A Place to Call Home (Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 3) Read online

  Grayson’s hand clenched reflexively. “I think it sounded like total bullshit.”

  “How would he even know to prepare a story ahead of time?” Kannon asked as he leaned in. “Do you think he was involved?”

  “He could have made it up once he saw the smoke and realized Gus’s was on fire,” Grayson admitted quietly. “It’s possible he just seized an opportunity.”

  “The lamia knew about this pretty quickly,” I pointed out through our bond. It wasn’t smart to talk about this here, but I had to point it out.

  Grayson shrugged. “We already knew how close they watch us. I’m not surprised.”

  Wyatt methodically ate his sausage and eggs, but his eyes were glazed over, his thoughts elsewhere. “Wyatt?” I asked softly.

  He blinked and turned his gaze towards me, his eyes focusing on my face. “Our previous plans are now defunct,” he said with a sigh. “After we get Corey back, we need to revise our financial goals and re-strategize completely.”

  I cocked my head to the side in confusion but then realized deflection was how Wyatt was dealing with this situation. He always needed to be in control and to have a plan. There was nothing he could do about Corey’s current situation, so his brain was taking him past that and to the part of the future that he could influence.

  I twisted my paper napkin in my hands nervously. “I know we’re the only shop in town right now, but our reputation…” My voice trailed off, and I was unwilling to say what we all knew. Reputation was everything in this small town. Not everyone had been friendly to us as newcomers, and it had been an upward struggle to prove ourselves. We also had a tense relationship with one of the more influential businessmen in town. Mr. Reaven seemed determined to make our lives in Hollow Crest as miserable as he could. Now that we were a group of supposed arsonists and suspected murderers, the rest of the town would be joining in. I don’t know how things could get any worse.

  Kannon stopped eating. “Realistically, can we keep our business open?” he asked.

  Wyatt and Grayson exchanged a meaningful look. Kannon was the most optimistic and upbeat of all of us, so if he saw this situation as a lost cause, then we were in deep shit.

  “No,” Grayson said with a sigh. “I think it would be best if we remained closed for now.”

  “You have that right,” a man’s voice angrily interrupted. “You should be the ones burned out of this town. The moment you came here, we should have-”

  “That’s enough!” A frazzled looking woman ran up to her red-faced husband and grabbed hold of his arm. “Joe, you need to leave this for the sheriff to deal with.”

  There was complete silence in the diner, and no one even bothered to pretend that they weren’t staring at us.

  “He’s right, Joyce!” another voice called out from across the restaurant. “I don’t know what the town was thinking, selling that old fire station to a bunch of outsiders.”

  There was grumbling all around us now, and angry faces met me wherever I looked. “I think we should leave,” I said to the guys with our pack bond. “We don’t want this to turn ugly.”

  Grayson pulled cash out of his wallet, enough to cover our entire bill, plus give the waitress a very generous tip. He laid the money on the table, but the gesture did nothing to calm the hostility all around us. I heard murmurs about how we were criminals profiting off another’s misfortune, and my heart was heavy in my chest. I knew the guys had put their hearts and souls into making Four Guys Auto a successful business that they could be proud of, and I wondered if they could have been successful if I hadn’t come to town.

  We passed through an angry gauntlet of glares and muttered accusations to get to the front door of the diner, but our tension was still high after we escaped outside. Grayson’s phone pinged with an incoming text message, and he cursed after reading it. We paused outside of the vehicle to watch his reaction, but he gestured for us to get in.

  “The lamia have Corey’s fate in their hands,” Grayson told us through the pack bond. “We have to assume they’re somehow listening to everything we say. From now on, we discuss important information only through the pack bond.”

  “Once we get Corey back?” Wyatt pressed Grayson.

  “We can’t stay here,” Grayson admitted reluctantly. “We need to find a way to get ourselves out of Hollow Crest.”

  Grayson’s statement rang even truer when we turned down the street that led to the firehouse. Graffiti covered the Four Guys Auto sign, and the word “KILLERS” was spray-painted across the large bay door in the front.

