Poisonous Desires (17 page)

Hands gave his side a hard push. Michael wobbled to his side and into the water. Before he could react, his body froze. He ordered it to move but got nothing. Darkness filled his vision as he sank to the bottom. His pockets felt heavier than before. In desperation Michael tried to shift, but again his wolf refused to come when called. Not a blip of energy in his body. He was all alone and couldn’t swim. Claustrophobia took
hold,
panic filled his head, his heartbeat banged against his ribcage, and his lungs burned for air. Cold filled his body inside and out as sleep gripped him. His eyelids grew heavy.
That bitch, Poppy did this.
That was his last thought as he slipped under the water’s thrall and drowned.

Chapter Eight

Nadia stared at the bloated face of Michael, pack leader and Poppy’s husband. Preliminary medical opinion was that he drowned. Why, how, or if that was the cause of death was still up in the air, but so far he’d drowned. She didn’t believe it, not as far as she could throw
Torger
, and refused to get anywhere near him. He’d blame her somehow, and she didn’t want to get into a shouting match with him. She looked over at Urban, whose forehead was creased with question; his lips were thinned and his posture was stiff with tension. A glance around showed there weren’t any alphas around playing gawker, and Poppy was nowhere to be seen. Someone had said that she’d had to be led off and given a tranquilizer. In Nadia’s mind, that was bad idea. Poppy could be using it as a cover to avoid questions, and so far this wasn’t a murder investigation. Not officially, anyway.

She moved over to Urban. “Well?”

Urban shook his head and replied.
“Nothing, not even his footprints, which says a shitload about how badly she wanted to cover this up.”

Nadia started but stopped herself. “So you think….” She let the words drift off.

Urban needed
Torger
in on this. “I’ll call her into the station for an official interview. There are too many bodies connected with her. Let’s see what our—”

“Sir, your brother’s on the phone.” A lieutenant handed Urban a phone. He moved off to possibly soothe his brother. Three bodies with no proof of foul play would undoubtedly stress out
Torger
and
Draven
. She examined the body from afar. What did Michael have to do with her
Katnip
case? Had his fight with Poppy been a cover? She really hoped Rex would find something in the baked goods he’d picked up. He hadn’t told her who he was using for lab work, but she’d gotten the impression that the person had been standing by to do a rush job. Rex had assured them that he would have something by tomorrow.
Easier said than done.
She considered calling
Zerik
to have him send someone to help but didn’t want to take over Rex’s investigation. Plus,
Torger
wouldn’t appreciate more outside interference.

Her phone vibrated in her jeans pocket. She answered after three rings.
“Nadia.”

“So far, at least five of the items that have been tested have
Katnip
laced in them. Poppy gave me the box. Urban should use that to bring her in.” Rex hung up before she could respond.

She looked over at Urban. His lips had disappeared, and he’d become so red she was concerned for his heart rate. Nadia made her way over to him, careful not to touch the body.
Nothing in the air or in her line of sight aroused suspicion.
Her inner snow leopard didn’t really care. She wanted another round with Urban and to mark him someplace else on his body. Arousal swirled low in her belly. Heat pulsed in her veins, her clit pulsed, and her pussy flooded with moisture. Nadia knew they didn’t have time for this, yet she couldn’t stop the mating desire once it’d started.
After
, she told her cat,
when it’s all over
.
The case was almost at an end; she could feel it in her gut. All they needed was the why. Then she could have some time with Urban.

Nadia placed a hand on
Urban’s
arm as he hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket. She started to move away from him, and he followed. Once they were far enough away for comfort, she told him what Rex had found. “Rex called. We need to talk to Poppy.”

He didn’t ask why and ordered one of the betas who guarded the scene to fetch Poppy. It didn’t take long for the widow to arrive; she was looking more like she had just had bad news than she was grieving. Poppy had makeup on and she’d changed her dress into something a bit more form-fitting, emphasizing her cleavage and her hips. Her eyes were red, but she held herself straight and pushed her chest out. She was wearing kitten-heeled shoes.

“You want to speak to me at the station? I’m ready to talk.” She led the way before either one of them could say anything.

Urban shrugged and guided Nadia to the car. The ride over was silent. Nadia wasn’t sure if she was sad that the case was over or that it hadn’t been too eventful. There was also the part where she would be leaving soon. She glanced over at Urban. His face was granite. Unreadable and distant, something she didn’t like.

* * * *

Urban pulled into the visitor’s spot at the DCPD and got out; he rushed around to let Nadia out, who’d actually waited for him. He grabbed her hand and guided her into the building. Warmth filled his chest while bile swirled in his stomach. The case had taken a turn that he should’ve seen coming, even if they didn’t have the why. What irritated him was that Poppy had done all this under his and
Torger’s
nose and right in front of the other alphas. At last count they had at least four remaining alphas, all up for re-elections. The ones that weren’t were here to enjoy the gathering and watch the political shit storm happen. It intrigued him, as it always did, how protective they were of their own packs but cared very little about the other packs, so long as it didn’t upset the natural order of things.

He was pretty sure that that was what Poppy was after for some reason. Thankfully the officers had managed to get Poppy to the DCPD without incident.
Torger
met them at the door of the interrogation room. “Tread carefully. The alphas will be watching.” He turned on his heel and left without commenting on Nadia’s presence.

Not like they’d care
, Urban thought.

Nadia shrugged. “I’ll be bad cop, since you can’t get in trouble if the feline-shifter bitch asks the tough questions.”

