The Mating(107)
“Aww, now isn’t that a shame.” Carefully, Marla picked her way down until she was beside Elise. Looking around, she dusted off a rock and sat down, cocking her head sideways and staring bemusedly at the woman before her. “You know Elise, I’ll never understand what Kane sees in you.”
“What?” The woman’s words were so unexpected that Elise was sure she’d heard wrong. Rose was probably dead and Marla was just sitting there! “Marla, you’ve got to check on Rose. She might still be alive and if we can get help in time—”
“You’re so...so ordinary. Boring. Why he ever agreed to be mated to you is beyond me.” Marla continued as if she hadn’t heard what Elise had said. “Oh well, you’ll be gone and then I’ll get him back. He always comes back. Guilt can work wonders on a man with a conscience.”
Realizing that Marla wasn’t going to do anything to help Rose until she’d had her say, Elise tried to focus on the conversation. Even though she had a sinking feeling that she knew exactly what Marla was talking about, Elise decided to ask. “Gone? What do you mean I’ll be gone? I’m not going anywhere.”
“Oh, I’m afraid you are, Elise. Rose and I had it all planned out. She lured you here and, just like she said, we were going to drug you, tie you up, and sink your body to the bottom of the lake. Then we were going to convince Kane that you’d run off with Bryan. He’d be upset, but not overly surprised given your recent behaviour. Of course, I’d be there to comfort him.”
Marla sighed. “It was all going so well. Even the little glitches weren’t a problem. I managed to think of a reason for Kane to be in town that first day you met Bryan. Of course, in the end Kane didn’t go, but he sent Rose instead and that was fine. She would have been able to be an ‘eye-witness’ when explaining your disappearance later on. And the fact that you were hiding the meeting by using that perfume I gave you would only have increased suspicion that you were guilty.” She glared down at Elise. “Yesterday should have been the icing on the cake. Kane actually saw you with Bryan. I know he heard the messages and I set the diary out for him to see. How did he end up blood-bonding to you? What went wrong?”
Elise didn’t feel inclined to answer. Marla studied her for a moment shaking her head, then shifted a bit and poked Elise’s shoulder with the toe of her boot, pulling her coat down to reveal the mark Kane had left. “I guess Rose was right. The blood-bonding has put a bit of a kink in our plan. Eventually, Kane’s going to sense something’s wrong—the oil spill will only keep his mind busy for so long—and when he realizes it, he’ll come looking for you.” Marla tapped her finger to her lips as she thought out loud. “The kidnapping and ransom story won’t work now, so the question is, what to do with you? Hmm... I suppose I’ll have to arrange it so that it looks like you were killed. Ryne can be blamed again. He’s such a good scapegoat.”
“Ryne’s a scapegoat?”
“Of course. He’s hot-headed, but I could never get him to do any real dirty work. He’s too full of annoying honour for that. I did manage to convince him to challenge Kane for the position of Alpha, but he just left the area after losing and has only come back once that I know of.” She touched her face as if remembering the bruise Ryne had given her. “Luckily, I had a pair of his old boots and enough of his sweaty gym clothes at my apartment that I was able to convince people he was still around. I covered my own scent with perfume so no one ever knew I was there. Then I wore his boots and clothes, making it seem like he’d been present each time and ensuring he was the one that got blamed for everything that went wrong.”
That would explain the perfume and the other scent in the red car—it had been from Ryne’s clothes, Elise thought to herself. Still, she couldn’t figure out what Marla was going to gain from all of this. Stalling for time, in the vain hope that someone might come to the rescue, she decided to ask. “But why?”
“I need control of the pack." Marla answered simply, while rising to her feet. She walked over and looked at Rose, then shrugged. “You’re right. She’s dead.”
For all that she’d known Rose was dead, having it proclaimed out loud caused tears to prick Elise’s eyes. She hadn’t known Rose well, and even though the girl had been working with Marla, the fact that she was dead saddened her.
Marla continued on in a conversational tone, as if she were discussing nothing more important than the weather. “It’s a shame in a way that she’s dead. Rose was actually quite clever, but no one paid much attention to her or ever suspected her of anything. You know the eagerly awaited environmental report? I gave it to her and she altered the version that Kane saw, making it seem almost worthless while the original went to Northern Oil. They paid us a tidy sum for that. And your gushing diary entries about Bryan? Rose wrote those too. She did a good job copying your penmanship, don’t you think? And some of the cheques she’s forged... Well, let’s just say that if anyone ever does an in-depth audit of the local bank, it won’t be pretty.” Shaking her head, Marla turned away from Rose’s broken body. “It’s too bad that she’s gone though. I had a few more jobs for her before I severed our relationship. Still, I suppose this will save me getting rid of her later on. Ryne can be blamed for her death, too.”