CHAPTER 5

Jake turned his head in an odd direction. “Yeah. It might shock the entire pack if we have a murderer among us. Everything would be much cleaner if she committed suicide.

She wrote her own suicide note, which was left behind. She committed suicide. Story over.” Darien sipped on his beer once more, but this time it tasted sour.

Why don’t you speak the truth to her sister instead? Why send Tom, who is sure to mess up everything? Jake gave Darien his first truly nasty grin in a while as his mouth twisted up. “If he becomes fresh, he might start to resemble Ritka with a bright new eye.”

Darien disregarded his remark. “Lelandi must not have had any brothers if a twin sister is investigating what happened.”

“We had no idea she had a family at all.”

In an effort to release the tension building there, Darien stroked his forehead. Even while the agony of her passing would never go away, seeing her sister-in-law brought everything rushing back tenfold. He was upset with his partner for killing herself, though. Darien loathed himself for not having stronger self-control, but Doc insisted that it was a necessary part of the grieving process. The only emotion he should permit himself to have is regret. I’m starting to suspect that I didn’t know much about my partner.

Jake turned to look at their regular table. “If I were in her position, I would tell the woman what I thought and have her leave. She could cause things to spiral out of control if she stays. The other women seem to believe she wants to replace her sister as your partner.

Darien hissed, “That would be the damned day,” but a stab of need messed with his emotions, and his brother didn’t seem to believe him at all.

Lelandi heard the door creak open and shut not far from the tavern. Tom was approaching her with long strides and a smile on his face as she peered over his shoulder.

Great. Just wonderful If one of his brothers followed her, how in the world was she going to implement Plan B and break into Darien’s home to look for clues about Larissa’s death while he was drinking in the tavern?

She gave him a frustrated glance. His eyes glittered with much too much interest, and his lips curled even more. She went in the direction of the Hastings B&B.

Assuming that if Tom moved into the lobby, she would sneak out via her room’s window.

Tom joined her before she reached the brick structure, standing so close that she could feel the warmth of his body. Are you Lelandi’s sister, or what?

Larissa’s, she said in response.

He slightly bent his head. “Up until I heard you speak, I wasn’t sure. You certainly upset Darien. Yet, he needed to be rescued from the horror in which he had been toiling.

She swung her head around when she heard the familiar sound of danger—the clicking sound generated when a gun’s safety is turned off. She instantly wished she had had her gun in her purse. Yet until she needed it, it was tucked under the mattress. She feared that she needed it right away.

Tom took hold of her arm. He murmured, “Wait.

A new worry pricked at her flesh. He too had heard of it. She had prayed that she was mistaken.

His voice was quiet as he announced, “Nine-millimeter.”

A shot was fired before they could react, and Tom shrieked and pushed Lelandi behind him before falling to his knees. “Run! Return to the tavern now!

Tom had been shot by the idiot, oh no! She grabbed his arm and attempted to move him, but he was like dead weight as he fell to the ground and went out. He had blood splatters on his face. He had been hit in the temple by the bullet.

She couldn’t get to the tavern because the shooter had emerged from the shadows. If only the murderous guy didn’t have such a frown on his face. He appeared to have been living on the run for a while based on his scruffy black beard, messy hair, and rumpled clothing.

Days. Despite the fact that she was upwind of him, she was unable to determine if his eyes resembled those of a wolf or a human.

His rifle was pointed towards her. Silver linings or everyday?

What do you desire? She attempted to buy herself some time as her heart raced.

Did anyone heard the shooting in the busy tavern? She was too far away to physically confront the shooter. Lelandi wanted to retrieve her gun, but if she ran for the inn, he may murder Mrs. Hastings or the twin girls who were loitering in the lobby.

Now when she needed Ural’s assistance, where the hell was he? His evil canines might eliminate the threat if he were, as she feared, in wolf form. There was no time to get dressed up and transform into the wolf by herself.

Out of options, she did the only thing she could think of to mobilize assistance for Tom and perhaps scare the reluctant shooter away. She yelled.

Once, twice, and three times were fired as the shooter’s eyes enlarged, his lips curled downward, and he pulled the trigger. She was thrown against the brick structure by the impact of the bullets that tore through her chest, and she almost passed out. No pain was initially felt as she fought to keep upright. He stared at her as if she were the devil incarnate when she didn’t instantly pass away there and then.

Her brain processes briefly threatened to shut down as the pain then hit her hard. Her mind snapped into focus when he raised his gun.

With the intention of turning around as quickly as possible and getting help for Tom, she sprinted into the woodland that surrounded the village. She would give the shooter a serious challenge.

“blood money,” I’m glad they didn’t burn as silver bullets would have. If she could find safety and give her body time to recover, she would survive.

“Holy blood!” Her attacker ran after her.

Her entire body was now wracked by stabbing pain, and she could feel hot blood oozing from the wounds. She felt her legs thinning as her heart continued to pump more blood out each second.

Run, Lelandi, damn you. If there was ever a time to push herself, now was it.

She scrambled over fallen, rotten trunks, dodged around trees, and clawed her way through dense bush while branches snapped several yards behind her. She again assumed that the shooter was a human due to the amount of noise he was making. Good. He was unable to detect her scent or the trail of blood she was leaving behind. But, given how much the breeze was varying, it might be possible to hide her whereabouts. Oh no, she was wearing so much perfume that perhaps even a person could follow her. She made an effort to stay to his south.

The operative word here is ”tried,” as each of her senses was beginning to fail.

She could no longer hear the breeze rustling through the firs or the birds singing in the trees; all she could hear was her labored breathing and the roar of her blood in her ears. She erred in her assessment of the terrain due to her blurry sight. The ground appeared to quake. She then lost her balance.

She slashed and skinned her hands while grabbing onto bushes and brambles in an attempt to stop herself from falling down the steep incline. She first misplaced her hat, then her spectacles. One earring was scratched off by a branch, then the other. Her hair was wrapped around every limb in

As she rolled, the branches and twigs in her path released their grip on her, pulling at her scalp. She gritted her teeth as she descended, smashing against rocks and tree stumps as her entire body was pummeled and scarred.

She briefly fretted about the hideous disguise and the trail she had left for the would-be assassin. Then, something big, harsh, and rock-hard smacked her back. Her brain was short-circuited when the pain traveled straight up her spine.

She was surrounded in complete darkness as all of her senses went blank.