Wheeler spun all the way around and glared down at me with pale brown eyes. “So tell me why your wolf comes out to save someone else’s life, but not yours?”
“It’s a long story.”
Wheeler had decisive brows, the kind that sloped down in the middle and gave him a sinister expression.
Maybe he wanted to know the answer, or maybe he simply wanted to provoke me, but I wasn’t going to tell him my life story. I’d spent my entire youth in a volatile house and had been forced to cage my animal. After a while, my wolf had given up on fighting for me. But after having been penned for so long, she’d become aggressive and wouldn’t hesitate to come out when someone else was in danger.
To be honest, that kind of relationship with my animal is exactly why I was so perfect to wait tables in crazy bars. I’d seen waitresses who couldn’t control their animal, and all it took was one reckless shift to either get fired or attack someone. Some of those customers could rile you up, but I’d learned over the years to let all the small stuff slide and handle a situation without relying on my wolf.
Plus, she was a pissy little thing. Literally. Years ago, Jericho told me my wolf had pissed on two of his bandmates for taunting her. She didn’t understand what they were saying, but she was smart enough to comprehend their tone.
“We’re going to start collecting dust if we stand in here much longer. Let’s go,” Wheeler said.
***
“There’s nothing here,” I said despairingly. I took a seat at the kitchen table in Hawk’s second home. “We’ve exhausted all avenues and haven’t found a thing.”
After turning the first house upside down, we’d taken a long and arduous drive to the second house, where I’d been held captive. It took a breath of courage for me to walk through that door, but once inside, I remained focused. Wheeler searched the bedroom and basement because I didn’t want to revisit that dark period in my life ever again.
I sighed, looking up at Wheeler. “Did you search the floorboards?”
“I’ve checked every conceivable place, including the toilet tank.”
Wheeler was standing on top of the kitchen counter, looking at the space above the overhead cabinets. He finally rested his arm on the top of the fridge, his eyes downcast. “I crawled around in the attic, but I don’t think he would have put it up there,” he said to himself.
“I don’t think it’s here,” I murmured, circling my finger on the table. “Maybe he sold it all. He could have put the money in the bank.”
“Not likely. That’s the kind of thing that attracts attention,” Wheeler said knowingly. “Men with money like to hide it in overseas accounts, but Hawk seemed like a dumb shit, so I’m not giving him that much credit. A man can leave too many bread crumbs if he starts opening accounts and wiring money around.”
My throat became dry, and I shivered. “What if we never find it? I’ll have no choice but to leave town.”
Wheeler’s shoes slammed against the tile when he jumped down. “Maybe some of the others will pussyfoot around the truth, but I’m going to tell you flat out that I don’t want you taking Jericho away from our pack. That’s a low-down—”
“I’m not—”
“No, let me finish.” His eyes darkened with his expression. “The lowest thing a woman can do is break up a pack. If you leave, Jericho is walking. I’ve known that wolf long enough to know he’ll do it. We can’t force a man to stay, and in time, we’ll gain new pack members. But by then, you’ve already severed the brotherhood, and the damage is done.”
I stood up and had reached out to touch his arm reassuringly when he stepped back.
“Wheeler, that’s not my intention. I’d never do anything so selfish as take him away from his pack. I care for him too much to want to rupture old wounds. But if I stick around, Jericho’s not going to stand by and watch these guys come after me. That’ll leave me with no choice but to skip town. I wish I’d never met Hawk—he was the biggest mistake of my life. Not because of what he did to me, but what he did to those women. To Jericho. And to you…”
“Look, I’ll tolerate you because I have no choice. But don’t expect me to be nice and warm up to you just because you’re sorry—that’s not going to happen. I may be in your debt, but I’m not going to let you drag my brother away from the only good thing he’s had in this life, and that’s his family.”
“I told you I’m not asking him to come with me!”