Ruined Wolf: A Paranormal Why Choose Romance (Claimed by the Sea Wolves Series Book 2)

CHAPTER SIX

“We’ll be leaving at about eight tomorrow morning,” Malcolm called to me as I stepped onto the gangway that led to the main dock. “That okay with you?”

“Not a problem,” I said, raising my hand in thanks.

“If you manage to wrap your business up early, the Wharfside might look a little dark and dingy, but the beer’s good, and the rooms above aren’t too bad either, not for the price.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” I replied as I strode off towards the shore. I’d managed to catch a boat to the mainland, leaving Nova sleeping peacefully in Maverick’s arms.

The image of them wrapped around each other played in my mind, irritating me. I wasn’t jealous, not exactly. My elder brother was Nova’s mate too, and strangely, since she’d accepted us both as mates, any jealousy of them being together had gone. I’d just seen the way their bodies were tangled together, a warm jumble of limbs and skin, and it made me crave the intimacy at the same time it filled me with a feeling of revulsion that overpowered anything else. For a moment, I had imagined being the one she was wrapped around, the one whose presence she needed to sleep so peacefully, but I knew I could never be that. Not with my... eccentricities. Maybe that was why she’d been fated to have two mates. Maverick could give her everything I couldn’t. It didn’t surprise me, it just made me more determined to do what I could for her. I had my own special skills that I intended to use to protect my mate. She might not be able to sleep peacefully in my arms, but perhaps I could bring her another kind of peace.

Port Moonfall was just another sleepy little harbour town along the main coastline. Fishing and tourist vessels were anchored in place, bobbing on the small waves of the morning breeze. There was a small sandy beach and shops and bars along the waterfront. The buildings were all worn, just like the coastline, battered by harsh seas and years of wear, the fronts peeling off and repainted to hide the evident damage. In spite of that, the place was lively and bustling with locals, and the sun was bright in a clear blue sky.

I started off with the more wholesome establishments—little gift shops and cafes along the front—sweet talking the shop assistants and waitresses until they were happy to chat. I had dressed for the occasion in jeans and one of Asher’s fancy cashmere roll-neck jumpers. It covered the majority of the tattoos that tended to freak out normal people until they got to know me, because then they realised the tattoos were the least of their worries.

I leaned back in my chair, flashing a cheeky smile at the girl waiting on tables in this particular cafe. On my fifth black coffee of the day, I was already buzzing. Flirting with the women of the town was making me feel antsy. I had absolutely no interest in them and was only trying to help Nova, but it still made me feel uncomfortable. Nonetheless, it was working, and when the girl came over to take my order, she was more than happy to take a few minutes to chat.

“You in town long?”

“Sadly, no...” I let my gaze fall down her body, letting her think I was sorry about the fact. She wasn’t bad looking, but even if Nova hadn’t been on the scene, I never would have even entertained the idea. One night with me would have sent her screaming, and not in a good way. “I’m just here to find out what happened to my sister.” I opened the phone and showed her a picture of Nova.

“Your sister? What happened to her?”

I shrugged. “She’s missing. Could have run off with her boyfriend, but our parents are really worried about her, and I want to find her to tell her she’s fine to come home. They aren’t mad.”

The waitress nodded, sympathy on her face. “She doesn’t look familiar. Are you sure she’s in this town?”

“No, I got word she might have passed through a few weeks ago, and I was hoping someone would know more, but I haven’t turned up anything yet.”

“Aww, I’m sorry, honey. I don’t recognise her, but you could let me have your number, and I’ll text you if she comes in.”

I wrote a number down for her on the back of a napkin—the wrong one, obviously—and she smiled warmly at me when she picked it up. I felt bad leading her on, but if you told women that you were trying to track down a girl who wasn’t related to you, then they started to think all kinds of things and were rather hesitant about divulging any information. Understandably so.

I repeated the same farce in every shop and cafe I went into, altering my approach slightly to appear like the worried older brother in the shops run by couples or women much older than me, but by the end of the afternoon, I’d still turned up nothing. It seemed Nova had definitely not come through Port Moonfall on her way to Desolation.

