Wild Nights with a Lone Wolf (5 page)

Jett shook his head. “It’s odorless to humans and I’m not human. What I
don’t
smell is another werewolf, which is curious. There are ways to mask it, but a kill this messy—I’d expect something left behind.” He examined the silky blond hair now matted with blood. The broken gold chain around a mangled neck. Poor girl. “We’ll have to see what comes back once the body gets examined. I’m thinking though, she was abducted. This may be some psycho fantasy thing or prostitution. Some sexual thing that went overboard.”

Parker cocked his head to the side. “Whyzat?”

Jett pulled out his phone, pointing to the dead girl as he did. “Look at that dress she was barely wearing. You’d hardly expect to see a woman wearing that sort of thing outside of a strip club. Her shoes are an accident waiting to happen. Her necklace on the other hand, is a little gold cross on a thin chain. It’s the sort of thing parents give their kids for their birthday, or their Sunday school teacher. Now, not to say sex workers can’t be good church-goers, but something about that picture doesn’t work if you ask me. I think someone made her put on that getup.”

Parker nodded. “You’re calling in the coroner?”

Jett hit the speed dial and shook his head. “Already done. I’m calling my brother. Asher owns this land, and we need to find out what the hell he knows.”

***

D
ammit, the whole point of having a big-ass plot of land for peace and quiet was to be able to enjoy the fucking peace and quiet. Ash pulled up to the southeast quadrant of his running land to the sights and sounds of flashing lights and a dozen milling bodies trampling all over the place where he did his best relaxing—outside of bed.

In the center of it all, Jett stood pointing and dictating as he was so fond of doing. Jesus H... Jett said he needed to talk about a case. He hadn’t specified that Ash’s property was a fucking crime scene.

He parked his bike and strode over, ignoring all the prying eyes. Surely he was some sort of suspect since the body had been found on his territory. Well fuck them all. He didn’t know for sure if Sherri planned on seeing him again, but if it came down to it, he did have an alibi.

He stopped when he saw the body up close. Damn. That skinny girl who came into Howlers looking for a job.

“Holy Christ, Jett. I recognize that girl. I remember that cross on her. Those tiny fucking arms.” She’d looked nervous and hungry. One of those things you tried not to pay attention to, but did anyway. “She came in looking for work. Jesus—
Fuck
— What in the hell happened?”

Jett’s eyes flashed under the moonlight. “No question the kill looks superhuman, but they managed not to leave a familiar scent. I hope to hell you’ve got a good story for your whereabouts this evening.”

Christ. Ash crossed his arms over his chest. “I was at the restaurant all night. Except for I dunno, half an hour when I disappeared into my office to make love to a beautiful human and then after eleven when I closed the place down, all the staff and patrons at Howlers had eyes on me.” He kicked at the packed dirt beneath his feet. “I’ve got no witnesses for the time when I was balls-deep inside the gorgeous woman. Not that I mind an audience, but she didn’t seem like the type.”

Jett shook his head the way he did when he thought Ash was behaving in a manner unbecoming a civilized
were
. “For fuck’s sake, take this seriously. I’ll need the name of the human. If you happened to exchange names, that is.”

Ash grunted. “Why you gotta be like that? I don’t know what kind of a wolfslut you think I am but—”

“The kind who manages to routinely land himself in boiling fucking water, even after we both cut ties with the pack. Now do you know the human’s name or not?”

Ash took a deep breath and looked up at the stars. The night was clear and warm. Full moon on the rise, only a couple of days away. Sheri had been amazing, and he’d looked forward to a long run to wind down before hitting the sack.

Now he had a dead girl on his favorite piece of property.

He ran a hand over his overgrown stubble. “Sherri. Her name was Sherri. She had a room at the Nogales Inn. Twenty-two twelve, I think.”

Jett pulled out his little notebook and wrote down the information. “I’ll check it out.”

Ash grabbed his brother’s arm. “You can’t think I was involved.” He walked back over to where the body lay. A potato-like man with glasses had a big, black bag out, ready to get her loaded up and taken away. “You don’t even have to believe my story. If I killed this girl, she’d reek of my smell.”

“You know I have to check it out,” Jett hissed. “Besides, I told you there’s no discernible wolf scent.”

