Destiny of the Wolf

Chapter 25

BUSINESS AS USUAL THAT’S THE WAY EVERYONE PLAYED their roles as Sam organized the drinks in the dining room, Tom coordinated the side dishes, Jake managed the deliveries of the turkeys, while Lelandi, Carol, and Silva finished baking the pies. The aroma of roasted turkey and gravy filled the air, making Lelandi’s stomach rumble, although she didn’t think she’d be able to eat, she was so uptight.

Carol peered out the kitchen window where the table sat in an alcove. “Snow’s still falling. This will be the best ski season Silver Town’s had in five years.”

Silva cast a questioning look in Lelandi’s direction, but though she caught it, she didn’t acknowledge her concern. Everyone was wearing polite smiles, the conversations centering around the weather, a hunt, some whispered speculation about Sam and Silva, but nothing about the reason for the feast. Lelandi was sure the conversations about that had already been held behind closed doors.

Darien walked into the kitchen, stretched his arms above his head, and smiled at Lelandi.

Silva stammered some excuse and hurried out of the kitchen. Carol took longer before it sank in that the alpha leader needed a moment alone with his mate. Her face suddenly flushed and she quickly made her excuses and hurried after Silva, shutting the door behind her.

“Why didn’t you say something to me?” she scolded outside the kitchen.

Darien rested his hands on Lelandi’s shoulders. “You smell of cinnamon, apples, and brown sugar. Good enough to eat.” He kissed her ups, not waiting for her approval, slipping his tongue into her mouth. “Hmmm, taste like brown sugar, apples, and cinnamon, too.”

She melted like the dabs of butter she’d spread on top of the lattice-work pie crusts. * Have… have you seen anyone with bite marks?”

He groaned. “Lelandi...” He shook his head. “I’m afraid either Angelina didn’t bite her attacker hard enough or the scar has already healed. No matter. We’ve got him where we want him. I’ve felt the distance between us when we’ve made love the last two days. I know you feel hurt that I wouldn’t tell you who I most suspect. But I have to do this my way, knowing you the way I do.”

She lifted her gaze from his chest to his eyes. “I love you, Darien, but I don’t want to be kept in the dark.”

He kissed her lips again, his fingers pushing a couple of buttons through the buttonholes on her silk blouse. He slipped his hands inside her blouse and fondled her breasts through the lacy bra.

“Ahh, Darien, you taste of apple cider, the good stuff.” She tangled her tongue with his for another spicy taste.

Voices drew nearer the kitchen, but suddenly stopped and footfalls moved discretely away. Lelandi suspected Silva and Carol were warding everyone away in lieu of a “Don’t Disturb” sign.

Darien tackled Lelandi’s belt, but she stilled his hands. “What are you doing?”

“I’m feeling testy.”

He captured her mouth with his, kissing her Into submission and moved her hands away from her belt, then unbuckled It. “We’ll enjoy the meal more after we relieve some of the tension between us.”

She suspected there was more to his need to make love to her than he was admitting. She recognized his craving to prove she was his and couldn’t understand what had triggered it again. Unless it was to confirm to his gathered pack that he had claimed her. No, it seemed to run deeper, like when he felt his pack members were hitting on her at the tavern, and he had to show she was his and only his.

He rubbed his hand between her legs, his fingers pressing the jeans and satin panties between her feminine folds, stealing her thoughts, eliciting a soft moan from her.

“Say you want to wait and we will,” he whispered into her ear, his voice husky with desire. He leaned his hardened erection against her and rubbed, “say you want me, Lelandi.”

She could no more resist him now than she could in her dreams. Seizing the buttons on his shirt, she nearly ripped them off in haste. She ran her hands over his bare chest, her fingernails flickering over his already pebbled nipples. With a groan, he yanked down her jeans and panties in one fell swoop. Leaning her against the kitchen table covered in flour, granules of brown sugar, and speckles of cinnamon, he shoved away mixing spoons and a sieve that clattered to the floor.

He dipped his hand in a bag of brown sugar, then sprinkled it on her bare breasts and stomach. Lelandi smiled. “You’re supposed to eat your meal, before you get dessert. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that?”

“I was more of a red meat kind of guy—although all of that’s changed.”

He shrugged out of his jeans and pushed her legs apart. But before he penetrated her woman’s core, he licked the sugar off her breasts and stomach, sending streaks of pleasure rifling through her. She needed this as much as he did. She wanted the closeness, the loving, the solidarity, before he had to fight. And if it gave him strength, all the better.

