“Nothing.”
“Don’t tell me nothing. I can tell from the tension in your voice you’re worried, and about more than the cops almost catching us.”
She turned away from him and stared out the window; a light mist drizzled down the glass pane. “It’s nothing.”
“If you’re considering not going home with me, think again. You’re not safe on your own. Lupus garous have to stick together to survive. Loners get themselves killed. And no matter what, you can’t expose our kind.”
She glanced at him and opened her mouth to tell him off.
Tightening his grip on the steering wheel, Devlyn cursed under his breath. “Ah, hell—trouble, straight ahead.”
Chapter Five
A ROAD BLOCK. TWO POLICE CRUISERS SAT DEAD AHEAD on the shoulder of the road. While one policeman spoke to the driver of a compact, another eyed Devlyn and Bella’s approaching SUV.
Despite the car’s heater running on high, a chill ran down Bella’s spine, and she involuntarily shuddered. “Maybe they’re just looking for drunk drivers.”
Devlyn shook his head. “We can’t risk that they aren’t looking for us.”
“They’ll recognize us, won’t they, if they get a good look at us?”
“Yeah, I imagine so. Thompson probably gave them a rough description. That long, red hair of yours will be a dead giveaway.” Devlyn turned down a side street before they reached the checkpoint and switched off his headlights. “Hold on tight. Someone will probably check us out because we avoided the roadblock.”
She swallowed hard, not liking the situation at all. “See the carport in front of those apartments? Pull into a vacant slot. A police helicopter searching from above won’t see the SUV then.”
“I’m more concerned about the ones looking from the ground.”
“Do it, Devlyn.”
He grunted. “What happened to my being the boss?”
“You can be the boss later, stud.”
He turned to look at her, his eyes darker than usual, his expression surprised. She sensed her new nickname for him pleased him in a sensual sort of way, and her own body responded as the ache returned between her legs.
“Let’s try to find an apartment where no one’s home and get some more sleep,” she suggested.
“I hope you’re right about this.” He turned into the two-story apartment complex and parked underneath the metal carport.
“We probably couldn’t outrun them. But if they didn’t see us pull in here, they’ll probably keep driving and—” A police car approached and Bella and Devlyn ducked down.
Seconds passed. The vehicle continued down the road, its engine rumbling slightly.
Devlyn peered out the windshield. “They’re still going. If they come back to check the parking lots, they may find the SUV, especially if they caught sight of the license plate before we turned down the street perpendicular to the one where the roadblock was set up.”
She climbed out of the vehicle, glad the police hadn’t noticed the wet drizzle on the vehicle when the ones parked next to it were dry as the desert. “You don’t have to come.”
“You’re not running away from me again.” He slammed his door shut.
“Oh?” She darted across the parking area in the thickening mist, and he dashed after her, catching her wrist with a vice-like grip. She would have loved his possessiveness if he’d wanted her for his own. But no, he was keeping her from running away so he could turn her over to Volan. The bastard.
“When did I ever run away from you?” Dropping down behind a razor-toothed holly shrub, she listened for sounds in the apartment.
“When you left Colorado,” he said, his harsh tone hushed while he crouched beside her.
“I slipped away from Volan, not you,” she whispered in retort.
He clamped his mouth shut.
She stared at him. He’d only kissed her so long ago to prove he was more virile than the human boy, nothing more. Hell, he’d never even searched for her, or Argos would have said. “Devlyn, you can’t mean you want me. Volan would kill you.”
“Like hell he would.”
The image of the last wolf Volan had killed flashed through her mind, and, with Devlyn not giving an inch, she tried to clear her thoughts of the vicious memory. She darted past an apartment window, dragging Devlyn with her. She listened again. “A man snoring.”
She ran past the apartment and Devlyn gave her a dark look. A dog barked in the next one. Shaking her head, she moved to the next window. A distinctive odor of death and something more caught her attention—the smell of a red male lupus garou. Instantly, she made the connection between the rogue she’d caught a whiff of in the woods and the one who had been here. Her skin chilled. She was used to the hunt, but this was something else, something purely evil.
Intending to investigate and sure that Devlyn would not agree, she twisted her arm free of him and ran up the steps to the front door.
Dashing after her, Devlyn grabbed her wrist. “No,” he whispered harshly. “You stay here and I’ll check it out.”
Grateful he would, she asked, “Do you smell it, too?” A look of feral hostility flashed across his face. “Maybe we can ... help.” But she doubted they could.
She yanked at his leather jacket. “You have a lock pick, don’t you?”
“Standard lupus garou toolkit. Where’s yours?” He pulled out a leather kit and slid a tool out.
“I never sneaked into human’s homes like you and your cousins did for fun, remember?”
“Only because you were too shy.” She snorted.
Jiggling the pick in the lock, he sprang the mechanism open. He shoved the door aside and walked into the room. “The air is foul,” he whispered.
“Someone’s died,” she whispered back, her skin damp and crawling.
“A few days ago. Decay’s already set in despite the place being ice-cold. Air conditioner’s running on high even though the temperature is barely above freezing outside.”
“Natural causes. Let it be by natural causes.” But she knew it wasn’t, knew it had to be the killer she’d tried to track in the Cascades. She recognized his scent right before zoo man Thompson had caught her on her jaunt through the woods. Was it one of the two wolves she saw watching her at the stream? She couldn’t be sure. The breeze had shifted and it might have disguised which of them it was. Or it might have been another, one she hadn’t seen, hidden in the woods.
The sound of shattering glass in a room down the hall incited Devlyn to surge forward, but as an afterthought, he turned to her. “Stay here ... and don’t leave.”
She nodded, realizing he wanted to keep her safe, but her blood heated that he’d think she’d run out on him when their situation only grew bleaker by the moment.
The strong odor of incense filling the living area overwhelmed the faint odor of blood emanating from what she assumed must be the bedroom.
Everything in the place appeared immaculately clean, as though a maid had just tidied up, except for a patch of ...
She drew closer to the pale blue sofa. Coarse brown hair, reddish at the tips, clung to the back. She reached out to collect it.
Devlyn rushed out of the bedroom. “Let’s go, Bella.” His stern face allowed no argument. He seized her wrist and jerked her toward the door. “Now, Bella, now!”
“What happened?”
After pulling her from the apartment, he slammed the door. “A woman around your age, murdered in bed.” He rushed Bella back to the SUV. “We have to risk driving. We can’t be caught here.”
“How was she killed?”
He banged her door shut and ran to the other side of the vehicle. As soon as he started the ignition, he turned to her. “A wild animal ripped out her throat.”
“Lupus garou,” she whispered. “They’ll think it’s us.”