Heart of the Wolf (The Heart Chronicles Book 1) Read online

  I braced myself, still trying to connect in the dots as to how I’d ended up back with Hope and Matheson, but I had no time for that. The wind picked up as the helicopter stopped right above us. A ladder spilled out from one of the doors. I took a quick glance to realize who was climbing down the ladder wearing khaki pants—unbelievable. They even dressed preppie when doing a sea landing?

  I hopped off the boat and waited on the shore. Clayton jumped off the last rung of the ladder, landing right in front of me. Hope stayed behind me.

  “Well, what do we have here?” Clayton’s smile was wide. He was yelling over the noise of the helicopter that waited above. “Decided to take matters into your own hands I see?”

  “I know what you were trying to do. I couldn’t let it happen.” Just the sight of him made me angry. He might not have been the one on the island with Hope, but he’d masterminded it.

  “The orphan grew a conscience? Is that it?” He tilted his head to the side.

  “The orphan is more of a man than you’ll ever be.” Matheson stepped out to my side.

  Clayton laughed. “Old man, you made a very big mistake.”

  “No, you did.” Hope spoke from behind me. “Thinking you could play a game like that.”

  Clayton’s expression changed. His eyes widening. “Hope, are you okay?”

  She stepped around me. “No thanks to you.”

  Clayton held out a hand toward her. “Everything is going to be okay. I’m going to take you home now.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Oh? You’re going to stay in the middle of the ocean with these two?” Clayton laughed dryly.

  “I’d rather die out here with these two than go anywhere with you.”

  She was brilliant. Unbelievable. She was stalling him, and he didn’t even see it.

  “Is that so?” He took one step closer to her.

  I prepared myself; he wouldn’t lay a finger on her.

  “Yes. I know who and what you are, and I want no part of it.”

  “He’s a wolf too you know.” Clayton pointed to me.

  “I wasn’t talking about you being a wolf. I was talking about the fact that you aren’t a real man.”

  “What did you just say?” His eyes blazed.

  Three men wearing black ski masks looked down from the helicopter. I had to assume they were Kenai wolves as well. We were outnumbered. “Hope,” I whispered.

  It was no use. She was on a role. “You heard me. You are a weak monster, not a man. I can’t believe I wasted so many years pining over you.”

  “Hope, be careful. You don’t want to say something you’re going to regret.” I heard a faint motor from somewhere behind us. I was afraid to turn around—I didn’t want to give Clayton an upper hand or tip him off in case the newcomers were there to help us. I really hoped they were there to assist us. I thought over my options. I could transform into a wolf and fight Clayton, but if the others joined in that would open the possibility of six wolves fighting in a small space—with Hope involved. I wasn’t happy with the odds or the guarantee of keeping her safe.

  The sound of the motor grew louder. It was a boat, that was for sure. I managed to catch Matheson’s eye, and he didn’t look happy. These weren’t friends of ours.

  I made sure I was close enough to Hope I could push her away from trouble, but far enough that if I had to shift unexpectedly I wouldn’t hurt her in the process. That wasn’t easy in the small space we had.

  The motor stilled, and I chanced one glance back. Hope did the same and grabbed onto my arm.

  “Hello, brother.” Clayton sneered. “What a nice surprise.”

  “A surprise is right. You expected me to be dead.” Justin stood on the bow of a motor yacht.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Clayton’s eyes gleamed.

  “Cut the crap. I know what you did. I also know you aren’t touching my Hope.” Justin’s hands were fists at his side.

  “Your Hope?” Clayton laughed. “Don’t be silly. We all know she’s going to be mine.”

  “Is that so?” Justin jumped from his boat onto our already far too crowded island.

  I glanced at our little launch boat and debated if we had any chance of getting away. Not likely. Between Clayton’s helicopter and Justin’s boat, we wouldn’t get far.

  “Give it up, little brother. You were never going to have her. Like you will never take over the business.”

