But then I claimed you—something he would have heard about from your other old pack mates, since they noticed the brand when we went to Sylvan territory. He probably won’t believe that the claiming mark is real, but I suspect he wanted to punish me all the same for branding you.”

Blair ground her teeth, her eyelid twitching.

Deke rubbed at his nape. “Shame you didn’t get a glimpse of the driver.”

“The sun was reflecting off the front window,” said Luke. “I noticed a blue cap, but that’s all.” And since River discovered that the license plate not only didn’t belong to the car that hit Luke but came from a stolen vehicle, they couldn’t trace the culprit that way.

“Were there any symbols or logos or anything on the cap?” asked Tate.

“Not that I noticed,” replied Luke. “But it all happened very fast, so I can’t be sure.”

Havana looked at Blair. “I know the driver probably recently bought the cap to help shield their face, but on the off-chance that it was something they dug out of their wardrobe I figure it’s worth asking: Do you know of anyone who owns a blue cap?”

She only shook her head.

“What about the vehicle?” asked Tate. “It was a black Mercedes.”

“I can’t think of anyone who owns one,” replied Blair, her voice somewhat flat.

River leaned forward in his seat, his gaze darting from Tate to Luke. “You may remember that I asked if we could all meet at some point today.”

Both Luke and his brother nodded.

“I received some information that I think you should know,” River added.

Luke cocked his head. “What is it?”

“As we all agreed that it was highly likely Blair was being targeted by someone from her old pack,” began River. “I ran very thorough checks on every single, adult member—male and female, because we can’t discount the possibility that it could be a woman. It took me a while to unearth all the information. Shifter groups are very private and exceptionally good at burying anything they don’t want outsiders to know.”

Havana crossed her arms over her chest. “What did you find out?”

River’s eyes slid to Blair. “Did you know that the Head Enforcer, Antoine, is dating a human?”

Her brows dipped. “No, I didn’t. But I never paid attention to his love life or anyone else’s, and he never volunteered the information—he’s kind of private when it comes to that stuff.”

“He’s dated many human females,” River told her. “Two of whom contacted Embry at different times, asking him to insist that Antoine leave them alone.”

The hairs on the back of Blair’s neck lifted. “Leave them alone?” she echoed. Her inner female went very still, just as uneasy about where the conversation was heading.

“He apparently hadn’t taken too kindly to them ending the relationship,” River explained. “He bombed them with calls, gifts, and text messages. He often hung outside their homes in his vehicle. One claimed that he turned up at her place of work so often demanding to see her that she got fired.”

Felled by shock, Blair gaped, her thoughts grinding to a halt. It took a few moments before she could speak. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” replied River.

Her arms slipped to her sides. “I had no idea.” She would never have suspected Antoine of something like that. Although she didn’t believe that River would lie or claim to be certain unless he absolutely was, she still found it hard to believe it was true. Surely Embry wouldn’t have Antoine as Head Enforcer if it were. Then again, her uncle didn’t much care for humans. He might not have considered it a big deal merely because the women weren’t shifters.

Luke pushed to his feet and began to fluidly pace, tension bunching his muscles. “Given all that, how the hell can Embry claim that he has no reason to believe that anyone in the pack could be the person harassing Blair? Antoine is an obvious suspect.”

“We don’t know that Embry doesn’t suspect him,” said Tate. “In his position, we wouldn’t easily admit to an outsider that we believed one of our own could be stalking someone. We’d want to handle the matter internally.”

“At least a few others must know what Antoine did to the humans,” said Aspen. “Embry probably swore them to silence.”

“My brother can’t possibly know or he’d have mentioned it for sure, regardless of if Embry forbid it or not,” said Blair.

Even as he continued to pace, Luke fired her a reassuring look. “I would never think otherwise—Mitch adores you too much.”

Her gut unknotted. He meant that, she sensed. He hadn’t thrown out the words simply to calm her. Which was a huge freaking relief, because she wouldn’t have to worry that he would try to secretly interrogate her brother.

River looked at Blair. “Are you aware that the pack’s Beta, Donal, almost imprinted on someone when he was your age?”

Nodding, Blair licked her lips. “I heard about it. She’s a bush dog from his old pack. He transferred to Sylvan territory shortly after he failed to fully imprint on her. That’s all I know.”

“Her name is Alayna.” River tapped his thumbs on his cell a few times and then held it up to Blair. “This is a photograph of her.”

