Wolf Unbound: Aspen Valley Wolf Pack (11 page)

G
arrett pulled
up in front of the Cross City Country Tavern and came to an abrupt halt next to the police tape wrapped around the lot. This time the entire parking area was empty and most of what remained of the tavern could only be described as ashes and rubble. His heart nearly dropped in his stomach. How many ways were there to tell Autumn that her family business was gone?

His cell phone vibrated on his hip. He answered right away without checking the caller ID.

“Yeah?”

“Hey Garrett. It’s Alejandro. You in the city yet?”

“I just pulled up.”

“Pulled up where? Here?” Alejandro asked.

Garrett had talked with Alejandro earlier during a pit stop. They’d compared mental notes on what they had learned about the whereabouts of Simon and his bodyguards. Since the fire, no one had seen any sign of him.

“No, not yet. I’m over at the tavern.”

“It’s a fucking mess, isn’t it?” Alejandro exclaimed. “More than half of the people who worked there belonged to our Pack. Now we’ve got some of them lulling around here worrying about how they’re going to pay their bills. How are the North girls holding up?”

“They’re all right at this point. Their safety is the most important for me right now. The tavern can be rebuilt. We can find new jobs for those affected until then.”

“Of course. I have to update the main man here. When can we expect you?”

By main man, Garrett knew that he meant Benjamin Sr., his boss.

“I’ll head out that way once I’ve checked out a couple of the leads I have.”

He pulled out a gold chain from his back pocket and rolled the piece of jewelry over and over again in his palm. After Garrett had sent a few men to clear up after the fight with Simon in the fields, they’d returned with the chain, claiming it had been lying under the dead driver’s body. Oddly enough, Garrett had seen Simon wearing a gold chain just like it.

“Gotcha,” Alejandro said. “We’ll be waiting.”

“Which part of the city is your jeweler located?” Garrett asked, his suspicions rising drastically.

“East of the post office. On the corner of Fairfield and Whitmore. The owner’s daughter is mated to one of our own. They’re good people. Why?”

Garrett returned the piece to his back pocket. “Just keep your phone with you. If I find Simon, I’m sure you’ll want to be the first to know.”

“Roger that. Hey, did you bring any of the guys with ya or do you need me to come meet you somewhere?”

“No. I’m solo this time. Believe it or not, that’s the way I work. I don’t want anyone else getting injured or killed on my account.”

“Understood,” Alejandro exclaimed. “Just watch your back. The cops are out looking for an arsonist and questioning everyone they know with a criminal record. They’ve been holding two members of our Pack who weren’t even there the night of the fire. With your record, you need to stay clear of them or you’ll get snatched up real quick.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Garrett said. “I’ll be in touch.”

After Garrett hung up the phone, he turned his attention toward the small convenient store across the street. A couple customers were lingering around on the sidewalk, smoking cigarettes. A young boy was seated on the ground next to one of the gas pumps. Garrett cranked up his motorcycle again and drove the short distance to the store. He parked his bike in front of a tank. The young boy stood immediately to help him with the gas.

“Fill ‘er up?” he asked.

“Yeah,” he said, handing over a few bills. “That should do it. Keep the change.”

The young boy tipped his cap and proceeded to fill Garrett’s tank.

The customers standing on the sidewalk eyed Garrett suspiciously. Only one of the men was a shifter. The pair exchanged a few words with each other and then the human walked into the store, leaving the shifter outside.

“You aren’t of this Pack,” the boy said, catching him off guard.

“I’m not,” Garrett replied. “Just rolling through.”

“Are you an Enforcer or something? I haven’t seen that symbol before,” the boy said, looking at Garrett’s Pack symbols.

He nodded. “Something like that.”

Wolves officially deemed outlaws didn’t carry the same symbols as the ranking wolves of the Pack.

“Soon as I turn sixteen, I’m going to get my first tattoo. The design is going to be of my former Pack’s symbol so that I never forget where I can from,” the boy said, anxiously.

“That’s honorable,” Garrett told him. “What happened to your Pack?”

“We disbanded about half a year ago.” The boy frowned. “Our home state was clearing up forest debris near our Pack home so they could use the area as a landfill. One of the big machines they were using caught fire and the blaze got out of control. The fire spread to our land and destroyed everything that our Pack owned. All twenty-five thousand acres burned out in less than two weeks.”

“Sorry to hear that. I’m glad you and your dad found another Pack home. How long have you been working here?”

“I just started last week.”

“Where do you go to school?”

“I don’t.” He shrugged.

Garrett shifted his full attention from the shifter, who suddenly looked anxious, to the boy. “You look like you’re school-aged.”

“I got kicked out. I’m not going back either. I’m a wolf. I don’t need any formal education anyway,” he said.

“Even wolves need education,” Garrett told him. “What did you do to get kicked out?”

