Read In the Shadow of the Wolf 3 - Splintered Lies Online
Authors: Diane Adams,RJ Scott
Heat coursed through Nick as they rutted together desperate for friction, mouths locked and tongues tangling in the dark, wet heat. Air mattered less than what they were chasing, and Nick was light-headed from lack of it before Joe pulled his mouth away to bite Nick's neck. Groaning, Nick arched his throat into the sharp bites and harsh suction as Joe made his way to the juncture of neck and shoulder. Grinding their hips together roughly, Joe bit Nick hard. The skin broke and Nick felt the tickle of blood running from the wound. He cried out and jerked Joe closer, wrapping long legs around his waist and rocking against him. Nick came with a harsh shuddering gasp, Joe's name on his lips. Joe peaked silently, quaking in Nick's arms.
"This can't happen," Joe growled and Nick let him go. Joe rolled to the side and sat up, he didn't look at Nick. "If we're together, you know what people will say, that my marriage was a façade, my love for Mara, a sham. I will not disrespect her like that. I'm not letting this happen, Nick." He got up and walked towards the bathroom.
Nick watched him go. The cum in his pants cooled and what had started hot and satisfying turned sticky and unpleasant, kind of like the entire situation. Nick touched the bite; it wasn't deep and the blood had already clotted. No one had ever marked him like that during sex, much less during what amounted to some teenage frottage. Nick didn't have to look to know he bore the evidence of their passion down the length of his throat, ending in the bite. He wondered if Joe realized they were past being able to say it wasn't going to happen. Their problem had escalated to keeping it from happening again.
"Are you going to lie there the rest of the day?" Joe came back into the room rubbing his wet head with a towel. "There's a pair of jeans and a towel in the bathroom if you want to clean up."
Nick lay still another moment, looking up at Joe and considering the situation. It looked like Joe was going with the tried and true ploy of pretending nothing happened. Nick had no problem with that. "Thanks, man." He got up and headed for the bathroom. Nick avoided fixating on everything Joe had revealed about his feelings by focusing on his concern about how he'd fit into a pair of Joe's jeans. With Nick three inches taller and probably fifty pounds heavier than Joe, they were not exactly jeans compatible. What he found in the bathroom surprised him.
Fingering the butter-soft material of the folded jeans lying beside the sink, Nick wondered what he should read into the fact Joe still had the jeans he'd borrowed from Nick during their academy days. A night of rough partying had left Joe with nothing to wear and in retaliation for Nick getting him too drunk to see straight, Joe stole Nick's favorite jeans. Nick had laughed at Joe and called him a gangster-wannabe with his jeans hanging off his ass, but Joe wore them home anyhow. Years later he still had them. They hadn't gone unused, the fabric washed out to whiteblue and worn thin in the seat. Something so stupid that could mean anything, or everything, or nothing at all.
Nick shoved the thoughts aside. It didn't matter. Joe wasn't ready for anything but learning to move on from a loss that continued to haunt him. Nick examined his bruised and bitten neck in the mirror. It looked like he'd been fucked hard and put away wet. Instead he had a dick sore from rubbing and jeans stiff with cum. He'd learned Joe wanted him enough to lose control, whether or not that was a good thing remained to be seen. Nick jumped at the sudden pounding on the door.
Nick rolled his eyes at himself in the mirror. Business as usual, right. He stripped off his pants and boxers and cleaned up at the sink. The jeans were softer than he remembered; perfect commando pants. Just as well since it seemed Joe wasn't inclined to share underwear. Nick balled up his clothes and tossed them in the hamper. He'd worry about them later. He opened the bathroom door to find Joe sifting anxiously through the papers.
"What is it?"
Joe thrust a page at him and Nick took it.
"Once they knew what to look for they found trace
amounts of the inhibitor in Mara's blood. This new report says someone was getting the drug to the baby through her, which I think is kind of obvious. What we have to figure out is how Mara was getting dosed."
