Nocturne 040 – Scions 02 - Patrice Michelle - Insurrection (20 page)

She couldn’t believe how powerfully electric their love-making was. She’d had a feeling they’d be good together, but holy cow, she had had no idea how good.

“You grew up to be a very bad boy,” she whispered with a pleased grin. Deciding to let Landon sleep until she could confirm her cell phone was back in service, she started to walk away when her gaze landed on the box she’d brought home from Hank’s place.

Landon’s jacket had slid off the couch, catching the box lid and opening the top of the box.

Turning on the small banker’s lamp on the desk, she knelt beside the box. Stacks of papers and folders were on one side, and a small tackle box, full of fishing wire and lures, was on the other. A palm-sized wooden container with a howling wolf engraving covered a four-by-six photo in the third corner. She smiled and lifted the box and the photo. Her breath caught when she pulled the picture close. It was a snapshot of Landon crossing a street. He appeared to be unaware someone had taken the shot.

Turning the photo over, she read the date the picture was printed, and her heart lurched. It was dated over eighteen years ago.

She stared at the photo once more, frowning in confusion. Why had her father had a picture of Landon? And how could an eighteen-year-old photo of Landon pass as if it had been taken yesterday? Had he always looked very mature, even in his twenties?

Setting the picture down, Kaitlyn lifted the tiny wood box and slid the carved cover open. A handful of bullets spilled into her palm, startling her. She’d expected something sweet, like a trinket for her or her mother perhaps, not bullets.

The bullets’ color surprised her. They were all silver, not dull, but shiny and uniform in color. Most of the bullets she’d worked with were either copper in color or a mixture of lead and copper.

Picking up one of the bullets, she turned it to read the lightly etched initials on the side near the tip. J. M.

Kaitlyn’s hand shook as she realized where’d she seen similar etchings, though they were twisted and marred.

She grabbed the photo and walked on wobbly legs over to the couch. Sitting down beside Landon, she lifted the bullet slug on his necklace and compared it to the bullet in her hand. They were the same—her father’s. She bit back a sob and closed her eyes.

Landon’s warm fingers surrounded hers, still holding the slug on his chain.

“Kaitlyn? What’s wrong?”

She opened her eyes and tears streaked down her cheeks. Something had been nagging in her mind, something about Landon, but she just couldn’t pin it down. The picture told her he had a connection to her father. She put her father’s bullet and the picture in his hand. “Tell me why my father had a picture of you in his belongings and why you’re wearing his bullet around your neck.”

Her questions tore at Landon’s heart. He didn’t want his mate to hate him…and she would when she found out the truth. The picture of him surprised the hell out of him. When had James McKinney taken that shot? And why?

He sat up and frowned. Shaking his head, he handed her the picture.

“I’m just as surprised as you that your father had a picture of me.”

Her lips trembled and her eyes shimmered with more unshed tears. “But you do know why you wear his bullet around your neck.”

Landon would do anything to take away the look of dread on her face. But she was his mate, the woman he’d fallen in love with three years ago. He owed her the truth, even at the expense of exposing his very existence. He put the bullet in her hand.

“That night in the park. He was shooting into the woods after—I was trying to protect someone. It all happened so fast. I didn’t mean to kill your father, Kaitlyn.” He tried to touch her, but she jerked away and stepped back from him as he finished, “You’ve got to believe me.”

“My father was mauled, Landon.” Her voice held a tremor. She gasped and shook her head as if remembering something. Her eyes went wide.

“That was you in the alley, fighting the vampires. You were huge.”

Landon was up and by her side in a split second. He caught her arms before she hit the floor. “Easy, Kaitie,” he said as he steadied her shoulders.

“Don’t touch me!” Kaitlyn shoved at his hands and backed away until the desk blocked her retreat “Dear God, what are you?” She glanced away, her mind racing as she thought out loud, “That…that burned body in the park, the aura I saw…” Her gaze snapped back to his. “He was a werewolf, wasn’t he?”

“Technically he was called a zerker, but for all intents and purposes, yes, he was a werewolf.”

