Black Magic Bayou (8 page)

Like he thought a good leader couldn’t be both well-liked and well-respected at the same time.

I
really
didn’t like his implication that this was my first time involving myself in this situation, as if I had let Emmett and Mason sit in a holding cell for kicks while I slept in.

“What are you doing here?” I tried to stay calm, but my words came out as a snarl. So much for being the levelheaded sibling.

Though, if I was being honest with myself, when it came to our tempers, all the McQueen children tended to be like our mother.

Mercy McQueen had been a homicidal nutjob who had abandoned Ben and me, then tried to kill Secret. So, not exactly the maternal type. But ohhhhh boy did she know how to cultivate a nasty temper.

Right now I was feeling very much like my mother’s daughter.

“Can we talk about this in private?” Ever the pragmatist, my brother. Of course he wouldn’t want the subordinates to hear us fight.

Detective Perry was off his call now, watching the pair of us expectantly. Magnolia had her most concerned countenance on, while Wilder’s expression was totally impassive. He almost looked bored.

I wanted to yell. I wanted to embarrass Ben publicly by making an enormous scene in the middle of this police station with two pack members he considered beneath him looking on. I would have given a kidney to dress him down so thoroughly he ran off with his tail between his legs.

Too bad for me I also needed to make sure
my
pack members were taken care of and the mystery of Liam Casey’s death was resolved without media attention.

Throwing a temper tantrum wasn’t the best way to be taken seriously, let alone to manipulate the system into giving me what I needed.

“Is there somewhere my brother and I can have a chat?” I asked Detective Perry, never moving my gaze from Ben’s face.

We resembled each other, but not in a way that made us borderline identical. We both had the same dark hair and green eyes, but there was a sneering cruelty to him now I’d never seen in my own reflection.

Perhaps, of the two of us, he was more like our mother than I’d realized.

The thought chilled me to my core.

Perry pointed to an office along the wall behind him, its light off and the wooden desk empty of any personal effects. Without another word I led the way into the office and shut the door. Ben angled for the seat behind the desk, but I cleared my throat, making him stop mid-step.

“Last time I checked, Benjamin, I was the Alpha here.”

His lip curled. “We’ll see.”

Had there been anyone around to hear him say it, the words alone could have been taken as an open challenge. Instead, they just stung like a proverbial slap in the face.

We’ll see.

Two small words, so loaded with meaning it would take an entire road crew to unpack them.

“Sit down,” I snarled. I stayed near the door, watching like a hawk as he debated between the two chairs. Instinct and pride told him to sit behind the desk, but status and propriety finally won and he sat in the guest chair.

It was so stupid too, because both chairs were the exact same. The only thing that gave one more importance than the other was the placement in the room.

I took the spot with the most authority and folded my arms on the desk, weaving my fingers together in a gesture I’d seen Callum use a thousand times. It said,
I’m listening. This is my patient face
.

Beneath that, it said, I can destroy you if need be.

Werewolves did not believe in idle threats, and unspoken warnings carried as much weight as anything I might say out loud.

For a long while we sat across from each other in absolute silence, neither wanting to be the first to blink. Then I asked again, “What are you doing here?”

“I came to help.”

“No, Ben. What are you doing
here
? Why are you in my territory without my consent?”

My fingers were so stiff from tension they were starting to hurt. I didn’t flinch.

“Now I need permission to come visit my little sister?”

Little. I was born three minutes after him. The condescension of his phrasing rankled me, and I knew he’d said it intentionally to get under my skin. No one could push your buttons quite like someone who had spent nine months in the womb with you.

Prick.

“Don’t play dumb with me.” I eased my fingers apart, trying to get the blood circulating again.

“I never needed approval before.”

“There wasn’t a designated Alpha in place before. It used to be part of Callum’s territory. Now it’s
my
territory.” Okay, so maybe I placed my emphasis just to get to him. Two could play at this petty little game.

“So it is.”

“And you know how the rules work.”

Ben sneered at me, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs at the knee. With his fingers interlaced and resting on his stomach, he looked like he owned the place.

In a million years I’d never be able to look that at home anywhere. No wonder everyone assumed he’d be the one to take over the pack, instead of me. He exuded an effortless confidence that let everyone in his periphery know he was a prince. He practically stank of royalty.

I drove a Dodge and needed to remind myself to wash my hair every other day.

He belonged in this seat more than me, and we both knew it.

Or he was trying to convince me we both knew it.

I didn’t want to get all
rah-rah, believe in yourself, Genie
, but I hated him for making me doubt my worth. I deserved this. Callum had chosen me, hand-picked me to be here, and Ben was jealous it hadn’t been him.

Of course, I’d been in power a mere three months and was currently having a day that would make Jack Bauer say, “That’s a bit much.”

I slapped my hands down on the desk, making him jerk upright in his chair. Outside, Detective Perry looked back over his shoulder at us, a questioning brow raised like he wasn’t sure if he should intervene or not.

Giving my head a gentle shake, I returned my focus to my brother.

“Tell me what you’re really doing here, or I will ban you from ever setting foot in this area again.”

He blanched. “You wouldn’t.”

“I can and I will, if you don’t start treating me like an Alpha. You’ve spent my whole life trying to control me, telling me what to do, who I could spend time with.” My gaze darted to Wilder, who had been standing a few yards away, his attention never once shifting from the office. “You don’t get to do that anymore, and it kills you.”

“Maybe if you
had
listened to me more often, I wouldn’t need to come in here and clean up your messes.”

I almost crawled across the desk to throttle him. Instead I gripped the edge of the table and counted to three in my head, breathing in through my nose in a measured way to cool my temper before it got out of control.

Secret probably would have punched him, family or not.

He kind of deserved it.

