Werewolf in the North Woods (30 page)
Read Werewolf in the North Woods Online
Authors: Vicki Lewis Thompson
“It doesn’t have to be nasty, Cameron.” She reconsidered her strategy. “Maybe I will have some of that wine, after all.”
“Excellent.” He returned to the sideboard and poured a second glass. “I have a cellar full of French wines, but I’m old-fashioned. I prefer the local Willamette Valley wines. Besides, I have investments there.”
She didn’t doubt it. He was proud of his wealth and his standing in the community. She’d do better if she catered to that instead of fighting him.
“Is this from one of your vineyards, then?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact.”
She sipped the wine. “It’s very good.”
He looked pleased. “Do you come up here often to visit Earl?”
“I did as a child. But as an adult, I haven’t spent nearly as much time here. I regret that.”
“Have we met?”
“Not officially.”
“I didn’t think so. I would have remembered you.”
No, he wouldn’t, but she wasn’t about to correct him.
“Your family and the Dooleys have been neighbors for a very long time.”
“Yes.” Draining his glass, he walked over to refill it. “Too long. It’s time for your grandfather to sell.”
She pretended to sip her wine, but she wasn’t about to drink much of it. “Here’s the interesting part, Cameron. He might have done that if you’d allowed him his moment of glory with the Sasquatch.”
“Excuse me?”
“All he wanted was to go out with a bang. Sighting that mated pair would have allowed him to do that, after a lifetime of searching in vain. And then you brought Roarke in to ruin it. Grandpa Earl dug in his heels.”
Cameron rested his forearms on his desk and stared at her. “I’ll be damned.”
“If you would allow Roarke to confirm that my grandfather saw something out there instead of insisting it was only hikers, I might be able to convince him to sell. Maybe not to you, but—”
“I can create a dummy corporation to buy it. That’s not an obstacle. It could all be so simple, except for one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You, Abby Winchell.”
“I’m nothing, a cog in the wheel, a person trying to make this come out okay for my grandfather.”
“Ah, Abby, you are also a person trying to pull the wool over my eyes, and I can’t let you do that.”
Her heart beat faster. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes, you do. Now tell me how you convinced Roarke to let you go along to look for the Sasquatch.”
“I told you why. He was feeling guilty about Grandpa Earl, so I convinced him to take me in Grandpa Earl’s place.”
Cameron looked at her over the rim of his crystal goblet. “This was a top-secret operation, and no matter how guilty Roarke felt about discrediting your grandfather, he wouldn’t have been eager to take anyone with him unless he had no choice. I want to know what leverage you used to make him agree to take you, Abby.”
“I had no special leverage.” She wondered how long it would take for Roarke to get there. Yes, they’d hiked for two days, but not steadily, and in wolf form Roarke would move much faster.
Still, she couldn’t reasonably expect him anytime soon. Once he arrived, Roarke would corroborate her story because he was as dedicated to keeping Cameron in the dark as she was. Maybe he could convince Cameron, werewolf to werewolf, that she was no threat to the Were community.
“I believe you did have leverage,” Cameron said. “And that information happens to be critical to me. I’m afraid I can’t let you leave this house until I find out what I need to know.”
Abby met his cold gaze as if what he’d said made no difference to her whatsoever, even though her stomach churned. “Surely you’ll give me a place to sleep. It’s been a long night.” Yes, this place looked like a fortress, but left to her own devices, she might figure out a way to escape.
“That would be the hospitable thing to do, but I’m afraid I’m not feeling hospitable right now. You and I are going to sit here until you decide to tell me the truth.”
She lifted her chin. “Will you bring out the thumbscrews, then?”
He smiled. “I hardly think that will be necessary. My goodness, you’ve barely touched your wine.”
She leaned forward and set her glass on his desk. With luck it would leave a ring. “You know, it’s amazing how quickly a good glass of wine can turn to vinegar.”
