Sharon’s Wolves(99)

“Can you tell us what happened?” Sheriff Bergman began.

“There isn’t much to tell. My memory is coming back, but I spent the better part of the day knocked out with some drug called diazepam. I found the bottle of it in a duffle bag in the cave. I remember I was driving home from Sojourn and stopped at the roadblock.

“I kept going after speaking to one of the deputies, and two minutes later, something slammed into my windshield, shattering it, and scared the piss out of me. I pulled off the road and found Sandhouse leaning into my car when I opened the door. The next thing I knew I woke up in the cave. That only lasted long enough for him to drug me again. And then I woke up and found him standing at the entrance during a tremor. He was killed when the rocks fell in all around him.” She trembled as she remembered watching Pete Sandhouse get what he deserved.

Both sheriffs took notes.

Sheriff Richards spoke next. “Did he say anything to you?”

“The first time I woke up, he was talking weird. Something about needing my medicine, and then he forced me to swallow it. He was odd. Loving. As if I were his mate.” She shuddered again. “The next time I awoke, he was scrambling around trying to move rocks out of the way. They’d fallen to block the entrance to the cave.”

She glanced back and forth between the two sheriffs and then told them everything she’d just told her mates in the car.

Bergman slouched in his chair with a sigh. “I bet I know who was supposed to mate with that son of a bitch.”

“Who?” Sharon asked.

“A woman named Karen Wilshire. She was white. Lived outside town about six miles north of here. She went crazy about ten years ago and ended up committing suicide. I’ll never forget the case. She was human. Her parents were so distraught. When I met with them, they said she kept insisting she was destined to marry some guy she met on the reservation. I don’t think the poor girl ever knew Sandhouse was even a shifter. But she felt the pull. And he must have spent enough time with her to ruin her life before deciding against mating with her and breaking things off.”

Cooper shuffled in his seat next to her. She could tell he fought the need to either pull her into his lap or turn around and punch a hole in the drywall.

Jackson was no better. He drummed his fingers on the table and bounced one leg up and down. His free hand rested on her thigh, his grip almost too tight, but welcome.

Richards spoke again, changing the subject. “Do any of you know Veronica Miller?”

Sharon stiffened.

Jackson nodded. “I’ve met her a few times. She went to my high school.”

“What did she do now?” Sharon asked.

“What did she do before?” Cooper nearly jumped out of his seat.

Sharon set a hand on top of his and held it against her thigh in an effort to calm him. “She was dating Corbin when he met and mated Zach and Laurie. She was pissed and teamed up with others on the reservation to wreak havoc on my brother’s life. And his mates, of course. She’s been outspoken about her feelings about threesomes.

“She’s also been dating Pete Sandhouse,” she added.

Jackson flinched next to her. “I’m pretty sure dating is a loose term.”

She released Cooper’s hand to face Jackson.

“So fucking, you mean?” Cooper asked.

Jackson nodded.

Sharon had never been so glad in her life that both sheriffs were shifters.

“They had a common goal,” Sheriff Richards added, rolling his eyes. “And Veronica was in here a few hours ago.”

“Why?” Sharon asked.

“Because she was worried about Sandhouse. She said he was acting strange this morning. He was overwrought about the three of you and insisted that the entire volcano threat was a ruse to gain attention.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Cooper said. He nearly came out of his chair. He jerked his hand off Sharon’s thigh and planted both palms on the table. His entire body was stiff.

Richards shook his head. “I wish I was. Veronica was concerned because the earthquakes are undeniable, so she didn’t think the threat of a volcano was all that preposterous. When he stormed out of her house this morning, he told her he was going to teach you three a lesson.”

“Shit.” Jackson’s voice was clipped.

“She knew he went to work, so she didn’t think it was worth reporting. But apparently it was bothering her, and she came in. Too late. But she did.”

“That bitch,” Jackson muttered.

“Yeah, well, if it makes you feel any better, she did seem quite remorseful, and she spent the entire day volunteering.”

“And that’s supposed to make up for what Sharon went through all day?” Cooper asked. If there was one more detail, she feared he would come unhinged.