A Wolf's Heart (Harlequin Nocturne) (13 page)

She closed her eyes and moaned as he fell forward onto her back, wrapping his hands around her body, filling his palms with her breasts as he buried himself deep. He could barely breathe as he continued to slide in and out of her. He moved one hand down and cupped her where they joined. Two fingers slipped over her creamy silk, circling the sensitive bundle of nerves at her center. As he pressed one then two fingers down on her, he could feel her orgasm building and knew she’d come soon, just as he would.

His thighs tightened, and his breath hitched in his throat just as she cried out his name and tore at the sheets beneath her. As if in an attempt to escape her pleasure Elise tried to crawl away from him, but Gabriel held her down with his body, coaxing more from her with his clever fingers and his tongue on the back of her neck. She quivered uncontrollably and cried out just as Gabriel shuddered above her and, hugging her tightly, lost himself to his own orgasm.

Chapter 17

“W
e found the driver.”

Gabriel ran a hand through his messy hair as he stood on the deck of Elise’s bedroom and looked across the yard toward the trees. Sophie had called, so he’d slipped on his jeans and padded out to the deck. He didn’t want Elise to hear the call.

“And?”

“Looks like suicide.”

“But, you don’t think so.”

“No. It’s too convenient. I don’t like it.”

“What was the method?” As he leaned on the railing, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure Elise was still in bed. She was, her slender naked back to him.

“He was found hanging in his apartment.”

“Any sign of forced entry?”

“No. And there are no marks on his body. Nothing to indicate he didn’t stand on the chair, toss up the rope and hang himself.”

“Any suicide note?”

“Yeah. ‘I didn’t mean it.’ Which, to me, covers just about anything, including I didn’t mean to hang myself.”

“You have a gut feeling about this?” he asked. Sophie was a good investigator with strong intuitions. He trusted them.

“Yeah.”

Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair again. “Okay, do what you have to. Make sure to run a tox screen. Do you need me there?”

“Nah, you’re doing what you need to do there. Keeping Ms. Leroy safe. Because I honestly believe she’s in danger.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I do, too.”

“I’ll keep you updated.”

“Yeah, okay.” He pushed away from the railing. “Oh, hey, can you do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Could you find out anything about a Rob that works at the
Chronicle?
He was out here taking pictures. I guess he has a cousin in a hamlet nearby who saw us.”

“What do you want me to do with him if I find him?”

“Just keep an eye on him and what he’s writing in the
Chronicle.
I told him to keep his mouth shut or bad things would happen to him. But you know how some reporters can be.”

“You got it, Gabe. Anything else?”

“Just do your job well, you know?”

“I know.”

“And keep me in the loop.”

“No problem.”

“Talk to you soon.” He flipped his phone closed and gritted his teeth. God, he hated not being able to do his job. To dive into the investigation and find and collect the evidence. He felt like a complete failure standing here on this deck looking out at this beautiful scenery as if on a grand holiday. He felt he was failing his team.

He was still gazing across the yard, frustrated and angry, when Elise came up from behind and wrapped her arms around him, pressing a kiss to the back of his shoulder.

“What a gorgeous day.”

He didn’t respond.

She moved around him so she could see his face. “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t know if he should tell her. He didn’t want to scare her, but maybe that was what she needed, so she could finally realize how much danger she was really in. Then maybe she would listen to him when he told her to do something or not do something. He did it for her safety. Always to keep her safe.

“Your driver supposedly hung himself. They found his body.”

Her eyes narrowed. “But you don’t believe that. You think he was murdered.”

“Sophie doesn’t buy the suicide. She’s looking into all the possibilities.”

“You think this has something to do with me.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences.”

Pursing her lips, she turned to lean on the railing and look across the expanse of the yard. “Do you think he was murdered by the same person who’s after me?”

“My team is going over all the evidence.”

She whirled around. “I’m not asking about the evidence, I’m asking what you think, what you honestly believe.”

He rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “I believe you’re in danger.”

She looked at him for a long moment. “Well, we already knew that, right? That’s why you’re here. To keep me safe.”

He wanted to tell her that it was more than that. That he’d agreed to come because of more than his need to protect her. He carried deep-seated emotions for her. Emotions that crippled him sometimes.

For now he just nodded, and brought one hand up to her shoulder. He ran his fingers over the bite marks he’d given her.

“Do they hurt?”

She shook her head, but he could see in her eyes that something else did. She pulled away from his touch. “I’ll go fix us something to eat. How about crepes?”

Nodding, he let her go, when what he really wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and take her back to bed. He knew what he was doing there. It was between that and his job that he was lost. He didn’t know how to be just Gabriel with her. Especially when he wasn’t too certain just who the real Gabriel Bellmonte was. Protector? Lover? Friend? The question was, could he be all three to her and not lose himself in the end?

