Page 8 of House of Wolves

I cross my arms, taking a calming breath, not missing the twitch at his temple as if my ease upsets him further. “I work for the public, Bricky. It’s my duty to investigate for the public’s interest.”

He shakes his head, clenching his jaw tighter. “No, you’re in the way. We need to collect evidence without the presence of the public.” He steps closer, lowering his lips to my ear. His words strain through his teeth. “Don’t you want justice for her? Don’t let the murder of one of your own end in a mistrial.”

I step away from him. The heat of his body already soaking into mine, roasting my insides. “I didn’t plan to touch anything!” I yell.

He ignores me, cornering me further. “Tell me how you knew about this so quickly.”

His eyes hold me in accusation. Does he think I have inside information about this murder? That I could know who did it? It would be stupid of him to assume that. He knows from my years of bugging him in his office to get his ass working on bringing my people justice where my loyalty lies. But just to make sure, I offer him the truth. “I was with Straw when it came over his radio.” Sorry, Straw, but greater good and all.

My revelation makes him anything but calmer. “With Straw? Doing what?” He nearly backs me into a tree.

I push him away from me, using my wolf strength to propel him an impressive distance. He may be a foot taller than me, but I’m a werewolf. He can’t make me feel small unless I let him. It’s like he’d forgotten what I was for a moment because his eyes widen a tiny bit as he regains his footing. But the heat and fury only take seconds to return to his pupils, and he steps closer again. At least this time, giving me a breath of room. “Are your officers not allowed to be in the presence of their citizens, Sergeant?”

“Carmen, this wouldn’t be the first time you distracted my men from their jobs.”

My mind plays back to the few instances Officer Straw and Wood came in handy for me when I needed information on a story. There was also that one time I fucked Wood in the coat closet at the country club in his uniform, and a few people witnessed us coming out together. I bet that got back to Brick somehow. Considering both men still have jobs, I guess it wasn’t too much of an issue for Brick. Or Brick has some dirty secrets he doesn’t want to get out. The latter seems the most likely.

“Jealous?” I taunt, twisting my lips in a smirk.

It’s the wrong thing to say. Brick grabs my wrist, twisting me around and bringing both arms behind my back.

“What the fuck!” I yell as he snaps handcuffs on me. “Are you on your period or something? You can’t be for real.” I struggle, exerting myrealstrength, but it’s futile. Brick overpowers me. We’ve always suspected Brick was something other than human, but even as I sniff him now, I can’t catch a whiff of wolf. It’s ridiculous. We’ve revealed the fragile identities of our people, and yet we don’t even know who he is. Our mission to end Hunters' cruelty supersedes the unknown of Brick's origins, and up until this point, our pack thought he was on our side. Now that I’m restrained and he’s pushing me deeper into the woods, I realize just how wrong my people’s trust was placed.

“Brick, where the fuck are you taking me?”

He doesn’t answer; he just keeps pushing me along until we’re covered by an expanse of trees and completely out of sight. Shit, maybe I’m the next victim of these strings of Hunter murders.

He whips me around, flinging the air from my lungs. His chest grazes my own, and his grey eyes change to charcoal. I’m unsure if it’s the absence of light in the woods, the moon barely providing any illumination, or if his irises change to match his mood. It seems I know shit about Brick, and these puddles of black might be the last things I see.

His face is a mask of stone. When the words slip from his mouth, I nearly scream, the sound surprising me. “No more messing with my officers. You want information; you come to me.”

Barricaded breath escapes from me. Okay, he’s ordering me around as if I’ll have a tomorrow. It makes me want to punch him across the jaw, but at least I don’t think he’s planning to kill me.

I decide to test my luck further. “You and I both know you never tell me anything. In fact, you always send me away without even listening to my question.”

He takes in a deep breath. “We don’t get along. That’s obvious. You aren’t a lone agent. You have a pack. Iftheywant answers,theycan send your brother to ask them.”

I give a pained smile. “My brother’s a little busy.”

“Then they can send someone else.”

God, this man hates me. I fucking hate him, too, but his distaste for me is the reason that’s so. It only makes me more suspicious of him. There’s an energy about him—a buzz that sets my balance off kilter. He’s not the man he’s portraying to be. My instincts scream the truth, but I won’t get anywhere with him now. “Are you arresting me?”

My words startle him just the slightest, and his gaze moves away from my eyes and down my body as if just remembering he put me in handcuffs.

He turns me around and unlocks my chains, but before I’m free, he lowers his head to the shell of my ear. “Not this time, but I mean it. No more fraternizing with my officers. Leave the police work to me and tell Grimm to come to me with questions.”

I can’t tell him the truth—that Grimm and the rest of our pack don’t trust him anymore and that I’m not going to back down and wait for him and the Hunters to murder the rest of our pack. He’s more dangerous than I initially thought. Now, I need to get the fuck away from him and seek out my other source. The fact that Brick doesn’t want me near his men only confirms my suspicion that one of them knows something. Straw seems useless—either oblivious to what’s happening or so well trained that he won’t give it up, but Wood still could be helpful.

My plans run through my mind, but the reality of the situation just steps away washes over me. Jessica is dead. One more of us is gone, and we have failed to protect her. I take a deep breath to ground my sorrow, still facing away from Brick, I clamp my eyes shut. “Why was she killed?” I ask, my voice wobbly.

He sighs, silent for a moment as if considering to divulge me. “It looks like an abduction gone wrong.”

“Like the last one?”

He turns me around, studying me, not getting any further away. “Carmen, you don’t like me, but I need you to trust me. Lie low. Stay away. Let me take care of this.” I can usually tell when people are lying. I can hear their heartbeats speed up, feel their pulse heighten in their veins, and watch as their eyes dart and give them away. As Brick stares down at me, close enough to sense every minuscule movement under his skin, I can’t sense any unease. He appears to be telling the truth, as he honestly believes I should trust him. But I can’t believe my senses with him. He’s obviously not human or werewolf. He goes against everything I know about the world.

“Okay,” I say, hoping he can’t sniff out the lie in me.

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