The bottom dropped out of Blair’s stomach, and her startled inner animal gave a quick shake of the head.

“I take it you’ve never seen a picture of her before,” said River.

“No,” Blair confirmed.

He slowly moved his phone from side to side, giving everyone a look at the photo on the screen … which was right about when Luke stopped pacing and burst out, “Son of a bitch.”

Bailey looked from Blair to the phone. “That is one freaky resemblance.”

Yeah, she’d have to agree. Shit, she needed to sit down. But then Luke turned to her, pinning her in place with his intense gaze.

“No one mentioned that you look so much like her?” he asked.

“No,” replied Blair. “But they might not have known. Donal never talked about her.” Curious, she had once come close to asking him about the woman and what went wrong between them, but she’d worried it would be too sore a subject.

“If it’s him who’s stalking you, his obsession with you is likely to be more about her,” Aspen said to Blair. “He’d probably see you as his second chance at getting everything he wants.”

Blair wiped a hand down her face, unable to even consider that the male would think of her in a sexual sense. Not merely because he was twenty-five years her senior, but because … well, because she didn’t want to. She’d always thought of him as sweet and uncle-y. “It doesn’t make sense that it would be him. He’s always been supportive of us being mates,” she told Luke.

“Just because he seems supportive doesn’t mean he truly is,” Aspen gently pointed out.

River pocketed his phone. “I also did some digging on Gabriel. The guy is squeaky clean. No arrests, no fines, not even a single speeding ticket. He has little to no contact with shifters. His friends are human, his ex-girlfriends are human, his lifestyle is that of a human.”

“You said little to no contact with shifters,” Blair noted.

“Ah, yes, I discovered something that surprised me.” River paused. “He co-owns Enigma.”

Blair felt her brow furrow. “The shifter club?”

“Yes. He’s a silent partner.” River leaned back in his seat. “I had a long talk with one of the bartenders. Apparently Gabriel goes there occasionally. He selects a female from the crowd—always a leggy, submissive redhead—and fucks her in the club. He never takes a woman home. Never hangs around to talk to her. It’s said that he doesn’t even ask for names.”

“His animal isn’t satisfied with humans, so Gabriel occasionally gives him what he needs,” mused Isaiah.

“That would be my guess,” said River.

Blair rocked forward on the balls of her feet. “He clearly has a type. I’m not submissive. I’m also no redhead.”

“That doesn’t have to mean anything,” Aspen told her. “Camden slept with guys before me—some of whom were submissive.”

“There was one time that Gabriel deviated from his usual ‘fuck them without talking to them’ routine,” said River. “It was another submissive, leggy redhead. Someone the bartender knew well. A fox shifter.” He looked at Blair. “Macy Corbitt. The woman you found dead on your porch.”

Everything inside Blair went still, including her female. Hell to the no.

Luke swore long and loud. “When did Gabriel sleep with her?”

“Two months before she ventured to Sylvan territory to lie that she’d recently shared your bed,” replied River.

“Gabriel could have put her up to it,” said Deke. “He might have hoped it would come between Luke and Blair. Did the bartender hear what they talked about?”

River shook his head. “No.”

Blair puffed out a breath, utterly stunned. She met Luke’s gaze, finding it focused on her.

“We need to speak with Donal, Antoine, and Gabriel,” he said.

Tate poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue. “We could interrogate Gabriel without anyone attempting to interfere. But Embry isn’t going to consent to you questioning any of his pack mates. Not even if they don’t have an alibi for earlier today when you were hit by the car.”

“He might be cooperative when he realizes that we know he’s been keeping important info from us,” clipped Luke.

“True,” allowed Tate with an incline of his head. “But if the culprit is either Donal or Antoine, you’ll tip their hand by questioning them. Right now, they have no clue that we have all this information about them. It might be better to keep it that way. They’re more likely to slip up if they don’t think we’re focused on them.”

Havana raked her teeth over her lower lip. “I’d have to agree with Tate. What do you think, Blair?”

Rubbing the back of her neck, Blair replied, “I think whoever’s harassing me isn’t going to hold their hands up and admit to it.” She cut her gaze to her mate. “Especially not to you, who they seemingly hate enough to want dead. I’m not certain anything productive would come of you questioning them.”

“I’m good at making people talk,” said Luke, a deadly note to his voice.

