And she hadn’t even had a chance to make it clear she wanted Chester investigating her sister’s death either. She looked as cross as she could. “If you hurt Ural, you might as well sleep in the other room—by yourself.”
Darien laughed and gave her another quick kiss on the lips. “In your dreams, Lelandi.” Then he stalked out of his room, and Silva walked in, shaking her head.
With Deputy Trevor, Uncle Sheridan, and Darien’s brothers looking on, Darien sat in the jail interrogation room across the table from the red, and growled, “If you’d stuck Lelandi with that needle, you’d be a dead man. So who the hell are you, and what do you want with her?”
“Name’s Ural. What would I want with the dead sister? I came for Larissa.”
Darien glanced at his brothers. Both shook their heads.
“Why did you want to return Larissa home then?”
Darien asked, drawing Ural into the trap.
“She belongs to the pack leader’s brother. You can’t have her, too.”
“So Lelandi wasn’t mated.”
“No, she wasn’t mated.”
“No, she wasn’t mated.”
“Why not?”
Ural shrugged, but winced.
“How about guessing why not?” Darien said, his voice growing lower, more of a growl again.
The red’s split lip curled up. “She’s pretty headstrong.”
“So you’re saying Lelandi wouldn’t accept a mate.”
“Not Bruin’s brother. Besides, Larissa would never have mated another when she was already mated to the leader’s brother.”
“I see. There’s one problem with your story. Larissa gave me a letter stating she was mated to a red and hoped I’d forgive her for mating with me also.”
Ural’s jaw hung open.
“Furthermore,” Darien said, “our local doctor examined Lelandi, the living sister. She’d never been touched. Got another story?”
Ural tapped his fingers on the table, then crossed his arms over his chest, leaned back in the chair, and gave Darien a conceited look.
“Time’s up, Ural. Why did you come to take Lelandi back with you?”
“She doesn’t belong to your kind. Neither did her sister. Hell, you had to have known the woman had already been mated.” Ural leaned into the table and gave Darien a steely-eyed glower. “One of your people killed Larissa and now they’ll succeed with Lelandi if I don’t take her somewhere safe.”
“The man who set up the murder could have been Larissa’s prior mate.”
“Nope. I saw the shooter.”
“Like hell he did. This guy probably shot the gunman!” Uncle Sheridan roared and advanced on Ural, who looked like he was ready to have an early heart attack. “Hell, he probably is his pack’s clean-up man and was ordered to come here and take care of this mess.”
Ural cast a nervous glance at Uncle Sheridan, breathing down his neck like a giant grizzly ready to make a quick meal of him. “I saw her,” Ural spit out.
Not sure what to believe, Darien wondered if Ritka, Angelina, or Hosstene had managed to sneak by them and kill the gunman. They were the only women who might have hired a killer, since they hated Larissa and Lelandi both.
Uncle Sheridan gave a half smile. “A woman? Really.”
Ural stuck his chin up, but wouldn’t look at Uncle Sheridan. “A woman from your pack.”
“You know her? To see her, you can identify her?”
Darien asked, sitting on the edge of his chair. He wasn’t sure he could trust Ural, but if the red had been a witness to the shooting—
“Yeah, I’d know her.” Ural gave a satisfied smirk and wiggled his brows. “For a gray, she has one hell of a sweet ass.”
Before Darien could stop him, Uncle Sheridan hit Ural in the head with his fist so hard, he knocked him out cold, and Ural fell to the floor in a ragged lump.
“Damn it, Uncle Sheridan!” Darien jumped to his feet and waved his hand at Ural. “What the hell did you do that for!”
“He had the nerve to talk lewd about one of our women. Son of a bitch.”
Darien placed his fists on his hips and glowered at his uncle. “Trevor, get some water to splash on Ural.
Tom, call Nurse Grey in, just in case Uncle Sheridan did some major damage to Ural with that iron fist of his. Jake, take a break.”
The three hurried out of the room and Jake shut the door.
An intimidating figure even when he didn’t mean to be, Uncle Sheridan stood taller and towered over Darien by four inches. But even so, Darien could have knocked his uncle out he was so mad. “We nearly had something to go on!” He ran his hands through his hair. “Why don’t you… check out some more leads on the blackmailing scheme.”
