The Alpha's Secret, An MMF Erotic Romance (The Stonewall Pack Alpha Series) (6 page)

Maeve was an expert on all of this, that was for sure. Bridget didn't know how Maeve'd managed to stay away from her mates for ten whole years—Bridget was struggling and it had been little more than twenty-four hours. But then, Maeve had had a much better motivation.

The sisters talked about their new-found sister Fiona then ended the call.

A therapist. Or a pre-nup. Or maybe both?

Chapter 6

Liam and Gavin spent the afternoon digging. Part of their focus was on finding out more about their mate's history, and part on looking into her parents' deaths. They found out next to nothing about their mate's state of mind, but the accident that claimed her parents was another matter.

Liam read over the report about their parents death again. It indicated the investigators had suspected foul play. The house was equipped with carbon monoxide detectors, yet none of them went off. All three were found to be either unplugged, their batteries out, or damaged so they wouldn't work.

The problem itself was with the furnace, which had supposedly leaked carbon monoxide into the house. Except the furnace was only a couple of years old, and had had regular check-ups. No indication of any problems beforehand.

At the same time, the investigators hadn't found any obvious signs of tampering. They'd even dusted the detectors that were unplugged and the furnace itself, but didn't find any prints other than those of two of the parents and the furnace guy. The furnace appeared to have a leak but it didn't look like it had been created by a tool.

It appeared to be a tragic set of coincidences.

Liam didn't like it. He could tell Gavin didn't, either. But why would someone have wanted to kill Bridget's parents?

"We'll have to dig deeper," Gavin said. "Find out who would have had access to the house, and who might have had motive to kill any of the three of them. The other two might have been collateral damage."

Liam's stomach knotted. He couldn't imagine killing one person in cold blood, but to kill two more just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time? Barbaric.

Challenges, fine. Warfare, fine. People went into those expecting to be hurt, and they had a chance to fight back. But to kill three people while they slept…it wasn't just barbaric. It was cowardly. "How do we find all of that out? We can ask Bridget about who came over to the house, but what about motive?"

"We'll talk to Deirdre, too, since she's older. She might know something about motive. Or have seen enough to give us a clue where to look." Gavin started to pull his documents together and pack up.

"I don't know. My parents always hid the bad stuff from us. If one of my parents had been mixed up in something, I never would have known." Liam put the papers from the thin report onto the top of Gavin's pile.

"But you might have known there was something off. You might have seen some tension among your parents, or a strange person stopping by late at night, or something like that. When you're in trouble, it's hard to hide it completely."

Gavin had a point. But Liam wasn't so sure the sisters would remember something like that five years later.

"Now let's go to dinner," Gavin said.

Liam grinned. He couldn't wait to torture his mate again. And steal as many kisses as he could before they had to leave.

After picking Bridget up at her office, they went to a bar/restaurant called Mary's Tavern. The place reeked of wolf. Aside from the owner and a one of the waitresses, everyone in there was a wolf. The restaurant side where they got seats wasn't quite as dark as the rest of the place. It still had wood paneling, but also sported a wall of windows that let in light from the street outside.

Liam thought they should have gone back to the Weeping Widow. This place had booths but they weren't circular, so only one of them could sit next to Bridget. While Gavin was hanging his coat up, Liam scooted in next to her.

Gavin frowned when he realized what had happened.

"You can sit next to her next time," Liam said.

After sliding into his side of the booth, Gavin said, "That's fine. I can still reach her from here."

Bridget squeaked. "Was that your foot?"

Gavin smiled.

Playing footsie had never even occurred to Liam. Good thing he got the good seat. Liam slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him so their sides pressed together.

"Hey! Getting a little familiar." She pushed at his chest but couldn't budge him.

"I'm gonna miss you." He'd thought he was still acting lighthearted, but even he could hear the wistfulness in his voice.

She stilled. "Two weeks is a long time."

Maybe Gavin was right. Maybe she was bending. "You could still go with us."

Staring blankly at her menu, she said, "How can I do that? You'll want me to sleep with you."