I wandered out of town towards the coast and leaned on the barrier, looking out towards the islands. The tips of my fingers itched as my claws pushed at my skin, my wolf aching to be free. He was as frustrated as I was. Every inch of us clamoured for bloody revenge on those who had hurt our mate, and so far, nothing.

There was a small fishing village farther north along the coast from the town, and I resigned myself to finding a bus that could get me there. That was quite a ways from the place Maverick had pulled Nova out of the water though. I guessed she could have been pulled along by the currents, but did they even move that way?

A thought occurred to me, and I pulled my phone out of my pocket, swiping it open and placing a call.

“Asher? It’s Lucas. I need something.”

There was a brief pause on the other end of the phone, then the sound of my brother sighing. He knew I only called when it was important. “What is it?”

“Is there something on that infernal machine of yours that could predict the currents of the sea around here at a particular time and date?”

“I’m sure I could find something to help, yes. I’m going to need more specifics though.”

I grimaced. It hadn’t been hard to see that Asher had a major crush on Nova, and even someone with a heart as black as mine could see he’d been crushed when we’d taken Nova as our mate on the night of the claiming. He’d been dumb as far as I was concerned. If he’d wanted to mate her, he should have just stepped up when we did to protect her, and then he could have been spending his nights lost in her scent, drenched in her...

“Lucas?”

“Yeah. I’m on the mainland. I want to know where Nova went into the water. I figured you might be able to give me a place to start searching.”

“Why are you trying to dig up dirt on your own mate, Lucas?”

There it was, that bitterness I expected. “I’m not. Someone drove her into that water and hurt her. I simply want to know who.”

“Maybe you should ask her,” Asher replied. “I’m not sure I feel comfortable helping you sneak around behind her back, Lucas.”

“Oh stop being a fucking dick, Asher. She’s terrified, anyone with any sense can see that. At least they can when they haven’t got their head stuck up their own ass. Have you seen the scars on her back?”

“What scars?” he asked, the bitterness gone.

“She’s covered in scars. Not just from the attack the night you found her, but from before. Ash, can you even imagine what someone would have to go through to end up with scars like that? Wounds that were kept open, kept being inflicted on purpose over and over so her body couldn’t keep up? Someone put her through hell for a long time, Ash. Are you telling me you wouldn’t want to hunt them down either? Or have I completely misread you?”

There was silence on the end of the phone. I held it closer to my ear, but all I could hear was clicking.

“Asher?”

Nothing.

“Asher!” I said louder.

“Yeah, yeah, hang on... There. I’ve sent the possible coordinate range to your phone. It should give you a range to start looking. I’ve blocked out places where it isn’t possible to get close to the water’s edge, unless you were desperate enough to jump off a cliff that is...”

He said it as a joke, trying to lighten the situation, but his voice faded away as the same thought occurred to the pair of us.

“Shit, Lucas... She wouldn’t have...”

“Who knows,” I muttered, my voice cold, though it wasn’t directed at my little brother. “She was being hunted... If that were you and you couldn’t shift, how desperate would you be?”

There was a brief silence, and then my phone beeped as Asher’s message came through.

“I’ve got to go. Thanks for the help.”

“Yeah. Lucas?”

“What?”

“When you find out who it is, I want to know. I want to help.” His voice was oddly calm, and there was a note in it I hadn’t heard before. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I want to know, and I want to help.”

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I grinned. My baby brother was growing up. He wasn’t a pup anymore. “You’ve got it, Ash.”

There was a click as he hung up, and I stared at the phone for a moment, shaking my head in disbelief. No more Mr Nice Guy, I guessed. It looked like Nova had a pretty big effect on him too. Maybe it wasn’t just a crush.

I brought up the message Asher had sent me. It was a link to some kind of online map, showing the coast and the surrounding islands. It looked like he had entered some kind of search criteria or something, because the map was showing a highlighted area that covered part of the coast and the sea between the mainland and the rocks where I was guessing Maverick had found Nova.