“I punched another kid in the face because he wouldn’t get up from my seat. They said I can’t come back until end of next month.”

“Well kid, that ain’t gonna cut it. Why didn’t you just take another seat?”

“There was this girl I wanted to sit next to and he was in my way,” the boy said, sheepishly.

Garrett scoffed. “You’ll have plenty of time to fight over women, but you won’t win her over unless you’ve got the brains in addition to the strength. Trust me on that one.”

The boy smiled. “I guess.”

Garrett honed in on the front of the store again where the men had been lingering around despite the big white sign on the window that said: No Loitering.

“Those men you keep looking at are there to protect the place,” the boy said. “Jim, the owner, can’t afford to have his gas station torched like that restaurant.”

Garrett swung around. “Right…of course.”

“I saw you pull up in front over there. There’s another fast food place up the street if you’re looking to eat,” the boy said after slipping the pump back onto the leather. “It’s too bad about the tavern though. My dad says they had the best pulled pork sandwiches in the State.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, but he hasn’t been going there lately though. He says the place was bought out by the same flake that keeps harassing folks for money in the name of the Pack.”

“A flake?”

The boy diverted his gaze and then shoved his hands down into his pants pocket. “Well, you’re all set.”

“What do you know of this flake?”

“Um…I could get in serious trouble for saying anything.”

“I won’t say anything. If you had information that could save this town, save your Pack, and save lives, wouldn’t you want to help?”

The boy shuffled from one foot to the next. “It’s forbidden to speak out against him,” he said keeping his tone low.

“By any chance, do you mean Simon, your Beta?”

The kid nodded.

“You don’t have to say anything else,” Garrett said, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Remember what I told you, kid. Get back in school and stay there. You need more than a good right hook to win the girl.”

Garrett had already mounted his bike and was beginning to slip on his helmet when the kid asked, “Can I at least have your name?”

“Garrett.”

The boy grinned. “I’m Nathan. If it takes brains to win a girl, what does it take to become what you are? Aren’t you wearing an Enforcer’s symbol? ”

Garrett smiled. “It’s a little complicated. I’ll tell you what, Nathan. I’ll be coming through here a lot more often. Next time I come, you prove to me that you’re back in school. We can talk about what it means to be an Enforcer then. Deal?”

“Deal.”

D
éjà vu hit
Garrett hard as a motherfucker. When he pulled his motorcycle up at the corner of Fairfield and Whitmore, about half a dozen cop cars lined the streets and a fire truck sat right on the curb in front of Weltman’s Fine Jewels. He’d recalled Alejandro’s warning to stay away from the local police, but he just couldn’t ignore this. The men in uniform were actively trying to put out a fire near the front of the building. The medics had someone laid out on a gurney. A bloodstained sheet covered them from head to toe. Apparently there had been a casualty. But if this was only a fire, why the blood soaked sheet?

Garrett drove up to the curb and sat idle on his bike to observe the chaos. He wasn’t the only one watching. About a half dozen or so people had walked across the street from the post office and adjacent shops to witness the mess.

“Hey! Get back!” A cop rushed over to secure the area with yellow tape and ushered the crowd back and away from the building. “This is a crime scene. Please leave the area.”

The onlookers scattered in different directions. Among the bits and pieces of conversation that Garrett picked up on, one clue stuck with him. Apparently gunshots had been fired inside right before the fire, according to one witness. Right before the fire broke out, a man had fled through the back of the store. From past experience, Garrett had learned to follow his instincts when it came to subtle clues like this. It just so happened that he had a nose for doing just that.

He parked his bike in the post office’s parking lot and walked about a quarter mile to enter the woods where he could change forms without detection. He removed his boots and stuffed them into his pack. As soon as the shift was complete, he raced back toward the jewelry store, hiding in the thick brush at the back of the store to avoid detection. When the cops who were investigating the rear of the store went back inside, he took the opportunity and sprinted out of the bushes. The wolf was in total control now, using all of his five senses, especially his sense of smell. A faint aura was detected around the grassy area just under a broken window. Among the shards of broken glass shattered on the ground were a few drops of blood. The aura belonged to a wolf. He engrained the scent into his memory and then followed it back through the thick brush where it led him deep within the woods.

He tracked the unfamiliar wolf scent for about a mile until he came out on the other side of the forest near the south side of the city. It lead him to a trailer park community blocked off by a chain-linked fence. His inner beast wanted to forge ahead, but in order to get on the other side of the tall fence, he had to climb over it. Reluctantly, he shifted back to human form and clambered up the wobbly fence.

About twenty trailers were on the lot. For the most part, the atmosphere was quiet except for the handful of kids playing on the playground near the front of the community. His sense of smell wasn’t as keen as it was when he was in wolf form, so he had to use more effort to concentrate. Beads of sweat poured down his forehead as his body worked to cool him off after his non-stop trek to get here. He dragged the front of his shirt over his eyes and down his face and forged ahead.

