20. Roseland
Roseland
It takes us until midnight to get clear of the forest and into the town that Kestrel knew about.
Merle is fronting, we keep her in the middle of our group, but as we pass a street, she turns down it, away from the rest of us.
I grab her hand and guide her back in the direction of the hotel.
I glance at the street sign, memorizing it, but Daega gives me a sharp look.
“What?”
“Pretend you didn’t see that.” His voice is low and full of threat that he hasn’t directed at me in weeks.
I turn my head so I can look at him fully. He’s serious, deadly serious.
“What’s down there?”
“Nothing that concerns you or her.”
I glance at Merle, who is walking away, then back at the dangerous omega. “Is it a secret that will get us killed?”
“No.”
“Is it one that will hurt her?”
He hesitates for a long moment. “No.”
“All right. I’ll leave it alone. For you.”
We’re almost at the hotel when his phone rings. I glance at him sharply. I’ve taken to keeping my phone turned off unless I need it and forgetting to turn it back on. It’s not like anyone calls me. I have…no one. Well, now I have these people. But there is no one else.
Daega smiles and puts the phone to his ear.
“Hey, babes.”
“Don’t fucking hey me, you little shit.”
“Oh, are we in one of those moods?” he teases, and I hate that smile that he’s giving someone who isn’t us.
“Do you have any idea how fucking boring this little town is, but I really gotta give it to you, you lucked out with the alphas. They are fine, with a capital F.”
She’s freaking here? I covertly look around, but I can’t see anyone.
“You won’t see Sari,” Daega says, amused by my movements.
Sari…who the fuck…oh, this is the missing RIP Alpha member. Sariah Spring, the black widow.
“He’s kinda adorables, babes.”
I groan. I hate her already. The smug, the confidence, the posturing. Villains like her are a dime a dozen. I’ve met so many of them I’m immune to their charms and strange, tough personalities.
“Just so you know, I might have a tail. He’s a pretty tail, fucking unhinged as fuck, but he’s here all the same.”
Daega stops walking, letting out a sharp sound.
Rolly reacts the fastest, dragging Merle into his arms and pressing her up against King’s broad chest.
I’m focused on the phone call.
“Is it that serious? Are you safe, Pix?”
He hesitates. “I’m safe.”
“You fucking liar. You know how I hate to be lied to.”
“We’re safe enough.”
“Bullshit. I swear, I go dark for a few weeks and come back to this. What the actual hell, P?”
Okay, I like her a little bit more now. He’s gone dark, furious, full of aggression and rage. Unhinged. I shiver. This is the killer you don’t want to meet in a dark alleyway.
“Things are complicated. Tell Father that I’m coming home and not to get excited when I bring ice cream cake.”
There’s a long silence.
“You stupid bastard.”
Pix laughs. “Tell me how you really feel, sweet cheeks.”
I don’t like that at all, but what can I do? I grab Pix by the back of the neck and tow him into the shadows, away from Merle. Divide. Always divide.
Blaze and Sage cross the street and stay there, while Rolly and King vanish with Merle.
“Stay out of this.”
I see movement out of the corner of my eye and turn to watch a curvy woman who is standing all in silhouette.
“Not a chance. We’re family. If you make a mess, then we'll clean it up together.”
Pix closes his eyes briefly. “Everyone’s a target.”
“I’m always a target,” she says tartly. “I look good in red and white.”
Pix laughs. “You do. Okay. Can you shake your tail?”
“Hmm, not sure. I might keep him. Didn’t know we’d end up here together, it’s cozy. Better the stalker you know, am I right?”
“No,” Pix growls out the words, clearly unhappy.
“Time for me to head on out, anyway. I need to go and find a certain alpha who owes me a back rub.”
She doesn’t see the shape of the man that detaches from the trees. Neither does Pix. As I watch, he turns and walks away, leaving her alone on the street. She turns, but it’s too late to see anything.
Who was that?
“He will be pleased to oblige, I’m sure.”
“He will whine and bitch, but he’s got magic hands. Okay. See you later, my friend. Fuck those alphas while you're young and not maimed.”
She hangs up and turns and walks in the direction the man went. I wonder if she still doesn’t know or if she’s just pretending not to know.
