Hunted (16 page)

Matt opened his mouth and shut it when I shook my head. I wasn’t done yet.

“Danny, is there any way to find out if my old cell phone is activated after I make the call?”

“There is.” Now he grinned and I relaxed some. “You’re planning on blocking your number when you call him and you think he’ll call your old cell phone after you hang up.”

“I do and that will help put another nail in his coffin. The only way he’d have that number is if the trackers recovered my phone and then gave it to him.”

“And if he does, we can locate the phone and the trackers.”

“Yep.” I watched Matt, praying he agreed.

“How long do you need to get things set up with the cell phone provider?” Matt asked.

Danny grinned again as he pulled out his phone. We waited as he programmed in a number. He had a quick conversation with someone I assumed was a judge, promising to get a written copy of the oral search warrant he was requesting emailed to the judge within the hour. Then he ended the call. “Give me an hour. I need to make sure the paperwork is in order and the judge signs it. Then I’ll send it to the carrier. It’s more of a CYA in case this happens to go to trial. My contact has already assured me he’d let me know if the phone is activated and where it pings back to.”

“Why don’t we plan what Finn is going to say to Jennings while he works?” Grandma suggested, her approval clear.

“All right.” Matt didn’t sound convinced, but at least he wasn’t fighting me on this.

“I do have one other suggestion.” Now she leaned forward, looking very much like the predator her shifted form could be. “Set up a conference call with several other clan leaders, those we both can agree upon and who will back us if we have to take this to the other clans. Have them listen in as Finn makes her call. Between that and the recording I’m sure Danny will insist upon--“ She smiled as he nodded --“there will be no way Jennings can deny anything.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Matt gave me a look that told me he wasn’t happy but that he trusted me to know what was best in this situation. Then, as Danny excused himself to go work on his search warrant, he leaned back. “So let’s get to work.”

An hour and a half later, we once again gathered around the kitchen table. Resting on the table in front of me was a legal pad with the notes I’d taken about what I was and wasn’t to say. Matt had been firm that I wasn’t to go off-script this time and I was inclined to agree. I was taking a risk, probably a huge risk, by contacting Michael. But it was something I had to do, not just for myself but for Matt as well. As long as Michael felt he had a claim on me, he’d stop at nothing to get me back. I couldn’t--and wouldn’t--let his obsession cause Matt harm.

So, it was time to finally stand up to him. Hopefully, this would all be over very soon.

“Ready?” I asked, looking at each of my companions in turn.

“Are you?” Matt’s concern was clear.

“Yeah.” I reached for my new cell phone. As I did, Matt’s hand closed over mine. I nodded and let him program the phone so my number wouldn’t be displayed when the call was made. Then he nodded to Danny who, using his own cell phone, set up the conference call we’d discussed. Once the others had answered and agreed to listen in, he placed his phone in the center of the table and nodded that he was ready.

I’ll admit, I’d been surprised to discover that my grandmother had Michael’s number. Before I’d been able to ask about it, she’d explained how she’d kept in touch with him since I’d run away. Part of the reason was to see if he had heard anything about me--not that she’d ever expected him to tell her if he had. But another part was to keep track of him. Even though I’d not told her that time we’d run into one another what happened that last night in California, she’d guessed. Between what Aunt Jane and Uncle Lou had told her about that terrible clan meeting when Michael had tried to “claim” me and the way he’d continued to hunt for me after so many years, she’d known there was much more to the story than she’d been told. So she wanted him to know that she was keeping an eye on him.

Now Matt programmed in the number and placed the cell phone next to Danny’s on the tabletop. As he did, Danny turned on his digital recorder. Then, with Matt’s arm around my shoulders, reassuring and supportive, I waited, wondering if I’d actually be able to carry this through.

“Hello?”

His voice was soft, almost cautious. Maybe it was because he thought the call to be from some telemarketer. Or maybe he’d figured out this was what we’d do since his trackers had failed. God, why had I agreed to do this?

“Hello, Michael.” Despite my fear, despite the sudden dryness of my mouth, my voice sounded remarkably calm.

“Who is this?”

