Bella rose and folded her arms. “But she didn’t. She kissed you back.”
He buckled his belt. “Yeah, I won that bet, but I hadn’t expected it. She wasn’t the one I wanted to kiss.”
“Volan,” Bella said with disgust.
Devlyn laughed. “No, I didn’t want to kiss him, either.”
“No, Devlyn, I meant, ohhhhh... “ She stormed down the hall in the direction of the kitchen.
He stalked after her. “You’re right. I wanted to kiss you, but Volan was always in my way.”
She grabbed her fleece-lined jacket and headed for the kitchen door to the garage. “But that day after the lake — “
“I had to have you, Bella.” He pulled her into his arms. “I had to taste you, savor you, force myself to realize you weren’t the one for me, only some lustful desire that drove me insane. Some dream I had that you were all I had imagined you to be and more, but just a dream. I had to wake myself from the dream, prove once and for all that you were nothing more than forbidden fruit. Tantalizing, tasty, but really just like all of the others. But once I felt you against my body, soft and curvy, wet and... hell, Bella, you were real and my dreams of you were real. Once I’d kissed you, held you close, I knew no one could ever replace you in my heart.”
“And Vernetta?”
“Becoming an old wolf maid.”
“Good.” Bella separated from Devlyn, yanked the door open, and crossed the floor to the vehicle. “Where are we going?”
She sighed deeply. “I was thinking of taking a drive to my cabin.”
“I thought we were trying to catch a red lupus garou killer.” He could tell by the gentle upward curve of her mouth she was thinking of something sinful.
She ran her tongue over her lips. “All work and no play... but truthfully, near there is where I smelled the reds before. Maybe we could find some evidence that we missed before.”
“Gotcha.” He jumped into the driver’s seat.
“I only wish we could be in our wolf forms for a while.”
Knowing she wanted him to make love to her in both states — in civilization, in their silky human skin, and in the wild, covered in sleek pelts of fur — he totally agreed. “Four more days.”
“The longest I’ve ever had to wait for the moon to appear.”
The two-hour long drive to Bella’s cabin seemed like it grew longer with every mile they drove. Maybe because her thoughts were in such turmoil. What if they discovered the killer in the woods? Or Alfred and his gang?
She shook her head at herself, annoyed she could work herself up likely over nothing. Alfred and his pack members wouldn’t be running around in the woods unless they could change into wolves. And surely the killer wouldn’t hang around there either.
Devlyn reached over and rubbed her shoulder. “A deep trench is dug into your forehead. Want to tell me what’s worrying you?”
“Chrissie and the zoo man. For starters. What if Chrissie let something slip by accident? I know she’s smart, and after having raised her two kids as a single parent for the last three years, she has a lone wolf’s wariness. But Thompson is clever, too. What if he hit on Chrissie’s vulnerability? She desperately wants a man in her life again. Someone who cares for her children, and believe me — they mean the world to her. But she wants someone who loves her and she loves in return, too. It could happen if she thinks he might be the one.”
“I think she’s got a lot more moxie than you give her credit for. I’ll bet she doesn’t give an inch. I can just see her talking Thompson around in circles over the wolves and what might have happened to Rosa. And all he’ll get out of it is another commitment for a dinner out or some other kind of date.”
Bella gave Devlyn a sly smile. “Yeah. I’m sure you’re right. You certainly are observant. Most males aren’t half as perceptive.”
He cast her a smug look. “It’s in the genes. So what else is bothering you?”
“Well, I worried that maybe Alfred and his pack would be running around the woods, but I dismissed that because I’m sure they wouldn’t unless they were wearing their wolf suits.”
“Agreed.”
“But then I wondered if maybe the killer might be there, hiding somewhere.”
Devlyn squared his shoulders and sat taller. “Maybe. If so, I’ll take care of him and that will be the end of that matter.”
She took a deep breath and released it.
“Do you have a problem with that?” he asked, giving her a quizzical look.“No. He couldn’t kill any longer. Mission accomplished. Then we could return home.”
“What about Alfred and the rest?”
Bella touched Devlyn’s hair. “They’ll have to get along without me.” She pointed to a gravel road off to the right ahead. “Turn there.”
He headed off the main road and drove down the gravel road for five miles until they finally arrived at her cabin. Her Escape was still parked out front. Everything appeared the same as before, when she’d gone on her wolf run and Thompson had found her.
