Monster was trying to understand what everything meant, but it was hard to see beyond why the club was discussing his woman.
“In light of all that, can I know why we brought her up in the first place, already?”
As hard as he tried to keep his emotions in check, he was failing miserably.
“Bulldog?” Prowler said to his Veep.
Bulldog cleared his throat before speaking. “When we got back from Cliff’s, there was a familiar scent in your room. When I grabbed the note, it was strong, and I tried to place it. It wasn’t until I’d gotten home that I figured it out. That scent was in one of the rooms at Cliff’s place.”
“What the fuck?” Monster stood, almost overturning his chair with the force. He paced as Ulf howled. He was bashing against the invisible barriers that separated man from beast. Ulf wanted out. Monster would’ve been tempted to give in to the call of the fur, except he wasn’t sure if Ulf would attack the messenger, so to speak, in his protectiveness over Carys.
“I hate to say it, brother, but what are the odds that she just happened into our bar that night?” Prowler asked.
Kansas slapped the domino that had been hurled at Monster onto the table. “This and the fact that his daughter is connected to us can’t be a coincidence. Samual is very much alive and coming for us. It sounds like Cliff is somehow connected to it. He clearly had ties to Domino.”
Monster didn’t believe in coincidences either, and that broke his fucking heart. He had started picturing a future with Carys. Now, he didn’t know how to feel about any of it. If they let her go, would Ulf revert to his old self? Monster could feel in his bones that the reason Ulf was changing had to do with Carys.
“So, if she—he couldn’t bear to say her name—is connected to that pack, if she’s Samual’s git, could she have drugged me or something? Somehow changed Ulf?” Could something she’d done have made him feel drawn to her?
He posed the question to himself, but the looks on his brother’s faces were an answer—one he didn’t want.
“Fuck,” Prowler cursed. “We need to make a move, and now. If she, and by extension Cliff, has even a remote connection to the dead pack, then it can get out of hand real fast. Without the threat of the pack, anyone with knowledge of shifters is a danger to us all.”
Everyone murmured in agreement.
“Then let’s do it. Let’s go to Cliff’s, secure him. Then locate Carys. Once she’s secured, we can question them separately. Ask the right questions and see where it all stands,” Ghoul stated.
All the brothers looked horrified at the thought of holding a woman for questioning.
“We don’t hurt women,” Kansas growled.
“I’m not suggesting that. There’s more than one way to secure someone, geez. What I’m saying is, we get Cliff in my funhouse. I’ll get the information out of him that way. As far as the lady is concerned, I was thinking the big guy can woo her back to his bed. You get the answers your way. If we like what she has to say, done and done.”
“Sounds good to me. All in favor?” Prowler’s question was met with all ayes.
“Okay, Kansas, Monster, Ghoul, Creedence, myself, and the prospect will head over to Cliff’s right now. Once he’s secured, Monster, you call the girl and invite her here. Make sure she parks inside this time so she can’t dip out. Not that she’ll have free run of the place, but as a precaution. Boogeyman, why don’t you pay Linda a visit? Since you can charm the venom out of a rattlesnake, see what information she’d be willing to share. Take the kid with you too. You’ll stick out less visiting a care facility with a baby-faced boy in tow. If anyone asks, he’s her long-lost grandson.”
With everyone clear on their assignments, they headed out in cars and vans.
Monster’s emotions were in a fucking blender set to frappe. Had she set him up? And why him? Or maybe he was just the unlucky one. She had kissed Kansas first. So, was Monster just the gullible one who fell for her tricks?
That line of thought was causing his anger to rise and Ulf to gnash his teeth. Funny thing was the anger coming from his wolf was waffling between targets. Sometimes at Carys for fooling them, and sometimes at Monster for believing the worst about her.
What would you have me do, Ulf? It can’t be a coincidence. He’d found himself wishing she was his mate. Now he dreaded the possibility. Especially if she’d set him up and betrayed his club to Samual.
No matter what, her scent being present at Cliff’s was damning, but Ulf still balked at the thought that Monster planned to trick her.
I know, it hurts me too, but will you give her a chance to explain to us?
Us.
They were bonding, and Ulf was begging. He sounded like that lost little wolf pup who’d been exposed to the world too soon and didn’t understand what was happening, what he was, and why he had tasted blood.
Monster promised Ulf to try. If for no other reason than that Ulf was speaking in full sentences, and he no longer felt feral to Monster. He knew deep in his marrow that Ulf being in control without the silver was somehow due to Carys. Even if she’d drugged him with some Domino pack bullshit, he didn’t know if he’d wish it away if he could. Ulf was whole, and that was worth his heartbreak at her betrayal.
And that thought was rending his soul. He’d sworn to himself years ago that he’d never be in a position to choose between his club and a woman. However, he could see the writing on the wall—that was exactly what was coming.
The prospect was driving the van with Ghoul riding shotgun. The rest of them were sitting in the back of the windowless box van. One painted with a dummy plumbing company’s name.