"We already want you to sleep with us," Liam said. Surely she knew that.

"I'll get you your own hotel room." Gavin played with the corner of his menu which he had yet to open. "You don't have to worry about being forced to sleep with us by choosing to come with us."

Her own hotel room. While Liam would prefer she stayed in his hotel room, having her nearby was almost as good. Neither one of them could stay with Gavin, since he lived in pack territory and they weren't in his pack.

"I can afford my own room," she said.

That was what she focused on? Who was paying? His breath caught. Wait—did that mean she was thinking about coming with them?

Gavin didn't seem to get it, either. "You're my mate. I'll pay for your room."

"Stubborn alpha males—" she said.

"Get used to it. We're yours. Forever." Gavin glared at her.

Looked like Gavin was finally breaking. At not necessarily the best time. Time to derail this train. "So you're thinking about joining us when we go back tonight?" Liam said.

Bridget's pale skin turned pink. "There's something I want to do up there. I thought maybe I could just go with you. I can't stay away two weeks, though. I can't take that much time off work."

That blush was intriguing. Liam's hand still sat on her hip, so he rubbed his thumb up and down the side of her rib cage. "What is it you want to do?"

Her blush got even darker, her eyes watering a little. "Nothing."

Liam ran the knuckle of one finger down her cheek. "Can't be nothing when you're blushing like that."

Her eyes looked everywhere but at them. "Maeve—Maeve suggested a therapist. Someone I could talk to. So I could get over this."

His heart seized, his breath stopping.

"Us?" Gavin said, his voice sharp. "You want to get over us?"

A tear leaked out of one of her eyes. "No. I want to find out why I'm so scared of us. I want to get over the fear so we can be together."

Liam let out all the air of his lungs. She wanted them. Scared as she was, she wanted them.

Gavin took her hand and held it in both of his. Several times, he opened his mouth as though to talk, then finally said, "Thank you."

Tightening his arm around her, Liam pressed a kiss to her temple. He left his lips there for several seconds. He wanted to tell her how he felt, how he really felt, that he loved her already, but figured that would just run her off.

Still holding her hand, Gavin said, "We'll get you a room in Liam's hotel. And we'll get you an appointment with this therapist. And we'll get you back here by Monday for work. Okay?"

Bridget nodded.

The waitress came by and they ordered drinks. Liam hadn't even opened his menu yet, so he got to work on that. He didn't let go of her, though. He'd never let go of her again.

"We have something else we want to talk to you about," Gavin said. "About the night your parents died."

She closed her menu. "You really think it was foul play?"

The waitress delivered their drinks and took their orders.

Gavin resumed the conversation. "It's looking like foul play to me. Do you remember anything strange in the days before their death?"

Bridget took a sip of her soda. "Not really."

"Anything at all," Gavin said.

"Well, a month or so before, we got that postcard from Maeve."

"What postcard?" Liam moved his hand to her shoulder and played with her hair.

Bridget shifted toward Liam. "Maeve ran away—"

"We know," Gavin said.

She looked back at Gavin. "Well, about a month before my parents died, we got a postcard from her. The postmark was from Paris. All it said was that she was okay and not to worry. And that she loved us." Bridget put her hand on Liam's thigh. "But I don't see how that would have anything to do with their death."

Liam slid his hand over hers, holding hers in place.

"I don't, either," Gavin said. "Do you remember anything else?"

She looked up, as though remembering, and was silent for a few minutes. "I can't think of anything. That was a long time ago."

"Then let's talk about the postcard, since you remember that. What did your parents do when they got it?" Gavin paused as the server put their food in front of them. "Did they tell anyone? Did they try to find her?"

Bridget picked up her fork. "They wanted to hire a private detective. They were still trying to scratch together enough money and find someone good when they died." She cut a piece of her lasagna. "They told lots of people. That's probably not going to help much. Between who they told and who spread the story, I'm sure everyone in the pack knew."

"Was there anyone helping them out? Maybe helping them find a private detective?" Liam said.