Daega hesitates. “We can stay or head out.”
“Stay. Her shadow wasn’t interested in us,” I say dispassionately.
Daega grabs my arm. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Nothing to say or see. He was there and gone. A shape. But he was here for her, not us.”
He dials her number, but the phone goes to voicemail.
“Damn it!”
He turns and looks in that direction.
“Can you find her?” I ask curiously. I don’t actually want him to find her, but the file on Sariah Spring is desperately lacking in information.
“Normally, yes. But in the mood she’s in tonight, no, I can’t.”
“Let it go, then.”
I whistle and watch Blaze walk out onto the street, Sage follows a moment later.
“Let's hole up and get some sleep,” I say in exhaustion.
Sage leads us through the village until we get to a tiny cottage with no lights on. It’s number 7 James Lane, and it’s got a rock walkway and a white picket fence with a whole yard of bushes that I bet flower like crazy and upset everyone with an allergy.
“Strange looking hotel,” I muse.
King is sitting in a recliner that looks like it was made seven decades ago, if the mustard-ribbed fabric is anything to go by. Merle is curled up on his lap, watching us with fear-filled eyes.
“It’s okay, it was just a friend,” I soothe as soon as I see the tension in her.
She visibly relaxes, and King’s almost silent purrs get louder as he, too, calms down. I wait until Blaze is in, then shut the door. Sage and I move through the house, checking the windows, doors, and searching for cameras or listening devices.
“Whose house is this?” Pix asks. “Why aren’t we in a hotel?”
“Don’t know and upgrade, do you like it? I hired it for a few weeks. Paid an exorbitant amount, too, but they rent it out all the time. It was the only one available. Two bedrooms, small. No food provided,” Rolly says and pulls out a kettle from under the sink. “Thankfully, we still have supplies.”
We’re all staring at him.
“When you commit a crime, the first thing you want to do is make sure you have somewhere to escape or hole up in. As soon as Kestrel mentioned this town, I went online and hired it.”
“When?” I almost shout. “How did you even have time?”
Rolly just flicks me a wicked and exasperating grin. “Now, I can’t be giving away all my secrets.”
He fills the ancient kettle and starts it boiling while I start hunting for wires or listening devices with more vigor.
I am ruthless and determined, and I manage to find one single camera, but it’s deactivated.
I study it, wondering if anyone would put one camera in and nothing else.
But they did disable it. I check, and it’s not connected to the power, no battery either.
Sage pauses beside me. “I did a quick investigation. He’s a widower. He doesn’t understand computers by the sounds of it. His social media presence is non-existent; he just has one to advertise this cabin. He’s sixty-nine years old and just likes to sit in his garden.”
I look back at the camera.
“When did the property change hands?”
Sage grins. “I knew you were going to ask that, sexiest stepbrother.”
I snarl at him. “We agreed to nix that term forever and always.”
Sage steps closer so his chest is pressed against my shoulder. “Anything that gets you to look at me with such heat is always worth occasionally flinging about. And seven years ago, there was a real estate listing.”
I do a rough calculation on the camera and figure it could easily fit in the before-seven-years-ago time period. Looks like the old guy is in the clear for tonight.
“If you want to play games, Brother, I can play them harder.”
Sage groans, his eyes sparkling. “Don’t tease me so.”
“Fuck off!” I say, laughing despite myself.
Sage follows me into the kitchen.
“Do you remember that night?” I ask.
“What night? There were so many of them. The teasing, the long looks, the illicit brushes of my hand against yours. You losing your temper. Which one?”
I chew on the inside of my cheek and reach for the kettle as it flicks off. I take my time filling the mugs with the soup sachets in them.
“The one where they found us out.”
Sage is quiet for so long I think maybe he’s left; instead, I find him standing in the shadows looking dangerous. His arms are tense and his legs spread. A warning runs up my spine, but this is my Sage. He won’t hurt me.
“Why are you thinking about that?”
“What happened to you after?” I say slowly. “It’s been driving me crazy for years.” I try to say it nonchalantly, but there’s a thread of hurt in my voice I can’t hide.
Several complicated expressions chase themselves across Sage’s face, but he settles on disbelief.
