Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3) Page 13

  Bree dropped the pamphlet into the file, wiping her fingers on her skirt. Rios didn’t blame her. Just the thought of what Ranney represented was enough to make him feel soiled.

  “What did he have to do with the clinic?”

  Rios released a growl of frustration. “I haven’t been able to track down a connection, but he’s the one who was suddenly in charge of the investigation.”

  Bree made a quick note on her phone. “He did the cover-up.”

  “Yep. And he was very clever.” Rios grasped the remaining pile of folders. “He didn’t give one explanation and let it go.”

  She frowned. “What did he do?”

  “He leaked one story after another.” Rios curled his lips with disgust. “He said the shifters had tainted the flu shots.” He tossed a folder on the table. “He said that it was the shifters’ bite that caused the plague.” Another file hit the table. “He said it was humans who were creating mutant animals to take over the world.” He dropped the remaining files. So far, he’d managed to discover over a dozen stories Ranney had strategically leaked over the years.

  “Why so many?”

  “Because a good investigator could have followed one rumor to prove or disprove the truth of it,” Rios explained. “It’s much more difficult to pin down theories that are constantly changing.”

  She glanced toward the table covered with files before returning her gaze to study his tightly clenched jaw. She had on her professional ‘anchor face,’ which meant it was impossible to read her expression. But the scalding heat of her anger was a tangible force.

  “Especially when it was easier to blame it on the animals and lock us in cages,” she growled.

  He gave a grim nod. “Exactly.”

  Her wolf glowed in her eyes, her beauty so luminous, Rios abruptly forgot how to breathe.

  “I hope very much to meet Colonel Ranney,” she said in fierce tones. “Preferably alone in a dark alley.”

  He leaned forward, savoring the raw heat of her animal.

  “If you intend to sink your teeth into the Colonel, you’re going to have to get in line, querida,” he said, his gaze lowering to the delicious curve of her lips.

  She might have to wait to bite Ranney, but if she wanted to sink her fangs into something, he was ready, willing, and able to offer her an outlet for her frustration.

  ****

  Sinclair pulled his truck into a shabby motel just across the Colorado state border.

  They’d barely spoken during the forty-minute drive. Mira because she was clearly pissed at him. And him…

  Well, he didn’t know exactly what he felt.

  Fury at the SAU for daring to kidnap her. Pride in Mira for taking a situation that would have terrified most people and turning it to her advantage. Lust that pounded through his body, despite the fact that the time couldn’t be less appropriate.

  And an uncertainty that had his wolf restlessly pacing beneath his skin.

  He wasn’t sure exactly what had happened to Mira during the past two weeks, but she wasn’t the same shy, submissive female he’d thought he knew so well.

  Instead, she was defiant and surprisingly determined to keep him at a distance.

  Why?

  Had her captors managed to convince her that shifters couldn’t be trusted? He gave a sharp shake of his head. No. That couldn’t be it. Mira was too intelligent to be swayed by the blustering idiots.

  Besides, she was still trying to help them track down Dr. Lowman. Even demanding that she stay and continue her computer search even though it put her at risk.

  So what the hell was going on?

  Unable to bear the strange barrier between them any longer, he decided to stop for the night.

  It would not only give them the opportunity to clear the air between them, but it would also allow them to remain hidden from the SAU soldiers that were no doubt being spread throughout the area to search for Mira.

  Parking the truck behind a dumpster, he wrinkled his nose. Hyper-senses could be a pain in the ass sometimes.

  Mira pulled herself out of her dark thoughts, turning to stab him with a confused frown.

  “What are you doing?”

  “They’ll be searching for you,” he said, unbuckling his seat belt. “We need to lay low for a few hours.”

  Her confusion deepened as she allowed her gaze to skim over the one-story brick structure that was built in an L shape. The roof was made from a corrugated metal that was starting to rust, and half the windows were boarded over. It was sad, and dingy, and on the edge of complete collapse.

  “Here?” she demanded with a shudder.

  “It’s the sort of place where people don’t pay attention to who’s coming and going,” he assured her, not mentioning that it was also run by one of the Unseen. It was used like the old-time Underground Railroad. The first step in the road to helping shifters on the run disappear from those hunting them. There were some secrets that he couldn’t share until she was a committed part of his Pack. He shoved open the door of the truck. “I’ll get us a room.”

  “Wait.” She glanced back at him. “I need a computer.”

  Without hesitation, he reached over the back of the seat to the narrow storage area. Grabbing his backpack, he pulled out a small tablet and handed it to her. “Will this do?”

  She nodded, reaching for it with a distracted expression. “Yeah, thanks.”

  Sinclair scowled. Over the past eighteen months, he’d come to expect Mira’s complete and unwavering attention when they were together. Hell, he’d simply taken it for granted. Now that it was being snatched away, he wasn’t a happy wolf.

  In fact, he had a sudden urge to bite something.

  Or someone.

  Really, really hard.

  Glaring at her down-bent head, he hit the automatic lock and slammed shut his door.

  Seriously, she was stomping on his last nerve.