  “That’s what you think.” In a flash Justin transformed into his wolf. I reached for my wolf, ready to transform to defend Hope, but before I let my wolf take over I realized I wasn’t his target at all. Justin lunged for Clayton, knocking him down and tearing into his neck before Clayton could transform. He ripped the flesh from Clayton’s neck. As he licked his bloody lips his gaze slowly came up to meet mine.

  Hope shuddered. I tried to block her, but she’d seen too much.

  Justin turned, and I knew I was next. I reached for my wolf again, but as Justin leapt over towards me, he was shot with a red dart before being knocked into the water by a ski mask clad man falling like deadweight from the helicopter above.

  Two men jumped off of Justin’s yacht and pulled the immobile wolf from the turbulent surf. They bound him, put a muzzle over his mouth, and pulled him back onto his own boat.

  The night turned silent until it was broken from a voice from the helicopter. “Hey, Carter.” Another ski-mask clad figure climbed down from the helicopter and jumped onto the shore right in front of us. He pulled off his mask.

  I startled. “Asher?” Things started to click into place. The men who’d pulled Justin out of the water must have been Rangers.

  Asher grinned. “In the flesh. Nice to see you made it out alive.”

  “With no thanks to you.” He knew where we were the whole time, and only now jumped in?

  “Looks like you ended up getting pretty lucky.” He nodded over to where Hope gripped my arm.

  He was right about that, but that didn’t change his role, or lack thereof, in helping us. “You could have stepped in sooner. Justin or Clayton could have killed us.”

  “We needed to buy time. Thanks for helping us with that.” He grinned at Hope.

  Hope grumbled.

  “But looks like we have this all set. We detained the buyers a few miles away. We have Justin to grill, and looks like Clayton isn’t going to make it.”

  One look at Clayton’s bloody remains made it painfully clear that ‘isn’t going to make it’ was the understatement of the century.

  Hope crossed her arms. “You could have jumped in before Justin killed him.”

  Asher narrowed his eyes. “Do you have any idea how many humans Clayton Wellington has murdered?”

  “No.” She shook her head.

  “The number is in the thousands. He’s been doing it for years. Don’t feel sorry for him.”

  “I don’t feel sorry for him. But death is death.” She didn’t stand down. “You can’t argue with that.”

  “Yes, it is.” Asher nodded. “But sometimes it has to happen. Sometimes evil can only be stopped one way.”

  “It’s the weak way out.” She gritted her teeth.

  I decided to stay out of their argument. Instead I focused on a very important detail Asher seemed to be forgetting. “We don’t have all the Wellingtons.” We couldn’t sit around and celebrate a premature victory.

  Asher shook his head. “We do. Harold is in custody. That’s the father.”

  “But not the daughter. Mirabella. She’s important too.” I had no doubt she played more of a role in this.

  Asher stretched his arms behind his head. “She wasn’t part of the plot.”

  “I am sure she was. She’s the reason Hope was on the island.”

  “They kept her out of the loop. She didn’t know the details.” One of the men from Justin’s boat added.

  “She knew.” I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I did.

>   “I’d trust the kid. He has good senses.” Matheson wagged a finger. “I’m old enough to know trustworthy ones when I see them.”

  “If you can find her, take care of it.” Asher relented.

  “Don’t worry. We will.” Hope linked her arm with mine.

  Seventeen

  Hope

  Mirabella was exactly where I knew she would be. Carter wasn’t the only one with a hunch about the Wellington daughter. We had the Rangers take us to the originally planned drop sight—information gleamed from the captain we’d kept around. I’d refused to watch them extract that information. Watching my long-time crush torn to pieces was enough violence to last me a very long time.

  We found Mirabella sitting on a lounge chair beside a resort swimming pool, drinking a bright yellow drink with a pink umbrella. Some things never changed. She was wearing a white bikini that left nearly nothing to the imagination.

  “Hello, Mirabella.” I approached by myself, but Carter was close by watching with another half-dozen Rangers.