  Wyatt sighed. “There’s no point in calling the sheriff, is there?”

  I slumped down in my seat, and Kannon scooted closer to me. “Maybe we should stay somewhere else tonight?” Kannon suggested as he gave me a worried look. “Lori won’t be able to sleep if she doesn’t feel safe.”

  “We could go camping,” Wyatt suggested.

  “Are you kidding?” I asked in disbelief. “How could you forget what happened the last time we went off into the forest?”

  “I’m not ready to get shot again just yet,” Kannon piped up.

  “Never again,” I murmured as I snuggled up to him.

  Wyatt rolled his eyes. “Then where do you suggest we go? I don’t want to be far from my brother if he needs us.”

  “I was thinking of a hotel,” Kannon said quietly. “Outside of town.”

  “We stay here,” Grayson growled. “We have the security system, and we’ll take turns keeping watch over Lori. We’re not going to let a hostile town of humans keep us from our home.”

  I cleared my throat. “Kannon’s the injured one. I think we should take turns keeping watch over him instead.”

  Wyatt rolled his eyes at me as Grayson chuckled, and Kannon gave me an affectionate squeeze.

  “Plan on staying here tonight,” Grayson told us. “But we need to make it back to the university quickly - the deadline Pierce gave us is coming fast.”

  There was silence as we all filed into the firehouse, and I ran up the stairs to the bathroom. I wanted a quick shower before the guys came upstairs to do their thing. I wasn’t sure what Dr. Green would want from us, but I didn’t want to show up already feeling gross. Especially if we would be stuck in the labs for an extended period of time.

  As I twisted my hair up to keep it from getting wet, I thought about Corey. He was probably still sitting in the interrogation room now. What was going through his head?

  I stepped under the stream of hot water and attempted to let it wash away some of my fears. Shock had coursed through me when Sergeant Gonzalez had first announced Gus’s death. But the worst part of that interview had been the pain that flashed through Corey’s eyes when I had questioned him. He had hardened back into the cold wolf that I had first met when I stepped into their lives. He had instinctively hidden the real Corey deep inside, and my moment of weakness had cost me all the progress I’d made with him.

  I turned off the shower and shivered when cold air swirled around me. The other guys seemed confident that Corey was to blame for Gus’s demise, but I had solid doubts about his guilt. I grabbed a towel and dried off as quickly as I could. I’d fix things with Corey and the guys, but first I’d have to get him back. It was time to see what help we could get from the lamia and hope it didn’t cost us more than we could afford to lose.

  Chapter 5

  Lori

  “Your presence is not authorized at this time,” the security guard told Grayson with a stony face. “Please back up to turn your vehicle around.”

  We were past the two-hour deadline that the lamia had given us. A small crowd of angry people ambushed us outside of the firehouse, none of whom wanted to let us leave. Talking to them hadn’t helped; it had just escalated the situation. It had been difficult for Grayson to maneuver the SUV in a way that allowed us to get to the road without hurting anyone.

  Were the lamia trying to scare us by not letting us through the gate now? Was this a punishment for being late? Pie
rce had ignored our call earlier, and Dr. Green also hadn’t responded, which made me worry that they were busy preparing something unpleasant for all of us.

  I leaned over Grayson’s lap to give the security guard a friendly smile. “Is it possible to contact Dr. Green? I’m sure he still wants to see us.”

  The security guard tilted his head and stared at me for a moment. There was a beat of silence where I held my breath. Something I couldn’t identify flashed through the guard’s eyes, and he reluctantly gave me a nod. “I’ll give him a call.”

  The four of us were quiet as we waited, and I strained my ears to see if I could overhear the security guard’s conversation.

  I didn’t realize I was bouncing my leg nervously until Grayson laid a hand on my thigh. “Corey’s going to be fine,” he murmured to me. “We’ll take care of him, no matter what it takes.”

  I frowned in Grayson’s direction but pulled in my nervous energy. I needed to be cool and confident if I wanted to convince the lamia to help us.

