Wolf in her Soul: Salvation Pack, Book 8 Read online

  Of course, maybe he had it all wrong. Maybe this was simply a case of a human preying on another human. It happened all too often. Didn’t make it any less tragic, but a human killer would be easier to handle than a wolf stalking prey in the city.

  He was tired of all the senseless violence he dealt with on a regular basis. He could understand a man defending himself or protecting a loved one. That was a part of Reece’s basic nature. But most of what he saw was nothing like that. It was violence for the sake of it. The kind that left the victims with no hope and destroyed what little faith they had in their fellow man.

  He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. Hell, maybe he was the one burning out, not Sean. “I’m going to take a look around.”

  Reece left Sean to talk with the officers on the scene and slowly circled the house. He stopped every few feet and cautiously sniffed the air. He used his superior vision to scour the ground, but the scene was too degraded by fire and water damage, not to mention all the firefighters and cops who’d been tramping around.

  He made his way back out to the front and walked along the fence line. He thought he caught the scent of wolf for just a second, but then it was gone, leaving Reece wondering if he’d simply imagined it.

  “You ready to go?” his partner asked as he walked over to Reece.

  Reece scanned the crowd one final time, not surprised the group of young men was gone. He’d come back and find them. He needed to talk to them, but right now, he needed to get away from here. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

  He wanted to shower off the stench of the crime scene. Then he needed to think. If his werewolf theory was true, and this was a pack slaying, then this should be an isolated incident. Didn’t make it any less horrific, but at least that should be the end of it.

  If he was wrong…

  He didn’t want to even contemplate any other theories, as none of them were good. Gang violence among humans was rampant in certain parts of the city. They didn’t need an escalation in that kind of crime. And if a similar murder occurred, this could be more than a pack slaying. It could mean there was either a vigilante human hunting werewolves, or a full-blood going after all half-breeds.

  Yeah, either way they were screwed.

  Not to mention Reece would be a prime target for the killer.

  Reece drove them back to the station. Sean was silent, sensing Reece needed time to process things.

  “You heading out?” Sean asked him as soon as he’d parked. They walked toward the building and paused by the door.

  As much as he wanted to go home, duty called. “Not quite yet. I’m just going to finish off some paperwork first.”

  The same paperwork that had been interrupted earlier. Technically, he was off shift, but he always put in extra time. Not like he had anyone to go home to. All his family and friends were home in Salvation.

  “The preliminary lab reports won’t be in for a while yet,” Sean pointed out. He pulled open the door and they headed up the stairs, passing a group of patrol officers on their way. “Even though the fire occurred late at night, someone might have seen something earlier in the day. We don’t know what time the victim was taken there. We need to canvas the neighborhood. See if we can find someone willing to talk.”

  Reece nodded. “I had the same thought.”

  “I’ll reach out to the uniforms on scene. See if they’ve seen or heard anything. They were questioning everyone there, and a lot of them have contacts in the neighborhood.” Sean went to his desk and started making calls.

  The cops who routinely worked the area had a better chance of getting information than either he or Sean did. People might talk to the officers they knew, but they would clam up around strangers, especially detectives.

  Reece sat at his desk and went back to work on his computer, searching for any similar crimes.

  Sean hung up his phone a while later and sighed. “Nothing.” Not surprising. A lot of folks minded their own business for fear of reprisals.

  “We’ll hit them again tomorrow. Maybe the medical examiner will at least be able to tell us if the victim was male or female by then.” Reece figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find the group of men he’d seen loitering on the edge of the crime scene. Something about them had set off his radar.

  His partner nodded in agreement and then went to work on writing up what he’d found out so far.

  Reece waved goodbye as Sean headed out an hour later. The coffee on his desk was bitter and cold. His stomach growled, a reminder that he hadn’t eaten since lunchtime and it was now past ten.

  He shut down his computer and headed out. He waved to the desk sergeant as he passed and made his way across the parking lot to his truck. He looked up at the sky, but there were no stars to be seen, only the artificial light from the city.

  His phone rang just as he climbed into the driver’s seat. He knew who it was before he answered. “Hey, Sage.”

  “What’s wrong?” His twin knew something was bothering him. They’d always been able to sense one another’s feelings, often knew what the other was thinking.

  “Just a tough day.” He hated lying to his brother, but he wasn’t ready to talk about what he’d seen today. Not until he was sure.

  “You should come home.” That was Sage, always worrying about him.

  “I’m fine.” It was an automatic reply.

  “No, you’re not.” His brother’s certainty struck Reece to his core.

  “No, I’m not,” he agreed. He leaned back and rested his head against the seat. “But I can’t come home. Not yet.” That damn dream had changed the course of his life. He’d known without a doubt that he had to come to Chicago. Becoming a cop had occurred to him once he’d relocated.

  He’d always planned to settle down in North Carolina and work in construction or furniture making with his Uncle Elias. Funny how one dream had changed everything.

  “Do you want me to come?”

