Frozen Alaska (The Juneau Packs Book 2) Read online

The forest flew by as the three of us ran through the brush. By then Garrett had picked up his pace, I knew that he had smelled the gun oil.

  The truck was close to the side and the engine was pulling hard. Garrett steered us over to it, and Jess had roll down the window. “Jason, Patrick!” she called out, only having to raise her voice a little. “Quentin just called me. There are papers flying around for the transfer of funds. He thinks the two guys that just came up the hill have the official pages to sign.”

  As soon as she was sure we heard her, she let off the gas and the truck slowed to fall behind us. None of us wanted the scream of that engine giving us away.

  Just as she and the truck fell back out of hearing range, we crested a small hillock and halted, finding a small, dilapidated, miserable shack. It had maybe two rooms and a white Lincoln Continental out front that had been vomited up from the depth of 1986.

  I was astonished. He’d driven that piece of shit up that choppy, terrible firebreak?

  Next to that was the pickup truck we had seen barreling down the road.

  I was about to shift back to human when there was a small caliber shot from in the house, and a scream so loud and high pitched it made my hackles rise. I didn’t know what to do, and we stared at each other, frozen in place.

  Patrick took off like a hound out of Hell, and Garrett and I had no choice but to follow as the headlights of the truck crested the road. I could hear Jess skid to a halt and jump out of the truck.

  “Go, Patrick!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs as she ran for the cabin. “Go!”

  Garrett was right behind his brother and I took off after them.

  The three of us got to the door at just about the same time, but Patrick threw himself against it to open it. It cracked, but didn’t budge. When he backed up to hit again, I joined him and the door popped off the hinges and fell into the room.

  Chuck was standing with a handgun pointed at us and he didn’t react fast enough before my front paws landed on his shoulders and I dropped him to the ground.

  The shrieking was coming from the second room and was accompanied by Delia screaming incoherently in the room as well.

  I leapt after Patrick as Jess skidded in and ignored the prone body of Chuck by the couch. We reached the door at the same time, and what was there was beyond horrifying.

  Addi was bleeding, badly. There were two men in the room and one had her pinned down while the other was cutting off her pants. Delia was trying to pull them away with her hands still tied in front of her.

  “What the fuck?” The guy holding Addi saw the three of us—as wolves—in the doorway, and he freaked out and reacted faster than I’d seen a normal human ever react. He tossed Addi away from him and dove out the window.

  The distinct click of a gun came from behind me, and I knew that Chuck was there with his hand gun. I whirled on him as he brought the gun around to me, and dug my teeth into his hip.

  He screamed and I wouldn’t let go. I shoved back hard and pushed him into the living room while Garrett and Patrick shoved into the room with Jess. It was only when I had Chuck out of the way that I let go of his hip, and he took off as fast as he could.

  “Go with Jason,” Jess snapped at Delia behind me. I heard Delia protest, but Jess cut her off. “Go. Deal with your uncle and the other asshole.”

  Delia leapt out of the room, rubbing her now freed wrists. She looked at me, and could see the blood on my muzzle.

  “Did you kill him?” she asked.

  I whined and dropped my head, saying no. I pointed to the door in the next moment. Looking around, Delia found a bag on the floor, and walked over to it. She unzipped it and pulled out a hand gun. She pulled the slide back and chambered a round, flicking off the safety.

  “He’s fucking dead.”

  She strode out of the room.

  I realized she was serious. Chuck wasn’t going to see dawn. I didn’t know whether to be proud or terrified, but I ran after her, to follow next to her.

  For a moment I wished we had mated so I could use the telepathy mates had. Instead I tried to push her away from the path I could smell Chuck had taken.

  However, he hadn’t gone far. He was in the white car, and desperately trying to start it. There was no mistaking the fear in his eyes as Delia and I walked toward him.

  The engine roared to life, and Delia calmly walked around the front end of the car and shot the front tire.

  “It’s piece of shit, you think that’s going to stop me? It’s one tire.” Chuck dropped the car into drive.