Urban thought about it. It would help; the alphas couldn’t protest since he wasn’t the one going after one of their own, even if at this time they weren’t plotting a way to usurp Michael’s place, and the alpha bitches were all preening that they could elevate their status soon. Urban pushed aside all the politics to focus on the case and see what Poppy had to say.
“Fine.”

“Okay, let’s go.” Nadia tilted her head toward the door.

Urban opened it for her and gestured for her to precede him. He took a moment to watch the sway of her hips and ass before following her into the room. His shoulder throbbed a bit, but it was his cock that jerked in appreciation. He couldn’t wait to get her home; he was sure she was already wet for him, he could smell it. If Poppy cooperated, they could get a confession and then he’d be inside of her within half an hour, if things went well and
Torger
didn’t want a lengthy explanation.

He pushed away his thoughts and focused on getting a confession or an explanation. Poppy was already seated, which was good. The officer in the room waved him over. “She refused to call a lawyer and waived her rights. Says she wants to get it off her chest. Boss man will be watching the interview,” he said before he left the room.

Urban could only shrug. That didn’t mean anything to him unless this was an official investigation, which it wasn’t. They had no proof of any wrongdoing yet.
Torger
would be watching the interview from his office due to the hidden cameras around the room. So he had to question her and see what happened. Urban settled down in the chair across from her.

“Mrs. Harper, this isn’t an official investigation. You don’t need to talk to us if you don’t want to.” He wanted to see if she would shut down.

Poppy waved away his words. “No, I need to. This is getting far too complicated and too much to handle. To start off with, we’ve been selling
Katnip
-laced baked goods to earn money to make a play to buy out the male alphas and put women in charge. It’s a small group of us. The others had no idea what we were doing; they invested the money.” Poppy paused to take a sip of water. “I can’t do this anymore. Killing Michael was the final straw. My investors won’t back me anymore, and besides that, there are enough alphas out of the way to cause a shift in power. Oh, I’ve been giving Michael
antishift
meds for years, in case you find it in his blood. It’s where his frustration and anger came from.”

Nadia snorted and said, “Sure it is, and that’s why he beats the shit out of you, because he can’t shift. That’s no excuse. And messing with those
antishift
meds could’ve killed both you and him; some affect the giver as well as the taker.” Disgust was written on her face. Urban knew she was having flashbacks to her childhood and father.

“I know, but still….” She paused to lick her lips. Poppy let out a sigh. “We wanted to change the testosterone that ruled our packs to make them more modern. What I did and planned, I did alone. My investors didn’t know what I was doing. Here’s a list of all the people I’ve killed.” She pulled out a piece of paper from the pocket of her dress and slid it across the table at him.

Urban took it and read it over. His eyes widened as he looked over the names.
“Jesus, all of them?
But…we haven’t heard anything about them.” This was getting very complicated and was beyond
Torger’s
jurisdiction. He was going to have to make a lot of phone calls to smooth things over and convince people to let Poppy be sentenced in
Draven’s
Crossing.

He stood up, opened the door, and called in an officer, gave him the list, and ordered him to send it to
Torger
before he sat down and faced Poppy. “Why
Katnip
-laced baked goods?”

Poppy looked down. “We could sell them to feline-shifters and humans looking for a fix to make more money. Bake sales only go so far, and we needed to earn money quickly.”

Urban stared at her as his mind mulled over her reasoning.

Nadia beat him to the punch of asking why. “Why? You’re risking innocent lives to elevate your own. Some people have died. What changed for you to grow a conscience overnight? Killing your abusive, asshole of a husband didn’t sit well with you?” she demanded.

Poppy folded her arms over her chest. “I would’ve seen our plan through, but the people who wanted this change felt that we were going in the wrong direction with all this death. They threatened to turn me in to
Torger
for pack law punishment. I’m willing to cut a deal to name names so long as I only get exile and not death.”

The puzzle pieces fit together. If her co-conspirators had come forward and accused her, she wouldn’t haven’t had a say in her sentencing, but for her to offer herself up allowed her some leverage to make some of the rules.

“You said this wasn’t an official investigation. I can help you get to the source of the
Katnip
in several other pack-controlled areas, but I must not be ordered to death and I must be allowed to be exiled with all my belongings. Everything else can go to Michael’s pack members.” Poppy sat back, satisfaction on her face.

“
If
we allow this, you give your information to the representative of the Feline-Shifter Quorum, no stalling. You stop selling your
Katnip
-laced goods and you tell us who your local supplier is, as well as give the names to all those who supplied you in the other counties,” Nadia said. Her tone was unemotional, but her eyes flashed with something he couldn’t identify.

“Deal.
Torger
must sign off on the agreement. Once he does that, I’ll talk to whoever you want and give you whatever information you wanted.” Poppy sat back, a Cheshire cat grin on her face.

Urban didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. Nadia, he knew, would call
Zerik
and tell him the good news. Although what information Poppy actually had, since Rex had been her source, was in her head. Urban looked up at the camera. “Okay, I’ll check in with
Torger
, and someone will let you know what he decides.”

Urban stood up and led Nadia out of the room. “I will say this: the end of the Summit will be interesting.” By Poppy’s machinations, she’d shored up
Torger’s
power base and elevated several packs, including the one that Urban had feared would have issues with Michael, the Capper pack. Upon thinking about it, he realized that a lot of the lower-leveled weaker packs had female betas. Urban ran a hand over his face. It looked like under
Torger’s
regime, women were going to come into their power. He had to hold back a laugh at that. The old really was moving along, or rather, was being shoved out of the way. He was glad it was all over so he could spend his last few days of vacation with Nadia if she didn’t have to rush out of town too quickly.