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“Did he say what it was, specifically?”
“Something about a girl going missing.” His tone was even, but I knew Wilder too well to overlook the connection. Part of the reason Wilder had once been forced to leave the pack was because of a dead girl. Since then I think any news of missing young women set him on edge.
“Let’s deal with one crisis at a time,” I suggested. “Focus on the trees instead of the forest, just this once.”
Mags, the ultimate multitasker, frowned at my suggestion but didn’t argue about it. I could tell she was already trying to decide the best way to manage my day between typical Alpha duties and these two new burdens on my schedule. Whatever she was realizing didn’t make her terribly happy.
That seemed to be the general theme of my rise to Alpha: never enough time to please anyone, let alone everyone.
Honestly, I’d be thrilled if we could make it through the day without another dead body showing up.
Chapter Five
If I had my way, there would be more dead bodies, and they would come in the general form of my new team of lawyers.
The two men and one woman who would
now be representing Emmett and Mason had, in no uncertain terms, said my presence within the investigation was too sharply focusing attention on the werewolf angle, and it would be best for everyone involved if I left.
“We’ll call with updates.”
Sure they would. They’d call Callum.
At least they’d convinced Detective Perry to move the guys to the precinct office instead of leaving them locked up at a dive bar. That was a small improvement.
I left Magnolia behind to go along with them to the station, much to her chagrin. In spite of her protestations, I told her I needed someone there I could trust who would keep an ear to the ground and let me know the minute anything took a turn I wouldn’t approve of.
In the meantime, Cash had called me yet again and left a rather cryptic, Please text.
Whatever was going on, he was freaking out, and that was reason enough for me to bypass a stop at home and head right for the Tulane campus, with Wilder in tow.
I guided my car onto a street lined with huge trees bowing low under the weight of their crowns, the sidewalks on either side of the road broken up and uneven from emerging roots. The houses were beautiful old manors, all pristinely kept with smart, tidy lawns and fresh paint. Over the front entrance of every single one were a variety of two or three Greek letters.
“Are you sure you’re cool with this?” I parked the car in front of a pale brick mansion with crisp white trim. The two letters over the door were a triangle and a circle with a line running vertically though the middle. Delta Phi.
“Of course.” He was looking at the house with mild interest and more than a little judgment. “I’m great with sorority girls.”
A laugh bubbled up from my lungs and burst out in an unexpected guffaw. “I bet you are. Try to not be too good with them.”
Wilder winked at me. “You’d prefer I be bad?”
A shiver of excitement made my insides tremble. Something about the way he said it was an unspoken promise that his version of bad would be so, so wonderful.
If Cash had moved on, what was stopping me?
My hand drifted, as if guided by its own motivations, and landed on Wilder’s thigh. This got his attention. He turned his body towards me with a dangerously hungry expression on his face. Heat flooded through me from my cheeks down to my toes, and I gave his leg one firm squeeze.
“You can be as bad as you want once we’re done here.” As soon as the words were out I was terrified he would laugh or call me out for how ridiculous they were. Wilder had a habit of voicing what he thought, and if he felt I was being absurd, he wouldn’t hesitate to tell me.
Instead he leaned in so near to me I could count the individual green flecks in his irises and smell the faint, lingering trace of coffee on his breath. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
Oh God, yes please.
He got close enough for the tip of his nose to brush my cheek, and my eyes fluttered shut as I expected him to kiss me. Except, he didn’t. His presence vanished, and the cool air from outside brushed my skin. The passenger door banged shut, and when I opened my eyes, he was already halfway up the front walk.
I let out a shaky breath.
The man totally upended all my common sense. When every other aspect of my life demanded I hold it together, he undid me.