  Delia moved her hand and shot the engine.

  The car stalled and died. Chuck vaulted out of it and headed for the pickup. Delia followed him. I could smell the other guy who had been in the room with them hiding in the bed.

  Chuck lucked out and the keys were still in the ignition, and he turned it over.

  Delia shot the tire again.

  This time, it was going to make a difference.

  To be on the safe side, Delia put a slug in the engine too.

  It was official. I never wanted to get this woman pissed off at me.

  Chuck and the other guy made a break for the truck that was still sitting there. I knew that wasn’t going to move because it was a push start and the keys were in Jess’s pocket.

  Still, he desperately tried to shift in to drive.

  Delia walked around the passenger side, and yanked the door open. She grabbed the guy there and physically yanked him out the seat.

  He started to run, but I snapped my teeth around his ankle, and he hit the ground. He tried to back pedal, but I growled and stopped as he pissed himself.

  I moved around behind him so I could keep my girlfriend in my sights. She was leaning against the door in her, ‘go ahead, move asshole’ pose. It was a sight to behold, really.

  “Now what, Chuck? Now what? You’ve killed four people that I know of. You kidnapped me for money. You sold me and my friend for sex, and now you’re trying to steal vehicles to get away from us. Your friend in there, who, I’m sure isn’t in one piece anymore, has basically killed my best friend, all while still trying to rape her.”

  Chuck was trying not to shake—I didn’t know if it was from fear or adrenaline. “Your papa should have just given me the money.”

  “Why?”

  That caught him completely off guard. “What?”

  “Why would my father have ever given you money? He was supporting his family on nothing. You never offered a dime. You never came to visit. Do you think I didn’t hear that phone call when I was eleven? Right after he lost his main job?”

  “What the fuck are you talking about.”

  Delia raised the gun and casually aimed at him. “My father called you. Two months after he lost his job. He begged you for just fifty dollars to buy food for his children. For me and my brother. There was nothing in the fridge, the pantry had turned us away because they were desperate too. There was no food kitchen that day that we could go to. And I remember him calling you. Hat in hand. Begging for fifty fucking dollars. Do you remember what you said?”

  Chuck shook his head and tried to laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me—”

  She pointed the gun at him after chambering a round, and her face went red. “Do you. Remember. What you said. To my father?”

  “No! No!”

  “I do. I never forgot it. You said, I would never give your worthless, teat-sucking family a dime. I hope you all die, and your welfare takes you all to Hell.” She climbed into the truck, and pressed the gun to his head. “We. Were. Children. We didn’t know why Daddy had no money. We only knew there was no food in the house now and you couldn’t give enough of a shit to give my father fifty dollars for some damn eggs, milk, and bread.”

  I whined at her. She couldn’t pull the trigger. I didn’t want her put away for murder.

  Delia glanced back at me, and Chuck took that second to leap out of the truck and start running. Delia scrambled back out of the truck and hit the ground runn
ing.

  I was torn as to whether I should go after her or stay with the other asshole—but the decision was made in the next instant when three coyotes barreled out of the woods and took Chuck down.

  The guy I was holding down was trying to sneak away from me. It only took a growl to hold him where he was. I needed to get over to Delia but I couldn’t let this piece of shit get away.

  There was a chuff from behind me and I tossed as brief a look as I could there.

  Quentin. In his bear.

  He chuffed again and I knew that I wouldn’t have to worry about this guy anymore. I nodded my thanks and ran for where Delia was holding the gun at Chuck as the coyotes circled him.

  I shifted on the fly. She was so calmly angry it scared me. I was terrified that Delia was going to pull the trigger for real on him.

  Darting between the coyotes, I leapt behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. “Don’t. Delia. Don’t shoot him.”

  “He’s not getting away! He killed Aunt Lydia. He killed two of my cousins! Addi…”

  “Let the coyotes handle him, love. Let them. If you pull the trigger, they’ll have to take you to jail. I don’t want you in jail. I don’t want any of you in jail.”