Chapter 21
By the time Roarke came in sight of the mansion, his paws were bloody and every breath brought a stab of white-hot pain. He disregarded both problems. Unless Gentry had misdirected him, Abby was in there, being held prisoner.
He spotted a sentry in human form at the entrance to the wolf tunnel. The sentry appeared to be unarmed, but Weres seldom openly displayed a weapon, even if they were carrying one.
Roarke wondered if the sentry would try to prevent him from going through that tunnel. If so, Roarke would have to take him out, and he could do that more effectively as a wolf. He trotted closer, mentally preparing to attack if necessary.
Then he noticed a Bluetooth attached to the sentry’s ear and heard the man say something to whoever was on the other end of the connection. Obviously the sentry had been posted to sound the alarm, not prevent Roarke from entering. That made sense. Gentry had left a note inviting Roarke to come after Abby, so barring the door would serve no purpose.
Roarke pushed at the revolving tunnel door, leaving a bloody print on the stone as he entered the system of passageways that led to each of the mansion’s bedrooms. Exhausted though he was, Roarke traversed every tunnel and climbed every stone stairway, leaving bloody tracks as he went.
At the top of each stairway he paused to sniff at the revolving panel that opened into the bedroom beyond. Outside of one room he caught what seemed to be Smurtz’s mothball odor, but he couldn’t very well go into the room and confirm it. He checked all the other rooms to no avail. Wherever Gentry was holding her, it wasn’t in one of the sleeping rooms.
At last he approached the narrow stairs to the guest room he’d been assigned, and his head lifted in surprise. He knew that scent as well as his own. His brother, Aidan, was in his room.
He didn’t know for certain why Aidan was here, but he could guess. Gentry had summoned him to deal with the problem brother.Aidan’s presence lowered Roarke’s stress level considerably. He couldn’t believe Abby was in immediate danger with Aidan on the premises.
Chances were Aidan had taken the corporate jet over, and he hated to fly as much as Roarke loved it. No doubt Aidan had left Emma at home, too, because this wasn’t a social call. With the combination of high-altitude flying and no Emma, Aidan would be in a mood. Roarke prepared himself for that as he pushed through the revolving panel into the bedroom.
Obviously Aidan had been stretched out on the king-sized bed, but he sat up immediately. His golden eyes narrowed as he surveyed Roarke. “You made good time, but you look like hell.”
Roarke had many things to say to his brother, but although he could understand human speech in wolf form, he couldn’t speak himself. And telepathy only worked when both Weres were wolves.
Running his fingers through his dark hair, Aidan swung his long legs off the bed and began putting on his wingtips. “I left clothes in the bathroom for you. We need to get downstairs, pronto.”
Roarke didn’t have to be told twice.
“Christ, Roarke. You’re bleeding all over the Aubusson.”
Roarke would have liked to take the time to dance a tango on Gentry’s damned antique rug. Instead he gave Aidan a look and padded into the bathroom.
“Yeah, I know.” Aidan’s feet hit the floor. “He’s an asshole, but that rug’s gotta be at least a hundred years old and you just reduced its value by several thousand dollars.”
Roarke liked the idea of that. Once he was capable of using gardening shears, he might decide to reduce the value of the rug some more. But in the meantime, he had to find out where Gentry had stashed Abby. He told himself that she was okay or Aidan wouldn’t have been lying peacefully on Roarke’s bed waiting for him.
Once Roarke had shifted, he called out to his brother as he turned on the shower. “Where’s Abby?”
“With Gentry in the study. How’re your hands and feet?”
“Fine.” In actuality they hurt like hell, but at least they weren’t bleeding anymore. Fortunately, shifting speeded up the healing process considerably. “Is Abby okay? Have you seen her?”
“No, but when I walked past the study door not long ago, she sounded all right. Feisty as hell.”
“Redhead.”
“Ah. Anyway, Gentry seems to think she’s keeping something from him. Is she, Roarke?”