  In spite of everything, Reece smiled. Sage would be here in a heartbeat if Reece needed him. His brother couldn’t shift. Reece had feared that might come between them, but it never had. Their bond was unbreakable, and thank God for it. Reece didn’t know how he would have made it through the past decade without it.

  “No, you need to stay home with Rina.” It still shocked him that Sage had found and mated with a full-blooded werewolf. That his brother was deliriously happy gave Reece hope for his own future. “How is my darling sister-in-law?”

  “Perfect.”

  That one word was filled with a combination of love and lust that made Reece’s chest ache.

  “Glad to hear it.” He dug his keys out of his pocket and started his truck. “Listen, I have to go. I haven’t eaten since lunchtime and I’m starving.” Plus, Sage was way too perceptive for Reece’s liking.

  “You’ll tell me when you’re ready.” It wasn’t a question. Yeah, Sage knew him way too well.

  “I will.” He wanted to tell his brother everything, but until he knew something for certain, it didn’t make sense to unnecessarily worry Sage.

  “Be safe, Reece.”

  “I will. Love to the family.” Reece ended the call, tucked his phone away, and took a deep breath. Inside him, his wolf was fretting. “Yeah, I hear you,” he murmured. His wolf wanted to go home as much as he did.

  He put the truck in gear and pulled out of the parking lot. There wasn’t much to eat at home, but he wasn’t in the mood to go out to eat. He had two choices. He could hit a drive-through on the way or order pizza when he got home.

  Pizza was the clear winner. He was in the mood for a meat-lovers special. As soon as he pulled into the parking garage near his apartment building, he fished his phone out of his pocket and placed his order. He figured he had just enough time for a quick shower before his dinner arrived.

  He took the stairs quickly, ignoring the peeling paint on the
walls. The fake laughter from a television show came from one apartment, a baby’s cry from another. He unlocked his door and stepped inside. Silence greeted him.

  This wasn’t a home, but a place to sleep and eat between shifts at work. He’d never really settled in the city, even though he’d lived here for a decade.

  He headed to his bedroom and dumped his keys and phone on the dresser. Then he emptied his pockets before removing his shoulder holster.

  Reece stripped off his clothes as he entered the bathroom, letting them drop on the floor. He desperately needed a shower. He didn’t even wait until the water heated. Cold rained down on his head, but he welcomed it. The water warmed, and he tilted his head up to the spray, letting it cleanse away the stench of the day.

  Since his pizza was on the way, he didn’t linger. He grabbed his soap, a special blend his aunt made for him, and washed. The all-natural soap didn’t assault his senses, but soothed them instead. It had a woodsy scent that reminded him of home.

  When he was done, he rinsed and turned off the water. He grabbed one of the towels from the nearby rack and ran it over his head and body before wrapping it around his waist. The mirror was steamed. He thought about shaving but decided against it. Better to wait until morning or he’d just have to shave again.

  Barefoot, he padded back into the bedroom. He’d rather be naked, but since he’d have to answer the door when the pizza was delivered, he pulled on a pair of faded jeans. He started to leave the mess on the floor but stopped in the doorway. He could practically hear his mother’s voice telling him to pick up his things. She’d died when he was a teenager, but she was a still a huge force in his life.

  He went back into his room, draped the damp towel up on the rod in the bathroom to dry, and picked up his clothes. He hung his jacket in the closet and dumped the rest in the laundry. That was the worst about crime scenes. The stench permeated his clothing and clung to it. Swearing, he grabbed the jacket from the closet and shoved it into the laundry bag too. He’d drop it all at the Laundromat on his way to work tomorrow morning.

  A loud knock came on the front door. Pizza was here. He needed food and about seven hours sleep. Then he’d be able to focus on the problem at hand.

  What he really needed was to be able to shift and run. His wolf wanted freedom, hated being cooped up inside Reece, unable to come out.

  “Soon,” he promised. He grabbed some money off the dresser and went to answer the door.

  Chapter Two

  Someone was following her.

  Hannah Burdette glanced over her shoulder as she hurried down the street. There was no one there, but she could feel someone’s eyes on her.

  She trusted her instincts. They’d saved her life more than once.

  The streets were pretty empty this hour of the morning, but the city never truly slept. There were always people out and about at every hour of the day or night. She glanced at her watch and picked up her pace. It was almost half past five. She gave a sigh of relief when the local coffee shop where she worked as a barista came into view.

  There were people there, which meant safety.

  The back of her neck stopped tingling. Maybe it was nothing more than someone looking out their apartment window and watching her as she passed by their building. Still, she was glad to be at work.

  Hannah knocked on the front door and waited for David to come let her in. Her boss, David Kaufman, owned the building and had converted the second floor into an apartment for himself. The coffee shop took up the retail space below it. Since he lived and worked there, he was always around.

  Sure enough, he poked his head out from his office. She waved and he headed toward the door. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and couldn’t resist looking over her shoulder again. A stray cat prowled out of an alley across the street and a delivery truck rolled by, belching exhaust fumes as it went.

