A Place to Call Home (Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 3) Page 2

  “They know you had nothing to do with this,” I reassured her. “They’re just trying to get a reaction out of us. They want us to turn on each other.”

  “Corey,” she said hesitantly as her eyes searched mine. “Why did you leave home when Grayson had asked you to stay there and protect the firehouse?”

  A hot knife of betrayal sliced into my heart. “Why are you asking me that, Lori?” I asked her coldly. Everyone else was always assuming the worst about me, but I had thought that Lori was different. I shoved my disappointment deep down with the rest of my pointless feelings and hardened my eyes.

  She chewed on her lower lip nervously, and I knew I was an asshole. I also knew what it was that she wanted to hear. She wanted me to assure her that I was innocent, that I had nothing to do with the death and destruction of a man who had caused us nothing but grief and frustration since we had come to Hollow Crest.

  “I’m worried about you,” Lori said out loud.

  “Are you?” I asked coolly. Maybe I should just confess so that Lori would be free of accusations and be free of me. I was surprised at the depth of pain I felt at the thought of never seeing her again, but I was bound to break her heart sooner or later. Lori wanted a white knight, and I was anything but.

  I turned to Sergeant Gonzalez. “Get her out of here, and we’ll talk.”

  Lori gasped, and I ignored the way my heart squeezed at the sound of her pain. Sergeant Gonzalez stood and reached for her arm, and I tensed. I didn’t want him touching her.

  Lori avoided his touch and stood, her eyes flashing with anger as she leaned on the table between us. “I know what you’re doing,” she told me with our bond. “And I’m not going to let you take the blame for this.”

  “Now you think I’m innocent?” I threw back at her.

  Lori squared her shoulders and raised her chin. I wanted to force her to back off, but my words didn’t have the desired effect. Instead of hating me, she looked more determined to save me. She wasn’t going to let me push her away, even if she was uncertain of my guilt. She was just as stubborn as I was. Lori’s doubt was killing me on the inside, but I wasn’t willing to show weakness, not here.

  Lori glared at me. “Don’t do this,” she said out loud. “We’re getting you a lawyer.”

  “A lawyer or the lamia?” I asked with a sneer. I knew the police had to be confused because they were missing half of our conversation, but their human sensibilities would keep them from guessing the truth.

  Lori looked at me with sad eyes. “Whatever it takes.”

  “No,” I insisted vocally so that Sergeant Gonzalez could hear.

  “Just give me enough time to find evidence to clear your name,” Lori pleaded. The look in her eyes tugged at my heart, and I felt my resolve wavering. I would do just about anything for this girl.

  I sighed and gave her a reluctant nod. I couldn’t say no to her, and I couldn’t cause her any more pain than I already had today. The townspeople were going to be picking up their proverbial torches in search of blood and justice for the death of one of their own. They wouldn’t be satisfied until they saw the guilty party suffering and behind bars. My confession could keep everyone focused on me and take the heat off Lori and the others until the town’s anger cooled. I knew my brother and the other guys would take care of her.

  Yet, the thought of being locked up in a human prison, trapped in my human form away from my pack, sickened me. My future was bleak, but I was willing to spend the rest of my life in hell if it meant the others would be free. As much as I selfishly craved every moment I could get with Lori, I could never bring her down with me. I’d rather be alone with only my memories of her to comfort me through the worst.

  Sergeant Gonzalez herded Lori out of the room and Lori didn’t argue – probably because she was desperate to help. I took a deep breath of Lori’s scent as she left the room because I wasn’t sure when I’d be in her presence again. Lori wanted to get me out of here before I did something I couldn’t take back, but she was underestimating my ability to sabotage my life. I lowered my head to stare at the table. It was selfish of me to cling to her and drag the rest of the pack down with me. They all deserved better.

  Chapter 3

  Lori

  I stomped out of the interrogation room to where Kannon, Wyatt, and Grayson were waiting for me. It looked like the sheriff had returned Grayson while I had been in the room with Corey.