“What
mess
are you referring to?” I asked, when I could breathe without screaming at him. “And what were you and the captain so chummy about?”

“Emmett’s father knew I was in town on private business. He called me after Emmett told him the situation. He simply wanted to know if I could lean on the local authorities to help make things go away.”

So calling me hadn’t been enough, Emmett’s father had gone to Ben as well. Sounded like I’d be making a few friendly visits when this was all said and done.

“You don’t get to do that here. Did you seriously think you could just stroll in, start messing around with my pack, and I’d be okay with it? Did you think I’d
let you
take over?”

He hesitated.

“Oh my God, Ben. You did. You thought I’d be so fucking grateful for your help I’d hand the city over to you. How long have you been hiding out waiting for something to go wrong so you could show Callum and everyone else you’re the conquering hero?”

This time he stayed quiet, fidgeting with the hem of his dark denim jeans. Fucking
busted
.

I charged on, almost gleeful to now have the upper hand. “What would happen, do you think, if I called Callum and told him what you’d done?”

Ben’s chin snapped up, and he fixed me with a stare that was equal parts angry and terrified. So this
hadn’t
been Callum’s idea. Good to know.

“Don’t do that, Genie.” He so rarely used my nickname it was strange to hear him say it. Especially so full of pleading worry.

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t.” I warred with myself over whether or not I actually would. Part of me wondered what Ben would do in my situation, and I told myself he would pick me over the rules. At least the Ben I’d grown up with would have. This guy, I wasn’t so sure.

“I’m trying to help.”

“You’re trying to help yourself, and that’s not a good enough reason for me.”

“No, listen for a second. I talked to the captain. He’s agreed that if we keep our lawyers on a short leash…” He paused when he realized the unintentional humor of what he’d said. “If we keep them in the background and convince Emmett and Mason to help with the investigation, we can work alongside the police to figure out what really happened.”

The smallest bubble of relief rose inside my belly. At least Ben was with me in agreeing it didn’t look like my wolves were guilty of anything. That whole scene at the bar had felt wrong.

“They already let me observe at the crime scene. Detective Perry seemed amenable to my participation even before you showed up.” I chewed my lip, knowing my response was a bit sullen. I just didn’t want him behaving like I hadn’t done anything.

“Yes, but a detective only has so much power, right?”

Settling myself back in the chair, I gave him a thoughtful glance. Having the full assistance of the police would go a long way in helping us solve this. Not to mention the ball was in their court when it came to leaking information to the press. If the cops were on our side, we might be able to keep this whole thing quiet long enough to prove the boys were innocent.

And if they weren’t…well, we’d find a way to deal with that too, if it was the case.

I chewed on my thumbnail. Ben squirmed in his seat.

We might pretend to be grown up, but we still acted like children sometimes.

“The cops want us to let Emmett and Mason implicate themselves,” I said. “You know that, right? They’re hoping we’ll let them speak without a lawyer and they’ll slip up and admit to doing it.”

Ben, realizing he was temporarily off the hook for breaking the rules, sat up straighter. “I know, I thought about that too. But if they didn’t do it, what’s the problem?”

“Wow. I never thought between the two of us you’d be the naïve one.”

His nose wrinkled. “Excuse me?”

“They don’t need to walk into the room and say
I did it
to make trouble for themselves. There are literally a thousand different ways they can make this worse just by saying something stupid. You know how male wolves can be. What if someone talks them into bragging about their strength, or how easy it would be for them to kill a guy barehanded. Guys their age love to run their mouths. You would know.”

Letting out a small huff, he said, “I probably deserved that.”

“You did.”

“What do you propose instead?”

That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? He’d already fawned over and charmed the captain, so going back on their agreement now would only make the NOPD hesitant to help us at all. I’d made some headway with Detective Perry, enough that I thought he might actually like me, which could go a long way to getting us all through this investigation.

I needed a way to let the cops speak to my wolves without Emmett or Mason sticking a foot right in their mouths. Since I still didn’t know exactly what had happened last night, I wasn’t sure how bad they could make this. They’d already admitted to being involved in the fight, and claimed it had broken up before the guy died. Had the police found witnesses to confirm or deny this? If they had information that could help us, I wanted access to it.

If it would hurt us, I wanted to know about it all the more.

“If, and this is a huge
if
, I let you stay, you are completely responsible for them and keeping them from saying anything totally moronic. You’re the one who has sidelined the lawyers, which I’m not thrilled about, so any fuckups beyond that are on you.”

And on me by extension for letting this happen.

“Okay.” That was it, only the one word, and he waited. I could tell he was dying to say more; his body practically vibrated with restraint.

“And you
never
get to make me look bad by going behind my back with members of my pack. You don’t get to show up and spend time in my territory without my permission. Treat me like you’d treat any other Alpha, otherwise what’s the fucking point?”

“But—”

I waved my hands to silence him. “No. No but. You respect me, or I tell Callum what you did. Where does he think you are, anyway?”

“He thinks you invited me.”

I gave a disgusted sigh and pushed my chair back from the desk, getting to me feet.

“Ben, if you ever use me to lie to the king again, be prepared for an ass-kicking you’ll never forget.”

I wanted an IV for the cup of shitty coffee Magnolia handed me.

What was it about police stations that no one had yet mastered the ability to make a decent cup of coffee? They could solve homicides but couldn’t figure out the water-to-grounds ratio?

I took a sip and almost spit it back in the cup, but my body wanted the caffeine too much to refuse, and I wasn’t about to ask Mags to go get me something better. I loved that she brought me some every morning, but if I started making her do such menial errands, I think I might cross a line into being a bad boss and an even worse friend.

Still, it might be worth it to drink something that didn’t taste like it had been brewed with motor oil.

Wilder was having a hard time keeping a straight face while he watched me take my second sip. “That looks delicious.”