  David unlocked the door and opened it wide. “Morning.”

  Technically, it was morning. Most folks were still in bed. It wasn’t even full light yet. She liked the early morning when the city was quieter. She hated the crowds and the noise, but it was better for her here than in a rural setting.

  “Good morning, David.” She strode past her boss and hurried to stash her knapsack and hoodie under the counter. It was her personal idiosyncrasy. There were lockers in the office for every employee to put their things, but Hannah kept her knapsack where she could see it, where she could grab it and run if she had to.

  Some might call her paranoid. She preferred to think of herself as cautious and prepared.

  Her boss had balked at first but then given in when he’d seen just how good she was at her job. Now that she’d been here for two months, all the staff just accepted her habit as an eccentricity due to her artistic nature. Yeah, she’d actually heard one of her fellow baristas say just that. She didn’t mind what they said as long as they left her stuff alone. The fact that she was willing to take extra shifts and pick up the slack when they wanted time off helped too.

  “You okay?” David leaned against the counter, a concerned expression on his face.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” She washed and dried her hands and began prepping for the morning rush. They opened at six sharp and would have customers banging on their door if they were more than ten seconds late. People wanted their coffee first thing in the morning, especially those who had to hit work early.

  “You sure? You seem upset.” David was in his mid-thirties and treated her like a little sister. It was at turns both nice and annoying.

  “I’m fine. Just thought someone might have been following me.”

  “What?” He pushed away from the counter and headed to the door. He yanked it open and looked up and down the street. “There’s no one there.” He shut and locked the door again.

  “I know.” She turned on the grinder and the aroma of fresh coffee filled the air. “I said I thought there might be someone following me. I didn’t see anyone either.”

  David dragged his fingers through his thick blond hair. “I don’t like you walking to work by yourself so early in the morning.”

  How else was she supposed to get here? “I’m fine. It’s not far.” Which was one of the reasons she’d taken the job at Coffee Expressions. She didn’t have a car and took the crowded public transit only when absolutely necessary. Walking saved her money and she liked prowling the streets. She usually had her camera in her hands or strapped around her neck.

  Photography was her first love and she was good at it. It was also a skill she could take anywhere. She’d worked in photo studios all across the country and had also sold some of her pictures to magazines. She’d hadn’t been able to find that kind of work in Chicago, but since she was a trained barista—a fancy way of saying she was able to make a variety of delicious coffee and tea drinks—she could find a job just about anywhere.

  She lived cheap and saved her money. Her goal was to build up enough of a reputation so she could live on her freelance work and save enough money to buy a small home.

  Not exactly a big dream, but it was hers.

  David scowled at her. “I don’t like it.”

  She set up the coffeepot but didn’t turn it on yet and went back to work grinding more beans. Her keen sense of smell allowed her to pick up the subtle tones in the different coffee roasts. Good thing she loved the smell and taste of coffee, or she’d never have been able to work here.

  “I’m fine, David. I’m cautious. It was probably just some early riser watching me through their window.” And if she told herself that enough times, she might actually believe it.

  “You’ll tell me if it happens again?”

  “I will.” She didn’t promise because she didn’t give her word if she wasn’t sure she could keep it. If the feeling persisted, Hannah would pack up her things and leave Chicago behind.

  She didn’t
want to leave. She liked the people she worked with. Not that she allowed herself to become overly friendly with anyone. She couldn’t. Anyone close to her was in danger. Her father had warned her, had trained her to be prepared and watchful.

  “Okay.” David looked longingly at the coffeemakers. “Any chance of getting a cinnamon dolce latté?”

  She laughed and smiled. David loved his coffee but sucked when it came to making it. “I’ll bring one in to you when I finish setting up.”

  Hannah headed to the kitchen to start bringing out the muffins, cookies, and other delicious treats that had been made fresh overnight by one of the two bakers David employed.

  “Good morning, Angela.”

  Angela was a tall woman with shocking pink hair, a nose ring, and half a dozen hoops in both ears. She was gorgeous and baked the most mouthwatering brownies that Hannah had ever tasted.

  “Morning, Hannah.” She set muffins on a long tray with little plaques in the front, which told the customer what each one was.

  “Carrot cake, granola, chocolate chip, and banana. Yum.”

  Angela laughed. “I have the other trays already done. And—” she motioned with her head toward a plate on the end of the counter “—I might have one too many brownies to fit on the tray.”

  “You’re a goddess.” Hannah all but pounced on the plate. She picked up the sweet treat and took a bite. “Ohmygod.” The muffled words ran together as she chewed. “How is it possible these are so good?”

  Angela winked at her. “Trade secret. What I want to know is how you can eat so much and never gain an ounce?”

  She swallowed and smiled. “Good genes.” Everywhere she worked, it didn’t take her fellow coworkers long to realize that Hannah could pack away twice the food the rest of them did. She needed extra food just to function.

  Just another way she was different, along with her heightened senses and her abnormal strength and speed.