I zoomed in, studying the stretch of land on my side. There were various arrows in different colours showing where Nova could have gone into the water and the route she could have taken, calculating the strength of the current against an average swimmer. Could Nova swim? Most wolves didn’t. Part of the sea wolves’ reputation had formed because the majority of the wolves in the pack were good swimmers, even using their skills for stalking and hunting prey along the coast, as well as for other, more violent reasons.

I inched the map along the shaded area, looking at the different locations. It was quite a decent stretch of land, and I realised it was going to take me a while to search it all. Added to that, I had a horrible feeling I might have to let Maverick in on what I was up to. A large section of that land was in High Rocks Pack’s territory, so I might need him to somehow smooth things over and get them to let me search on their land...

I looked up, my eyes wide. How fucking stupid was I being? Nova had been hunted by a wolf pack before being driven into the water. The only other wolf pack anywhere near Desolation Island was farther north, the Icewind Pack, and they rarely went near the coast. Their pack land was huge, and apart from the occasional hunting party for seafood, they didn’t live anywhere near the coast. If Nova hadn’t come through town, and this graph was accurate, the only wolves who could have been involved were the High Rocks Pack. I growled, emitting a low sound that sent a couple of birds fluttering up into the darkening sky.

I turned, looking along the coast at the dark smudge of trees not too far away that marked the beginning of their territory. I had no proof, and I was too well known in the area. I couldn’t just go crashing into the pack village on my own and demand to know what happened. They’d laugh me out of the place, and even I couldn’t take on Caleb’s hunting pack alone. The ramifications for the pack would be huge. It could totally derail the peace negotiations, and after Maverick rejected his intended mate, I highly doubted that they would be understanding. As it was, tensions were running high, and Ethan had already told Maverick that they were a spark away from a pack war—not the cold war we’d experienced so far, but full-on attacks by their hunters. Nova would have known this too. No wonder she hadn’t revealed who her attackers had been. But why had they even attacked her? Caleb was a smarmy wanker, but I didn’t see him as the type to order his hunters to take out one woman encroaching on his territory.

There must be more to the story, and as much as I hated to admit it, I needed proof, so I would need to take it to Maverick. I just hoped he would figure out a way for us to tear them apart without endangering the rest of our pack.

Stuffing my phone back into my pocket, I turned my back on the High Rocks Pack’s territory and headed into town. This time I moved away from the twinkling lights of the harbour and into the more shadowy parts of town. Even Port Moonfall has its seedy areas, and I knew them well. I wandered along the narrow streets, looking for the right place, and it didn’t take long before I found it. A couple of large guys stood outside, the cloud of noxious fumes around them making it clear what they were up to. They eyed me suspiciously as I walked straight past them, not giving them a second glance. Size didn’t scare me. Everyone had a weakness, and it usually didn’t take me long to find it in a fight.

I stepped inside the bar and instantly regretted it. The place stank of beer, piss, and stale sweat. Faulty neon lights flickered on the walls, casting a weird, fucked up rainbow over the patrons’ faces. Most sat in small groups, but others sat at the bar, and the noise of chatter and some kind of heavy metal music was deafening to my wolf senses. I gritted my teeth and stepped up to the bar, shoving my way between the two groups of men to try to attract the bartender’s attention.

He finally looked up from a beer he was pouring and raised his eyebrows at me questioningly. “What can I get you?”

“A beer and information,” I replied curtly. Conversations stopped abruptly around me as every head nearby turned to look at me in surprise.

“What kind of information?” the bartender asked slowly with an air of suspicion as he wiped down a glass with a rag that had seen better days. I leaned forward and lowered my voice so only he could hear me.

“I’m trying to find someone.”

The bartender set a bottle down in front of me. “And who, exactly, are you trying to find?”

“This girl. She dropped out of college and ran off with her boyfriend who’s a real jerk. We think she came through these parts a few weeks ago, and her family is desperate to find her.”

The bartender leaned forward and studied the picture of Nova, then shook his head.

“She doesn’t look like the type to come in here. Sorry, mate.”