When he finished speaking, her hand was on her chest. She was breathing so heavily he thought she might hyperventilate. Landon felt helpless in his inability to calm her. “You need to take deep, easy breaths or you’re going to pass out,” he warned.

She waved her arms and yelled, “How else am I supposed to react? I’ve just discovered that the man I had sex with less than an hour ago not only killed my father, but he’s a freaking werewolf.”

Landon’s chest ached at the betrayal in her gaze and the shock in her voice. “Kaitlyn, I—”

Rounding the desk, she grabbed his pants and tossed them to him. “Get out!” she said and pointed to the door.

The silence between them was deafening as Landon stepped into his boxers and jeans. He was in the process of buttoning his pants when his cell phone rang.

Their gazes collided across the desk.

She reached for his phone and glanced at the caller I.D. “It’s Ron.”

Flipping open the phone, she pressed it to her ear. “Ron, I got your message.”

Landon’s keen hearing picked up the other side of the conversation. His fists clenched when he heard a voice he’d learned to loathe over two years ago.

“I’m glad to hear it, Kaitlyn. Now I want you to listen to my message.”

“Remy? Where’s Ron?” Her confused gaze locked with Landon’s, and she tilted the phone away from her ear and mouthed, “Can you hear this?”

He crossed his arms over his chest and gave a curt nod.

“Let’s just say…he won’t be needing his cell phone any longer. But before he checked out of this life, I believe he sent a message to your cell.”

Landon heard Kaitlyn’s heart ramp up. “What have you done to Ron? God, Remy! Are you psychotic?”

“Hardly. I just believe in a cause.”

“To the point you’d kill people?”

“You have until two to bring your cell to the High Line, the abandoned train yard in Chelsea on Twenty-fifth Street. If I don’t get it by then, we’ve got someone standing by to make sure your mother will meet her maker a lot sooner than nature plans.”

“Bastard!” she spat, her entire body tensing in anger. “If anyone goes after my mom, I’ll take you all down.”

Remy didn’t respond to her threat. Instead his tone was dead calm. “You will meet me, and don’t even consider getting your cop buddies involved. I’ll know if you do and I’ll make the call. Not only will your mother die, but you’ll be too busy trying to explain to the police why you murdered Ron to mourn her sudden tragic death.”

Her phone hand trembled and she glanced Landon’s way. He immediately moved behind her and put his hands on her shoulders for support. Letting his wolf half take over, Landon was able to speak in her mind. Get him to tell you how he set you up. He’s a cocky bastard, too smug in his own brilliance.

Her surprised gaze jerked to his. He knew she was shocked to hear his voice in her head. Squeezing her shoulders gently, he nodded toward the phone.

She kept her eyes locked with his as she egged the Garotter on. “You don’t have the brains to pull that shit off, Remy.”

“Everyone heard your argument at the precinct the other day,” he snarled.

“I haven’t spoken to Ron since earlier this week.”

He tsked. “How soon you forget. Phone records will show that you called Ron’s cell earlier today, and you were so helpful by answering his call just now.”

“I have a feeling Ron died last night. This phone call took place after his death.”

“Don’t you realize we’re smarter than you? We’ve made sure it’ll be hard to determine his exact time of death, but when they find Ron’s body, evidence will prove you murdered him. All it takes is an anonymous call to the station about a suspicious smell and you’re toast, Kaitlyn.” He gave a heavy sigh. “I’ve grown tired of this battle of wits bullshit. You always were too stubborn for your own good. Be smart this time. Be here at two sharp with that damned phone.”

She closed the cell phone and her entire body began to shake. Landon didn’t think twice. He pulled her into his arms and held her close. For a few seconds, she leaned into his chest, then immediately stiffened and pushed out of his arms.

Landon let his hands fall to his sides even as his Alpha tone kicked in.

“Don’t let the issues between us keep you from accepting my help. You need someone to protect your mother as well as someone to back you up when you meet with Remy.”

Her lips thinned into a stubborn line and his gaze narrowed. “You can’t possibly be in two places at once. Let me help you, Kaitie.”

As soon as she nodded, he picked up the telephone and dialed Caine’s number.

