“No,” said Dana. “We need his scent so that we can test it on the rogues we have in custody.”
“And we didn’t get it yesterday.”
Dana crossed her arms over her chest. “God damn it.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“I don’t know about this,” said the stringy, dark haired youth that was pushing the laundry cart down the hall.
“Come on,” said Avery. “It’s one article of clothing. You can say it fell out.”
“Yeah, that’s the thing,” said the guy. “It’s sort of my job to make sure that nothing happens to these clothes, you know.”
“They’re prison uniforms,” said Avery. He was glaring at the guy.
Dana put a hand on his shoulder. Avery was getting angry, like usual. She smiled at the guy. “Look, this is really important. You’d be helping us save lives.”
The guy didn’t look convinced. “That’s the other thing. You guys say that you’re trackers for the SF, but you don’t have badges. Even I got a badge, and I just do laundry. I don’t know if I even believe you. What if you’re going to do something terrible, and I let you, huh?”
Avery rolled his eyes.
Dana smiled tightly and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a twenty dollar bill and some crumpled ones. She offered them to the guy. “How about it?”
The guy furrowed his brow. “Why do you really want this laundry, huh?”
Avery stepped closer to him. “Look, take the money and shut up, or I’ll knock you out and we’ll take what we’re looking for.”
The guy snatched the money out of Dana’s hand. He backed away from Avery. “Chill out, man.”
Avery nodded at the laundry cart. “You smell him?”
Dana sniffed. There were a lot of smells there, but Cole’s was unmistakable. “Yeah,” she said, digging through the clothes until she found Cole’s jumpsuit. She yanked it out of the laundry cart, bundled it up and put it in a plastic bag. Hopefully, having it sealed would preserve the scent. “Thanks,” she said to the laundry guy.
He shoved the money in his pocket. “If I find out that you used that jumpsuit to do something wrong—”
“Oh, shut up,” said Avery. He turned to Dana. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
* * *
Coraline Shirley whined and backed into the corner of the room, tucking her head into her chest.
All Dana had done was open the plastic bag that contained half of Cole’s jumpsuit. They’d cut it in two so that she and Avery both had a piece for interrogating rogues.
“Coraline?” said Dana. “Are you okay?”
Coraline peered up at her, still curled up. “Is he here?”
“Who?” said Dana.
“I can smell him,” said Coraline.
Dana held up Cole’s jumpsuit. “You’ve smelled him before?”
Coraline nodded. “I told you about it. I didn’t remember before, but I remember it now.”
Dana closed the plastic bag. She gestured to the conference table. “Do you think we could talk about that?”
Coraline got to her feet hesitantly. She made her way over to the table and sat down. Dana joined her.
“Okay,” said Dana, “what can you tell me about smelling this wolf?”
“It was nine or ten months ago,” said Coraline. “I was out in the woods on a full moon, and I saw a werewolf. He smelled like... that. The smell you have. He jumped on me. He dug his claws into me, nipped at my neck with his teeth.”
“Just like that?” said Dana. “Out of nowhere?” She was thinking about how similar that sounded to what Cole had done to her in his living room. He’d leapt on her. She remembered his teeth in her neck. She couldn’t help but finger the scars there, tiny raised bumps of skin.
“Yes,” she said. “I didn’t have time to think. I shifted immediately. It seemed like the... the right thing to do. With his teeth there, I felt something calling me to shift. And so I did.” She took a deep breath. “When I woke up, it was all fuzzy. I couldn’t really remember it.”
“So you just went about your business,” said Dana. “Until the night you suddenly shifted.”
“That’s right,” said Coraline. “Do you know who that wolf is? What did he do to me?”
Dana debated. She and Avery hadn’t talked about how much they’d debrief the rogues. But Coraline had a right to know what was happening to her. “The scent belongs to Cole Randall. And he made himself into your alpha, which means he can make you shift into a werewolf at any time.”
“Cole Randall,” said Coraline. “The werewolf killer?”
“Yes.”
“He can control me?”
“He can make you shift, and he can call you,” said Dana. “But we’re working on making it so he can’t. We really are.”
* * *
“That’s gotta be the last one,” said Ryan Brown. He worked on the hall where the rogues were being kept. “I can’t cover for you guys any longer. I hope you got what you needed.”
Avery had just emerged from talking to Arnold Phelps. “Yeah, we’re good.”
Dana nodded in agreement.
“If King found out I let you guys do interrogations while you’re suspended—”
“We know,” said Dana.
“Thanks, man,” said Avery. “We really appreciate it.” He grasped Ryan’s hand.
“I’m happy to help out,” said Ryan. “But now, get the hell out of here before someone sees you.”
“You got it,” said Avery. He and Dana hurried down the hallway into the elevator. Once the doors closed, he turned to her. “Did they all react?”
“Yes,” she said. “And get this. Coraline Shirley actually remembers what happened. She said that she was attacked by a wolf in the woods, and that he bit her neck, and it caused her to shift right away.” She lifted her hair away from her neck and showed her scars to Avery. “It’s basically exactly what he did to me, but I didn’t shift.”
“You didn’t submit,” said Avery.