Nick studied the page. With Joe in on-the-job mode things would go much smoother. Cops had to compartmentalize to function and Joe had his walls back up. Not so good for his mental health but essential for the case. "Yeah, okay. Was there something Mara ate or took every day?"
"I don't know. She didn't take any medicine since she was concerned about how everything she put into her body would affect the baby." Joe's gaze dropped back to the report in his hands. "I wasn't here as much as I should have been. I don't know her daily routine."
Nick didn't have an answer. Joe had just described every cop's life. Knowing what you did was necessary didn't make the regret and guilt over neglecting your family any easier to deal with when things went bad. Thinking hard, Nick gnawed the inside of his bottom lip, a habit he'd had all his life. He could feel the answer hovering around just beyond his reach. Mara. Drugs. Pregnant. He looked up. "Prenatal vitamins."
"Yeah she took those, so…" Joe's eyes widened. "She took one every morning, but you don't really think someone tampered with those? I mean, how could they?"
"One question at a time. First let's find out if they did and then we'll work on how." Nick handed the page to Joe and turned back to the bathroom. "Are they in the medicine cabinet?"
"She kept them in the kitchen and took them with breakfast."
"We need to find them and then see if Rob can get this through the lab."
"We don't need Rob; there'd be no way to keep this quiet and it would take too long."
Nick had to be the levelheaded one here. "We need the chain of evidence to remain intact—"
"Fuck that, Nick." Unspoken was the added 'whoever did this isn't making it to trial'.
"Joe…" Nick wished he could actually sound more convincing than he felt. "We need to think about this."
Joe's eyes glittered with utter determination. "I'm not wasting time arguing with you. Where can we get information on these pills fast?"
Nick had to think on his feet. Inspiration came in the shape of the guys he'd left a little while before. "Doug and Sam. We can take the vitamins to them. They have a lab and some techs working on an antidote."
"We'll take them there."
Trailing Joe through the house, Nick was relieved at how much Joe sounded like himself and then as he passed the coffee table he saw the picture of the baby lying face up. Joe had written something in one corner. Frowning, Nick stopped and picked up the photo. The tragic image tugged his heartstrings, but what Joe had written made Nick's blood run cold.
A life for a life, Niko.
I promise.
Keith and Bec were the technicians officially employed by the lab at Doug and Sam's house. Bec was out on an errand, but Keith was there, working diligently. Short and lithe, he reminded Nick of a younger Joe with similar blond hair and brown eyes. He didn't look happy about having his work interrupted. Even less so when Nick handed him the container of small pills.
"You think this is what they were using?" Keith asked. Doubt colored his words as he tipped them into a small glass jar and placed the plastic container to one side. "Prenatal vitamins are usually the size of horse pills, these seem awfully small—"
Nick moved bodily between the technician and Joe. Assuming his role as pacifier, he held up a hand to forestall Keith from offering a harsh response and escalating Joe's temper.
"How fast could you reasonably expect to get some results from testing?" Nick used his most patient voice. "We would really appreciate the help and it would mean a lot."
Joe moved and opened his mouth to say something but Nick stopped him with a hand to the arm. "That's fine. Can you get us information on where the meds came from? What is in them? Call with the results as soon as you have them."
"Yeah, I'll get on it right away." Keith frowned at the tiny pills in the jar. "Now go so I can get this out of the way and get back to my real job."
Nick grabbed the empty plastic vitamin container then shoved Joe out the door and down the steps without giving him a chance to say anything. Avoiding everyone who lived there was the best course of action for the moment. Joe didn't need any more targets to lash out at. Nick closed the front door behind them and hustled Joe towards the car.
"What do we do now?" Joe asked impatiently. He was wound tighter than a spring and Nick could scent his need for a fight.
Joe was up in his face in an instant. "What the hell did you just say?"
"Didn't you see Keith, how he edged away from you? We'll get nothing if you're running on pure anger and aggression."