“Tell you in a minute.” Roarke stepped into the shower and gasped as the water hit his abraded hands and feet. He made the shower quick and stepped out to find his brother leaning in the bathroom doorway.
Aidan threw him a towel. “You might want to tell me now.”
“Well . . .” Roarke considered what to say as he quickly dried off.
“She knows, doesn’t she, hotshot?”
“Don’t get all huffy with me, bro. You aren’t exactly the poster boy for pack security, either.” Roarke reached for the clothes Aidan had left in the bathroom. Roarke would have been fine with sweats and a T-shirt, but he dutifully put on the slacks and white dress shirt Aidan had left there.
Aidan sighed. “So she knows you’re Were. How much else?”
“Pretty much everything else.” Roarke buttoned the shirt and tucked it into his slacks. “And she has pictures of me shifting.”
“You
posed
for her? What kind of an idiot—”
posed
for her? What kind of an idiot—”
“No, I didn’t pose, for God’s sake. I didn’t know she was there.” He glanced around the bathroom. “I need shoes and socks.”
“Wear the oxfords.” Aidan stepped out of his way as Roarke left the bathroom. “Gentry returned all your camping stuff, by the way. Your watch is on the bedside table, so you might as well wear it.”
“I get the idea you want us to walk in like urban professionals.”
“It’s what Gentry understands. If we show up looking like the heirs to the Wallace fortune, he’ll respect that. If you want to get Abby safely out of this situation, you need to play the game. So what’s this about pictures?”
Roarke sat in a wingback and put on his shoes and socks. “She happened to be in the woods when I was shifting and got me with a zoom lens. Then she blackmailed me into taking her along on the Bigfoot hunt.”
Aidan groaned. “Shit. I thought you’d fallen for her. But instead she’s a scheming—”
“She’s not scheming.” Roarke stood and finger-combed his damp hair. His camping gear was piled in a corner of the room, but he wouldn’t deal with it now.
“Roarke, she
blackmailed
you.”
blackmailed
you.”
“For a good reason.” He grabbed his watch from the bedside table and put it on. “Let’s go.”
“I don’t care what her reason was.” Aidan followed Roarke out of the bedroom and fell into step beside him as they walked down the hall. “If she’s capable of blackmail, then we’re in big trouble. At least with Emma I knew her heart was in the right place.”
“Abby’s heart is in the right place, damn it. You don’t have to worry about her.”
“I assume she knows the Wallaces have money.”
“She knows.”
“So what’s to stop her from using what she knows to blackmail us for money?”
Roarke shook his head. “She would never do that.”
“Why not? If she blackmailed you for a good reason, then why not blackmail the family for more good reasons? There are any number of causes she could decide to support with money she extracted from us. She could—”
“Hold on, bro.” Roarke grabbed Aidan by the arm and pulled him to a halt. “We’re not going down there until I straighten you out on this score. I won’t have you dissing Abby like that. She’s a good person who doesn’t deserve the crap that’s been thrown at her.”
Aidan’s eyebrows rose. “You’re the one who said she blackmailed you. I’m only following the information to its logical conclusion.”
“And you’re dead wrong. Abby saw me as the enemy who was destroying her grandfather’s reputation, which I was. She caught me in the act of shifting and called me hypocritical, which was also true. I hated giving lectures debunking Bigfoot and making Earl Dooley look like a fool.”
“You were doing it for the good of the Gentry pack,” Aidan said quietly. “They couldn’t be overrun with humans looking for Bigfoot, and you’re the expert on cryptids, so you were the logical one to handle this. If you hadn’t, this pack would have been in danger of exposure.”
“Yeah, but making fun of Earl Dooley’s legitimate sighting was a nasty business, Aidan. You wouldn’t have liked it any better than I did.”
Aidan held Roarke’s gaze. “So you have fallen for Abby.”
“I didn’t say that.”
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