“Yeah,” said Dana. “Cole told me that he killed the wolves that weren’t useful to him.”
“So, we’ve been looking at it the wrong way all along,” said Avery. “The kills we found of Randall’s were incidental. He wasn’t out to kill those wolves. He was out to make them into betas. When he couldn’t do that, he killed them.”
“All of them except me,” said Dana.
“So what do you think he wanted to do with this pack of his that he created?” asked Avery.
“Kill people,” she said. “That’s what he thinks wolves are supposed to do. He wanted a big pack of killers, so that he could balance the ecosystem or whatever.” She rubbed her face. “He’s absolutely crazy. I don’t know how any part of me can want him.”
“I actually had a thought about that,” said Avery. The elevator door opened.
She stepped into the hall. “Yeah?”
He followed her. “It was something that he said when we were talking to him earlier. He said that other guys like Hollis and me were sniffing around you.”
“So what?” said Dana.
“He also said you were his,” said Avery.
“Like I said, he’s crazy.” She quickened her pace, heading down the hallway faster, because thinking about Cole had suddenly made her remember his mouth on her body, wrenching moans from her lips. And she wanted to outrun that sensation. Get away from it. She wanted it to end. She glanced over her shoulder. “Your apartment or mine?”
“Mine’s closer,” said Avery.
She came to an abrupt halt in front of it. She stood still, feeling antsy, wishing she could chase Cole out of her brain.
Avery let them inside. “Well, I was thinking about some of the stuff we were reading in Sullivan’s writings about alphas. And you remember how only alphas could mate?” He strode into his kitchen, opening the refrigerator. “You want a soda?”
She sat down on one of Avery’s bar stools. They were identical to her own. “Only alphas can mate?”
He turned, sodas in hand. “Yeah, I mean, there are exceptions, but for the most part, the structure of a werewolf pack is like a typical family. The parents are mated, the female and male alpha. While their offspring are part of the pack, the offspring don’t mate. If they want to, they have to start their own packs.” He offered her the can of soda.
She took it, her brow furrowed.
“If Randall’s an alpha, he can have a mate,” said Avery. “And since the two of you technically consummated this whole weird thing—in wolf form, no less—I’m saying it’s a pretty good bet you’re mated to him.”
Dana clutched the soda. “Mated.”
Avery opened his soda. “I think so.”
“What does that mean? Does it mean that it’s not my fault?”
“Your fault? Shit, Gray.” Avery set down his soda can. He took Dana’s out of her hand and put it on the bar. Then he wrapped his arms around her. “You blaming yourself for all of this?”
The hug felt so good. Dana melted into his arms, burying her face against his hard, muscled chest. She felt as if she could let go all of her tension in that moment, that Avery could hold her up, support her. She clung to him gratefully, infused with his strength. “Who else would I blame?”
“Cole fucking Randall, that’s who,” said Avery. “He’s the jackass that chained you up in his basement and tried to kill you. He’s the one who’s been messing with your head. It’s his fault.”
She’d been so caught up in trying to fix her obsession with Cole that, ever since she’d been free, she hadn’t really spent enough time blaming him. Avery was right. Cole had hurt her. He had forced her to shift. He had taken away her freedom. She would never have become obsessed with him if he hadn’t done those things. It wasn’t her fault. No matter what. She lifted her face from Avery’s chest and peered up at him.
“Hey,” he said.
“So, if I have this werewolf connection to Cole, it would explain why I’m so drawn to him.”
“We need to read up on it,” said Avery, “but what I was seeing in the Sullivan stuff was that it’s a pretty intense bond. And apparently the alpha is pretty protective of his mate, because if another wolf takes her from him, he’s the one ousted out of the pack.”
Dana bit her lip. “So if I’m mated to Cole, he wouldn’t want anyone else.”
“I think that’s why he said I was sniffing around,” said Avery. “See, lone wolves will be attracted to mated alpha females. Because mating with them means you’re an instant alpha of an established pack.” He moved away from her. “Remember how Randall said that it was instinct that guys were attracted to you?”
Dana picked her soda back up. She kind of wished Avery was still hugging her. “I think so.”
Avery looked at her. “That’s why I kissed you.”
She took a drink. And she felt disappointed for some reason.
“Look, it makes sense,” said Avery. “You and I spend a lot of time together. And I keep my wolf pretty suppressed, but I don’t know if I’ve ever been around a female alpha before. I’ve never been attracted to you before, Gray. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Right,” she said. “It was all instinct.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Doesn’t that make you feel better?”
She nodded.
He nodded too. He ducked around the bar and settled on the couch in the living room.
Dana drank soda and didn’t follow him.
Avery reached for the remote control to turn on the television.
“Actually, no,” she said. “It doesn’t make me feel better.”
He put the remote down. “Gray?”
“If it’s all instinct, then we’re all just animals. And we have no control of ourselves. And I don’t want to live that way. I don’t want everything to be about my wolf forcing me to feel a certain way. Some of what I feel has to be real.”
“Do you want your feelings for Randall to be real?”
“No.” She toyed with the soda can. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“I want to be in control of myself again, Brooks. And I want you in control of yourself. I don’t want you to tell me you kissed me because of some weird instinct.”