"Don't. You…" Joe pushed at him, a solid hand in the middle of his chest. "Don't." He moved away and strode to the car.
Nick watched his best friend stalk to his 4x4 with a sense of foreboding. There was aggression inside Joe that Nick couldn't even begin to fathom. Aggression and the desire to kill. Nick understood. To avenge the deaths of mom and baby, a woman and child that Nick considered his family, was the way of wolves, but the desire to rip someone apart was tempered by the humane part of his nature. The society they had integrated with demanded no less and they were already pushing the boundaries by investigating the case without the authority to do so.
Nick glanced down at what he held in his hand. The empty jar of vitamins. Turning it idly in his hands, he knew what to suggest they do next. He followed his partner, who was leaning against the car door with his arms folded across his chest, and threw the container. Joe moved with lightning-fast instinct and caught the bottle. "Check out the label. Manufactured by Ardenvale Pharmaceuticals. We have three hours to kill and it's a good place to start."
Joe nodded and climbed into the passenger seat. "As good a place as any," he said in agreement.
Joe didn't apologize for how his wolf was forcing its way to the surface, snapping and snarling its need for revenge and Nick didn't ask for an apology. The wolf was as much a part of Joe's nature as the human; Nick hoped he could help Joe control the wolf until the job was done.
Ardenvale Pharmaceuticals was big enough that it appeared to have its own block. Huge and sprawling, the sign welcoming visitors to the place proclaimed it was the 'home for medical research to benefit the world'. Joe simply looked at Nick with a raised eyebrow.
Badges got them through the first security station inside the door and into the foyer. Then they were faced with the next level. A snarl from Joe and the diminutive receptionist scurried to find someone for Nick and Joe to talk to.
Nick turned on his heel to face the owner of the voice. His senses recognized wolf immediately, but something wasn't quite right. Her scent was wrong and redolent with the antiseptic smell of medicine. Nick didn't see anything wrong with her appearance, she was all done up in office neutral. Her hair was pulled back from her face, clipped at the nape of her neck, and she was dressed head to toe in a dark navy. Slim, small, and pretty enough but with a hard edge to her expression that made Nick cringe inside. She introduced herself as Susan Young, director of New Technologies. Did that mean she was in charge here? She wasn't giving anything away. They flashed their badges, Joe watching as Nick took the lead.
"Wolf/human liaison," Nick identified who they were. "I wonder if we could see—" He cast a glance around the high ceilings of the foyer and the security that ringed it. This was the kind of place to have more than a manager. Maybe a clinical director? "The person in charge."
She tilted her head and narrowed her gaze. "What is this concerning, Officers?"
"We need to talk to the person at the top of this place," Joe snapped.
She didn't react. Nothing in her expression gave away a reaction. If she was perturbed by Joe jumping down her throat she didn't show it.
"I am the person in charge," she said simply. "We can talk here but I can't allow you past this point without a prior appointment. We have many sensitive projects underway where outside contamination could cost us and the taxpayers millions. If you would like to make an appointment then we can certainly—"
"Now. We're here to ask questions now. And if we want to go through that door we will." Joe was desperately trying rein in his wolf, Nick could see that. He could also scent Joe's growing antagonism, though, and that wasn't going to go well if it spilled over into anger.
She raised an eyebrow and assessed Joe coolly. "Do you have a warrant?" she asked formally.
"Why would we need one of those to just have a look around an open facility?" Nick replied just as civilly. He took the vitamin bottle out of his pocket and turned it idly in his hands.
She looked down and couldn't have failed to see what he held. Her lips tightened and her expression narrowed. Nick swore he could see fear in her eyes. He pushed onward, "Do you have something you don't want us to see?"
That threw her. She looked from Nick to Joe and back again. Her eyes held a glimpse of something but Nick couldn't get a hold of her scent to make heads or tails of it. The whole thing was damn frustrating.
"And I say again, can I ask what it is concerning? Is this to do with an employee? Generalized questioning from low-level cops will not be tolerated without prior warning." She sniffed but it was a disapproving action not the action of a wolf.
