Nick steps in front of me, blocking me from view of the alpha wolf. It’s a protective gesture, because Alpha Toth is losing the battle with his wolf. If he shifts in this temper while locked in this room, he’s liable to attack the messenger. Since that would be me, I’m more than happy to let Nick protect me.
When Alpha Toth starts shaking so badly he falls to his knees, Rook moves in front of him. “Calm yourself, Peter!” he snaps with all the force of a very powerful werewolf. I wince at the sting of the command. Rook’s so easygoing it’s hard to remember that he’s more dominant than Alpha Toth. Right now it’s clear as day, though. Alpha Toth trembles under the command and lowers his head, exposing his neck as a show of submission.
Rook eases up, and I take a deep breath. Even Nick shudders once the tension in the air is gone. Alpha Toth remains on his knees a moment, staring at the ground while he sucks in huge, gulping breaths. Once he’s calm, he looks up at Rook with sorrow and gratitude in his eyes. The two say nothing but exchange a long glance that needs no words. Rook holds out a hand to his alpha. The large, broody man rises to his feet and pulls Rook into a tight hug. “I’m sorry, Peter,” Rook whispers.
Alpha Toth finally pulls back with a long sigh. “I’ve always known she’s ill fit to be the pack luna. She’s too power hungry, and she’s got a dark side to her that has to be kept in check. But her wolf is so dominant none of my other females could ever win a challenge against her. When she beat Isabella for the right to be my mate, I accepted her because I knew she’d never stop causing trouble if I didn’t. I thought I could keep control of her if she were my mate.”
All the fight seeps out of Alpha Toth. He seems more resigned now than anything. Self-pity’s never a good thing, especially not if you’re an alpha, so I risk speaking up. “Don’t dwell on the problem, Alpha Toth. Fix it.”
Alpha Toth’s head snaps my direction, eyes hard after the reprimand, but I stand my ground. “You can’t do anything about past choices, so focus on the present. Change what you can.”
He glares a moment longer, but then his eyes soften. “That’s sage advice.”
I shrug. “My past is ugly. If I worried about the what-ifs, I’d go crazy. With my gifts, there’s a lot I can’t control in my life, so I focus on what little I can do something about.”
Alpha Toth gives me a long, searching look, then places a hand on my shoulder. “You are an amazing woman, Ms. Jacobs. Thank you for all you’ve done to help my pack. I’m so sorry that my luna put you in danger.”
Uncomfortable with all the emotions flying around, I step out of the alpha’s grip and shrug again. “Don’t worry about it. Not your fault. I don’t hold any ill feeling toward your pack. However, if you want to mete out some punishment on Luna Marie, well, I’m not going to stand in your way.”
Alpha Toth barks out a surprised laugh and shakes his head as if I bewilder him. “Very well, Ms. Jacobs.” His voice turns hard again. “Let’s go find my mate and right the wrong she’s done.”
. . . . .
Luna Marie is not on the compound, nor is she answering her phone. “Could she know we’re on to her?” I ask once we’ve searched the entire place under the guise of giving Nick a tour. We’ve ended up back in the parking lot next to Nick’s car.
Alpha Toth isn’t happy about Nick staying. But since Director West ordered Nick to bring Marie in for questioning—and because Nick refuses to leave my side until we’re sure no more attempts will be made on my life—he allows it. Toth feels much better after Nick promises he’ll let Toth handle the situation however he sees fit. Meaning if Toth wants to hand Marie over to the FUA, Nick will take her off his hands, but if he wants to give her the same sentence she gave Maya and Daniel…well, that’s up to him, and Nick will stay out of it.
Alpha Toth and Rook both frown in thought, but Nick speaks up. “It’s likely she knows. Mercs usually get half payment up front and half when the job is completed. If no one checked in because the job was botched, she’ll know something went wrong. There was a whole diner full of witnesses who saw Nora walk away from the attack and saw us take Dennis into custody.”
I wince. “She may have bolted, knowing Dennis might talk during interrogation.”
Nick nods, agreeing with me. He looks at Alpha Toth and Rook. “Any idea where she might go?”
The two share a grim look and say together, “The apartment.”
Nick heads for his car while I ask the million-dollar question. “What apartment?”
Alpha Toth sighs. “We’ve been trying to trace the missing money since Maya’s and Daniel’s deaths. Maya rented a small apartment out in Ann Arbor. It’s mostly safe from rogues because it’s surrounded by three really strong packs who all use it as neutral territory—us, the Waterloo pack out in Chelsea, and the Island Lake pack up in Brighton. Rogues generally keep to Detroit. We figured the apartment in Ann Arbor was where Maya and Daniel were going to try to make a go of it as packless wolves.”
“Wouldn’t Luna Marie know you’d look there?” I ask.
Both Rook and Alpha Toth grimace. “We haven’t told Marie we know about it,” Alpha Toth says. “It’s just easier to keep her out of stuff.”
Yeah, that’s not hard to imagine. She’s a real piece of work. I smirk. “Can’t blame you there, and it works in our favor.” I clap my hands together in excitement. “All right. Who’s up for a drive to Ann Arbor?”
When we get to the apartment complex in Ann Arbor, Nick flashes something that looks like an FBI badge, and the manager hands over a key. The apartment is a modest one-bedroom. I’m sure it’s very standard for middle-class suburban living, but it makes my old dump in Detroit seem like third-world living. Luna Marie must have stolen a lot of money from the pack.
The apartment is empty. Though, judging by the growls of Alpha Toth when we enter the place, Marie hasn’t been gone long. “She wasn’t here alone.”
“Do you recognize the scent?” Rook asks.
He, Nick, and Alpha Toth all wander around the open living, dining, and kitchen area, sniffing the air. “It’s definitely wolf,” Alpha Toth says, shaking his head. “And male. But he’s not pack.”
His eyes are glowing again. We all know what Luna Marie being here with another male wolf means, and Alpha Toth’s wolf does not like being cheated on.
“It’s a little familiar,” Rook says, taking a deeper whiff. “But it’s too mixed with Marie’s scent for me to get a good read on it.”
Nick looks up from a small stack of mail he’s sorting through. “You got anything for us, little psychic?”
I wander the room, running my hands over everything from the kitchen table to the TV remote. When I pick up nothing, I groan. If this was Luna Marie’s secret love nest, chances are there is only one kind of vision I’m going to get from this place. At my grumble, all three men look my direction. “It’s nothing,” I tell them with a sigh.
I head for the bedroom, and Rook follows behind me, chuckling when comprehension sinks in. Alpha Toth walks into the bedroom, takes a deep breath through his nose, and then roars. “That cheating whore!”
He grabs the nearest thing he can find, which happens to be a dresser, and smashes it thoroughly with his fists before throwing it into the bedroom wall, putting huge holes in the drywall. He sheds his clothes and shifts into wolf form, moving to shred the mattress next. Rook stops him. “Wait, Peter!”
The wolf growls and his chest heaves, but he turns his glowing eyes to Rook and waits. “Nora needs the bed. Let her do her thing, and then you can tear this entire apartment to pieces. Promise.”
Alpha Toth snarls but plops his butt on the ground with a huff. He looks at me, and for a moment I forget to breathe. I’m trapped in a room with an angry wolf, and he’s barely containing his temper. In this form, the dominance rolls off him in thick waves. I want to fall to the floor and curl up in the fetal position, but werewolves appreciate strength, so I pull back my shoulders and glare at the alpha wolf. “Stop it,” I say. “I get that you’re pissed, but I can’t do my job with you in here being all alpha I-will-rip-you-apart wolf. Calm down or get out, because I can barely breathe with all the testosterone you’re throwing at me.”