He looked at his hands. “You didn’t like it when I kissed you.”
“I know that, but...” She was too frustrated to know how to finish.
“It’s not like it doesn’t feel real, you know?” He glanced up at her. “But you’re... I don’t know if I can ever deal with the Randall thing. I might be attracted to you right now, but what you did with him makes my skin crawl. I know you didn’t mean to do it. But the only way I can accept that about you is if I accept that my feelings for you are out of my control. Does that make any sense?”
She took a drink of her soda. “Yeah, I get it.”
It was quiet.
“You wanna watch TV?” asked Avery.
* * *
“If I remember correctly, you two are on suspension,” said Ursula as she straightened a stack of papers on her desk. “You aren’t even supposed to be here.”
“This can’t wait,” said Dana. “We’ve got to move on this before Cole does anything else.”
“Suspended means that you don’t do any work,” said Ursula.
“Please, just look at the report we wrote up,” said Avery, handing her a folder.
Ursula glared at it. “It means not writing reports.”
“Well, it’s already written,” said Dana. “Read it, please, King.”
Ursula sighed heavily. She snatched the folder away from Avery. “Fine.”
Dana grinned at Avery.
Ursula opened the folder. She began to read. Within a few minutes, she set it down. “Fredrich Sullivan?”
“Keep reading,” said Avery.
Ursula picked the folder back up again. Her eyes moved rapidly back and forth over the paper. Then she looked up again. “You two stole Cole Randall’s laundry and interrogated the rogues?”
“Yes, but did you see how they reacted?” said Dana. “They clearly behaved as if they were betas to Cole’s scent. He’s their alpha. We have proof.”
Ursula studied the folder. “It does look that way.”
“This means that we need to go through the list of potentials we compiled,” said Avery. “We need to figure out which of them are alphaed to Randall and which aren’t.”
“He can make any of his beta wolves shift at any time he wants,” said Dana. “And they could kill people.”
Ursula nodded. “It’s better than bringing in the whole list, I guess.” She set down the folder. “But once we get them here, what are we going to do with them?”
“I think that’s something we’ll need to figure out once they’re here,” said Avery. “At any rate, we need to get them someplace protected, someplace where they can’t cause anymore damage.”
“Okay,” said Ursula. “Fine. The two of you are officially unsuspended. You can start gathering up the wolves in Randall’s pack first thing tomorrow.”
“Really?” said Dana, a big grin breaking out on her face.
“Thank you, King,” said Avery.
She glared at them. “I should extend your suspension. You worked when you weren’t supposed to. But it looks like what you’ve been looking into paid off. You two are both good trackers, willing to go above and beyond. Honestly, I’ve been feeling a little lost without you.”
“We appreciate it,” said Dana.
“Take your access badges and start getting ready to leave tomorrow,” said Ursula. She took the badges out of her desk and handed them over.
“Thanks,” said Avery.
“Oh, and Gray,” said Ursula, “that reporter... what’s his name? Moore? He’s been asking after you. Maybe you could go down and see him. His first transition last weekend was a little rough, but he’s making progress. I think he could use some encouragement.”
* * *
Dana wasn’t sure she wanted to see
Hollis after the way he’d treated her last time. But she decided that Hollis had been angry and frightened. He wasn’t used to the idea of being a werewolf. He’d lashed out at whoever was closest. She owed him another chance.
She found him in his room. He was wearing the initiate robes that Dana remembered so well from her own training. They were meant to make one comfortable and focused, but Dana had always found them awkward and strange.
Hollis lounged on his couch, reading a newspaper.
“Missing the internet?” Dana asked in sympathy.
“Dana.” Hollis set down the paper. “You came.”
“I came,” she said.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t,” he said. “After everything I said to you, I thought maybe you’d never want to talk to me again.”
“You were dealing with a lot of stress, Hollis. You weren’t yourself.”
“But I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have been so horrible.”
“Forget it,” she said. “The important thing for you to focus on right now is getting your wolf under control.”
He patted the seat next to him on the couch. “Join me?”
She sat down.
“Yeah, not having the internet is really quite a change,” he said. “I see why they don’t want us to contact the outside world during this time, but I’m not used to it yet. I don’t know how I’m going to last another three weeks in this place.”
“You’re going to last,” said Dana, “because you need to get your wolf under control and get back to your life.”
Hollis snorted. “What life?”
Dana wasn’t sure what to say.
“You know as well as me that The Jefferson Post won’t let me stay on now that I’m a werewolf.”
“Maybe they will.” It was a lost cause, and she knew it.
“Nah,” he said. “No way. But since the SF is in such desperate need of good press, maybe they’ll let me handle their public relations.”
Dana cocked her head in surprised. “You’d do that?”
“It would be nice, wouldn’t it?” he said. “You and I would be working for the same people. I could even live here, like you do. We’d be close. And since I’m a werewolf now, the problems we had before wouldn’t matter.”
Dana scooted away from him. She didn’t like where this was going. “Hollis, look, I guess I never really made myself clear, but...” How to put this? “I’m not interested in rekindling a relationship with you.”