Authors: AJ Hampton
The lines around his eyes and mouth deepened, his only show of emotion.
“
Who?
”
Guilt consumed, made it hard to speak the leopard
’
s name aloud.
“
Becca, at the clinic, James needs us there. The cops want to ask us a few questions.
”
“
I
’
ll kill Grady.
”
Peter ripped open the truck door and climbed inside. The trip into town, much like the ride to the cabin, was made in brooding silence.
The scene they drove into was familiar, one she hadn
’
t been able to get out of her mind since finding Greg
’
s body. Policed milled around, the entire station in attendance. Blue and red lights spun, and she cast her gaze to the plain, unmarked corner
’
s van.
Peter
’
s truck slid into the parking lot, jerked to a stop that threw her against her seatbelt. He was out of the truck before she could
wrestle out of the safety restraint. Panic grew as she watched Peter through the windshield. Peter locked gazes with Grady. The detective hissed something under his breath and trudged across the parking lot toward
Peter.
She scrambled out of the truck and almost fell on her face in her haste. At a dead run, she sprinted to catch up with Peter
’
s long stride. He
’
d made it half way across the lot. Evidence or no, he was going to tear Grady
’
s throat out in front of the entire Bellows Falls Police Department.
She threw herself in front of Peter, her chest colliding with his. He never took his gaze off Grady, never stopped moving forward. He pushed her along, her feet scrambling over the snow in an awkward
,
backward jog.
“
Peter, stop,
”
she whispered.
He ignored her. Grabbing his face, she forced his gaze to hers. The corners of his eyes changed, enlarging and lengthening. Sharp canines pressed from his mouth.
“
Look at me,
”
she demanded, and almost fell when he came to an abrupt halt.
He curled his lip, snarling, presumably at her order. Behind her, the approach of boots crunched through snow. Grady was still far enough away
that
she had time to get Peter to rein in his anger.
“
You have to get yourself under control. I know you want his blood, but now is not the place. They will shoot you the second you lay a hand on him. Do you want to expose the entire Pard? Because right now you are seconds from sprouting fur.
”
He took several deep breaths, his chest rising and falling against hers. His eyes slowly melted back to normal. Teeth receded. He gripped her hands where they cupped his cheeks and she thought he
’
d pull her grip off. Instead, he pressed into her, tightening her hold.
“
I don
’
t know if I can do it,
”
he said quietly, and she knew how much the admission of weakness cost.
She shook her head, looked deep into his eyes.
“
You will because you
’
re strong and smart and whether you admit it or not, you care about Greg, James, and the rest of the Pard. You will protect them above all else. You are Alpha. You told me it
’
s instinct to put them above yourself. You need to do that now, for the Pard, for me.
”
Snow began to fall, flakes swirling. They landed in his hair, on his shoulders. He looked like a fallen angel, his dark hair and eyes glittering with fury and indecision.
“
Is there a problem here?
”
Grady asked.
Eva turned, but didn
’
t break physical contact with Peter. In front of her, Grady stood erect with a hand on the butt of his gun. A few of the milling officers noticed, including his father, the Chief, and made their way closer to the potential problem.
She stepped backward into Peter, the heat of his chest lining her back. He curled a hand around her waist, dug his fingers into her clothes.
“
No problem,
”
she answered quickly, had a hard time meeting Grady
’
s swollen face. She knew what Peter was capable of doing.
“
Peter is very close to the Graysons. He isn
’
t taking Becca
’
s death well.
”
Peter grunted something she didn
’
t understand.
Grady looked them both over, assessed, and then withdrew a notebook
from his back pocket
.
Out of
the corner of her eye, she spotted James deep in a conversation with the chief of police. Her uncle had stopped him from coming over. She also saw the clinic. Her breath caught and she took an automatic step toward the damaged single
-
story wood building.
Greg
’
s dream, his sole focus for the last fifteen years, had been
ravaged
. Peter tightened his hold, kept her from running across the parking lot. Glass littered the ground in front of the empty holes where darkened windows once stood. Bright red paint marred the brown wood structure with words like
“
w
hore
”
and
“
mine.
”
Hadley Grimes,
not
dressed in his usual suit, now wore a dark jumpsuit. He exited through the front entrance of the clinic
,
pushing a sheet-covered gurney. Becca.