* * *

Elise pulled open the refrigerator and grabbed the egg carton. She proceeded to crack three eggs into a bowl, pretending the egg was Gabriel’s head.

She was trying hard not to think about the things she knew he wasn’t telling her. He’d always been like that.
Do as I say, but I’m not going to tell you why.
He was a stubborn jerk sometimes with a thick skull.

Yes, she could be stubborn, as well. She always thought she could protect herself. She was tough and resourceful and never counted on anyone to do something for her. Especially not something she could do herself.

But despite her complaints about the situation, now she knew she needed help. She knew there was a threat looming. Still, Gabriel didn’t have to treat her like a child. She was a grown woman who could rip out a man’s throat if need be. Her sangloup genes gave her that kind of power. She definitely wasn’t defenseless, even if Gabriel liked to treat her as such.

Elise added the salt and sugar and butter, and then moved to the refrigerator for milk. The milk jug was empty.

Tying her robe tighter around her waist, she went across the kitchen to the front door. Hopefully the milkman had already visited. It was late in the morning so she thought he would have.

The moment she twisted the knob on the door and pulled it open she knew there was something wrong. She could smell it in the air before she could even consider what it was.

The stench of death was unfathomable, but it was all the blood that dropped her to her knees. The front porch was awash in crimson. Flies congregated in it, as if around an office watercooler, drinking their fill. But it was the glassy dead eyes of the gutted wolf staring into her that made her freeze with fear.

She screamed.

Chapter 18

G
abriel was there in three seconds flat, hugging her close. He must’ve sprinted through the house, finding her crouched on the floor, her back to the wall. He rocked her and stroked a hand over her hair.

“It’s okay. I got you.”

“That poor animal,” she sobbed. She’d seen death before. As a wolf, she’d even inflicted her own upon rabbits and squirrels and other small game, but this…

This was a cold-blooded massacre.

There was rage and ruthlessness and hate behind this killing. And the message was clear.

“I’ve got to check it out, baby.” He kissed the top of her head, then stood and turned to go out the door and onto the porch. “I’ll be right back.”

She watched him as he stepped gingerly onto the porch, taking care to not step in the blood. He surveyed the scene and then returned.

“I need to get my kit from the car. The scene is fairly fresh, so the blood hasn’t congealed too much. I’d say this was done a couple of hours ago max.”

She shivered at that and pulled her knees closer to her chest.

“I’m going to call it in and get a team here.” He touched her head to get her attention. “Do you hear me, Elise? I’m going out back and around to the car.”

She glanced up at him and nodded that she understood. He smoothed his hand over her hair then walked toward the kitchen to go out into the backyard.

She didn’t know how long she sat there against the wall, arms wrapped around her body. Time seemed irrelevant. The front door was open, the bloody scene in her peripheral vision. She didn’t know if she’d ever get that smell out of her nose. Death had a habit of hanging around a lot longer than a person wanted. It was something she’d never forget for the rest of her life.

By the time anything started to register, Gabriel was back, standing in front of her. He reached down and grabbed her arms, pulling her to her feet. With an arm around her shoulders, he guided her into the living room and down onto the sofa. Once there, he wrapped her with a blanket and went back into the kitchen. He came back with a steaming cup of tea.

He put it in her stiff hands. “Drink it. It’ll help ease the shock a little.”

She took a sip, then another, and another, until the entire drink was gone. She felt a little better, warmer, and not so brittle cold. When she set the cup down, Gabriel sat down beside her, near enough that she could grab on to him if she wanted, but far enough away to allow her the illusion of independence.

“My team will get here as fast as they can. An hour and a half I’d say if Sophie’s driving.”

She nodded and then looked out the big bay window at the front of the villa. It was turning into a beautiful sunny day. It almost made her sick to see that.

She turned back to Gabriel. “Who would do something like that?”

“Someone who’s unstable. Whoever did this has some serious mental problems. And those instabilities are focused on you. It was no coincidence that the animal was a wolf.”

She got that loud and clear.

“I want to do another sweep around the villa and see if I can pick up any scents, or maybe even get lucky and find a footprint.”

She nodded.

“But I don’t want to leave you unless you’re okay.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

She looked into his face. She could see he was really trying to be there for her, when what he wanted to do was go and investigate and collect the evidence and solve the crime. He was good at his job, and she knew he’d solve this one. He’d find the person responsible for this terrible thing. He’d bring him to justice.

“Go do your job. I’ll be fine. I just need to sit here for a while and breathe.”