Motherfucker. God forbid Jett look like he gave special treatment to his brother. Or to any of their species.

“Isn’t that telling in itself? I’d have to have covered myself in mud, or gone through water, and clearly I haven’t. I haven’t even showered since I left Sherri. I was at Howlers when you called, and I came straight here.” Ash took a demonstrative whiff of himself. The faint smell of Sherri did linger—her sweat and her pheromones, as well as that pungent, minty oil she’d had on her skin.

Ash stopped cold.

Jett leaned forward. “Something wrong, brother?”

“Yeah. Wait.” Ash closed in on the dead girl, filling his nostrils with a healthy whiff of her. Under the stronger smells of blood and earth, peppermint and lavender struck his senses. Same as the smell on his shirt. His skin. Same as he’d smelled on Sherri. The aromas were weak, the way they’d be if someone had brushed past a person wearing them, but still there.

That that smelled like an awfully strange coincidence. Or trouble.

Ash pointed to his brother. “Smell me. Then smell the body.”

Jett did and wrinkled his forehead. “That match will not help your case.”

Ash shook his head. “No.
No
. Sherri. From earlier at the restaurant. She had these scented oils on her skin. Something about a natural remedy for her headache.”

“Hmm.” Jett tapped his pen against his palm. “So either our girl over here also had a headache, or your hookup was with her.”

“Could be.” Shit.

“Or you were with the victim after being with this Sherri person.”

Ash rolled his eyes. “And I managed to leave behind Sherri’s scent but none of my own?”

“Okay. I’ll go have a talk with this woman.”

The back of Ash’s neck prickled. He thought of his trouble with Jojo in the bar. The strange, unknown reason he’d sent Sherri to Howler’s earlier that evening. What if his motive had been far worse than Ash imagined? God knew what kind of shit their half brother had his paws in these days.

“I’m worried you’re not going to find her.” Ash ducked behind Jett’s cruiser and stripped off his shirt.

“Oh, fuck me. Ash, you are not doing this here,” Jett growled through clenched teeth.

“Jett. Listen. I met Sherri last night when Jojo was working the bar at the hotel. I went there to call him out after he’d been harassing my staff. Trying to recruit the younger females for his escort service. He saw me with Sherri before we went up to her room. When she asked in the bar tonight about a place to eat dinner
, he sent her to Howlers
. She was there around the same time as that dead girl over there.”

Ash pulled at his belt and emptied his pockets onto his brother’s car, refusing to meet Jett’s glare. “What if this shit is tied to him? Jojo may be family, but you know he’s not right in the head.”

Jett put his finger in Ash’s face. “You’re talking kidnapping and murder. Even for Jojo, that’s a leap. If you think this is some kind of revenge shit, then you need to let me handle the problem. Either way, this is a police matter.”

“I don’t have the restrictions you have. Let me see what I can sniff out. Please. If I find anything, I’ll send word.” Ash decided not to wait for a response. Jett wouldn’t be able to follow without leaving his crime scene, and forgiveness later was better than waiting for permission.

He kicked off his pants and shoes and took off at a run, gritting his teeth at the popping of bone and twisting of muscle. It hurt like hell to shift that fast, but there was no time to waste.

Sherri may have been a fling, but he’d liked her. Jojo must have suspected.

Shit, Ash may have made her a target without knowing. If there was a chance of her winding up like that girl back there on the ground, Ash needed to find her. Fast.

S
herri slumped in the back of the dark van. Only for a few seconds when they’d tossed her in had she gotten a look at her companions. Both looked young, one redhead and one blonde. She’d tried nudging the girl next to her, but it had been at least half an hour since she’d heard so much as a peep.

That poor tiny blonde had panicked and tried to escape, which didn’t end well. After, the men hit the other girl and drugged her to stop her from screaming.

Sherri had gone limp the second the screaming started, hoping if they thought she was still knocked out from before, they wouldn’t give her the full Monty. The plan seemed to have worked, to a limited degree. Her head swam, but she knew which end was up, which was clearly more than she could say for the poor thing sacked out against her side.