Joe took another step forward. His stance was loose and ready.
"Ma'am," he began politely, "we will be sure to return with appropriate papers as soon as we are able."
"Until then gentlemen, I believe our business is concluded." She spun on her heel and disappeared through a door marked Staff, leaving them standing there.
With barely leashed patience Joe stalked away from the foyer and out in to the sunlight. Nick was on his heels and he didn't have to wonder what Joe was going to do next.
"Fucking cold-as-ice bitch," he snapped. "Warrants? Who needs a fucking warrant to ask simple questions?"
"Get in the car." Nick wasn't ready to have this out on the pristine front lawn of Ardenvale.
"I will kill her," Joe snapped. "She's hiding something. Did you see the way her expression changed when you had the bottle in your hands? I don't give a shit what she's hiding, but whatever it is, whether it has to do with the drugs or not, we will arrest her ass."
Nick didn't tell his partner to get in the car again. He just climbed in and started the engine. Joe paced for a short while, muttering and cursing. Then, appearing to come to some sort of decision in his head, he too climbed in the car.
"She was a wolf," Nick began. "She didn't scent like a wolf. There was deadness about her. Vanilla. There was a scent similar to vanilla, but some note under it was vile." Nick shuddered.
"You think it was perfume or was she hiding her shifter status?"
"When a female wolf wears perfume it's not to mask, they use it to enhance scent," Nick said. He wasn't an expert about women or perfume, but he knew that much.
"Then we need to find out what was wrong. Who she is. What she does." Joe punctuated each word with the flat of his palm against his thigh.
"And what the company is about," Nick said simply.
"Agreed."
He began to drive and in Nick's head they were going to his place. Yes, Mark was there and Joe and Mark weren't exactly the best of friends, but his computer was as good as anyone else's. He couldn't face going to back to Joe's house just yet. They were nearly there, a little under thirty minutes later, when his cell phone sounded. He put it on loudspeaker.
"Who did you piss off?" Rob's voice was deceptively calm but Nick could sense the tension that underlined the question.
"Why?"
"I just had the governor call me directly asking about an unscheduled visit to a place called Ardenvale Pharmaceuticals. Can one of you hazard a guess as to why the governor bypassed official channels and dumped his irate shit on me?"
Nick wondered how he was going to answer this tactfully. As usual Joe jumped in with both feet.
"Ardenvale manufactured and supplied the prenatal vitamins that Mara was taking," he said. "We were running with the idea that the vitamins were engineered with the chemical inside. We left them with Keith for testing. We just wanted to rattle a few cages while waiting for the results. Woman in charge wasn't very cooperative."
"Seems she went to the boss and he came to me. I told him you would go through official channels from now on," Rob said dryly.
Nick knew what Rob had said was a convenient lie.
"We don't know for sure but the reaction of the woman who said she was in charge confirmed that she is hiding something at Ardenvale." Nick paused in his explanation, wondering just how to word this. "Whatever comes of all of this, we should put the company on our radar."
"As a wolf/human case?" Rob sounded intrigued.
"Something was weird," Joe interrupted. "She smelled wrong." He looked at Nick, who nodded.
"Agreed," Nick said. "I couldn't get the scent of her; she's wolf but…" His voice trailed off and he shrugged at Joe.
"I'll cover your backs at this end," Rob offered without provisos. "Where are you at with the tests?"
Nick looked at the clock on the dash. "Couple of hours and Keith should have something for us."
"Do me a favor, guys."
"What?"
"I don't give one shit about what you're doing. You're on sick leave and vacation respectively. Just don't poke too many hornet nests without backup. Remember Dan and I have your backs if you need us."
"I'm not pulling anyone else into this," Joe said instantly. He stared at Nick, who met his gaze with a level one of his own. They both knew how this was going to end for each of them if it all went south.
Joe would die for his wife and unborn child.
And Nick?
Nick would die for Joe.