While Landon filled Caine in on their situation, Kaitlyn’s insides quaked. Moving on autopilot, she shrugged out of his shirt and laid it on the desk, then gathered her clothes and walked upstairs to find warmer clothes to wear for her meeting with Remy. Heavy coats weren’t conducive to being able to move fast when the need arose. After she’d dressed in another pair of jeans, a red T-shirt and a black zip-up sweat jacket, Kaitlyn stood in front of her bureau and pulled her hair back in a low ponytail.

Her face looked pale and her eyes stared vacantly at her. She knew she was in some kind of trancelike shock. She was entirely too calm right now considering everything she’d just learned about the man she’d grown very attached to in a short amount of time. Damn, she’d really started to care deeply for him.

Grinding her teeth, she berated herself for being such a fool…she’d known something about him was different. Right now her mother’s life hung in the balance. She couldn’t screw this up.

Turning away from the mirror, she walked over to the closet and opened the doors. Standing on her toes, she slid her hand along the top shelf that ran the length of the closet above the hanging clothes bar. Her fingers brushed the rim of her baseball cap, pushing it further back on the shelf.

Her entire body tensed when Landon reached over her and pulled down the black cap. “This what you’re looking for?” he said as he handed the hat to her.

“Thanks.” She took the cap and glanced up at him, but Landon wasn’t looking at her. His gaze was locked on the wolf painted on the wall next to the door. She’d painted over the pink walls years ago, but she’d never had the heart to cover the wolf. His deep-brown coat and the silver markings along his ears, the tip of his muzzle and around his shoulders made him appear majestic and proud as he sat on his haunches in the tall grass. Like a sentinel, his steady gaze never wavered from her, no matter her position in the room.

Remembering her dream of the wolf shifting in the air, she set her jaw. She jammed the hat on her head and pulled her ponytail through the back, then gestured to the wolf and said, “A furry friend for you,”

before she turned to walk away.

Landon caught her arm and held her in place, his voice tight. “Did your father paint that wolf for you?”

She pulled out of his hold, both frustrated and guilty that his touch still affected her. “My father commissioned an artist to paint it to his specifications.” Before Landon could reply, she walked out of the room and back downstairs to the office.

When Landon followed her into the office, she was so frustrated she wanted to scream. She had a little over two hours before she had to be at the place Remy had designated. Heaven forbid anything went wrong—

her mother’s life was at stake. Grabbing up her keys, she turned to leave.

Landon blocked her path in the doorway. “Where are you going?”

She tried to brush past him, but he put his hands on her shoulders and held her in place. Her gaze met his and her insides trembled in fear for her mother. “I want to see my mom. Visiting hours might be over, but I’ll sneak in if I have to.”

“If you go anywhere near your mother, they’ll think you’re trying to interfere. You know they’re watching her.”

Her shoulders sagged. She knew he was right.

Landon’s thumbs slowly slid back and forth across her collarbone. “I’m sorry, Kaitlyn…for the past. I wish to hell I could undo it.”

She didn’t want to talk about his role in her father’s death. The wound was just too raw. Straightening her spine, she shrugged out of his hold and walked over to pick up Landon’s phone. Since she’d received a phone call on Landon’s cell, that meant it was in full service again. She scrolled through the messages and found one from Ron. Forwarding it to her e-mail account, she walked around the desk and tapped on her keyboard, waiting for the message to show up. A news flash popped up on her browser screen.

Tacomi truck in accident. Driver killed. Guns missing.

“The Tacomi accident is in the news now,” she said. Heart racing, she refreshed her e-mail inbox. Two photos popped up when her e-mail finally arrived. She opened them in the program Landon suggested and wasn’t at all surprised that Remy starred in one. It was a picture of him holding a gun. In the background, the Tacomi truck was on its side as if it had been in an accident. The other picture was a bit blurry, but she blinked when she saw a shadowy outline near the Tacomi vehicle she hadn’t expected. Clicking on both photos, she hit the print button and waited for the color printer on the credenza to start printing. Landon glanced at the printer when it whirred to life. “He did send photos?”

She nodded and swiped the first picture from the tray, then walked it over to him. “No wonder Remy’s desperate for my phone. This places him at the scene of the crime.”