  “We need to call a lawyer now,” I told them pointedly. “The idiot in there wants to confess to something he didn’t do.”

  Wyatt cursed, and Kannon put his arm around me. “Why would he do that?” Kannon asked with a confused frown. “They don’t have any evidence.”

  Grayson sighed. “Because he’s self-destructive, and he thinks he deserves to be punished.”

  Wyatt snorted. “Not like this. Not by humans.”

  His derisive tone made me glance up at him in alarm, but Wyatt already had his phone out.

  “Not here,” Grayson said in warning as he took the phone away from Wyatt.

  I glanced around at the empty waiting room, but what Grayson said made sense. We were probably under some kind of surveillance right now. The four of us filed out of the sheriff’s station, and I blinked as bright sunlight almost blinded me when I stepped outside. I dreaded the moment we had to make contact with the lamia, they wouldn’t make this easy on us. I wasn’t the only one worried - we were all deep in thought as we made the silent trek back to our vehicle.

  Grayson cursed when his phone pinged with an incoming message. My body tensed as I looked over apprehensively and Wyatt leaned over so he could read the screen along with Grayson.

  “They know,” Wyatt said simply.

  I slumped down in my seat, knowing the lamia were going to demand something unpleasant in return for their help.

  Grayson waited until he had pulled out of the parking lot before he spoke. “Call them,” he told Wyatt quietly as he drove slowly down the street. I doubted he had a destination in mind, but I understood wanting to put some distance between the sheriff’s office and us. We were about to try to solve one dilemma by getting wrapped up in another predicament of Dr. Green’s design.

  I perked my ears to eavesdrop on the conversation, but Wyatt put the phone on speaker so that we could all easily hear the conversation. “You should have called last night,” a cold voice said on the other end of the line. Wyatt cleared his throat, but Pierce didn’t give him a chance to defend our decision. “The price will be steep. Are you willing to pay?”

  “Yes,” Wyatt ground out.

  I raised my eyebrows. Pierce had helped us out a couple of times, but I wouldn’t call him a friend. His motives had been unclear and not necessarily aligned with our well-being. Blindly agreeing to whatever he was going to ask of us was a stupid move and completely against Wyatt’s character. He was the planner, the negotiator, the one that thrived on getting deals. Corey’s arrest must have shaken him for him to be so far off his game.

  Pierce’s voice was quiet on the other side of the line. “Ask me what it’ll cost before you agree.” He paused to let his words sink in. “How much are you willing to lose for him?”

  “We don’t abandon our pack members. You know that, Pierce,” Grayson declared from the driver’s seat.

  “Dr. Green will require a down payment before I can step in,” Pierce told us.

  I swallowed nervously. “What does Dr. Green want?” I asked in a whisper.

  “You have two hours,” Pierce told me instead of answering my question. “Be here.”

  The call ended, and Grayson and Wyatt both cursed. “He didn’t name a price,” I said worriedly. “Shouldn’t we have negotiated?”

  “There’s no negotiating with them,” Wyatt said darkly.

  “It’ll be okay,” Kannon reassured me. “Whatever it is, we can handle it.”

  Wyatt and Grayson exchanged a glance, and I swallowed nervously. I’d do whatever it took to save Corey from himself, but it wou
ld have been nice to have an idea of what was coming for us. I disliked how the others were just resigned to their fate instead of fighting for Corey and themselves. Had the lamia worn us down that much?

  “We need to get Kannon a real meal,” Grayson said quietly. “He’s still healing and needs plenty of calories.”

  “We never made it to the diner last night,” Kannon said hopefully, but his grin looked forced, and his eyes were worried.

  Grayson met his gaze in the rearview mirror and gave him a tense smile. “It’s too early for double bacon cheeseburgers, but I’m sure they won’t object to you ordering a couple of extra sides of bacon.”

  I chuckled along with the other guys, but dread was hanging over us like a headsman’s ax. I wanted us to turn the SUV around so that I could run back to the interrogation room. I’d grab Corey’s hand and pull him up out of his chair to lead him out of the sheriff’s office. We’d all go to the diner together and laugh about how ridiculous this whole situation had been. As long as I was thinking about things that would never happen, maybe we’d even move to Hawaii.