She combed her fingers through his hair, luxuriating in the feel of the satiny strands and of his velvet tongue lapping at her skin. His fingers slipped down her stomach, tracing the slight swell in her belly, lower, to her short curly hairs, combing through them to discover the dewy opening between her thighs. Stroking her nub, he triggered flames of desire to sweep through her, a delicious torment, begging to be appeased.

She dug her fingers into his back, the toned muscles of the lupus garou tensing with her touch, and she prodded him to penetrate her. She listened to the soothing sound of the thunder of his heartbeat, his heavy lusty breath, and her heartbeat pounding beneath his.

Darien plunged deep inside of her, his stiff cock thrusting with feverish intent, his pelvis rubbing her mound until every nerve was ready to explode.

“I love you,” she mouthed against his lips, remembering the dreams when she couldn’t hear her words or his. For the first time since he’d made the announcement about having the feast, she felt one with him again. Then an earth-shattering release compelled her to cry out, her body trembling with satisfaction, but Darien muffled her voice with another erotic deep kiss, his tongue probing her mouth.

Groaning, he filled her with his seed, but thrust twice more until she’d milked him dry, the orgasm rippling through her.

He closed his eyes and rested on top of her. “You are something else, honey.”

I could say the same about you.” She combed her fingers through his hair. “Now you’ll want a nap.”

Chuckling, he licked her lips. “Now I want a feast. And then dessert again.”

He rolled off her and a few granules of brown sugar sparkled on his chest. She licked them up, then he helped her off the table and wiped the flour from her back. “We’re a mess,” she whispered, her skin flushed with exertion.

He cast her a wolfish grin. “You got the brunt of it.” He brushed flour out of her hair and she groaned. “At least the granules of cinnamon disappear in the color of your hair.”

She gave him an annoyed look. “Next time, I’m on top. You can be covered in flour, sugar, and cinnamon.”

Chuckling, he helped her into her clothes. “I’m game.”

He touched her belly. “I understand Carol believes we’ll have triplets.”

“Conjecture.”

“Right. But she won’t tell me what sex they are.”

Pleased that Carol thought she was pregnant, Lelandi still couldn’t believe Carol could really know such a thing. She shook more flour and sugar out of her hair.

He kissed her forehead. “I invited your brother and uncle and parents to the feast. They dragged Ural along.”

Lelandi stared at Darien, then slapped his shoulder. That’s why he had been so intent on making love to her. It had nothing to do with his pack but all to do with worrying she might want to return to her family.

He grinned. “I thought you’d be pleased.”

“You didn’t have to prove anything to them. I would have stayed with you.”

He took her hand and kissed it. “You’re an alpha pack leader’s mate, and you have the heart of a lion. Let’s get the feast under way.”

Lelandi was sure the fight would come first, but only after she dealt with her father, who wouldn’t like it that she hadn’t gotten his permission to mate Darien.

Darien escorted Lelandi into the sunroom where her parents were sitting, visiting with some of the members of his pack. Her brother and uncle were talking to Jake, and Ural sat in a corner looking unhappy. Probably still mad because of his incarceration and Darien’s people’s treatment of him. But he shouldn’t have hung around.

“We’ll leave you alone for a few minutes to get reacquainted,” Darien said to Lelandi. Everyone remained stiff and formal until Darien gave Lelandi a searing kiss on the mouth, grinned, and then winked at her. He squeezed her hand and reiterated, “The entertainment begins in a few minutes.”

The grays who were speaking with Lelandi’s family rapidly left the sunroom while Lelandi kissed her mother and father, then her brother, uncle, and cousin.

“Triplets,” her mother said, her face beaming. “I’ll stay with you during the last trimester.”

“Will... will you be living with Leidolf all the way out in Oregon?” Lelandi’s voice betrayed her sadness.

“Heavens no. Not with my grandkids coming and Hrothgar now in charge of the pack at Wildhaven,” Her mother patted Uncle Hrothgar’s arm. “Your fathers little brother is now in charge and our land is saved. She glanced at Leidolf. “When are you going to give me some grandkids?”

Leidolf looked annoyed and folded his arms. “I need a mate and none are available, right now.”

Eleanor tugged at Uncle Hrothgar’s arm, “You’ll need a mate, too. I did see a red female in the house earlier. What is she doing in a gray pack?”

“Carol? A red from Bruin’s pack turned her. But she’s an only child now and has aging parents here so I don’t think she’s interested in leaving.”

Leidolf shook his head. “I wouldn’t take a newly turned lupus garou. Too much of a responsibility. They don’t know our ways and would need constant supervision.”