“I’m sure you are,” said Blair. “And they might well confess under duress. But Embry will never permit any of us to full-on interrogate them. Not unless they’re caught at something. That could in fact happen at some point, considering the shithead is escalating, but not if they’re aware that they’re officially suspects.”

Luke clenched his jaw tightly shut, likely to bite back a string of objections that he knew wouldn’t be founded in logic but instead a need for answers.

“When it comes to Gabriel, it’s a different situation,” said Blair. “You already made it clear to him that you consider him a suspect. As such, unlike with the oblivious Donal and Antoine, he’s already on his guard. You have nothing to lose by revealing that you know he slept with Macy. But you can’t subject him to an interrogation.”

Luke’s eyes flared. “I can’t?”

“No. We don’t have grounds for it. That he slept with Macy doesn’t make him a suspect. You slept with her.”

Luke very slowly angled his head. “You think it’s a coincidence that he fucked a woman who was killed and then dumped on the porch of your old cabin?”

“What I think is that it’s not enough to implicate him. Did you ask the enforcers who keep watch over him if he left his condo earlier?”

“Yes,” said Luke, his voice curt. “They reported that he hadn’t left, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t find a way to sneak out without their knowledge.”

True enough. He’d certainly proven that he was good at circumventing guards and security measures. Still … “Personally, I’m leaning more toward Antoine, considering he’s exhibited actual stalker behavior in the past.”

“He is a more obvious suspect, yes, but I’m not ruling either Donal or Gabriel out.”

Blair wasn’t ready to do that either. “I’m not suggesting that you should. Gabriel should definitely be questioned. I’m only pointing out that we can’t justify putting him through the kind of gruesome interrogation you have in mind.”

A long, gruff sigh slipped out of Tate. “She’s right. We can’t. He slept with Macy but, and I don’t say this with disrespect, so did a lot of shifter males. It doesn’t make him guilty of anything.”

“We could do with Gabriel what we did with Davis Regent,” said Camden. “We could take him somewhere for a friendly chat but keep our claws sheathed this time.”

“It wouldn’t work out that way,” said Blair. “Gabriel would fight back if you tried nabbing him, so blood would naturally be shed. The absolute last thing he would then do is answer any questions you have. I sure as hell wouldn’t.” She switched her focus to Luke. “You’d have more success with him if you just paid him a visit and asked a few questions the way you did last time.”

It was Tate who responded. “A chat with him might not get us the answers we need, but it’s worth a try.” He slid his gaze to Luke. “I could come with you, but it will seem a much more official visit if your Alpha is present. That might make him less inclined to talk.”

“It likely would, and I don’t want that,” said Luke. “I’ll take Deke again. Isaiah, you’ll stay in the car with Blair.” Once all three had agreed to the plan, he sighed. “Let’s get it over with, then.”

This was what pussy got you, thought Luke as he crossed to Gabriel’s building, his mind’s eye still focused on the trusting look Blair had given him as he’d told her he’d be back soon. She believed down to her soul that Luke wouldn’t ignore what was “fair” to Gabriel and quite simply interrogate the motherfucking shit out of him. And now Luke felt cornered.

If he did what he wanted to do, he’d disappoint her; violate her trust. It would gut him to do that. It would gut her that he’d done it. So what could he do but be “fair” to Gabriel?

Yeah, Luke was boxed in all right.

Deke pushed the front door of the building open, and they both filed inside. They crossed the lobby, stopping in front of the elevator. It dinged. The doors opened. And a familiar male stepped out.

“Gabriel,” said Luke—more in surprise than in greeting.

The male’s shoulders tensed. “You’re back.”

His cat’s hackles rising at that flat tone, Luke said, “We should talk.” Preferably somewhere dark and isolated where they could have privacy and no one would hear the guy scream. But that wasn’t going to happen, unfortunately.

Gabriel’s gaze darted to the door. “Can this wait? I have somewhere I need to be.”

“Someone hit me with a car a couple of hours ago.”

Gabriel’s lips parted in what seemed like genuine surprise.

“They drove off before they could be caught or even identified. It’s not a stretch to guess it’s the same person who’s been harassing Blair. A person who we recently learned marked each room of her old cabin.”

Gabriel’s eyes flashed with an emotion that Luke couldn’t quite define. “Marked?”