  The security guard walked back to Grayson’s window, and I plastered a pleasant smile on my face. A scowl wouldn’t help me plead my case.

  “You can proceed,” the guard told us. “Blaine will meet you in the lobby and escort you to Dr. Green.”

  I murmured my thanks along with Grayson, but my emotions bounced between hope and dread. Blaine was one of the lamia that Dr. Green used when Pierce wasn’t available to police us.

  “Finally,” Wyatt growled as Grayson drove toward the parking garage.

  “We can’t go in there looking for a fight,” Grayson scolded him. “They understand dominance challenges too well, and they won’t hesitate to smack us down.”

  “Let me handle it,” I said with an assertive tilt to my head. “They won’t see me as a threat to their authority, and Dr. Green is more likely to respond favorably to a request if it comes from me.”

  Kannon gave me a warm smile and squeezed my hand while Wyatt grumbled. Was he channeling Corey right now?

  Grayson stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. “You may be the best person to take the lead on this, but keep your temper in check.”

  I huffed. “I know what’s at stake, and I’m not going to mess things up for us.”

  “I know,” Grayson said softly. “I’m struggling with the idea of letting our most vulnerable wolf step out front to protect the rest of the pack, and I won’t be able to hold back if you’re in danger.”

  I looked up at him in surprise but saw the truth shining in his eyes. Grayson believed in me, and he was pushing his protective instincts down to let me have a chance to prove my worth. I gave him a confident nod but felt a little shaky on the inside. I finally had the opportunity to step out of the shadow of the rest of the pack and show that I wasn’t a useless burden. I just wish the stakes weren’t so high. Corey’s freedom was riding on my ability to navigate this situation and turn things around successfully. Could I do it?

  Grayson parked the SUV, and we walked to the elevator that would bring us to the lobby of the main building. I was surprised when he slid his hand into mine but gave him a grateful smile. Usually, Kannon was the affectionate one in the pack. I took comfort in having Grayson’s muscular form striding next to me as Kannon and Wyatt followed behind us. I was surrounded by my pack while we ventured into potentially hostile territory.

  Blaine was casually leaning against the front desk of the lobby as he waited for us but stood as we approached and flashed a grin. “You have some more bodies for us to take care of?”

  I heard Wyatt scoff behind us, but Grayson simply shook his head. “Not today,” he said pleasantly. It had only been a week ago when my former pack master, Baracus, had ambushed us while we were on a run and shot Kannon. The twins had gone after him while Grayson and I stayed with Kannon to get him medical attention. Corey and Wyatt had torn Baracus to pieces, and the lamia had covered it up for us. It was disconcerting that the lamia seemed to like us more after seeing what little remained of Baracus after he met his violent end.

  Baracus had been responsible for keeping my mother and me prisoner for our entire lives, and he had every intention of torturing both of us for trying to escape the pack. It might make me a bad person, but I didn’t lose sleep knowing the twins had eliminated that man from the face of the earth.

  Blaine motioned for us to follow him as he walked through the lobby and towards the elevator that would lead us up to Dr. Green’s office. Grayson and I came to the university regularly to act as lab rats for the lamia, so we knew the way all too well. I didn’t understand the reasoning behind most of the testing and questioning that Dr. Green did; most of it seemed pointless from my perspective. I had thought that the agreement I had made with the lamia in return for my new identity and freedom from my old pack was benign until the day we had to participate in some spells that the witches needed our magic to power. They had almost killed me and probably would have let me die if Pierce hadn’t stepped in and forced Jade to give some magic back to me. The guys had been exhausted for days after the ordeal, as they hadn’t received an emergency shot of magic to bring them back from the brink of death as I had. I shuddered at the memory, and Grayson squeezed my hand.

  We filed into the elevator, and I raised an eyebrow when I saw Blaine hit the button for a lower level instead of the usual floor. “Where are we going?” I asked nervously.

  Blaine smiled at me, but it didn’t touch his eyes. “Dr. Green was occupied when he got the message you were at the gate; he wants you brought to him.”

