Training Their Mate [Pack Wars-Book 1] (4 page)

Too exhausted to come up with
a plan to find out where they lived, she dropped her purse on the dining room
table and hobbled to her bedroom. She checked behind her to make sure she’d
fastened the deadbolt. Fortunately, old habits were ingrained in her.

She undressed, dumped her wet
clothes in the washer, and then headed to the shower. She had plenty of extra
bandages to recover her knees, but the doctor suggested she not get her right
hand wet for a few days.
Right
. The
only way to accomplish that would be to place her hand in a plastic bag and tie
the ends.

Because all the drapes were drawn,
she walked to the kitchen naked. No sooner had she picked up the baggie than
the doorbell rang.

Crap
. It was probably Chelsea. She’d promised
her friend they’d talk about going out this weekend, and Liz had forgotten to
call. She glanced at her answering machine and noted the blinking light. That
was probably her. When Liz hadn’t answered, her friend probably worried and
decided to check in person. They only lived two blocks from each other.

“Just a sec.”

As quickly as she could, she
made it to her bedroom, threw on a bathrobe, and returned. When she looked
through the peephole, she froze. Both Trax and Dante stood there. She plastered
her back against the door. What could they possibly want? Had they found out
the name of the driver and had come to warn her?

They knocked. “Liz, we know
you’re in there. We just need to talk.”

She half hopped and half
skipped over to her bag, retrieved the gun, and shoved the weapon in her big
pocket. Only then did she open the door. She stood behind it and peeked out.
“Yes? Did I forget something?” That was rather curt and ungrateful sounding,
but knowing she was almost naked and they were hot, made her mind mush.

“We’re sorry to bother you,
but we need to talk to you about what you saw.”

Oh,
shit
. Trax saw those
animals change, too.

“You mean about the funny
dogs?” She didn’t know how to ask without sounding like she was a little crazy.

“Yes, about the funny looking
dogs that maybe weren’t dogs at all.”

Oh,
my God.
They were werewolves.

She let the men in. “I’d
offer you something to drink, but it’s hard for me to pour anything.” She
looked down, saw her breast exposed, and pulled the robe tighter. “Have a
seat.” Her small living room contained a cheery yellow sofa and two red
upholstered chairs. In between sat a wooden table from Walmart.

“This isn’t a social visit.”

Oh.
They were serious about these wolves.
Both men sat, but only Dante appeared relaxed.

She decided it wiser if Trax
went first. “Tell me what
you
saw.”

Dante’s lips curled up on one
end as if he was enjoying this. “That’s not how this works, sugar. We’re the
ones asking the questions.”

She was cold, tired, scared,
and downright pissed. “Who put you two in charge?”

Trax leaned forward. “Ma’am.
You have no idea who or what you’re dealing with.”

She was tired of Trax’s
intense demeanor. “Okay, so tell me Mr. I-Know-Everything, just who am I
dealing with?”

“The van that attempted to
run you down is registered to Harvey Couch.”

Her stomach caved.
No freaking way.
“Why would he want
me
dead?”

Trax glanced at his brother.
“That’s what we need to find out. What aren’t you telling us?”

A lot, but she could hardly
say she’d laced his coffee with GHB because she wanted to murder the guy. Hell,
they might haul her off to jail. “How do I know I can trust you?”

Dante leaned back against the
couch, stretched out his legs, and placed his arms across the back. He looked
perfect there.

“Go ahead, Trax. Tell her why
she should trust us.”

The hard stare Trax sent his
brother almost scared her. “Because we want to make sure the Harvey Couchs of
the world don’t cause trouble. We’ve had him under surveillance for quite some
time and believe he’s a kingpin in a drug operation.”

Drugs?
“Are you with the FBI?” Regardless of
their employer, she’d tried to kill someone. She would go to jail. She had no
intention of confessing if she didn’t have to, and only if they gave her
immunity.

“No, ma’am. We aren’t with
the government, per se. Anything you tell us will be kept in strictest
confidence. We don’t arrest people.”

Some of her tension eased.
Not that she didn’t believe Harvey Couch
was capable of being a drug lord, but his business really did bring in au
pairs.

“I worked one day for Couch.
As far as I could tell, he ran a business that provided nannies for American
families. I never saw or heard anything drug related.” Though what did she
really know? He certainly wouldn’t have confided in her if he had been doing
something illegal.

“That may be true, but we
also suspect he might be trafficking humans illegally. The Au Pairs for U might
be a front for his other business.”

Oh,
crap
.

Dante removed his arms from along
the back of the sofa and his happy-go-lucky charm diffused. “That’s why we need
to know what you found out. Maybe you saw something you weren’t supposed to,
and Harvey decided to eliminate you.”

Bile rushed to her mouth. “I
didn’t see anything.”
Other than his
appointments for the rest of the week.
She’d copied them all down.
With nothing more to add, she continued,
“Can we get back to these wolves?”

“Okay. Tell me
exactly
what you saw.” Trax seemed
single minded in his determination to find out her connection to Couch and was
unwilling to share.

She inhaled, praying she was
doing the right thing. “I was in shock mind you, but when the dogs, I mean the
wolves, ran back to the van, my vision blurred for a moment. First, I saw the
pile of fur grow. Human legs replaced their short stubby ones. Next I spotted
arms coming out of this mass and then a head formed. By the time those things
got into the van, they were fully human.”

She studied the men’s faces
but neither showed any expression. Not shock, acceptance, or confusion. Neither
said anything for a while.

“Crazy, huh?”

Trax leaned forward and
placed his elbows on his knees. She’d never seen a more alluringly powerful
man. His gaze caught hers and it was as if he could see straight into her soul.
“Harvey Couch and his men are what we call werewolves.”