She turned in
to Peter, remorse coalescing. He
cupped the back of her head, made a soothing noise against her ear and held her closer. She broke apart in his arms, no longer caring about anyth
ing except how many lives she
’
d ruined
. Becca had been so young, so beautiful
, and now s
he
was dead because of Eva. The guilt was unbearable.
“
Peter,
”
Grady voice penetrated.
“
I need to ask you a few questions. Let
’
s take a walk.
”
“
Now?
”
he growled, the rumble shaking her.
“
Or at the station. It
’
s your choice.
”
“
Grady,
”
James interrupted, joining the group.
“
Can
’
t you see how upset Eva is
?
D
on
’
t make it any worse.
”
“
Make it worse?
”
Grady hissed, voice rising.
“
I
’
ve got two dead bodies, both at Eva
’
s clinic. She
’
s got a new boyfriend who happens to show up right when the murders started. I don
’
t believe in coincidences. I know he
’
s violent, I saw the marks on Eva the night after they were together. He broke my fucking nose.
”
“
Watch your language,
”
James demanded, stepped closer to her.
Peter let out a low hiss of warning, a sound she hoped Grady didn
’
t hear.
“
Oh come off it,
”
Grady said, totally unmindful to the power struggle mounting around him.
“
She isn
’
t a little girl. This entire situation pisses me off, and Eva is right smack in the middle of it. I don
’
t want the next dead body I find to be hers.
”
James turned to her, avoided Peter
’
s gaze.
“
Eva, why don
’
t you come with me? I
’
ll drive you home so Peter can talk to Grady. You don
’
t need to be here, to see any of this.
”
“
The fuck you will,
”
Peter said.
“
Last night I stayed at Eva
’
s. I left about midnight to get a change of clothes from the cabin I rented. I lost my key, had to go to the office, Gloria can confirm that. I was out of there by one, returned the key and checked out. By one
-
thirty, I was back at Eva
’
s. I woke her up and we took a road trip in the middle of the night, decided to go to the hunting cabin. I got gas on our way out, you can check with Larry at the station. We came back as soon as James called.
”
Grady sneered, scribbled in his pad hard enough to impress the text into a few layers of paper.
“
You better believe I
’
ll be checking that out. Eva
,
you agree with everything he just said?
”
She nodded, looked into his smoky eyes, tried to picture him shooting Greg, killing innocent little Becca.
Apparently as satisfied as he was going to get, Grady closed his notebook.
“
Don
’
t leave town,
”
and he walked away.
“
He
’
s a dead man,
”
Peter growled.
“
What
’
s the real reason you went to the cabin in the middle of the night?
”
James asked, coming in close so they weren
’
t overheard.
“
Don
’
t worry about it,
”
Peter said, walking away from James and pulling
Eva
with him toward the truck.
“
Where are we going?
”
she asked.
“
I
’
m Alpha, it
’
s my responsibility to talk to the Graysons. I won
’
t let Becca
’
s murder go unpunished. I will prove Grady killed her, and when I do, I
’
ll let the Graysons have a piece of him. That
’
s Pard law.
”
“
Then I
’
m going with you. I can help them, heal a little of their pain. It
’
s the least I can do.
”
He stopped walking. With narrowed eyes, he searched her gaze.
“
Heal them. You mean that literally
,
don
’
t you.
”
She drew in a deep breath. Things she
’
d
imagined herself telling him over the last few days, but never dreamed of
actually
doing, spilled out.
“
I don
’
t remember the year I came to Greg, but he told me the story. He
’
d walked into a bear trap, the clamp shattering his ankle. I stumbled upon him,
‘
a battered angel from heaven,
’
he said. I put my hand on his wound and healed it.
”
She paused, cupped Peter
’
s cheek.
“
I didn
’
t just fix his ankle, I healed his broken heart. He told me I gave him the ability to love again. The last couple of days I
’
ve been going through his stuff. I found pictures of your mom, of you growing up. There were letters, Peter, dozens of them address
ed
to you in Montana. I don
’
t know what happened between you—
”
“
Stop,
”
Peter said, pressing a finger against her lips.
“
The Greg I knew was an unloving asshole who drowned his sorrow with liquor and wallowed in guilt. Maybe you did heal him
,
Eva, and maybe,
”
he glanced at the clinic, a place where Greg had devoted his life
to
helping others,
“
maybe, he became a changed man from the selfish drunk I knew. But the dad I remember and the father you knew aren
’
t the same person. He loved my mom and when she died he stopped loving me. End of story.
”