  She coughed, presumably as some of her cocktail went down the wrong tube. “Hope?”

  “I take it you weren’t expecting me?” I stopped right in front of her chair.

  “No. I wasn’t.” She set her drink down on the table beside her. “Where’s Justin? Shouldn’t you be with him?”

  “Justin is being interrogated.” I forced myself to make complete and direct eye contact with my one time best friend.

  Slight worry crossed her face. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “But I do. He was taking into custody after he ripped Clayton’s throat out. Not something I enjoyed seeing.” Maybe it was mean to tell her about her brother’s death that way, but considering all the hell she’d put me through, there was no reason to walk on egg shells for her.

  She stood up and crossed her arms across her chest. “What’s really going on?”

  “I already told you.” I refused to step back. I knew she was a wolf and could presumably rip me to shreds the way Justin had done to Clayton, but I wouldn’t let that psych me out. I needed to face Mirabella to get some ounce of closure.

  “There is no way Justin ripped out Clayton’s throat. That’s ridiculous.” She laughed in a forced way.

  “Is it? As ridiculous as it would be for you to be waiting here for a bunch of bombs? Huh?” As soon as I heard the drop site was at a 5-star resort, I knew Mirabella would be there. After that the pieces started to fall into place. Clayton had known Mirabella’s plan all along, but she didn’t realize she’d been bested.

  Her eyes widened. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Drop the act. I know about everything.” And that knowledge gave me a semblance of power.

  “Hope. You have to listen to me. It’s not what you think.” She held out her hands. “Please. I’m your best friend.”

  My stomach churned and my blood boiled. Best friend? She had no right to even use those words in reference to me. “Oh yeah, bestie? You weren’t going to use them to hurt humans?”

  “No. Of course not. I was going to double cross my brothers and sell them at a high price. Scratch that. Not was, is. It’s what I’m going to do. You can’t stop me.”

  Her last minute switch in tactics, from trying to reason with me to asserting dominance, was exactly what I needed to hear. Mirabella wasn’t even willing to pretend to care.

  I held onto my anger and pushed away the hurt. Anger could help me; feeling sorry for myself couldn’t. “I’m going to have to disagree with you there.”

  “You think I care what you say?” She forced another laugh. “All you were was bait. From the beginning. The moment my brothers met you I knew what you’d do to them. You’d tear them apart, turn them against each other. They were going to cut me out from the business completely, you know that?”

  “I would believe anything about your brothers at this point.” Asher had filled us in on a handful of Clayton’s deeds. I was sickened that I’d ever had any feelings for him. Although the more I thought about it, the easier it was to see that my feelings weren’t real. They were superficial and based on what I thought I was supposed to feel.

  In short they were nothing like my feelings for Carter. These new feelings came from every part of me. He brought out the best sides in me and made me happy in a way I didn’t think I could ever feel—especially considering the circumstances.

  “I would have felt bad about using you, except you used me too. You weren’t my friend because you liked me; you liked Clayton, and you liked the money and connections I could give you.”

  “You’re wrong. I did care about you, but I’m not going to pretend there isn’t some truth to your statement. We all do things in life we aren’t proud of. At least my regrets don’t involve murder.”

  “I’ve never murdered anyone.”

  “But selling weapons like that? You didn't think that would lead to murder?” I wasn’t going to buy her innocent act.

  She waved her hand as if shooing a fly. “That’s not my problem.”

  “Only it is.” I clasped my hands together to avoid crossing my arms. I wouldn’t show any signs of fear or weakness. “It’s definitely your problem.”

  “That’s good enough. We have everything we need.” Asher walked out with a group of Rangers. Two of them grabbed Mirabella’s arms.

  “Let go of me!” She thrashed.

  “Sorry, miss. No can do.” They bound her hands in some sort of metal wire. It looked just like the stuff they used on Justin.

  “You’re going to pay for this, Hope. You’re going to pay.”

