“I always am.” I closed the door before he could mention the bat-crushing-my-face thing again.
I left through the backdoor and jogged down the porch steps to the path leading into the woods. The air was cooling a bit as it does when Autumn is near. Whenever there was a chill in the air, it reminded me my birthday was coming up. I was never big on celebrating it, but Stella always made it a big deal.
My wolf needed a run too. I liked to run into the forest for a while then let her take us back home. If I planned to shift, I’d learned to strip and leave my clothes at the entrance to the woods before starting my run. Otherwise, I’d be searching for my clothing deep in the forest the next day.
As I ran, I wondered what Stella had planned for me this year. I always did my best to put on a happy face and enjoy the parties or outings she put together, but at the end of the day, I prefer hanging alone or with just her and Isaac.
I was just relieved I was turning twenty-four and not twenty-five. She would make an even bigger deal of it because of the number. She’s funny that way. Shifters don’t care about age. Being as close to immortal as possible who cares about a measly couple of decades. But she loved going above and beyond in her plans. Isaac’s thirtieth had been insane. She’d rented out a night club and invited the entire pack. The party had ended with everyone piling into an IHOP at seven the next morning.
I really hoped she wouldn’t do something like that for me. Banking on her knowing me well enough not to do that for me, I pushed that little worry aside and switched to the note. I totally understood telling someone to stop looking into something. Hell, I write shit like that into my books all the time. So, I understood bashing me across the face and leaving a threatening note. What I didn’t understand was why they’d steal my computer. I hadn’t used it for anything related to the assaults.
Then I remembered the picture of the ancient portrait and Liam suggesting my attacker was trying to make it look like a break in, and a theory evolved. “Maybe it’s not about the assaults. Maybe it’s my researching the curse. Maybe I got too close to something.”
The man in the painting looked exactly like Liam, except for his hair and eyes. He’d denied it was him, pretty convincingly, but something about it bothered me.
Maybe it was Liam’s wealth that bothered me. Or that ridiculous mansion. Or his demeanor. Sure, he’s a smartass, but there’s something akin to elegance underneath that. Men nowadays don’t have that sophistication. And then there was Philip. Who has a manservant outside of Victorian era England or superhero comics? It all made me wonder exactly how old Liam Fraser was and how he had gotten so wealthy.
He also seemed overly attentive toward me recently. He could really be as genuine as he seems. Or he could be doing it to get close to me so he can find out what I know and stop me from learning more.
But they’d injected me with Wolf’s Bane. That would suggest it was the same people Chris had been working with. Unless Liam was only trying to make me think that by using Bane to throw me off.
“Wow, I’m writing a mystery novel around my own life,” I muttered.
When I hit ten miles, I shifted and let my wolf take us home. She took her time smelling the tree trunks, chasing small prey, and yipping at Henry. She could be deadly, but sometimes she was like a big puppy.
Back at the house I showered and scarfed down some leftover steak—shifting takes a lot out of us. We are usually ravenous if our wolf didn’t hunt before we shift back. After the steak I made a protein-filled smoothie to take with me to Best Buy.
They didn’t sell the brand of computer the asshats had stolen and after a quick search on my phone the price had gone up since I’d bought that one anyway. It had already been an extravagant purchase at the time, so more was out of the question right now. After a little more searching, I found a different brand in my price range that would work well.
It was a quick purchase, and I was back on the road headed home within fifteen minutes. Isaac’s truck was there when I pulled up to my house. He was chilling in the driver’s seat doing something on his phone. I tapped on his window as I walked by to let him know I was home.
Settling myself at the dining table, I started the computer and went through the steps to get it going. I downloaded everything I needed, removed the shit I didn’t, and logged into the cloud to retrieve my manuscript. Finally, I checked my email to find my editor had responded with her notes. A quick look at them showed I had some work to do.
“New laptop?” Isaac asked as he entered.
“Yup,” I said then told him what had happened.
His energy spiked, sending little prickles over me. His innate Beta power was stronger than anyone else’s in the pack but would never be as strong as a true Alpha’s. Or mine… but I’d never point that out. “Why didn’t she call me? Why the hell would Stella call Fraser?”
“Relax. She didn’t call him. He called my phone, she answered it crying, so he came to see what was going on.”
“Why would they steal your laptop? It makes no sense.”
“I agree.” I was about to tell him my theory on the curse being the reason, but something else came to mind. “If they are so scared of me, they won’t touch anyone in my pack, why would they be ballsy enough to attack me or steal from me?”
A flicker of something I couldn’t read passed over his face. “Yeah, that makes no sense either. You should lie low for a bit. Stop working with Fraser on this. Let him do it.”
I pursed my lips. “Hi, have we met?” I shook my head at his confusion. “You know me better than anyone else, what about me says I’ll sit back and let Liam figure it all out while I hide in my house?”
“Fine. Just be careful. Maybe don’t answer your door without peering through the window first.”
“Yep, I’ll be sure to do that. Don’t mean to cut this short, but Patricia replied, so I have a lot of work to do.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll check in on you later.”
I started to nod then his words sunk in. “Wait. Check in on me? No. Do not start thinking you need to watch over me. I’ve already set one Alpha straight today; I don’t want to have to do it again.”
“Fraser wants to look after you?”