  “He needs to die.” She looked over her shoulder at me. “You don’t understand, Jason. Addison is under our protection. She was hurt, badly. And my uncle just fucked up by opening those wounds against. I’m going to kill him, because you don’t fuck with my friends this way. You don’t sell your niece and her friends for sex. You don’t kill your wives and children.”

  “No. You don’t. And you shouldn’t kill your uncle.”

  The other man from the truck was herded over by Quentin and dropped into the circle of coyotes. The massive bear stood guard with us.

  “Where’s…” Chuck looked around. “Where’s Ray?”

  “If I don’t miss my guess,” I said, “in about ten pieces in that back bedroom. At least if those two wolves had anything to say about it.”

  “I didn’t want them to kill your friend,” Chuck said. “I didn’t. I just wanted your money, but the only way Van would get me the paperwork was to trade me. I didn’t have anything to trade except you and your friend. It was just a fuck.”

  Delia leapt forward and pistol whipped him. She caught him on the temple, and he went down, instantly.

  “Don’t kill me,” Van whimpered.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “All I wanted was a quick screw. That was it.”

  “That was it?” Delia asked. “You bought sex for paperwork. You bought sex. Maybe if you stopped treating women as commodities, and had a little Goddamn respect for us, you might be more successful in that department.”

  “Why? You’re all stuck up bitches.”

  Before I could grab the gun from her, Chuck’s hand shot up and ripped it out of her hand, spinning it to point at Delia’s heart.

  “I don’t even want your fucking money anymore. I want you dead. I’m going kill you, and that brother of yours and both of your parents. And I’m going get all the money anyway because you all have no one else.”

  The shot echoed from the porch of the shack and tore Chuck’s hand to pieces. While he screamed, I took a quick look at the house, and saw Garrett coming toward us with the rifle.

  Chuck stared at the stump that was now his hand, astonished, going into shock. “What the hell?”

  “You killed my brother’s mate. You killed her. She’s dead.”

  I felt Delia collapse into my arms, and I hung on to her as I lowered us to the ground.

  “Do you call Right of Blood?” I prompted him, looking at Fergus. Fergus nodded back at me.

  We all understood that Right of Blood was not pretty. No one in the packs called it lightly or often. There was plenty here to have it called though—the kidnapping, the threats, the attempted rape, and now the murder of a future beta’s mate. This man who was holding his missing hand under his arm, had killed before and would kill again. No questions asked.

  Garrett stared down at Chuck. “I call Right of Blood, in the presence of the coyotes and the bears. I invoke Right of Blood. Is it required to recite his transgressions?”

  I nodded. “Yes. Give them to the wind.”

  He took a breath and started listing everything that Chuck had done. I quietly added the ones I knew from Delia, and to my shock, Quentin had shifted and added a few of his own—including the murder of a deputy just outside Nome when he escaped the prison.

  Delia stirred and tried to sit up. I wouldn’t let her. But she had been listening, and she started listing off all the wrongs that she knew Chuck and committed too. The silence was deep enough that her soft, sorrowful voice carried the words into the night.

  “As his blood,” I finished, “you can stop Right of Blood if you wish. As his blood, you have the final word. If you say nothing, Right of Blood will be carried out.”

  I leaned into her ear. “It’s not pretty, Delia. It’s a horrible way to die.”

  She just looked at me, her eyes clouded with tears.

  “Then Right of Blood is called,” Quentin said.

  I rolled Delia into my shoulder, not wanting her to see the utterly brutal end that Chuck and Van were guaranteed. I thought she’d fight me, but she nestled closer, and sobbed quietly.

  The screams echoed for quite some time.

  15

  Two days later…

  “Delia?”

  I flickered my eyes open and sat up on the bed. It took me a long minute to figure out that I was in Jason’s house. It didn’t take me nearly as long to realized I’d slept alone, and had pajamas on.