  “After breakfast, we’re heading to the university?” I asked the guys reluctantly. I didn’t want to go, but I’d do it for Corey.

  “We need to take the time to clean up before we go,” Wyatt said with a sigh. “We don’t know how long we’ll be there.”

  Grayson’s jaw tensed. “Wyatt’s right. We need to play along with the lamia for now. They can make things more difficult for Corey just as easily as they could eliminate the problem.”

  I frowned. “Why can’t we hire a lawyer without the lamia?”

  “The lamia can influence the humans’ memories and clean up the evidence,” Grayson explained. “A human lawyer can’t just make this go away.”

  “The evidence,” I said softly. “You think Corey did it?”

  “Why else would he leave the firehouse last night?” Wyatt spat out. “His story of going out to the corner store for popcorn is complete bullshit. Why would he walk past the grocery store to go to Petey’s when he knew he wasn’t supposed to leave our building?”

  “You believed him before,” I reminded him. “Last night, we decided Gus had set the fire himself.”

  “Gus is dead,” Wyatt said sharply. “There were multiple witnesses that saw Corey walking away from Gus’s shop before the fire broke out.”

  “He did seem satisfied when we were talking about the fire,” Kannon admitted reluctantly. “But Corey’s never done anything like that before.”

  “Corey’s not the same wolf he used to be,” Wyatt corrected him.

  My eyes sparked, and I sat up straight. “Corey may have changed since you left your home, but he’s grown a lot since I’ve known him. He might be hot-headed sometimes, but I can’t see him committing cold-blooded murder.”

  “That’s true,” Kannon agreed brightly, looking more confident in Corey’s innocence.

  “Did Corey specifically tell you he didn’t set the fire?” Grayson asked me in a level tone.

  My eyes dropped from his before I could stop them. Wyatt snorted and turned to face forward again as if I had just told him Corey had confessed everything. “He didn’t say he did it,” I said defensively.

  “But he didn’t tell you he was innocent, did he?” Grayson asked as he pulled into the parking lot of the diner.

  “No,” I mumbled. “But you know how defensive Corey gets.”

  Grayson grunted but didn’t comment before he opened his door to step out.

  “Let’s talk about this later,” Kannon suggested gently.

  I followed them through the parking lot, but I wasn’t sure about Corey’s guilt or innocence. I wanted to believe that he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and that all of this was just a coincidence. Yet, I couldn’t shake the nagging voice inside that said there were just too many coincidences to be believable.

  Before we could even make it around to the front of the building, an unpleasant surprise came around the corner. Mr. Reaven, the man whom I had worked for until he had assaulted me, stopped only ten feet in front of us. I vibrated with anger at the smug look on his face, and I wasn’t the only one with a strong reaction.

  “Reaven,” Wyatt growled.

  I quickly looped my arm around Wyatt’s to keep him close and laid my other hand against Grayson’s taut bicep. I could feel anger and hostility radiating off each one of my pack mates – even Kannon. As much as I would like nothing more than to punch Mr. Reaven in his stupid face, I knew I had to be the peacekeeper before things escalated beyond a stand-off.

  Grayson started to take a step forward with a thunderous look on his face, but I quickly stepped in front of him and elbowed him to stay back.

  Grayson hadn’t had a confrontation with Mr. Reaven before, but Corey had. Corey had lost his self-control the night of the pep rally when Mr. Reaven had put his hands on me in the school, and it had only been the intervention of a crowd that had stopped Corey from ending his life. That night, Pierce wiped the memories of the witnesses and compelled Mr. Reaven to tell everyone that his injuries were due to a fall down the stairs. However, I knew Mr. Reaven still remembered the truth.

  “Lori,” Mr. Reaven said with a smile. “What a pleasure to see you here.” His eyes roved over me in an obvious way that he meant to be offensive.

  “Take your fucking eyes off her,” Grayson growled in a barely human voice. “Unless you want me to rip them out of their sockets and make you eat them.”

