Otherworldly Bad Boys: Three Complete Novels (30 page)

When Dana got to the room, Hollis was sitting on a couch, clutching his bandaged arm. He looked furious. When she stepped inside, she thought he was going to start throwing furniture at her.

But instead, he stayed seated. His voice was strained but controlled. “Come to gloat?”

She shook her head. “No, Hollis, why would I want this?”

“You
did
this.”

“Did you?” said a voice from behind her.

Dana turned. Avery was there. “Brooks?”

“You nearly bit him before,” said Avery. “And he seems convinced it was you.”

“I can’t believe you would say that,” said Dana. Although given what she
had
done tonight, she guessed it wasn’t really all that far off.

“They’ll smell you, Gray,” Avery said. “If it was you—”

“It wasn’t me,” said Dana. She looked back and forth between the two men. “They won’t smell me.”

Avery let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God.”

“She’s stalling,” said Hollis. “She did it. It was her.”

She rounded on Hollis. “This was a terrible accident. I’m so sorry.”

“Maybe you two were in on it together,” said Hollis. “I remember what you said at the hotel.” He pointed at Avery. “You threatened to bite me in order to kill my story.”

Avery swallowed. “Look, Mr. Moore, I’m sorry I said that. I would never do something like that, not really.”

Hollis’ nostrils flared. “I think you’d do whatever you could to protect Dana. You’ve got a big, big crush on her, and anyone with half a brain could see that.”

Dana rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, Hollis. Don’t be ridiculous.” She shot Avery a reassuring look, letting him know that she knew that Hollis was only angry.

Avery wasn’t looking at her. He had his hands in his pockets.

“You think just because you took all my notes that I won’t be able to write the story?” said Hollis.

“What?” said Dana. “Someone took your notes?”

“And my computer,” said Hollis. “Luckily, I’ve got some of it backed up in the cloud. Not all of it, of course. But I remember.” He tapped his temple. “I remember a lot.”

Avery was looking at Dana, now, his eyebrows knitted. “You think that a werewolf took your notes?”

“No, you idiot,” said Hollis. “The werewolf was busy biting me. There was someone else taking all my stuff. Someone wearing a hood. I didn’t get a good look. Guess that I’d have to file a police report for that, though. You only deal with wolves.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Dana. “Rogues don’t do that. They don’t work with humans.”

Avery stroked his chin. “And they usually don’t have the restraint to only bite someone once on the arm.”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what’s going on,” said Hollis. “I know it was the two of you. You can admit it.”

“We didn’t do it,” said Dana.

Hollis grinned. “Maybe Avery did it for you all on his own then. A way to prove his love. Must drive you crazy knowing she’s got it bad for Cole Randall.”

Avery sighed. “That’s enough.” He turned to Dana. “We came here to try to reassure him, make him feel better. That’s clearly not happening. We don’t have to stay.”

Dana glared at Hollis. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out between us. I’m even sorrier that you can’t let it go.”

“You think I won’t publish the fact that she furry-fucked him, just because I’m in here? You’re wrong. I’ll find a way.”

Dana’s stomach dropped.

Avery’s expression froze.

“Didn’t she tell you that, then?” asked Hollis. “She and Randall shifted into wolves, and then nature took its course. Couldn’t keep their paws off each other.”

Avery strode across the room to Hollis. “You’ve had a long night. You’re understandably upset. You should probably get some rest. And you should probably shut your mouth before I lose control.”

“Brooks, you don’t—”

“You too, Gray,” Avery said. “Shut your mouth.”

Dana shrank on herself.

Hollis laughed.

Avery’s jaw twitched. He shook his head, and then he stalked out of Hollis’ room.

“You bastard,” Dana breathed.

Hollis was still laughing.

“I didn’t do anything to you,” she said.

“You broke my heart,” he said, but he didn’t sound particularly sad. “All’s fair in love and war.”

“Fuck you.” She left the room and went after Avery.

Avery was halfway up the hallway. She had to run to catch up with him. “Brooks, wait!”

He didn’t wait.

When she finally matched his step, she said, “I’m sorry.” She wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for.

He wouldn’t look at her. “You know, Gray, it occurs to me that none of this is really any of my business.”

“It wasn’t on purpose. And I didn’t want to say anything, because it’s...”

“Disgusting.” He quickened his pace.

“Yes.” She struggled to match it, stretching her legs. Her voice broke.

He stopped abruptly. He looked at her. “I didn’t even know that was possible.”

Dana hung her head. “Well. It is.”

Avery pointed down the hall in the general direction of Hollis’ room. “How could you tell him that and not me?”

“He broke into Chantal’s office and stole her records,” said Dana. “He had a pregnancy test that I took. He was in my face, and...”

“Jesus,” said Avery. “Can he use information he stole in an article?”

“It doesn’t matter, anyway,” said Dana. “He’s denied contact with the outside world until the next full moon.” The policy at the SF was that the newly bitten needed focus and not distractions to complete their training successfully.

“Right,” said Avery. “But afterwards?”

“He’ll probably lose his job at
The Jefferson Post
. They’re not real friendly towards werewolves there. Hollis used to get flack just for dating me.”

Avery sighed. “So his life is basically ruined. I guess that’s why he’s so pissed.”

Dana nodded.

He laughed. “This isn’t the article that King had in mind when she asked you to pursue it, is it?”

“No,” said Dana. “I shouldn’t have ever agreed to it. I thought I could keep everything that I didn’t want people to see hidden. But that was kind of silly of me, wasn’t it?”