Garrett’s intuitions led him to a small mobile trailer with a red Volkswagen parked in front of the door. At first, he thought he had the wrong location. Inside the home, a woman was screaming at the top of her lungs. But she wasn’t in trouble. Right in tune with her cries, were the grunts and moans of a man. The pair was inside, and from the way she was hollering his bloody name, Garrett could tell they were fucking.

The blood scent and wolf pheromones that he’d picked up behind the store were stronger now than before. There was no doubt that his guy was inside.

Garrett took a look in both directions and noted that there weren’t any immediate threats. Just the kids playing on the playground. He shoved his foot hard into the door, smashing it down to the floor.

He barreled inside.

This time when the woman screamed, she wasn’t screaming in pleasure.

Garrett couldn’t believe his luck. The woman naked on the bed was the same woman who’d served him that first night at the tavern. Her hair was even braided back the same way. Her eyes widened and then recognition flushed over her face when she saw him.

Before his target could begin the shifting process, Garrett charged across the room and threw him hard against the wall.

“Who are you?” his target croaked.

“I was going to ask you the same question.”

“What the fuck, man?” he exclaimed. “You’ve gotta wait your turn to fuck. I was here first.”

His target was still concerned about fucking, yet his dick was now lying flaccid between his legs.

Garrett’s gaze flittered toward the waitress then back to his target. “I didn’t come to fuck. You were at Weltman’s jewelry store today, and ironically, someone died there just before a fire started.”

His target diverted his gaze, guilt clouding his face. “I ain’t got shit to do with no fire,” he said.

“What were you doing there?”

His target charged, nearly knocking Garrett to his feet. They struggled in the tiny interior of the trailer. His target was trying to get away, but Garrett wasn’t going to let that happen. Meanwhile, the half naked waitress screamed bloody murder.

Garrett picked up his target by the neck and then slammed him hard against the wall. “Answer me! What were you doing there?”

“
My job!
Fuck! I was doing my job, okay?”

“What job is that? Breaking and entering? Arson?”

“I didn’t start no fire, man,” he insisted. “I was sent to collect something.”

“Something?”

He struggled against Garrett’s hold, but Garrett pushed firmly at his larynx. He was almost blue in the face before Garrett loosened his grip.

“Money…Weltman owed my boss money.”

Somehow, his target had gotten hold of a vase. He took it, slammed it against the side of Garrett’s face, and then made a run for the door. He never made it outside. Garrett dragged him back inside, pounded him into a table, and brought his fist down across his face.

“I wasn’t finished,” Garrett growled. “Who’s paying you? Who’s your boss?”

He gagged on his own blood as it drained down his nose to the back of his throat.

“This could all be over for you,” Garrett said. “I need a name.”

He gasped. “Si…Simon.”

Garrett ground his teeth together, his aggravation rising at the sound of the name. Simon was one annoying, sick bastard.

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

He was lying.

Garrett snatched a knife up from the kitchen counter and thrust it into the thickest part of his thigh.

“Don’t waste my time, motherfucker! I asked you a question.”

“In the barn…the barn,” he panted. “Behind his old family home. Take the woods and run north. He’s in there. Goddammit, let me up! I don’t know anything else.” He grasped at the knife in his thigh.

Garrett released his hold, yanked out the knife for him, and tossed it back on the table.

The man stumbled backward, hopping on his good leg. After a failed attempted at regaining his grounding, he dropped to his knees on the floor and uttered a string of curses at Garrett. The bastard was through. Just to make sure he wasn’t going to regain his strength any time soon, Garrett dragged him up to a standing position and knocked him unconscious with his fist. He hit the floor like deadweight.

The waitress he’d been fucking was huddled in a corner. “Please…I don’t know anything,” she said, meekly.

“I’m not going to hurt you. It was him I was after,” he said. “Is this your home?”

She shook her head. “No. We just hook up here. Look, I’m not the only one selling sex here. I—”

“T.M.I,” he said, holding up his hand. “You need to be weary of the company you keep, lady.”

“I needed the money,” she exclaimed, her mascara running down her face as tears escaped her eyes. “Tips at the tavern haven’t been the same”

He retrieved a few twenty-dollar bills from his pocket and threw it on the table next to the bloody knife.

“Put on some clothes and get outta here,” he said, and then left her inside the trailer.

As he raced back toward the forest, he dialed Alejandro’s number.

“Yo,” Alejandro answered.

“The old Montague barn…you know where that is, right?”

“You mean the one behind Simon’s old family’s home. The County Inspector’s report says the house was filled with asbestos. That place has been barred off and abandoned for years.”

“Well, that’s where I’m headed. No time to talk,” Garrett said, and then hung up the phone.

He increased his speed, racing through the woods as fast as his legs would take him. In mid-run, he shifted, trusting the wolf to guide him.