“Even if she was the drinking type, she still wouldn’t be able to come within fifty feet of this place,” a guy sitting two stools down slurred.

I turned to look at him, taking a casual drink from my beer. “And what makes you say that?”

The guy gave a sharp laugh. “Because that’s no college dropout. That’s Nova Dawes, Caleb’s daughter, and we all know the leash he keeps on his women.”

My eyes narrowed, and I fought to keep my composure. Nova was Caleb’s daughter? What the actual fuck? “Do you know her?” I asked, gesturing for the bartender to pass me another beer. He did, and I slid it down the bar to my new friend. He looked down at it and grinned.

“Nah, I don’t know her. Just saw her is all. I do deliveries down at the village sometimes, and I caught sight of her once or twice. Pretty thing, just a bit too timid for me.”

“Timid?” I raised my eyebrows. That didn’t sound like Nova.

“Yeah, well, if the stories are anything to go by, it ain’t surprising,” the drunk’s friend chimed in. Another beer slid across the bar.

“Keep talking,” I said. The two men grinned at each other and each took a drink.

The second guy shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not fact, I mean, no one knows for sure, and no one’s ever complained, but I’ve been there a few times too, with Fred in the van, and the women, they ain’t normal... you know? They don’t speak back to the men, no matter what they say. One of the fellas there told this woman to do something, and she just did it, no hesitation or anything.”

“That’s not exactly...” I frowned.

“Mate, this guy told her to get on her knees in the mud and show him her place. She did it, covered in mud too, and soaking wet. My wife would have laughed in my face. No, it’s not right out there. The women, they are too scared.”

“And they never come into town. Most of the guys do, but not the women, and certainly not Caleb’s daughters. They are kept in their place, mark my words.”

And yet Nova had escaped somehow. I made a mental note to ask Maverick if he knew any more details. Though how I could do that without letting on that I knew where Nova was from might prove difficult. It was becoming clear I’d need to keep this to myself for a while, at least until tensions had calmed a little or until Nova felt safe enough to speak out herself.

“Have you seen her recently?” I asked.

The first guy shook his head. “Come to think of it, no, I haven’t seen her in a long time.” He frowned. “Wait, are you looking for her for Caleb? Because I thought she maybe went off to college or something, but yeah, if she went off with a mate, he’d be fucking livid. I’m not saying anything else if you’re working for him. If that girl got out, all the luck to her.”

I gave him my friendliest smile, but it didn’t seem to reassure him. “I’m not working for Caleb. Far from it. I’m just trying to make sure she’s safe. You think she left?”

“I guess. It would explain where she went.”

The second man shook his head. “Caleb never would have let her out of the compound. No, if that girl disappeared, I’d be looking around the cliffs for a body.”

“Reckon she jumped like those other guys? That’d be sad.” The first guy shook his head and stared at the beer in his hand.

“Other guy?”

The second guy nodded. “A few weeks ago, two of the villagers took swan dives off one of the cliffs there. Found their bodies the next day. Weird. Some fucked up shit going on down there. I’d suggest you keep out of it, mate. Caleb isn’t one to fuck with.”

I drained the rest of my beer and stood up. “Bottle of whiskey for my friend here,” I told the bartender, passing over my card. They grinned at the bottle and glasses set before them.

“Don’t worry,” I said, slipping my phone into my pocket. “I’m not one to fuck with either. Have a good night.”

They stared up at me, and I smiled then turned and walked out of the bar. There was nothing else I was going to find here, and I needed a room for the night. Nova’s secrets were beginning to unravel. I could see why she’d kept them. She was afraid we’d return her to her father and start trouble between the packs once we realised it had been the High Rocks Pack knocking her about. I pondered what to do as I walked along the dark streets. As I stepped out into the more well lit part of town and headed towards one of the nicer hotels, I made up my mind.

I would keep it to myself for now. Maverick had enough on his plate without me dropping this nuke too, and I’d bide my time, at least until relations between the packs settled down again. The men of High Rocks could sleep in peace. For now.