Fierce (Wolf Ranch 5)

I licked my lips, tipped up my chin. “Yes.”

“How long has it been going on?”

“A month.”

“Are you doing it for the money?”

I shook my head. “No. He was blackmailing me. I have proof. Oh, my phone. I recorded all of this to try to get out of it, to take to the police along with the ketamine I’d ordered. That’s why he attacked me.” He dropped his hands, and I dashed over to grab it from the trailer. I looked down at it, saw that it was still recording. Minutes and minutes of everything that had just happened.

“Delete it,” Levi said, his voice calm and even.

I stared at him, mouth open and wide eyed. “I’m going to go to jail for murder.”

“Do you think I’d let my mate go to jail? That I won’t protect you from anything?” He glared at Dax even though he was dead.

“Mate?” I squeaked. I remembered the words Rob had used. Happy mate, happy fate. Oh God, they were all werewolves, weren’t they? All of them knew. Had kept the secret.

“Yeah, mate, and I won’t let anything happen to you.” He tipped his chin toward my phone. “Deleted?”

I glanced down at the device, swiped my finger a few times. “Yes.”

“Good girl. Now call the police.”

My mouth fell open once again. Was my brain slow or was what he was asking so confusing? I couldn’t keep up with what he was planning. “What? Why?”

“Call them. Tell them you came across a dead body. It looked as if he’d been attacked by an animal.”

I blinked, processing.

“Make the call, doll. Everything’s going to be fine. I promise.”

29

LEVI

It took two hours of questioning before the police allowed us to leave. They’d asked us all kinds of questions about what had happened, and we’d told the truth. Minus the blackmail. Charlie had called her boss, Mr. Claymore—I’d never found out his first name—right after the police, and he’d come down from his fancy mansion. He’d ensured Charlie was all right and waited with us for the police. Once the questioning started, he’d listened to every word. I saw how Charlie was a good fit for the very precise older man. He seemed as worried for Charlie. Thankfully, the guy wasn’t an asshole. In fact, the opposite, more concerned about my mate than anything else. I had no doubt news would spread, but he didn’t give a shit. That either made him a decent guy or rich enough to not care.

I’d told Charlie to stick to the facts, to tell as much truth as possible, which she’d done. While she was still shaken up, she’d given a thorough report. She’d just returned from Montana and had parked at the back of the stable to put Seraphina in the paddock after the long ride. She’d found Dax, her co-worker on the ground. Dead.

The medical examiner had taken one look and agreed with Charlie’s professional opinion about an animal attack, possibly a wolf. They’d been seen up in the mountains and while unlikely, there was no other plausible explanation for what happened to Dax.

It wasn’t as if they’d expected Charlie to be a wolf. The idea of anyone shifting into an animal was only something humans expected in fiction or the movies. Even if the police detective had been unconvinced, she had an alibi. She’d been seen in Montana the night before and had a credit card receipt for gas in Wyoming in the middle of the night. As for me, I’d been on a plane and had chased Charlie down because I was madly in love with her, and she’d left in such a huge hurry—her grandfather had been unwell, and she’d returned home in a rush to get to him—she hadn’t said goodbye.

Charlie’d given me a wide eyed stare as I professed my love for her to the local police. Claymore had smiled. Yeah, he wasn’t an asshole. Between that pussy-whipped statement and the fact that I was the sheriff in Cooper Valley, Montana, the detective was on my side.

The only thing Charlie had thought of was the box of ketamine that Dax had been holding. She’d told me it had to go back to her office, that it was supposed to be there, and she had a co-worker justify its presence. She’d given me a twenty second explanation that a coworker named Bob had believed she’d added an extra zero to the quantity by mistake. The vials would be put to use, but wouldn’t need to have another shipment for a while.

The body had been taken away. Mr. Claymore told Charlie to take a few days off with her man while he dealt with everything else. It was his problem to deal with... not Charlie’s. After all that, we’d been free to go. Since the truck belonged to Claymore, Charlie rode with me in the rental. Once we cleared the gates to the property, I pulled over.