An invisible hand seemed to
punch her in the belly. “You’re pulling my leg, right?”

“No, ma’am. You said you saw
wolves change into men.”

Yes, she had.
Oh, my fucking God.
It had been real.
“No way.”

“Are you doubting what you
saw?”

Yes
. “Are we talking about werewolves that
howl at the moon, and when they bite a human, that human is turned?”

Trax’s jaw hardened whereas
Dante’s lips lifted a little.

“Ma’am. That’s all stuff from
Hollywood. Couch and his men look and act like humans, albeit bad ones. They
can shift into wolves when it suits their purpose. They don’t change humans
into werewolves.
One needs to have a werewolf father
to be a werewol
f.”

She slumped back. Her whole
world was basically a lie. Right now, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know much more.
Trax seemed to have a lock on this werewolf stuff. “How do you know so much?”

“Get dressed and clean up.
We’ll talk then.”

The only comforting thing was
that Trax had confirmed she wasn’t crazy. Getting warm and being away from
these men for a few minutes might help her sort through the rubble.

She gimped into the bathroom,
brushed her teeth, and splashed water on her face. While she was warmer than
when she’d first come in, her feet were like ice and her hair still damp. Not
wanting to keep them waiting, she pulled on jeans that she had to hop to get in
to, a loose T-shirt, a baggy sweater, warm socks, and boots. The socks had been
the hardest to get on with her injured hand.

Now she almost felt human
, but couldn’t button her jeans. Damn it.
She pulled her sweater down over the
waistband and went back out. Both men were deep in conversation and stopped
when she approached. More questions slammed into her brain. They might answer
one or two, but she bet that would be the limit.

She looked over at Trax. “Were
you following Couch’s men when they drove into the alley? Is that why you were
so near?” She didn’t believe in coincidences.

“Yes. Our group intercepted
Couch’s phone call about wanting you dead.”

Her head pounded. “Oh.” She
doubted he’d go into more detail about his group. She closed her eyes and tried
to figure out what came next, and her stomach turned queasy. “Do you think
he’ll try again?”

Trax didn’t even blink. “I
don’t know. Even though you witnessed his men shift, he’ll probably figure that
even if you went to the authorities, no one would believe you.”

“I agree, but trust me, I
have no intention of telling anyone.”

“We think it would be safer
if you stayed with us. Our home is secure.”

Dante chuckled. “We have more
cameras than Central Command. No one can sneak in.”

She skewed up her face. “Even
in your bedroom?” Now why had her mind gone there? Oh, yeah. Because these men
did things to her body that no others had.

“No.” His smile made his eyes
twinkle. “Not there. We have surveillance outside the building to see who
approaches. We leave motion sensors on at night to make sure no sneak attacks
occur.”

A lot more was at stake than
just Harvey Couch. “What do you really do?” Trax seemed to be the one in this
line of business. “Who is this
group
you referred to?”

“Our group tries to keep
Gulfside safe from the likes of those types of shifters.”

It now made sense. “So you’re
kind of like ghost hunters, only you target werewolves?”

Now some joy filled his face.
“Something like that.” He sat back up. “Now tell us really why Harvey Couch
wanted you dead. Did you steal something?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

Trax said she could tell him
anything. Even if they’d lied and were cops, they would have been required to
read her her rights to use what she said against her. “I tried to kill him.”

Trax burst out laughing, and
from the way Dante’s eyes widened, it was an odd occurrence. “I have to say I
might have misjudged you. Why would you do that? It was your first day on the
job. Or should I ask, what did Harvey Couch do to deserve your wrath?”

Her thoughts shot ahead.
Maybe if she could give Trax some information that would lead to Couch’s
arrest, once the bastard was in custody, she might be able to get the rape
charge to stick. “He raped my mother. I put GHB in his coffee so he’d pass out.
Then I had planned to shoot him.”

Dante lips pressed together. “Too
bad you couldn’t have known werewolves absorb drugs differently than humans.”

Damn
. “So that’s why when I doused his
coffee, he didn’t even look sleepy. Do you think he knew?”

“Yes. He would have smelled
it.”

The bastard never let on. “I
put a ton of sugar and cream in his cup to cover up the taste so it didn’t
smell.”

“Not to you.”

While she didn’t know what
parts of the lore were true and which weren’t, she guessed that if Couch were
part animal, he’d have a keener sense of smell. “Just out of curiosity if I’d
shot him, would I have killed him?” She wasn’t sure about the silver bullet
theory.

Dante must have taken pity on
her and waved a hand. “No. Werewolves take a special kind of bullet.”

“Then it’s true that
werewolves can only be killed with silver bullets?”

Now Dante laughed and the
sound tumbled straight to her heart. “No, sugar. It’s one you have to make
yourself. One mixes a particular chemical with the gunpowder and it’s poisonous
to shifters.”

Their knowledge was
impressive. “How do you know so much?” Trax hadn’t answered her question, but
Dante seemed more receptive.

Dante tapped his head. “We’ve
been watching his kind for years.”

She’d been hopelessly outmatched.
It was a good thing on many levels that Couch hadn’t tried to attack her
because she couldn’t have done anything to
stop him.

“Tell us about your mom’s
assault.” Trax’s tone turned deadly serious.

She’d already confessed that
she wanted the man dead, so it wouldn’t do any harm to tell them the truth. “The
first time Harvey Couch raped my mother was twenty years ago. As a result she
got pregnant, but my brother was stillborn. She went into a postpartum
depression that caused my father to leave us.” She inhaled to swallow the rage.
“A few months ago, Couch returned. Only this time he didn’t seem content to
rape her once more. The bastard came back week after week.” Tears streamed down
her face.