“As if you can be that choosy, dear brother.”

“And there’s our line to think of.”

“You mean because we’re royals?” Lelandi rolled her eyes.

“It never meant much to you, but someone has to keep the line going. And not by mixing up with a gray either.”

Their mother smiled. “Just like the old days. I forget how much you two fought.” She sighed. “Your mate is motioning for this event to get under way. Save your teeth and claws for the one who deserves your wrath, if Darien should fall in his mission to avenge Larissa’s death.”

“He won’t fail,” Lelandi said with confidence. But she sure as hell wanted to know who he was going to be pitted against—who had killed her sister.

In front of his gathered pack and their guests, Darien raised a glass of cider, his free arm around Lelandi’s waist. “We’re gathered here to celebrate the mating between our clans of Silver Town and Wildhaven. Lelandi is not only a royal.” Darien said, pausing until the gasps died away, “but the daughter of pack leaders on both her paternal and maternal sides. So we are much honored to welcome Lelandi and her family into our embrace.”

“Hear, hear,” a chorus of grays and reds responded.

He raised his hand for silence. “Now for the grievous news. A pack bands together as a family, a united front against all others. But when one of our kind deviates from acceptable pack behavior, the individual must be dealt with swiftly and harshly. A death for a death, although in this case the murderer has killed more than one. But we can only mete out justice once.”

“Normally, I would challenge the murderer and face him in our way, wolf to wolf. But I ask my Uncle Sheridan, sheriff of Silver Town, to fight on my behalf.”

Low conversation filled the room and Lelandi glanced at Darien. He pressed her close and whispered in her ear, “I know what I’m doing.”

Sheridan stood tall, a small smile curving his lips. He glanced at Trevor.

“He has agreed to fight Trevor.”

The room was deadly silent.

Red-faced. Trevor stood his ground.

Lelandi looked up at Darien, tears in her eyes. Trevor wasn’t the killer. How could Darien have made the mistake?

“Trevor admitted he lied about taking care of mudslide victims on the night of the shootings. Why? He wouldn’t reveal the answer. But Uncle Sheridan knew. Trevor had hired the gunman who shot Lelandi, Tom, and Sam. He appeared on the ridge and killed the gunman before anyone could question him. The motive, you ask? He wanted to be sheriff. He thought his sister’s mating with me would secure that position for him in the future. But some might have heard rumors Larissa’s offspring were not my own and when Ritka revealed this to Trevor, he dreamed up this blackmail scheme. Through the sheriff’s diligence, he discovered the money in a bank account in Green Valley in Trevor’s name.”

Trevor shot a dagger of a glare at the sheriff.

Darien motioned to Chester. “Acting on our behalf, P.I. Chester McKinley helped to uncover this treachery. All the puzzle pieces fit together. Trevor was a condemned man living on borrowed time.” Darien’s spine stiffened and his eyes held a feral gleam.

But Trevor didn’t look like a condemned man, which made Lelandi suspicious that Darien and he had cooked up this whole charade.

“Except for one thing.” Darien waved at Carol. “I wouldn’t have revealed Carol’s special gift because it’s her choice, but she’s agreed to save a man’s life.”

Carol nodded.

Lelandi stared at her. She knew, too? And didn’t tell Lelandi? Inwardly, she growled.

“Carol has second sight.”

Muffled conversation renewed.

“She saw not Trevor in the vision, but another man, who shoved the chair out from under Larissa’s feet, allowing her to strangle until she was dead.”

Darien held onto Lelandi when she felt ready to collapse, but she had to remain strong as the pack leader’s mate, and she bit back the tears, willing them to stay at bay.

“Carol’s visions aren’t clear all the time, she explained to me. But one thing was—he wore a police uniform.”

“Trevor,” Sheridan said, his voice booming.

“At first, that’s what Carol thought since all evidence pointed to him. But she touched the rope the murderer had tied into a noose. That man was you, Uncle Sheridan. You went on vacation, thinking you’d committed the perfect crime—murdered my mate, who was a disgrace to the pack because she was already mated and now having another gray’s offspring. But you hadn’t planned on Larissa having a family. A sister, who would come to avenge her. Ritka must have notified you when she was at the tavern that Lelandi had arrived, and you hurried home to take care of the mess.”

“But Trevor’s gun fired the fatal bullet that killed the gunman. He was the shooter.” Sheridan said.

“My brothers and I investigated your house when you searched for evidence at Trevor’s. We had already inspected his home first and found nothing to connect him with the crimes. However, at your home, we discovered the hunter’s spray that makes an individual smell like decaying leaves. At Angelina’s home, we found the kind that makes a person invisible to other animals. Why would either of you need hunter’s sprays to hide your scent?”