  Jogging across the deserted parking lot, Sinclair entered the office, ignoring the grizzly shifter who studied him with blatant curiosity as he checked them into one of the private rooms.

  “Any special needs?” the male demanded, looking as big and shaggy in his human form as he did as a bear.

  Sinclair handed over a wad of cash as he took the key the male had tossed on the chipped Formica counter.

  “Privacy,” he said in clipped tones.

  The bear shrugged. “That comes standard with the room.”

  Sinclair nodded, pausing long enough to offer a warning. “There’s a potential army of SAU searching for us,” he said. “You might want to close for the night. In fact, it would probably be best if you decided to take a short vacation.”

  The bear narrowed his gaze, taking in Sinclair’s grim expression before giving a nod of his head.

  “I have a sister in Casper. I think it’s time for a visit.”

  “Good idea.”

  Sinclair left the office, pausing to sweep a searching gaze over the dark lot. When he was certain there were no eyes watching him, he returned to the truck. Moving to the passenger side, he hit the remote key to unlock the door.

  He pulled it open, leaning over Mira to grab his backpack.

  “Follow me.”

  Clasping the tablet, she crawled out of the truck and fell into step beside him.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re bossy?” she said.

  “Daily,” he assured her, moving toward the end of the hotel that was spray-painted with graffiti. Using the key, he unlocked a heavy steel door that was dented in several places, as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. “It’s my job.”

  She snorted. “You’re not my Alpha.”

  His wolf instantly howled at her rejection. As far as his animal was concerned, this woman was already his to protect.

  And more…

  Once she accepted that she belonged to him.

  “Hmm.” He leaned down until they were nose to nose. “Who are you trying to convince, sweetheart? Me or yourself?”
br />   She sucked in a startled breath, her eyes wide. “Sinclair.”

  Unable to resist temptation, he softly brushed his mouth over her parted lips. Instant heat detonated through him.

  Christ. She tasted so sweet. Glorious female enticement wrapped in a luscious body that his fingers twitched to explore.

  It was the very force of his hunger that had him lifting his head to study her with a brooding gaze.

  When he finally sated his desire, it wasn’t going to be in a nasty parking lot where the SAU might make an appearance at any minute.

  “An argument for later,” he said, gently pushing her into the dark room.

  “There’s not going to be an argument,” she stubbornly denied the inevitable.

  Not bothering to continue a fight he fully intended to win, Sinclair stepped through the door, carefully pulling it shut before he turned on the dim overhead light. From outside, no one would know anyone was in the room.

  Not surprisingly, Mira gave a tiny gasp as she actually took in their surroundings.

  Unlike the outside of the motel, the inside was scrupulously clean. There was a sturdy oak dresser against one wall with a TV mounted on the paneling. There was also a desk and chair in one corner with a small leather sofa. And in the center of the room was a king-size bed with a hand-stitched quilt to offer a feeling of home.

  Across the room, another door opened to a white-tiled bathroom.

  It wasn’t fancy, but it was built to provide a place of comfort and safety for those in need.

  “Wow, I wasn’t expecting this,” she breathed, moving to place the tablet on the desk. “How long do you think we need to stay here?”

  Sinclair prowled toward her, not willing to give her the space she was so obviously seeking.

  “Are you in a hurry to get to our Pack?”

  “I’m not going to your Pack,” she said, her words and tone a deliberate challenge. “I’m going to the The Great Plains Home of Tranquility.”

  He blinked in confusion. “Where?”

  “The Great Plains Home of Tranquility,” she repeated, reaching up to run her hands through her hair. Sinclair swallowed a groan. He’d wanted to rub his face in those fantastic corkscrew curls for weeks. “It’s near Omaha, Nebraska,” she clarified.

  Sinclair leashed his renegade thoughts. Later, he’d rub his face in her hair, and against the curve of her throat, and down the lush curves to the intoxicating secrets between her legs.

  For now, he needed to concentrate on her stubborn refusal to travel to the protection of his Pack.

  “Why do you want to go there?” he demanded.

  “I told you that I was running traces to locate Dr. Lowman,” she reminded him.

  He sucked in a startled breath. He’d assumed that she’d been chasing another vague clue. One of potentially thousands. But something in her expression made him tense with an unexpected sense of anticipation.

  Dr. Lowman was the key to proving that the SAU was responsible for the Verona Virus. With him standing at their side, no one could deny that it was the shifters who’d been the saviors of mankind, not their destruction.

  “You found him?” he rasped.

  She held up a slender hand, clearly unwilling to commit one way or the other.

  “Perhaps.”

  Reaching out, he grasped the tablet off the desk, studying the sprawling brick building that looked as if it were built in the middle of nowhere.

  “This is the search you were running before we left?”

  “Trying to, yes,” she said in dry tones, not having to point out that he had been the one to interrupt her efforts.

  Not that Sinclair was going to apologize.

  As desperate as he was to get his hands on Lowman, he wasn’t about to put this female at any further risk.

  She’d done her part.