In a way, the girl next to her had been blessed. She hadn’t had to hear the screams and the sick growls—clear signs that the blonde hadn’t made it far after the van stopped—but it also meant that any chance they might have to fight back or escape would be that much harder.

“We’ll do the handoff tomorrow night. My guy will bring the product. Don’t screw up.”

“Course not.”

“You already let the other one get away.”

The second low voice up front sounded familiar, but Sherri couldn’t tell much. The drugs distorted her senses and muffled her hearing.

A man had grabbed her from behind in the parking lot of Ash’s restaurant while unlocking the door to her rental car. He’d kept his face covered. The other guy had gotten in after they’d stopped. After the blonde girl had screamed about wanting her mother and tried to get free.

They had to be werewolves, like Ash. Or like Ash, but violent. He may have gotten a little aggressive in bed, but he’d been careful with her. She couldn’t believe him capable of something this hideous.

Her self-defense training hadn’t been worth a damn against the raw strength of the asshole who’d grabbed her. He’d pinned her arms like she was the bug, and he the sadistic sixth grader with pointy tweezers.

Where were they going? They’d pulled off for what seemed like an hour or more, waiting for the guy in the passenger seat. Now, based on the speed and the recent lack of stoplights, they’d been heading far away from civilization. Which meant even if they got free, they’d have a hell of a time finding help. Or finding anything, for that matter.

Nerves made a tight ball in her stomach. She nudged at her comatose traveling companion with one shoulder. “Hey, sweetie. Time to wake up, don’tcha think?”

The girl squirmed and mumbled but didn’t respond.

Sherri eased to the side. She’d felt around the best she could in her immediate location, hoping for something to cut the ties that bound her hands. Surely this thing had a sharp edge somewhere.

“That young one is bleeding. Clean her up. Keep these two locked down until the moon is full, or it’ll be the last time I do business with Los Lobos Muertos
.
”

The one driving made what sounded like a threatening noise. “I hear you.”

The one in the passenger seat seemed to be in charge. Sherri had caught salt and pepper hair and a hint of a thin mustache under the dome light when he’d gotten in.

“Ooh. Yes.” She whispered her triumph to the still-comatose redhead when her fingers snagged a piece of metal on the van’s rear door. When she tried to rub her ties against it, the metal shifted and clinked.

Sherri froze, her adrenaline playing pitter-pat on her chest walls. She took a breath. The noise had been quiet and the men up front were so engrossed in conversation that—

“Young lady, we’ll be at our destination in a moment. I suggest you hold your horses and wait until we can untie you properly.”

As her training instructor would have said:
That did not go according to plan.

She pressed against the wall and turned the situation over in her head. If she could get this girl to wake up, maybe when the doors opened they could run. They’d have to disable both men, however, in order to get a decent head start. Allowing herself to be taken inside of wherever they planned to hold her decreased her chances of getting out alive, but maybe she could find a weapon or a phone. Neither option sounded likely.

The men mentioned some sort of deal taking place the following night, so they were probably safe until then.

The question was, what kind of deal? She’d heard of young women being kidnapped and taken over the border, drugged and then forced into prostitution. Trafficking girls wasn’t one of the things she’d been called down to work on, but it could be tied to drugs and money laundering, which she knew more about than she wanted to. Especially after Ryan and his shenanigans.

If they were being taken somewhere to be sold it could give them time. Maybe there would be confusion during the exchange. Maybe the trade would get busted. People got caught crossing the border all the time. They also slid under the radar too often for Sherri to be able to count on this deal being stopped. Add to that of course, that if Sherri and this poor girl did get taken out of the country, they’d be infinitely more screwed.

This entire theory hinged on Sherri’s assumption that Bad and Badder’s discussion hadn’t been about something entirely different. Guys like these two probably had their fingers in dozens of disgusting pies. Still, what chance was there that they nabbed Sherri and this other girl for some harmless reason like they needed help making brownies for their motorcycle gang bake sale?

Next to her, the other one stirred and mumbled something that sounded like “No.”

Sherri turned toward the sound of her voice in the dark. “Yeah. Didn’t think so.” With her elbow, she nudged at the girl’s side. “Come on, honey. I think it’s time for you to shake a leg.” Whatever was going on, it would be best if they both had their brains working.