Sheridan gave a coy smile. “I have no idea why Angelina would have such a thing, but the stuff I have was evidence.”

“Hidden underneath your bathroom sink? And the GHB? Used to drug so many at the hospital? We found it in the same location.”

“More evidence. I couldn’t keep it at the jailhouse. Trevor might have destroyed it. Besides, I was drugged, too, remember?”

“Conveniently, yes. To counter suspicion. And you were the one in charge of so many of the investigations. You could ‘find’ whatever suited your purposes. If you had ‘found’ the GHB used in the crime at the hospital, why hadn’t you reported it? We checked the area where we discovered Lelandi after she’d been shot. No decaying leaves like you’d said.”

Lelandi shivered, realizing how close she’d come to death at Darien’s uncle’s hands.

“I must have gone to the wrong location. At the time of the shooting, I was at a hotel—”

“We investigated the hotel already. You checked in, but you disappeared in a hurry. One of the maids said you left several items in the bathroom and on the desk. You grabbed your bag, threw it in the truck, and roared out of there like the devil was after you. Even the manager said she noticed because you nearly hit another vehicle and the driver laid on the horn,” Darien said.

“So I left in a hurry. Mason called me and said several shootings had occurred, and I needed to return at once.”

“He called you on your cell phone well after you’d left the hotel. Time enough for you to have heard from Ritka, hired a gunman, and return so you could strangle Lelandi.”

Uncle Sheridan turned his murderous glower on Trevor. “He has no alibi for the night of the shootings. He lied. And if I was strangling Lelandi, who shot the gunman?”

Darien offered a sinister smile. “You admit there had to be two of you? That the time was such that someone else had to have shot and killed the gunman? Only Jake and I knew this.”

Sheridan’s Jaw ticked in restrained anger.

“True. Trevor lied about where he was. But he does have an alibi. He’s been having an affair with an underage lupus garou.”

Ohmigod, was it Caitlin?

Sheridan looked smug. “Then the girl lied. To give him an alibi,”

“Her mother told me about her daughter’s condition. She found them in bed together in a hotel on the outskirts of town. She was giving them the riot act for an hour at the same time when the shooting of the gunman occurred. Angelina used Trevor’s gun to murder the gunman. You and she are without alibis.”

“She’s conveniently dead so she can’t defend herself. But then again, she hated Larissa and Lelandi, so maybe she did hire the gunman. She did have the blackmail money.”

Darien snorted. “You said Trevor had it.” He waved a diary in the air. “Ritka was your lover. Doc Featherston examined the body and learned she’d been mated. Ritka wrote how you’d set up the blackmail scheme and when Larissa discovered you were the mastermind, you killed her. You were obsessed with keeping the pack line clean, and Ritka feared you, although you continued to come to her night after night. She was your partner in crime, along with Hosstene and Angelina, who you conveniently disposed of. But, you, damn it, you are my own flesh and blood.”

“Your mate was a whore and brought shame to both the pack and our family’s good name. It was only a matter of time before she took off with Joe. He’d been stealing from the silver mine so he and his lover could leave here. You would have gone after her, killed Joe, and brought her and her bastard children back to the pack as your own, while she remained the female pack leader, weak and disloyal. With her lover dead, do you think she would have changed her ways? Bah! She would have been more depressed. bringing the whole pack down with her. I couldn’t allow it.” Uncle Sheridan tore at his shirt. “You want me to fight Trevor. I will.”

Lelandi hated Sheridan, but his words tore at her heart. He was probably right about everything he said. The pack would have suffered. But she couldn’t agree her sister should have died because she had loved the wrong man.

Darien grunted. “No. I only wanted to draw the truth from you. You’ve shamed the family and our pack. You’ll fight me.”

Several of the pack members patted Trevor on the back, although some gave him dirty looks. Taking an underage lupus garou was unacceptable in their society, and Lelandi wondered again if it was Caitlin.

She glanced at Doc Mitchell and his gaze met hers. Caitlin’s parents were absent. In fact, no underage lupus garou were present. When Bruin had such a gathering, everyone from the pack, regardless of age, was required to attend.

Darien kissed Lelandi’s lips. “I’m sorry, Lelandi. I had to be sure.”

“You’ve always done right by me. You will for Larissa as well.”

Darien took a deep breath and nodded. ‘It ends here and now.” He turned to face his pack. “To the field.”

The battlefield.