  He hissed as he was struck by a sudden fear. “If it was on the computer, then the SAU has the doctor’s location, as well.”

  “No.” An unexpected smile curved her lips. “At least, not unless they manage to repair the damage to their system.”

  He studied her upturned face. “What damage?”

  “I left behind a virus,” she told him. “It will destroy whatever information was on the computer, as well as any others attached to the same network.”

  He gave a slow shake of his head. When he’d first met Mira, it had been easy to dismiss her as being a mousy geek who melted into the background. Now, he understood that beneath her shy nature were a generous heart and an unshakeable loyalty. Two qualities that he valued above all others.

  Oh, and she was smart.

  And sexy. Lusciously sexy.

  “Remind me to never underestimate you,” he said with genuine sincerity.

  She shrugged. “Most people do.”

  He nodded toward the tablet. “Tell me what this place has to do with the doctor.”

  “After I was captured…” Her words trailed away as his low growl filled the air. Then, clearing her throat, she continued. “They demanded that I do the majority of my searches while they could watch, so I created a search with Dr. Lowman’s name and then hacked into various clinics and hospitals to check if he was on their staff.”

  Sinclair’s brows drew together in confusion. “You weren’t really searching for him?”

  “Not like that.” She shrugged. “A man who’s gone into hiding doesn’t use his real name. Or continue in his same profession.”

  Ah. His clever beauty.

  “True.”

  “So in the background, I was running searches for Patricia Carpenter and Jessica Medlen.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “Who are they?”

  “Dr. Lowman’s mother and his wife,” she said. “I found their maiden names.”

  “Amazing,” he breathed.

  A blush crept beneath her skin, only adding to her charm.

  As an Alpha, Sinclair could have had any number of women. And not just because his power was an aphrodisiac to many shifters. But he’d always been a loner, his focus never wavering from his duty to his people.

  No doubt a psychiatrist would say his past had injured him so severely he was incapable of forming intimate bonds.

  But now he was considering the pleasure of having a companion who could be at his side.

  One who would not only provide a warm body in his bed, but also a complex mind that could offer logical arguments when she thought he was wrong, and the same loyal dedication to his people that he demanded of himself.

  “Not really,” she said, trying to disguise her flustered reaction to his blatant admiration. “It’s logical that they would revert to their previous names. That way, they could stay hidden from those searching for connections to Dr. Lowman, while their family could still contact them.”

  “Did you locate them?”

  She nodded. “Yesterday I got a hit on his wife, Jessica.”

  The sense of hope returned at her low words. “What sort of hit?”

  “An address in Omaha.”

  “If you knew where she was, then why did you insist on staying at the base?” he demanded, still aggravated by the thought of her taking such an outrageous gamble with her life.

  “Because her apartment contract shows that she lives alone.”

  “That doesn’t mean that her husband isn’t there.”

  “No, but it seems strange to risk getting tossed from her apartment when she could have put down a fake name for her husband,” she said. “So this morning, I ran a trace on her place of employment.”

  “Where does she work?”

  She pointed toward the tablet. “She’s a nurse at the Great Plains Home of Tranquility.”

  He studied the brick building. Once again, he was struck by how isolated it was.

  “It sounds like a spa,” he said.

  “Nope. It’s a mental institution,” Mira corrected. “And her employment files reveal that her brother is a patient there.”

  He lifted his gaze to m
eet her eyes that had darkened with excitement.

  “Do you think the brother has information?”

  She smiled. “Jessica Medlen doesn’t have a brother.”

  Chapter 5

  George Markham watched as Donaldson paced the office that was as pretentious as it was oversized. He had a theory about men who had big offices. It was to compensate for a lack of genuine balls.

  Something he never had to worry about.

  Which was why he was leaning against the edge of the desk as his companion was red-faced and twitchy. He had confidence they’d find the missing computer bitch. And if they didn’t…

  Well, he was going blame the entire fiasco on the Colonel.

  He was the one who’d insisted that they bring Mira Reese to this base instead of staying at the SAU headquarters in Boulder. And he’d assured Markham that the security system was impenetrable.

  A young man in a starched uniform stepped through the open doorway, snapping a salute as Donaldson turned to glare at him.

  “Well?” the Colonel demanded.

  The young soldier paled. Clearly, he was there to offer bad news.

  “We did a complete sweep of the base. She isn’t here.”

  Donaldson clenched his hands. “Did you check the silos?”

  “Yes, sir. Even the abandoned ones.”

  Markham rolled his eyes. Why would the woman sneak out of the office and then hide in one of the missile silos?

  “What about the security tapes?” Donaldson pressed.

  When they’d returned to the office after a long, too leisurely dinner, it was to discover that Mira Reese was missing, and the computer system completely shut down. Nothing they did could retrieve the information from the hard drive.

  In fact, each time they tried, they only caused more damage.

  “Whatever happened to the computers also affected the cameras,” the younger man said.

  Donaldson’s breath hissed between his teeth. “So they’re worthless?”

  The man lost another shade of color, and his gaze lowered. “Yes, sir.”