“I think you know who it is. You’ve spent a lot of time trying to find me.”

“Meg.” He almost spat out my name, not exactly the reaction you’d expect from someone who was worried about your well-being.

“Got it in one.” I relaxed a little. Maybe this would work. “I thought I’d let you know that your trackers missed the other day. Although I will say the
little surprise
you told them to do with the taser wasn’t much fun.”

“I wouldn’t have had to authorize such unorthodox measures if you’d just come home where you belong.”

Bingo! He just admitted not only that he’d sent the trackers after me but that he’d authorized their use of the tainted taser barbs. Score one for the good guys.

“I am home where I belong.” I let more than a touch of confidence color my voice. He needed to know he wasn’t going to send me running for cover any more.

“I don’t think so,” he countered. “Not unless you are waiting outside my door and I happen to know you aren’t.”

“Nor will I ever be unless it is to challenge you for leadership of the pride and clan.” Matt’s arm tightened around my shoulders in warning. I was going off-script. I knew it, but it was exactly what I needed to say just then. “But don’t worry. I have no desire to return to California. I’ve my own pride and clan now--and my own mate. I bear the markings proudly of my new clan and have pledged myself not only to my mate but to the pride.”

“You’re my mate, Meg, and you’d be wise to remember it!” he snapped.

“Sorry, Michael, but you have always been wrong about that. You were wrong to try to claim me when I was only fifteen. You were wrong to try to rape me. But your punishment for those actions is most fitting, at least in my eyes. Your actions are what caused me to leave the only home I’d known. Your trackers forced me to move time and again in an attempt to keep from falling into their hands. That led me here, to my new pride and clan and into the arms of my mate.

“So here’s what is going to happen. You’re going to call off the trackers. Then you will formally apologize to my mate and all the other clan leaders whose territory you violated in your obsession to find me. You will admit that you have no claim on me or mine and you will no longer try to do anything--and I mean anything--to force me to return to California.”

He laughed, but it was a hollow laugh, more for effect than anything else. I’d rattled him and I knew it.

“If what you said was true, your clan leader would be speaking to me, not you.”

I shook my head at Matt when he opened his mouth to respond. It was time to drive the point home.

“You fool.” I put as much scorn as I could into my voice. “My mate is my clan leader. I’m an alpha, like my mother and grandmother before me. I’ve been accepted not only by the pride but by the other pride and pack leaders as such. As for you, well, you’re beneath Matthew’s contempt and I wouldn’t ask him to waste any of his time on you.

“But know this, Michael. Matt is not soft and he doesn’t take intrusions into our territory lightly. If we catch your trackers, they will be punished. We’ll make sure they name you as the reason they are here. I will stand by Matt’s side as we present evidence against you to the other clan leaders. I will tell them how you were willing to violate our laws to secure your place as the new clan leader in the wake of my parents’ murders.”

His gasp of surprise at that last was audible. My grandmother’s eyes burned with the need for vengeance, a need I shared. His reaction was enough for both of us to know he’d had a hand in what happened so long ago. By God, if I ever found proof of it, I’d see him dead by my hand.

“I don’t want the Northern California clan. I have no intention of ever returning there. However, if you don’t leave us alone, I will return and I will call you out. Do you want to risk that?”

“You bitch!”

“Michael, I’d have thought you’d have a better response than that.” Humor mixed with contempt. The surest way to irritate him even further. “So call your trackers off and get them the hell out of my territory. This is your one and only warning.”

“You don’t scare me, Meg. You aren’t the female alpha of the clan yet. I’d have heard if that happened.”

“You’re behind the times, Michael. It’s a done deal, witnessed and approved by the appropriate pride and pack leaders and blessed by my grandmother. So don’t be any bigger of a fool than you’ve already been. You have three days to issue the formal apology and admission or we will take this to the other clan leaders.”

I nodded and Matt reached out to end the call. Then he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me onto his lap. I buried my face in the crook of his neck, breathing deeply and trying to slow my pounding heart. Hopefully none of my nerves had showed during the call. Now that it was over, reaction was setting in. My teeth chattered, heart pounded and it was all I could do to breathe. I’d done more than draw a line in the sand where Michael was concerned. I’d all but challenged him and that could be deadly, possibly for both of us.