He smoothed a hand over her hair and then bent forward to kiss her on the top of her head. “I won’t be long. Just a search of the area. I’ll have the house in view the whole time.”

He stood, and she watched him go out the back again. When he was gone, she pulled the blanket up tighter around her chin and snuggled down into the comforting cushions of the sofa. It should’ve been a good day, a relaxing day full of sun and comfort and love. But now all she could think about was that death had come to her door. And he wasn’t going away anytime soon.

* * *

Gabriel walked around the house twice before taking up a stance near the porch at the front. He didn’t notice any unfamiliar footprints near the house. He recognized his own and Elise’s and that was it. So whoever had done this had approached from the front.

The house was isolated, trees all around, the main road hidden by a long driveway and more trees. So it was possible for the perpetrator to carry the wolf and gut it on the porch in plain view. There were no blood drops off the porch, so it made sense that was what he had done. The perp probably caught and killed the animal in the woods, then carried it here to do his work.

But that would mean the perp had to have been covered in blood. There was a mess on the porch. There was no way someone gutted the wolf and walked away clean. It would’ve been impossible.

Gabriel walked around the porch, examining it from every direction. He looked along the edge of the wood and the grass around it. There had to be blood drops somewhere. The perp couldn’t have just vanished. He didn’t know of any Otherworlder that possessed that kind of power. Not even an ancient, pure-blooded vampire.

And that was when he spotted two small drops on the underside of the railing along the porch.

He examined them and then glanced directly down into the grass. Crouching, he pushed aside some blades, looking at the ground. There was another drop, no larger than a button. He rushed back to his crime-scene kit, took out the stack of plastic numbers and returned to the site. He set down a number one next to the first blood drop. Still crouching, he moved along the grass line, and found another small drop about four feet from the first one. He set another plastic card down. Then he found another six feet away. The line was going in a northerly direction right through the trees that lined the road leading to the cottage.

Leaning his face down to the latest blood drop, his nose an inch above it, he inhaled deeply. If he could catch the scent maybe he could follow it that way instead of on his hands and knees brushing through the tall grass. Closing his eyes, he took in another breath then another, until finally he could identify the smell beyond the others in the field.

Standing, he raised his nose and caught the scent almost immediately. Then he started to run. Within minutes, he was through the trees and to the gravel road. He followed the scent along the ditch until it just stopped. Obviously the perp had had a vehicle waiting for him. He set another plastic marker along the ditch.

Crouching down again, Gabriel examined the road looking for tire treads. Maybe he’d get lucky and find one that they could mold and match in a tire-tread website. But after another fifteen minutes of looking, he couldn’t find any distinguishable patterns.

His cell phone rang from his pants pocket. He slid it out and flipped it open. “Bellmonte.”

“We’ll be there in forty-five minutes max.”

Shaking his head, he pushed through the trees again to head back to the house. “Forty-five minutes? You must be traveling, at what, one hundred and forty?”

Sophie chuckled. “Give or take ten kilometers.”

“Okay, see you then.” He flipped the phone closed, and walked the rest of the way back to the cottage.

He decided he should check on Elise. But as he passed the porch to head around back, another scent wafted to his nose. It had the odor of something familiar. Spiced blood. It was a vampire smell, but it was a bit different. And he was sure he’d smelled it before.

Jogging now, he ran around to the back, onto the deck and through the open kitchen door. “Elise,” he called.

He went into the living room where he’d left her. She wasn’t there. Just the blanket she’d been wrapped in lay on the floor.

“Elise!” he yelled. Swinging around the room, he took deep breaths of air. Her scent was still strong. She’d been here only moments before.

Heart racing, he rushed down the hall to her room. She wasn’t there. Panic made his head swim. Then he heard the sound of rushing water. He moved through the bedroom into the bathroom and saw her in the shower.

Still in her robe, she was sitting with her back to one of the walls. Water pounded down on her. As he approached, he could see that she had her face in her hands, resting them on her bent knees.

He pulled open the shower door. She looked up at him, her face wet, her hair sticking to her cheeks and forehead. The broken expression on her face nearly knocked him over.

“The smell of death won’t come out,” she said matter-of-factly as she picked up her sodden silk robe and showed it to him.

Gabriel reached down and grabbed her hand in his. She was shaking badly. Keeping her hand in his, he came into the shower stall and sat down beside her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. He nuzzled his face into her wet hair, trying hard to keep his emotions in check. It wouldn’t do her any good to see him rattled, to see him nearly broken apart by her pain and despair.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, baby. I’ll keep you safe.”

She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. Even though he couldn’t feel or see the tears on her face, he knew she was crying. Her whole body shook with the power of her despair.

He rocked her and mumbled soothing words to her until the water ran cold.