  “I’ve already paid plenty.” I’d paid with wasted years and the most frightening experience of my life.

  “Get her out of here,” Carter demanded, and the men dragged her away. Carter came up behind me, sliding his arms around my waist. “You’re good at that.”

  “At what?”

  “That. Making a suspect spill their guts. I admit it was pretty hot to watch.”

  “Because of what she is wearing?” A mix of annoyance, jealousy, and anger welled inside me.

  “No,” He spun me in his arms. “I didn’t even look at her. I’m talking about you.”

  Before I could consider responding he claimed my lips, wrapping me up in his arms, and pressing me tightly against him. The kiss was hard and demanding, and I quickly forgot we were most definitely not alone.

  “Down, boy.” Asher chuckled from somewhere nearby.

  I slowly pulled myself out the daze, as Carter loosened his hold on me.

  “I won’t keep you two long, but the boss is here.” Asher grinned.

  “Alastair?” Carter asked.

  “No, the boss’s boss.” Carter’s grin grew bigger.

  A figure appeared from around the side of the building. I watched as he drew closer. He had jet black hair, piercing eyes, and the air about him screamed power. I glanced at Carter. He seemed to be studying the newcomer as well.

  “Carter, glad to have you on board.” The man addressed Carter, but his gaze quickly turned to me. “And Hope. Lovely to meet you.”

  “Uh, hi.” Where was all my confidence that had been there minutes before?

  “Oh. I apologize, I should introduce myself. I’m Jared. Jared Florence.”

  “The Jared Florence?” Carter quickly held out his hand.

  “The one and only.” Jared accepted the handshake.

  “You run the Rangers?” Confusion still marred Carter’s face.

  “Unofficially.” He smiled.

  “Oh. It’s an honor to meet you, sir.”

  I had no idea who this Jared was, and I had already promised myself I was done being left in the dark. “I’m sorry if this is disrespectful, but should your name mean something to me?”

  Jared shook his head. “No, and that isn’t a disrespectful comment at all. You’re human.”

  “I am.” Way to state the obvious.

  “Humans don’t often know who I am. I
run security and intelligence for The Society. It’s a supernatural organization based out of New Orleans.” He took a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and put them on.

  “Gotcha.” So, his importance was the job title.

  “But I’m not here to talk about myself.” He put a hand in the pocket of his jeans. “I’m here to offer you a job.”

  “I thought Carter already had a job? With the Rangers, right?” I looked at Carter for confirmation.

  “He does.” Jared gave me a pointed look. “I’m talking about you. How about it?”

  “How about it? Wait. You want me to work for you?” I put a hand to my chest.

  “Unofficially for me. You’d be working for the Rangers.”

  “Work for the Rangers?” I tried to get a read on how serious he was being. It was hard to tell with the dark sunglasses he was wearing.

  “Yes. Am I not making myself clear?” His brow furrowed.

  “But as you pointed our earlier, I’m human.” There had to be some mistake.

  “There’s a first time for everything. You impressed me. Not only did you handle the bomb like a champ, you broke a key witness without breaking a sweat. You have skills we can use, and my guess is you’re going to be searching for a new position.”

  “Yeah… can’t really go back to my old one.” Not that I’d ever want anything to do with Wellington & Son’s even if they were still open.

  “I guess I’m not the only one who noticed how good you were.” Carter pulled me back against his chest.

  I thought about what Jared was offering. On one hand, I knew nothing about the Rangers, but on the other hand, they stopped murderers, had tons of resources, and it would keep me close to Carter. “I’ll take the job.”

  Jared smiled. “Perfect. But before you start, I think you two could use a few days to, uh, decompress.” He handed me a set of keys. “These keys are to my condo. It’s got a great view, not that you’ll notice that.” He winked before turning around and heading back the way he’d come.

  I looked down at the keys, noticing a piece of paper attached to the keychain with an address scrawled in blue script.

  “Shall we check out the digs?” Carter threaded his fingers through mine.