“Well, it’s over now. One last thing you have to worry about,” he said. “Are you sure they’re not going to find your scent?”

“Positive,” she said. “I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Yeah, I’m not so sure about that,” said Avery.

She remembered the access card and blanched. And there was the fact that she’d just come from killing a rogue. “Actually, I have something I need to tell you about tonight. It’s got nothing to do with Hollis, but it isn’t good.”

Avery closed his eyes. “Shit, Gray.”

* * *

They were in Avery’s apartment, drinking tea. They sat on his couches. Avery had buried his face in his hands.

“I know it’s bad,” she said.

“Yeah,” said Avery, his voice muffled.

“I wanted you to know, though,” she said. “I didn’t want it to hit you out of nowhere.”

“Gray, goddamn it.”

“I’m going to get fired, aren’t I?”

“No,” said Avery, raising his head. “No way. I won’t let them do that. And besides, they’d have to train another tracker.” He looked at her. “But you might get suspended.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “God.”

“King might want you to go back through the training again, like a new wolf. To get yourself under control.”

“No, that’s not going to work. The wolf and I are too connected now. I can’t separate myself from it, and that’s what the training wants you to do.”

He leaned back on the couch. “Maybe there’s some way we can fix it. We can go to Randall’s house and hide the corpse.”

“No, because that girl had a family, and if they don’t find out that she’s dead, they’ll wonder forever, and that’s not fair to them.” She started to cry. “Brooks, I never killed anybody before.”

Avery looked at her, terrified. “None of that.”

“What?”

“You can’t start crying,” he said, looking around the room anxiously. “I have no tissues.”

She choked. “Are you joking about this?”

He fidgeted. “I’m sorry. But you didn’t mean to kill her. I know that you’ve never dealt with it, because your first transformation was here at the SF. But I killed the first time I shifted, and I had to forgive myself.”

“I know that.” She took a shaky breath.

“Seriously, Gray, it’s not your fault,” he said. “You were a wolf. It’s amazing you even remember it.”

She grimaced. “Oh, believe me, I wish I didn’t. The worst thing about all of it is how much I liked it. It was... literally the most awesome thing ever. The wolf loved it.”

“The wolf isn’t you,” said Avery.

“I’m not sure if that’s true anymore,” she said. “I think maybe I used to be able to shove it down, push it away. But now, it’s coming out more and more. It’s part of me. And I can’t get rid of it. I don’t even know if I want to get rid of it.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“I don’t want to kill anyone,” she said. “I don’t want to do that. But the wolf makes me feel alive in ways I never knew existed. And it makes me feel... connected. To everything.”

“You sound like Randall’s letters,” muttered Avery.

She rubbed her forehead. Was it just Cole, in her head, screwing with everything?

He crossed his arms. “One thing I don’t understand. Why were you at Randall’s house in the first place?”

So, she’d left that part out. She was embarrassed. “Um, it was a gross and disgusting urge that I gave in to.” There. At least he didn’t know that Cole had ordered her to do it, or that she’d been sneaking down to see Cole at night.

Avery made a face. “An urge?”

“Brooks, please,” she said.

“What kind of urge?”

She squirmed. “An urge. You know.” She inclined her head meaningfully.

Avery’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

She couldn’t look at him.

“Why his house?”

“I don’t know, it seemed... exciting.” She tugged at her sleeves. “Do we have to talk about that?”

“It’s just...” Avery became interested in his hands. “It keeps getting worse. First you’re attracted to him. But now it’s not only attraction, it’s like... you
want
him. And you did things with him.”

“Not really. We were wolves.”

“Yeah, and you just got done talking about how connected you are to your wolf,” he said. “I need to know how bad it is, Gray.”

“Why?”

“Because...” He looked at her. “Because I’m your partner, and I care about you. And I don’t want you to lose your job or make me lose mine. But if I’m going to protect you, I need you to be straight with me.”

She bit her lip. “I’ve been sneaking down to see him.”

“What?”

“I stole your access badge.”

He got up off the couch. “You’re kidding me.”

“I needed to ask him things,” she said. “About my wolf. About the case. And while I was there last time, he told me to go to his house and... do things.”

Avery was speechless. He stared at her with his mouth open. His face was getting red.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Maybe you should just report me to King and get it over with.”

“Maybe I should,” he said.

She nodded. “I’m really sorry, Brooks. I know that I’m desperately fucked up here.”

He lifted a hand. “Wait. Did he say anything? About the case?”

“He said that I was going to have to think more traditionally. And he knew that Tom’s father probably killed him. When I pushed on that, he did his best to distract me.”

Avery sat down on the couch. “Traditionally? And he knew about the dad. But there was nothing in the letters to indicate that Tom’s dad was going to kill him. How would he know?”

“I don’t know.”

Avery’s phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket. “Brooks here.” He paused, listening. He was quiet for a long time, only making “uh huh” noises occasionally. “Um, no, I don’t know where she is right now. I haven’t been able to reach her.... I will tell her that if I talk to her.” He hung up the phone.

“That was something about me,” said Dana. “You just lied about me.”

Avery took a breath. “Well, they tracked the rogue who bit Hollis to Cole Randall’s house.”

“What?” said Dana.

“Where they found her, dead and mutilated in his bedroom.”

Dana’s jaw dropped. “That was the same wolf?”

“Yes.”

She put a hand to her mouth. “Oh God. I told Cole about Hollis. He told me I didn’t have to worry about him anymore. And he knew I’d be at his house. He has to be behind this.”