Luke nodded, folding his arms. “She also received a letter. It was much like the email that he sent her, only he threw in some rebukes that would suggest he’s getting frustrated with her for not dancing to his tune. He’s certainly not happy that she hasn’t returned to the pack, and he’s going to get unhappier because that will never happen. I need to know if you’ve discovered anything since the last time we spoke.”

“You’ll know from the people you have watching me that I’ve been nowhere near Sylvan territory.”

“We also know you’re exceptionally good at moving about unseen,” Deke told him. “It would be no shock to learn that you left without detection and went for a wander around your old territory.”

Gabriel glanced away, exhaling heavily. He tipped his chin toward the far wall, and the three of them moved away from the elevator. “I didn’t see or hear anything of interest while there,” he said. “There’s a lot of unrest. People are nervous, speculating on which of them could possibly be stalking Blair.”

“Is there anyone in particular they’re leaning toward?” asked Luke.

“No. If Blair had any admirers within the pack, said admirers kept it quiet.”

“Have you spoken with your cousin, Antoine? Does he have any suspects?”

“I haven’t spoken with him since the day I was banished. From what I overheard him say to others, he doesn’t suspect anyone in particular. Not even me, unlike some of the others.”

“You never heard Embry or Donal toss any names about?” Luke narrowed his eyes when the other male hesitated. “What do you know?”

A few seconds of silence ticked by. “Donal said something to Embry about how it was possible that Antoine was up to his old tricks, whatever that means, but the Alpha insisted that Donal was wrong.”

Luke’s scalp prickled. “You have no clue at all what Embry could have been referring to?”

“The only thing I can think of is that Antoine was a persistent pranker as a juvenile. He often made anonymous, idiotic calls to females within the pack. You said Blair received many strange calls, so …” Gabriel shrugged. “I suppose, in your eyes, I’m still a suspect.”

“I wouldn’t take it personally. If it makes you feel better, she still doesn’t suspect you. She was surprised to learn that you co-own Enigma.” He expected the bush dog to tense or otherwise exhibit some show of surprise, but he only smiled.

“You did your homework,” said Gabriel. “I thought you might.”

“Why be a silent partner?”

“Why not?”

Touché.

Gabriel cocked his head. “I have to wonder why you would come to me for information when you’re hardly likely to trust a word I say. Do you hope that I will accidentally say something to implicate myself? If so, you are wasting your time—and, unfortunately, mine. I am not the man who stalks Blair.” He flicked a quick look at his wristwatch. “I really do have to go. If I find out anything more, I will pass on the information to the enforcers you have watching me.”

“You like redheads,” Luke tossed out. “You like to fuck them fast and then leave, no chats. But you broke that habit with Macy Corbitt.”

Confusion marred Gabriel’s brow. “Who?”

“You don’t know her?”

“It’s possible that I do, but I can’t be sure. I don’t exchange names with women at Enigma.”

That much was true at least. “It was said that you had quite a talk with a particular redheaded fox shifter.”

Realization dawned on him. “Ah, yes. I thought she’d been drugged at first.”

“Drugged?” echoed Deke.

Gabriel nodded. “She was trembling. Seemed a little out of it. I was worried her drink had been spiked. That was why I wanted to talk to her. The problem wasn’t drugs, it was touch-hunger.”

“You didn’t talk about Blair with her?” asked Luke.

The bush dog again frowned. “Why would I have?”

“That wasn’t an answer.”

Gabriel sighed, seeming more bored than anything else. “No, I did not. Why the interest in the fox shifter?”

“Because it was her corpse that found its way to Blair’s old cabin.”

The bush dog went utterly rigid. “You’re certain?”

“Absolutely positive.”

“And you think I killed her?” asked Gabriel, no inflection in his voice. “Left her on Blair’s old doorstep?”

“Maybe,” said Luke. “Maybe you also encouraged her to go to Blair with lies that I’d been sleeping with Macy in recent months.”

“Well I did not. As I’ve told you before, I’m not the man you’re looking for. Believe me or don’t. It won’t change that it’s true.” He skirted around Luke and stalked off. Didn’t hurry, didn’t march, didn’t move with anger. Just casually breezed out of the building.

Exiting the complex at a slower pace, Luke watched as the male headed to a town car. Without even a mere glance in Luke and Deke’s direction, Gabriel drove off.