“I was ordered to go to that party, and I was there under duress. I was thinking about causing a massive disturbance when I saw you. None of them mattered. You were wearing the black tux with the white shirt opened almost to your navel and no tie, it was so risqué. It was the first time I’d seen you in months. You were irresistible.”
“I remember what happened.” With a growl, I rake my fingers through my hair. “I remember how you kissed me, and how everything was consensual, and how badly I wanted you. I want to know where the fuck you disappeared to when I came looking for you.”
Sage steps into the moonlight that’s coming through the kitchen window. The light illuminates his face. All that intensity, the feelings neither of us have been able to hide from. “No, you didn’t come-”
“I was there for hours. I searched for you. They told me you’d left. That you went home with an omega. I didn’t believe them. They had their goons dump me off the estate, beaten half to death, it took weeks to recover.”
Sage spins and punches the cupboard, putting his fist through the wood.
“Fuck off, Sage. I’m going to have to pay for that!” Rolly snarls. “Stop breaking shit that isn’t yours.”
“You came for me?” Sage spits hoarsely. “You were really there? Don’t fucking lie to me, Rose!” He lunges and grabs my jumper, yanking us together so we’re touching almost everywhere.
I stare at the alpha, the fury that was holding me back melts away, leaving me staring at him, completely lost.
“You think I didn’t recognise the feel between the two of us?
That pull? We’re scent matches. Fuck, Sage, we all are,” I say, glancing around the room, taking in Rolly and King, Pix, Blaze, Sage, and finally Merle.
“We are all scent matches. That scent that hits me inside and makes me feel relaxed, the one that says you are my people, that scent that is one that feels like home. We are scent matches. I knew it the minute I met you, but that night, I was going to make you mine.”
Sage groans, his eyes glittering.
“Of course, I felt it. I knew it. It was…you left, I saw you leave,” Sage whispers, grabbing my face and turning my head to face him. “You didn’t leave? Really?”
“No, I didn’t leave.”
“They took me to the training ground. It was the night I finally broke free completely and stopped even pretending to do their bidding. They couldn’t break me, they tried so hard.
There were so many people. The house burned so prettily, and I stood in the smoke and swore I’d make you mine, even if it meant I kept you in chains. ”
I laugh softly. “No chains required.”
Sage inhales sharply and then kisses me. It’s an awkward kiss because I don’t close my eyes and neither does he. We are too full of emotion. Too raw.
He didn’t leave.
He thought I did.
If our parents weren’t dead, I would kill them again. I pick up the mugs of soup to have something to do with my hands.
He pulls back, his eyes flicking down, amused by my subtle mental step back. I stare at him, my confession burning on my lips.
“I stabbed the alpha you kissed in the car outside the airport.”
Sage’s grin spreads slowly but with such delight it’s impossible to ignore. He takes the mugs out of my hands, passing them to a whining Rolly. Blaze coaxes Merle into drinking, while King talks quietly with Pix.
It’s so domesticated.
Except.
Sage throws me up against the kitchen sink, leaning me backwards over it.
“Did you kill someone because he touched me?” he whispers in ravenous desire.
I stare at him, trying to find the hate I used to have for the murderous part of myself I’ve been denying forever.
“Yes. His hands were all over you. His tongue in your mouth. He didn’t deserve to live. And he was trafficking women. But mostly, because he was touching you, and you were mine.”
Sage leans over me, his whole body pressing against mine. His cheek grazes my cheek, my eyes widen as I wait. His lips touch my ear.
“Did you commit a crime because you were jealous, Detective?”
I shudder, but the rage returns just thinking about it, and I twist, rolling and flipping him so he’s on his back on the kitchen counter. He doesn’t even try to fight me. I lean over him, baring my teeth, trying to ignore the raging hard-on in my pants.
“Yes. I did. Four times.”
I spit my confession.
I am a stalker, and I murdered anyone my stepbrother touched romantically, except for Blaze, who had settled something inside me. I am not who they all thought I was.
His eyes widen. “Aaron-” his soft exhale of my name tells me that he is pleased.
“If you, any of you, touch anyone outside of this pack, I’ll kill them.”
With that announcement of my unhinged, jealous tendencies, I stomp off, going to find somewhere comfortable to sleep.