  Mr. Reaven smiled nervously, but he puffed up his chest in an attempt to hide it. “Was that a threat? Maybe I should give the sheriff a call and let him know that your group has another murder planned.”

  “Shut up,” I hissed. “If you genuinely believed we would murder you, you wouldn’t be standing here taunting us – you’d be running for your life.”

  Our conversation stopped as a couple of middle-aged women came out of the diner and walked towards us. They were chatting amiably and utterly unaware of the hostile confrontation in front of them until they almost ran into Mr. Reaven.

  “Hey Roger,” the brunette with graying temples called out. Her friend, with fake blond hair that was hair-sprayed into a helmet-like shape, gave Mr. Reaven a wave as well.

  Mr. Reaven gave them each a polite nod, but the women didn’t greet the rest of us. They both shot us dirty looks and provided a wide berth as they walked past us. Our confrontation remained at a standstill until the women were out of range. It was only then that Mr. Reaven showed his true face.

  “It looks like the sheriff took my word over your boyfriend’s,” Mr. Reaven said mockingly.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “What were you doing over in that part of town?”

  Mr. Reaven blinked as if he were confused by my question. “I was…” his voice trailed off, and then he shook his head. “I saw Corey,” he said as if he were repeating a well-rehearsed line. “He disappeared into Gus’s shop, and it was almost a half-hour before he came out again.”

  “Really?” Wyatt asked suspiciously. “You just stood outside the shop and watched? Why were you loitering there for a half-hour?”

  Mr. Reaven’s face turned red.

  “You’re lying,” I said bluntly.

  Mr. Reaven shrugged. “I’m not the only one willing to testify. Your friend is going to jail for a very long time.”

  “We’ll see about that,” I said confidently.

  “I’ll be seeing you, Lori,” Mr. Reaven said confidently with a dark smile as he stepped around us.

  “Stay the fuck away from her,” Grayson snarled.

  “Or you’ll find out just how far we’re willing to go,” Kannon added coldly. My eyes briefly widened with surprise at just how intimidating Kannon’s threat sounded. He was the sweet, easy-going one of my wolves.

  Mr. Reaven gave us a sarcastic wave, and we all watched as he got into his car and drove off the parking lot.

  “I fucking hate that guy,” Wyatt grumbled.

  “I can’t bel
ieve he’s still trying to push his luck,” Grayson said with a shake of his head. “He thinks he can take us all on and win?”

  “He’s human,” Kannon said softly. “He thinks his money and influence will protect him from retaliation.”

  Wyatt scoffed. “And he’s probably right.”

  “Let’s go in,” I suggested in a firm tone. “We’ve been up all night, our tempers are frayed, and we’re starving. We can talk this through once we get some food and caffeine in our systems.”

  Grayson rolled his shoulders back and took a deep breath. “You’re right, Lori. We can’t let him goad us into random acts of violence.”

  I rubbed his arm and gave him a shaky smile. “Let’s focus on one problem at a time.”

  Grayson nodded and strode past us to the door so that he could hold it open for the entire group. I watched him worriedly as I walked past him. Corey might be intimidating when he lost his temper and attacked, but Grayson was a trained MMA fighter. Mr. Reaven wouldn’t last more than a minute in that fight, and I didn’t want to see Grayson pushed into that scenario. Grayson had a good heart, and I didn’t want Mr. Reaven’s death on his conscience. Besides, I wanted to be the one to have the satisfaction of wiping that smug look off his face.

  Chapter 4

  Lori

  Once our food was brought to the table, I went from feeling too stressed to think about food to being ravenous in a matter of moments. Grayson had watched me devour my waffle and strawberries with an amused look, and he ordered a second plate for me before I could even swallow my final bite. Kannon nudged one of his small plates of bacon over towards me with a smile, and I took one of the crispy pieces, forcing myself to take a small bite instead of shoving it in my mouth.

  “Did anyone else think that Mr. Reaven’s story sounded a little too planned out?” I leaned forward to ask in a whisper.