Bella worked for several hours on web pages, getting so wrapped up in her designs that she hadn’t noticed the time slip away. When she realized the noon hour had arrived and Devlyn still hadn’t returned, a slice of worry cut into her heart.
She walked into the living room and stared out the picture window. No sign of the SUV. Damn him for leaving.
A knock at her front door forced a shudder down her spine. She stalked toward the door but then hesitated.
What if the police had caught Devlyn? What if they came for her now, too?
Chapter Seven
PEERING OUT THE PEEPHOLE, BELLA FOUND CHRISSIE standing on her doorstep and figured the questioning would truly begin. Taking a deep breath, she yanked the door open, relieved it wasn’t the police. “Hi, Chrissie.”
Her next-door neighbor looked a bit astonished, her blue eyes wide and her blushing lips parted. She was wearing a short chiffon skirt and flowery blouse, a little too spring-like for the weather and a lot too dressy for just dropping by. “Oh, I, well, I wondered if you might like an apple pie. To thank you for taking me to the grocery store this morning.”
An apple pie? Chrissie had always been generous to a fault with Bella, relishing their friendship because she had been an only child and was estranged from her parents—they had told her the guy she married was no good and were still mad at her for not listening to them. Now she was raising her two kids on her own and Bella couldn’t understand how Chrissie’s parents could be so insensitive. But the kids were the ex’s, too, and that made all the difference in the world to the parents.
Bella sighed.
Had Chrissie thought Bella had left the house and not Devlyn? Chrissie had never baked a pie for Bella before when she’d taken her to the grocery store or on other errands. She was after the man hunk, only she wasn’t taming that big gray.
Bella should have been annoyed, but she was more amused than anything. “Thank you, Chrissie. I have to warn you, though, Devlyn’s more of a red meat kind of guy. Not all that much into sweets.”
The kitchen door slammed shut and Bella jumped slightly. She glanced back at Devlyn, furious he’d taken off, but glad to see him safely home. He strode across the living room, his expression still stormy, his back stiff, a light sheen of sweat above his brows shimmering in the living room’s natural light.
“Who says I’m not into sweets?” he countered, his brows raised, challenging Bella. “I like my dessert, often, just as much as any other guy.”
She knew damned well he didn’t like sugary treats all that much. Was he trying to undermine her? Get in good with Chrissie for Bella cutting his masculinity down earlier?
“Well, that’s good then.” Chrissie beamed at Devlyn and handed the pie to Bella, pausing as if waiting for an invitation.
“I guess your kids are due home soon,” Bella said, hoping they were.
“Not for another three and a half hours.” Chrissie looked at Devlyn, a smile still curving her lips. Her dark curls framed her sweet face like a gray lupus garou’s might when in human form. She stood taller than Bella, too, more like the females of his pack, and she definitely had the hots for Devlyn.
Placing his hands on his hips, Devlyn turned to Bella. “I took a run to work out some tension and then picked up a couple of things for us to eat. Didn’t care for the slim pickings in your fridge. Maybe you can fix the steak for us. You know how I like it—on the bloody side. I’m going to hop in the shower.” He wiped his cheek on his sleeve. “I smell kind of ... ripe.”
She couldn’t help giving him a crooked smile. Yeah, she could smell the scent of him, all male, sweaty, and totally loveable. “Um, yeah, well ...”
He waited for her response. She wanted to tell him she would join him, but she couldn’t, not unless she told him she’d be his mate. Otherwise, she’d let things go too far.
He raised a brow, challenging her. “Coming?” As a mature lupus garou, Devlyn proved hotter than the blue flicker of the flame—a wicked wolf, and all hers if she’d just give the go ahead.
She turned to her neighbor. “Um, Chrissie, thanks for the pie. I’ll talk to you later.”
Chrissie’s green eyes bulged like a Pekinese’s. Bella smiled. “Sorry, that’s the problem with renewing old relationships. They can be awfully demanding.”
Chrissie stammered, “Uh, yeah, well, okay. Talk to you later.”
Bella closed the door and then turned to Devlyn. “Where the hell have you been?” she snapped, the irritation still racing high to think she’d worried so about his safety.
“Running. I already said so,” he retorted, his own voice still angry. He stormed off in the direction of the bedroom. Setting the pie on the coffee table, she dashed after him. “You do not like sweets, liar.”
He turned to her, his eyes dark and angry. “I do too love sweets, Bella. Your kind of sweets.” But he wasn’t smiling.
A surge of lust coursed through her body. She wanted him, really she did. But ... “You’ve been gone several hours. You couldn’t have been running all that time.”
“I took a trip to the Cascades.”
Her heart sped up. “Because?”
“The killer might have run there some time or another.” His hard gaze pierced her. “Were the reds aware you had a cabin there? That you took your jaunts there?”
She bit her lip. “I saw two in their wolf forms and smelled their scent on the breeze. I thought the murdering wolf might have been one of them. But I didn’t know at the time what he smelled like. How did you know I had a cabin there?”
“Found paperwork in your office when I went to email Argos.”
“You could have asked. So, did you find any clues?” He shook his head. “But what bothers me is, if they knew you were there, why didn’t any try to approach you?”
“They did, except they must have smelled the hunter nearby and took off right before I was shot. I’d only smelled their scent in the area the weekend before. Tons of forests exist in Oregon. The clan must normally go somewhere else, probably closer to Portland, maybe around Mount Hood.”
“Then somehow one of them must have been in the area near your cabin, getting away from the rest of the clan. Maybe the one who murdered the human girl was with her there and he picked up your scent. If he let it slip to anyone else, any of the eligible males would have been searching for you after that.” Devlyn snorted. “Good thing I came along when I did.”
Despite agreeing with him silently, she hmpfed back. He motioned to the bedroom. “Join me?” His offer was more than a proposal to shower with him. It was tantamount to joining him as his mate.
“I’ve already showered.”
Turning his back to her, he stalked into the bedroom. “Fix lunch, then. I’ll be out in a few.”
His demand and dismissal should have bothered her, but they didn’t. What annoyed her were her own actions, or rather inactions. She listened to the shower turn on and his shoes drop on the floor. If she joined him, he’d be one satisfied wolf mate, but she couldn’t do it. It would be like sacrificing him to the devil wolf, Volan. She couldn’t stomach the idea that the pack leader would kill him.
When Bella didn’t join Devlyn in the bathroom, he knew he’d have a hell of a time convincing her that he was the only one for her, but he wasn’t giving up. Then it occurred to him. What had she been doing the whole time he’d been gone?
He finished his shower, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around his waist.
With a quick stride, he returned to her office and checked her email. He read through the messages she’d sent in response to her red wolf invitation, not believing she’d invited half of the world to a dance club that night. More worrisome was Argos’s cryptic message to her.