“Did you even try to get my stuff back?” I demanded.
“Of course I did,” she huffed. “That was your mamma’s set from when she was a child. I expected you’d use it for your own daughter someday.”
My mamma…My beautiful mamma who’d been murdered along with my daddy. The possibility that the Council had been involved was gnawing at my insides in a bad way.
“I have to compartmentalize this for a minute or at least a couple of weeks,” I said as I stood in the middle of my empty bedroom. “I have to do what I was sent here for. But when I’m done, I’ll get answers and vengeance.”
“Does that mean no vacation?” Dwayne asked.
I stared at Dwayne like he’d grown three heads. He was getting terribly good at rendering me mute.
“That was a good question, Dwayne.” Granny patted him on the head like a dog and he preened. “Essie, your mamma and daddy would want you to have a vacation before you get killed finding out what happened to them.”
“Can we go to Jamaica?” Dwayne asked.
“Ohhh, I’ve never been to Jamaica,” Granny volunteered.
They were both batshit crazy, but Jamaica did sound kind of nice…
“Fine, but you’re paying,” I told Dwayne. He was richer than Midas. He’d made outstanding investments in his three hundred years.
“Yayayayayayay!” he squealed.
“I’ll call the travel agent,” Granny said. “How long do you need to get the bad guy?”
“A week. Give me a week.”
Chapter 4
“Well, great balls of fire ain’t you a sight for sore eyes!” Junior shouted, came out from behind his desk and trapped me in a hug that made breathing difficult. “Damn girl, if you ain’t prettier! What do they put in the water up there in Chicago?”
Junior, aka Jacob only to his mother, was the Deputy Sheriff of Hung Island and the Beta of our Pack. He was also Hank’s older brother. Hence, I wasn’t sure what my reception would be. If the jaws-of-life hug was anything to go by, everything would be just fine. Junior actually should have become Alpha when his dad retired, but he was just a lazy good ol’ boy, so the honor went to his younger brother Hank the Cheater.
Junior was every bit as good looking as his brother, but he never did it for me. However, he apparently did it for most of the women within a fifty mile radius.
“I tell you what,” he drawled. “I am happy to see you. My baby brother has been in a mood since you left.”
“He’s been in a mood for a year?” I snorted in disbelief and again tamped down the excited butterflies in my stomach. “I was sure he’d moved on by now.”
“Gimme a break, sugar. He’s got it so bad for you, it ain’t funny.”
“Well, he sure had a funny way of showing it,” I muttered. Confusion didn’t even begin to cover what I was feeling.
“That’s interesting,” a deep, sexier than hell voice added from behind me. “I could say the same about you.”
The air in the room shifted and the seductive power of his voice made me weak. Everything in my body tensed and stood at attention, including my traitorous nipples. Thank god my bra had a little padding—although the padding was useless. Weres could tell everything by scent and there was very little mistaking the cinnamon-laced scent of lust wafting through the room. His and mine. Crap.
Holding my breath, I turned around to face my foe and had to grab onto Junior for purchase so my butt didn’t hit the floor…forget about my jaw. Damn it, why could Hank have gotten bald, fat and ugly? He was more beautiful than I remembered. Six foot four of absolute perfection. Dark brown just a little bit too long hair, full lips, cheekbones that could cut glass and an ass that could stop traffic. The only consolation I had was his sharp intake of breath and the way his eyes turned from crystal green to icy blue. That was what happened to wolves when they couldn’t mask their desire.
I quickly lowered my eyes, not out of respect. I simply prayed my hazel green eyes hadn’t turned blue in response.
“My office. Now,” he snapped. “Junior, hold my calls and don’t step foot in my office unless you hear gunshots. You understand?”
“You got it, little bro-bro.” Junior was grinning from ear to ear and gave me a shove toward Hank’s office. I discreetly made sure my gun was still strapped to my inner thigh. I’d worn a sundress to conceal my weapon, not because I knew Hank loved them. Wait. Was he planning on shooting me? He so had another thing coming if he tried.
I made my way into the familiar office and bit back every nasty thing I wanted to say. As the door shut behind me I casually took a seat in front of the massive desk we’d had sex on countless times. Crapcrapcrap. Being alone with him was a very bad idea. Where the hell was my self-respect? I did not need a man who wanted me and half the town. I was better than that.
“You’ve got some explaining to do.” He sat down behind his desk in the chair we’d nicknamed the BJ Mobile and crossed his stupidly muscled arms over his stupidly muscled chest.
“No,” I said as I regained my confidence and professionalism that had deserted me in the lobby. “I don’t. You need to get me up to speed on the case and I need to do what I’ve been trained to do. Period.”
He watched me through narrowed eyes and his jaw worked angrily. Whatever. He had huge balls to think I had explaining to do.