Page 85 of Purchased

Pew!

A bullet comes through the window, shattering the glass and missing my head by a hair. I’m so stressed about the detective situation I can barely be bothered worrying about it, but I suppose it’s one more thing I have to address.

“And now someone’s trying to kill me,” I sigh, stepping away from the window, taking refuge by a bookcase with some level of inconvenienced annoyance.

“Jenny, I imagine.”

“Shit. I forgot to deal with her. Can we do this another time?”

“A time you’re not mid-assassination attempt? Certainly.”

“Thank you.”

I have a good idea where she shot from. To hit the room from that angle from outside, you have to be in bushes at a particular spot. I have thought about this a thousand times over. An alpha must know all the potential assassin lairs around his abode. The place she shot from is a series of bushes that will have to be cut down now. Pity, really.

I could call on the pack security, but I don’t bother. I go down by myself, circle around the back and follow the smell. The widow’s scent has been quite strong lately, bitter and sad and afraid. I follow that smell while skirting out and around in case she has a smaller weapon. I have to wonder where she got a rifle from, but I suppose the old man of hers might have had one.

“Jenny. I think we need to talk,” I say, standing behind her with my arms folded over my chest, an expression of faintly paternal disappointment on my features.

The woman lets out a small shriek and scrambles away from the gun, her eyes wide.

“That was quite a good shot,” I say. “If you’d accounted for the wind then right now I wouldn’t have any problems anymore.”

She stares at me, as if she expects me to kill her on the spot. Fortunately for her, killing women is not on my agenda, and given the spate of murders I’m already desperately trying to cover up, adding an extra body to the count feels like a bad idea.

I offer her my hand.

She doesn’t take it.

I reach down and I pull her up by the fabric at the scruff of her neck. “In my office, Jenny. Now.”

I nudge her ahead of me and she traipses in front of me, her head down, bowed in, well, probably not shame, but the facsimile of it. I pick up the rifle and put it under my arm and we both go back to the chateau where I am going to have to deal with this issue once and for all.

When we reach my office, I disassemble the rifle, just to remove the threat of the thing.

“It only has a basic scope,” I note. “That was a good shot given the circumstances. Well done.”

She stares at me, wide-eyed. I note that she put on a camouflage jacket and pants for this attempt. None of it quite fits her. More of her late husband’s things, I suppose. She is petrified, poor thing, no doubt expecting a brutal end. I perch on the desk and fix her with a firm but kind look.

“Jenny, you can’t kill me right now. Not yet. Give it a few years, you can take all the shots you want, but right now it’s just not a good time.”

She chokes on her words. “Not a good time? I can’t kill you because it’s not convenient for you right now?”

“It’s not convenient for anyone. You’re mourning your mate, but there’s a point at which you’ll realize it is for the best. I’ve initiated stipend payments so you don’t have to worry about losing any of your assets. Your house is yours. I suggest you take the time you were spending plotting my demise and think about what you want for yourself.”

She gives me an incredulous stare.

“You’re not going to hurt me?”

“I think I have hurt you enough. I am sorry for the pain I caused when I killed your mate. I maintain he deserved it, and you are better off without him, but I caused you hurt nonetheless and you are understandably furious. I don’t blame you for wanting revenge. I just ask that you serve it more coolly.”

This might seem merciful, but it is at its core, practical. I have wronged the woman, and she is right to try to gain her vengeance.

“Is this because of the detectives who were here?”

Brave question.

“No, Jenny. It’s because you just tried to explode my skull.”

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