“You were wonderful!” Sharon said as she threw her arms about both her brother and me. As she did, Danny was telling the other clan leaders that Matt would be in touch soon. “I bet that son of a bitch was pissing in his pants.”

“Sharon!”

“She’s right, dear heart. You were wonderful. More than that, you played him perfectly. He all but admitted everything you said. He certainly didn’t deny any of it and that will not win him any supporters among the clan leaders.” Grandma poured me a drink and pushed it across the table to me.

“And you were right about something else, Finn. Someone just called your old cell phone.” Danny listened to whoever was on the other end of his call. “I’ll be back. We have a fix on the phone. My money’s on the trackers still having it.” He slipped his cell phone into his pocket and stood. “I’ll be in touch.” With that he was gone.

“We’ll give you two some time alone.” My grandmother stood and gave Sharon a significant look. A moment later, they left the kitchen, closing the door behind them.

“Are you all right?” Matt asked in concern.

“Yeah. Just hold me a bit longer. Please.”

“With pleasure.”

*     *     *

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Matt sat next to me on the sofa and turned so our knees touched. His eyes were dark with concern. Instead of answering, I snuggled against his chest. His arms went around me, comforting and reassuring.

Across the room, the clock chimed eleven. Sharon was in the kitchen, doing lesson plans for the next week. More than an hour had passed since my grandmother had retired to the guest room I’d occupied my first night here. She’d said she had some calls to make. I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to know the first call she’d make once alone would be to Uncle Adam. There were arrangements Uncle Adam would have to make in light of my conversation with Jennings. I had no doubt he’d be bringing as many members of their clan with him as he could when he returned for the weekend. That didn’t bother me one bit. I had a feeling we’d need all the allies we could get before this was over.

Nor would it surprise me if Grandma didn’t call the clan leaders who had listened in on my short conversation with Jennings. She’d kept her emotions under control, both during the call and after, but there was no denying her anger. No, her fury. She shared my suspicion that Jennings had been behind my parents’ death. If she thought talking with the other clan leaders would help us not only stop Jennings from coming after me but maybe bring him to justice for my parents’ deaths, more power to her.

But that didn’t answer Matt’s question.

“I’m not sure.” It was the best I could do. “Matt, I know it was my idea to talk to Jennings. Hell, I even know I needed to if I am ever to move on with my life. But hearing his voice after so long, hearing him all but admit not only that he’d sent the trackers after me and had given them carte blanche on doing whatever it took to bring me back but that he’d been behind my parents’ deaths, it was almost more than I could take.”

I gently pushed out of his embrace. He watched as I stood and moved across the room. “But I’m scared. I’m scared of what that bastard will do now. I all but called him out. He knows now that I’m here, with you, and the last thing I want is for him to take his anger with me out on you or anyone else.”

“Finn.” Tenderness and understanding filled his voice and he moved to stand before me. “He’s a coward. He won’t come after any of us and if he does, we’ll be ready for him. I promise.”

I wanted to believe him, but I couldn’t. I’d spent too long learning that Jennings wouldn’t give up. He’d proven it time and time again.

“This is a new beginning for you,” Matt continued, reaching for my hands. “You don’t have to run and hide. You can be Meg Finley again if you want. Hell, you can be anything you want, anyone you want.”

I prayed what he said was true but I couldn’t bring myself to believe it, not yet. As for being Meg again, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to go back to that girl I’d once been. Too much had happened since I’d left California. I was Finn. But maybe I could let myself remember what it had been like to be Meg.

“Matt, I want to believe you.” I looked down at our linked hands. “God, how I want to believe you. But I’m damaged goods. Even now, knowing you’ll do everything possible to protect me and make Jennings pay for what he’s done, I want to run. That impulse has gotten stronger since hearing his voice. For the first time in years he knows exactly where I am. My fight or flight instinct is definitely set to flight, at least where he’s concerned.” Misery filled me and I couldn’t bring myself to look up at him. I didn’t want to see the disappointment--or worse, the disapproval--that might be reflected in his expression.