  My heart started to beat a little faster as the elevator headed down to one of the sub-floors. On most days, Dr. Green seemed like a harmless professor, but I wasn’t blind to the mad scientist that lurked beneath his polite façade. Dr. Green had let us in here for a reason, and I knew we weren’t going to like it once we finally found out what it was.

  The elevator doors snapped open, and Blaine motioned for us to exit ahead of him. I stepped out into a cold hallway with dark grey walls. I shivered, but it wasn’t just from the cold. There was something sinister lurking behind these walls.

  I stayed close to Grayson as we walked through the hallway. The doors we passed by were reinforced steel – not something you would expect to see at your local university. Cameras blinked their red lights at us every fifteen feet of the hallway, letting us know that someone was watching. “Have you ever been down here before?” I asked my pack mates with our bond.

  They all responded in the negative, and that didn’t ease my nerves. “It feels like a jail,” Kannon said. I could feel the concern in the thought he sent out to us. Were they making us walk into our own prison?

  Blaine stopped in front of a door with a small glass window with wire mesh embedded in it and swiped a badge. The door beeped, and he held it open for us. “Dr. Green will join us in a moment.”

  The room we walked into was just as cold and grey as the hallway had been. There were cameras that covered every inch of the room, making it clear there was nowhere to hide. The center of the room had chairs and a couch surrounding a television on a news network, but it wasn’t enough to make the room seem comfortable. “Is this a waiting room?” I asked curiously.

  Blaine chuckled. “I guess you could say that.”

  I exchanged a worried glance with Kannon at Blaine’s non-answer, but we didn’t have long to wait for Dr. Green to join us. He strode out of a door opposite from where we had entered and gave us a bright smile. A young woman dressed in baggy white clothing followed behind him with a glazed look in her eyes, but she didn’t acknowledge us.

  “Blaine, will you escort Lily back?” Dr. Green asked as he straightened the cuffs on his white shirt. Dr. Green looked more like a male model than a college professor with his high cheekbones and flawless good looks, but looks were deceiving.

  I frowned at Lily as she walked past us. She seemed familiar, but I couldn’t quite place her. She was across the room when I finally realized why. “Do you know Lynn?” I blurted out. Lynn w
as one of my classmates at the high school in Hollow Crest. I wouldn’t call her a friend, but she was one of the few people that didn’t actively hate me.

  Lily ignored us as she stepped through the doorway, and Blaine shut it firmly behind them. “That was weird,” I told Kannon with the bond. “Did she remind you of Lynn?”

  “Yeah,” Kannon agreed after a moment of reflection. “Maybe they’re related somehow?”

  Grayson gave us a mental nudge to pay attention. There would be time for this discussion later.

  “I heard your pack got caught eliminating the local business competition,” Dr. Green said with a chuckle. “I honestly hadn’t seen that coming.”

  I bristled. “We had nothing to do with the fire.”

  Dr. Green motioned to the center of the room where there was seating. “Why don’t we get comfortable?”

  I gritted my teeth in frustration, but obediently followed him and took a seat on the couch. Wyatt and Kannon sat on either side of me while Grayson and the professor took chairs opposite from us. “Dr. Green,” I said sweetly. “There’s been a terrible mistake. The police suspect Corey of murder.”

  Dr. Green leaned back gracefully and steepled his fingers. “The sheriff informed me that he’s quite confident in Corey’s guilt. He was more than happy to share all the details of the case when he called to check on your alibis.” Dr. Green leaned forward, all friendliness disappearing from his expression. “That’s one thing we need to talk about. You don’t ever speak to the humans about us. Next time, say nothing and wait for one of us to step in.”

  Grayson tensed at the underlying threat, but I stepped in before he could challenge the professor. I didn’t want this to turn into a full-blown confrontation.

  “I apologize, Dr. Green,” I said with tears in my eyes. “I should have let Grayson and the others handle the situation, but I panicked.”

  Dr. Green already saw me as the weak link in the pack, and I was playing into his misconceptions. I’d let him think I was a helpless female that was no threat to him if that got Corey home safe. I was willing to sacrifice my pride for his life.