“He doesn’t seem in the least bit offended that we’d suspect him,” commented Deke. “The only thing he seemed to feel was inconvenienced. The letter and email from Blair’s stalker carry a lot of emotion. I can’t imagine Gabriel writing stuff like that.”

No, neither could Luke.

“I’m not saying we should cross him off our suspect list. It’s just something to consider.”

Yes, it was. Back inside the SUV, Luke clicked on his seatbelt and started up the engine.

“Well?” prompted Blair, riding shotgun.

“He answered my questions, I just don’t know if I believe he answered them truthfully.” Luke gave her a rundown of the conversation. “He seemed genuinely shocked when he learned that the fox shifter he spoke with at the club was the same woman you found dead outside your old home.”

“But you’re not convinced that his shock was real,” she sensed.

“No, I’m not. I’ll bet he’s a very good actor—any shifter who has spent most of their life pretending to be human would have to be extremely good at pretense.” Luke knew that from personal experience.

She hummed. “Valid point. I can tell you that that thing he said about Antoine pulling a lot of pranks as a juvenile was true. But I suspect Donal wasn’t talking about that when he spoke about ‘old tricks.’”

Luke nodded. “He was referring to Antoine’s history of stalking women. Donal probably helped Embry cover it up.”

“Speaking of the pack Beta,” began Isaiah, “don’t be so distracted by Antoine and Gabriel that you dismiss Donal.”

Blair’s nose wrinkled. “He’s a lot older than me. The guy is in his forties.”

“And remains single, yes?” asked Isaiah.

She frowned. “I’ve never known him to date. And though he’s had plenty of bed-buddies, none have ever been from the pack.”

Deke sank back into his seat. “Maybe he’s saving himself for his true mate. Maybe he’s too hurt after his failure to imprint on that Alayna person that he has trouble committing to women. Or maybe he’s focused on you.”

Her shoulders sagged. “I always liked him,” she said, her voice low and sad. “I liked them all. It sucks that one of them is likely stalking me; that I never really knew that particular person at all.”

Luke splayed a hand on her thigh. “I know, baby. I know.”

Finally back in their apartment, Blair roughly shrugged off her jacket and none too gently hung it on a peg near the door. “Today started off fine, but it went progressively downhill.” She fisted her hands. “I still can’t believe that rat bastard tried mowing you down with his car.” She frowned when Luke hauled her close. “What are you doing?”

He nuzzled her neck. She smelled of him, of home, of everything he needed. “Giving you the comfort I wanted to give you earlier but you were too edgy to accept.”

He soothingly stroked her hair, scalp, nape, back, and arms … until the tension finally leached out of her muscles. His cat rubbed up against her, kneading Luke’s insides with his claws, desperate to ease her hurt and anger.

She melted against Luke. “Do we take the hit and run as a sign that he finally sees you as something other than a person I’m pretending to be mated to? I mean, he wouldn’t otherwise seek to hurt you, would he?”

“I’d say I’m no longer a background character in his fictional world. I’m, at the very least, a secondary character now.”

“One he’ll try to kill off,” she added, her voice slightly guttural. “I always knew there’d be a few hiccups when we finally mated. I never imagined we’d be dealing with a situation like this.”

Luke wrapped her ponytail around his fist and gently tugged so that she’d let her head fall back. “I can feel you starting to get riled up all over again. How about we shove everything other than us out of our heads for a little while? It won’t be easy, no, but we need it. And maybe we can spend some time working out why our bond hasn’t fully snapped into place yet. I don’t get it.”

She pulled a face. “Me neither. I really thought it would happen after we offloaded all the crap we’ve tried protecting each other from all these years.”

“No more secrets in your closet?”

“None. What about you?”

“There’s nothing I’m keeping from you.” He swept his hand down her back. “It could be that …”

“What?”

“Fears can act as blocks. Maybe you fear that you’ll lose Noelle for good once you and I are fully mated.”

“Actually, I’m more hopeful that it’ll force her to accept defeat and maybe she’ll then get her shit together.”

Huh. Well there went that theory. “In that case, I don’t know what could be jamming the frequency of the bond.”

She splayed a hand on his chest right above his heart. “We’ll work it out eventually. I guess, in the meantime, we just have to be patient.”

He bit her chin. “I’ve waited long enough to be fully bound to you. I don’t like that I have to wait longer.”

“I’m not fond of the situation either, but there’s nothing we can really do about it. Which makes the whole thing suck even more.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it does.”