Uncle Sheridan had the nerve to look unremorseful and for a tense minute, he stood his ground. Then he bowed his head slightly. “As you wish. But I’m not sorry. Tell that son of a bitch if he says anything more about our women, I’ll hit him harder.” He stalked out of the room and slammed the door on his way out.
Jake peered in through the small window in the door and knocked.
“Come in.” Darien crouched next to Ural and felt his pulse. Thank god, he had one.
“Do you think Ural’s making it up?” Jake leaned over Ural with a cold pack and applied it to the side of his head.
“I thought so briefly. But if he wanted to make something up, why not say it was some guy he didn’t know? I think he was up there, saw her, and knows who she is.”
“Silva was the only woman there.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. What about Ritka or one of her two girlfriends?”
Jake’s eyes widened. “Ah. Yeah. Good candidates.
Although I doubt with the way Ritka’s eye was swollen, she could have seen well enough to shoot. But Hosstene and Angelina, that’s another story.”
“See if either of them have an alibi. And question everyone who might have smelled the women’s scents.”
“Will do.”
Tom knocked on the door. Darien rose from his crouched position and waved at him to come in. Trevor followed him in, carrying a bucket of water.
“Nurse Grey’s on her way.” Tom shook his head.
“Uncle Sheridan’s in a real snit.”
“He’s been like that ever since he had to cut his vacation short.” Trevor splashed some cold water on Ural’s face.
The red didn’t move.
Darien swore under his breath. “No one is to beat on him any further, understand? I want to know who shot the gunman.”
“I’ll question some folks like you asked,” Jake said.
“I’ll stay with him and see if he comes to,” Tom offered.
Nurse Grey walked into the room and looked at Ural passed out on the floor, his shirt, face, and hair wet.
“What happened now?”
Silva sat on the edge of Darien’s bed and gave Lelandi a small smile. “Sugar, don’t worry about the red they’ve got in jail. They won’t kill him, although that was a pretty stupid thing he pulled. How was he going to ferret you away after he pumped you full of drugs?”
“He never was much to think things out ahead of time.” Lelandi stretched on the bed, dressed in her jeans and sweater again. “If Darien or any of his men kill him, I won’t be staying.”
Silva’s eyes grew huge. “Oh, honey, you can’t mean that. You’re mated to Darien now. You can’t leave him.”
Then she narrowed her eyes. “The red’s related to you, isn’t he?”
“Do you know what became of Chester McKinley after Darien made him leave?”
Silva tilted her head to the side. “Why?”
“I thought he could help us solve Larissa’s murder.”
“After the incident at the tavern, Darien sent him packing.”
Damn Darien. Fine. She’d take matters into her own hands then.
“Will you be all right? I have a date with Sam tonight after we close the tavern.”
“For show, right?” Lelandi hoped she was wrong and that Silva finally realized Sam was right for her.
Silva gave her a slip of a smile. “Sure, just for show until Trevor gets the point. I’ll tell you how it goes. Can you sleep?”
“No.”
Silva turned on the television and flipped through the channels. “Ah, here’s one of Julia Wildthorn’s romances made into a movie. Want to watch it?”
“Sure.”
“See ya in the morning, sugar.”
“Have a good time.”
“Thanks, ’night.”
Silva left the bedroom and greeted Darien on the stairs. “Lelandi is going to watch a movie.”
Lelandi ground her teeth.
“Are you going back to work?”
“Yes, sirree, boss. Just as soon as I move some of my clothes from the washer to the dryer. Sam will be firing my butt if I keep using Lelandi as an excuse.”
“Tell him Lelandi takes priority.” Darien entered the bedroom.
Lelandi folded her arms and glowered at him. “What did you do with Ural?”
“He’s staying in jail for a while. After what he pulled with you, that’s the only place he’s going.” Darien gave Lelandi a hug, but she tensed. “What movie are you going to watch?”
“One of Julia Wildthorn’s werewolf romance novels made for television, By the Light of the Moon.”
“Hmm.” He nuzzled her cheek and rubbed her shoulders, and she began to dissolve under his insistent touch. “After I discuss business with my brothers and Uncle Sheridan, I’ll show you what real lupus garous do in the name of love.”
He kissed her lips, his hands massaging her breasts through her blouse and was really getting worked up when Jake shouted, “Uncle Sheridan’s here. And Tom’s just arrived.”
Darien let out a husky growl. “Be back in a bit.”