  “Delia, babe, you up? There’s someone here to talk to you.”

  Jason appeared in the door. I nodded and climbed out of bed, rubbing my eyes and following him. I was immediately grateful that I had pajamas on because there was an imposing woman in a suit standing in the living room.

  “Ms. Madeline LaPlage?” she asked.

  I stuck my hand out. “That’s me.”

  She shook it. “Detective Mercy Gardner. I have some news you need to hear.”

  I nodded, and tucked my hands under my arms, listening. Jason was standing behind me and a moment later, he put his hands on my shoulders.

  “This morning, the remains of a man named Charles Hoengaard were found in the woods, just south of the city of Juneau.”

  I blinked. “Charles…Chuck. Chuck Hoengaard. He hated Charles.”

  “I’m afraid he was found dead, miss.”

  “Huh,” was all I could manage. She cocked her head, and I shrugged. “You’ll forgive me if I’m not upset. Chuck was a stain on our family. He was supposed to be in prison, wasn’t he?”

  “He escaped, about five weeks ago. We’d been trailing him, trying to recapture him. Our search took us up in the woods this morning and he was discovered dead.”

  “So, why are you telling me this?”

  “We aren’t always…fortunate enough to have a family member nearby to positively identify the remains of a body. With you here, we were hoping we’d be able to fully shut the case.”

  I nodded. “Okay. Fine. Where, when?”

  “The medical examiner’s office, this afternoon?”

  “Yes, I can do that. Thank you.”

  She laid a hand on my arm. I felt a spark—she wasn’t human. However, she ignored it. “Please understand that he wasn’t found in good condition. The initial report is that he met a terrible end against a bear, and several scavengers helped themselves.”

  “Like I said, Detective, we weren’t close. At all. I doubt there will be a problem.”

  She nodded and let me go. Jason smiled and gave me a kiss on the forehead. I smiled back and padded back through the house and up the stairs, stopping at the top to listen.

  “Does she know?”

  Jason chuffed. “Know what?”

  “About you, about St. Terese.”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Jason, this was Right
of Blood. He suffered.”

  There was silence for a moment, then I could almost hear him shrug. “I didn’t know the man, Mercy. I only heard the horror stories that Delia told me.”

  “Jason, Right of Blood is…”

  “It’s not outlawed by the council, Mercy. It’s not. They frown on it, we all do. But if the man was a horror and he was a threat, are you going to try and find out who pulled out such a rite? He’s a murderer.”

  “Was. Was a murderer.”

  “Where did you find him?”

  “Turner Lake territory.”

  “Then why the hell are you asking about this in St. Terese?”

  “Because I smelled you fucking wolves all over that cabin. I smelled human blood. I smelled guns, alcohol, and burnt evidence. I saw things that shouldn’t have been there.”

  I raised my eyebrow. She wasn’t a wolf, coyote, or bear. Interesting.

  “And what would you do if you found out there was Right of Blood called on Hoengaard? Would you turn those shifters over to the police? Let the whole world find out about the freaks in their midst? You know, Mercy, better than anyone, that while we are strong as individuals, there is no hope for us as a species to stand against humans. And for all our human allies, there are many more who would be our enemies. Or worse, use us.

  “If, and I mean if, someone called Right of Blood on an escaped murderer, do you think they would do it without real reason? Do your research on Hoengaard. You’ll find there won’t be a soul on this planet who would miss him. Because the ones who might have, he murdered.”

  There was silence, again.

  “Report your Right of Blood call to the council, Jason. Don’t be flippant with them. This looks like a mauling, so I’m going to leave it that way on the books. Make sure that your girlfriend at the top of the stairs understands the implications of all of this.”

  Smirking, I stood and headed for the bedroom. I wanted to call down that she had no idea what I knew, but I had places to be and I didn’t want to poke the bear—or whatever.

  Pulling clothes out of the drawers, I dressed as quickly as I could and ran down to the living room. Jason was standing in the door, holding it open.