She finished chewing before answering. "Ted came over a lot. Now that we know what he did, I'm guessing he wanted to find her as much as we did."

Liam was glad the old Alpha was gone. "What would he have done, though? Don't child molesters have a preferred type? By the time the postcard arrived, Maeve would have been too old for him."

Gavin's eyes met his, although Liam wasn't sure what Gavin was thinking until he spoke. "You look a lot like Maeve, and you're only a year younger. Did Ted ever touch you, Bridget?"

A frisson of fear followed by pure rage swept through Liam. The only thing that stopped it was Bridget, shaking her head forcefully.

"No. Deirdre thinks he tried to once but she came in and he didn't get the chance. I'm not sure she's right about that, though. I think he was always fixated on Maeve. He went crazy after she left. And then again when we got the postcard. Everyone noticed. He kept saying it was just his duty as Alpha, but everyone could see his concern was over the top. We just didn't know why."

Liam unclenched his fists. "Maybe he's more like a stalker than a pedophile?"

"Or some combination of the two," Gavin said. "We know of two girls he molested. Although he doesn't seem to have gone stalker on Fiona's mom."

Maeve screwed up her face. "Maybe that's because he got to be the one to end it. Maybe what really got him was that Maeve left before he was through with her."

Liam wasn't sure that was how child molesters thought, but it didn't really matter. "Sounds like Ted had a good motive for wanting your parents alive—and thus no motive for wanting to kill them."

"Maybe," Gavin said. "Although picture what would have happened if her parents had found Maeve. Do you think they would have let her keep Ted's secret? Or would the whole thing have come out? Seems to me Ted had a good motive for killing them—to keep what he did to Maeve a secret for as long as possible."

"Or," Bridget said, "once he knew Maeve was alive, maybe he thought she'd come back for the funeral."

Liam's stomach turned. Would Ted really have killed three people just to lure Maeve back to town? His little mate seemed to be taking the idea better than he was. Had it been only one day ago that she'd complained that everyone was more dominant than she was and they'd all run roughshod over her? Yet she could look at this whole situation with a logical eye, in spite of all the heartache it must have brought her.

Speaking of dominance, she'd held them at arm's length for quite a while. It was her who was acting more dominant than them, not the other way around. That, and she had nerves of steel to be able to withstand the mating urge when she was sitting so close to them.

Before he could voice his new insights, Gavin said, "We should still consider other suspects. We'd all like for Ted to be guilty, but we can't let that cloud our judgment. We have very little evidence suggesting it's him."

They finished off the last bites of their meal. Gavin sat back. "We need to get on the road soon. How quickly do you think you can pack and meet us?"

Bridget looked at her watch. After a second, she said, "I could meet you at the park on the edge of Stonewall territory in forty-five minutes. I'll get Deirdre to drive me so I can leave my car at the house."

"Good. Why don't you go ahead while we take care of the bill?" Gavin said.

Smooth. If it worked, Gavin would get away with paying and she wouldn't even notice. Liam let her out of the booth. He wanted to give her a goodbye kiss but was afraid she'd change her mind about going with them, so he left her alone.

Bridget paused. "So. I'll see you soon."

Liam sat back down and scooted to the center of the seat.

"See you soon," Gavin said.

She hesitated another second before leaving.

"I think she wanted a kiss," Gavin said.

Liam grinned. "Good."

***

By the time they checked into the hotel that night, Bridget thought she'd go crazy. It was hard enough resisting them when they sat beside her touching her and kissing her. But to be cooped up in a car with them for over three hours, their scents surrounding her, the mating urge scraping at her insides, was more than she could bear.

She practically ran to her room, ignoring Liam's offer to help with her suitcase. Once there, she dropped onto the bed, her hand finding its way between her legs, under her pants.

Someone knocked on the door. "Bridget?"

Liam. Why couldn't he leave her alone?

"Go away," she said, aware that he'd be able to hear her through the door with his werewolf hearing. Her fingers didn't stop moving over her clit, even though it didn't bring the slightest bit of relief.