“You don’t mind going home anymore?” Devlyn asked.
Hating that she was living such a horrible lie, she swallowed hard. “If... when Volan returns home, I have every faith you’ll handle him.”
Devlyn leaned back against the driver’s seat. “If?”
“I meant when. It’ll probably take him a while before he realizes we’ve returned to Colorado, don’t you think?”
He cast a wary look her way and then opened his door. “Right.” But he sounded like he didn’t believe her. Damn it, she had to get her feelings under control. Not only that, but she worried he might smell her nervousness. Oh, hell, of course he had. Except he said he saw the furrow in her brow instead.
He lifted his chin up and observed the thunderheads building overhead; she pulled her jacket on and zipped it up. She smelled the rain in the air and knew it wouldn’t hold off for long. “Storm on its way.”
“Maybe we can find something before the rain starts.” He buttoned up his jacket and joined her. Slipping his hands under her jacket, he rested them on her waist. Brushing her lips, he pressed further and gave her a searing kiss. She kissed him back but trembled, and he pulled her tight against his body. “Tell me, Bella, what’s really bothering you?”
She fought the tears welling up.
“Bella honey?” His dark eyes willed her to speak the truth.
She took a hesitant breath. “I’ve always felt safe here until the day Thompson shot me. I didn’t think it would bother me, but, well, it... does. A... a little.”
Devlyn nuzzled her cheek, warming the cold skin. “I thought so. No hunting season right now. Most likely no one will be tromping around in the cold and wet. And it’s a weekday, so most everyone is in school or at work. Thompson’s busy with Chrissie, so no worry about him looking to find additions for the zoo. But if you’d like, you can wait for me at your cabin and — “
She straightened her back. “No. I’ll show you where I smelled the reds’ scents. I didn’t know what the murderer’s scent smelled like before, but now that we both do, maybe we can pick it up here.”
He kissed her nose and smiled. “Your nose is icy. Let’s get this over with quickly then.”
She agreed. Her veins already felt like they were filled with ice and her fingers and toes were beginning to numb. She reached into her pockets and pulled out a pair of gloves. “Let’s go.”
For an hour, Devlyn and Bella searched for clues, listening to every sound they could hear — the shivering of pine needles and leaves; the whoosh of the wet, chilly breeze; the rustling of a deer moving through the underbrush; Bella’s rapid breathing.
He moved closer to her and rubbed her arms, her cheeks, and her nose red. Part of him wished she’d stayed back at her cabin, but another part was glad she was with him where he could keep an eye on her. Twice, he’d smelled the scent of Alfred and Ross on the breeze; he thought it was an old scent, yet he didn’t trust her being alone.
“You’re not too cold, are you?” he asked, his voice hushed.
Her eyes had darkened and grew wide. He’d sensed it, too — someone watching, and a hint of something else. He moved closer to the smell and caught sight of drops of dried blood spread over a cluster of brown leaves. Bella crouched beside him, barely breathing, yet he could hear her heart beating pell-mell. He lifted to his nose a leaf covered in drops of blood and took a deep breath.
“Is it hers?” Bella whispered.
He shook his head, relieved but dismayed, too. They needed to find evidence of the red’s complicity.
“Rabbit’s,” he clarified.
Letting out her breath, she surveyed the area. He shifted his attention and made a wide sweep but saw nothing out of the ordinary. The breeze picked up and a clap of thunder shook the ground.
He glanced at Bella and saw her tremble again. “Do you want to go back to the vehicle?”
“No. We’ll keep looking. Let’s search where I was shot.”
Admiring her determination, he grasped her arm and helped her up. “You let me know when you want to go back.”
They moved at a slow pace, searching the ground for canine prints or blood and the branches for broken twigs or any other sign of a struggle.
Lightning streaked across the sky and another clash of thunder sounded like it broke the sound barrier. Devlyn stuck close to Bella and they moved away from the spot of the rabbit kill, climbing over moss-covered logs and through dense ferns, lifting their noses to smell any scents that could give them a clue about the murderer or the murdered girl.
When he smelled the water, heard it rushing over the stony creek bed, Bella seized Devlyn’s hand and pulled him to a stop. “Omigosh, look, a family of mink,” she whispered, her voice excited as she pointed through the trees to the creek’s bank.