Jason took another step toward her until she had to tilt her head to look into his eyes. Tension ignited the air around us. I moved closer to Jason. “She’s not working for Nero anymore.”
He turned to face me. “Did you forget we lost Malcolm because of her?”
I set my jaw, fighting to keep my fists at my sides. “As I recall, she was out cold by the time the bullets started flying.”
“We never would have been fighting Nero if she hadn’t kidnapped Adam’s mate.”
Sasha shoved her way in between us. “Look, we can all discuss what a deceitful bitch I am later. Right now we have a body to deal with.”
I kept glaring at Jason, daring him to make a move. I almost wanted him to push me just so I could let loose some of the anger and frustration that brewed inside of me. Jason finally picked up his bag, breaking eye contact.
“Keep her away from me,” he growled under his breath.
Before I could kick the shit out of him for insulting my mate, Sasha shook her head. “No worries, buddy. I have no interest in being anywhere near you.”
She picked up the blanket from the trunk and waited behind Barry’s car. Leaning back against the bumper, she kept alert, watching for any movement in the shadows while Jason finished his inspection.
Warring loyalties stretched me in opposite directions. I wanted to comfort Sasha and make Jason apologize for insulting her, and at the same time, seeing Sasha had to bring that night back for Jason. He’d shifted back from his wolf form and did all he could to save my father’s life, but in the end, without surgery, he couldn’t stop the internal bleeding. On some level, Jason thought he let our Pack down that night.
But just because I understood his position didn’t mean I agreed with it.
I raked my hand back through my hair, grinding my teeth as I approached Sasha. “Sorry about that.”
She shrugged without looking at me. “It’s fine. I earned it.”
“You’re helping us now, making things right.”
Her eyes flashed with fire. “Please don’t stand here trying to make me feel better. Nothing your Pack buddy said was out of line. I don’t know how you rationalized forgiving me, but they have every right to hate my guts.”
I clenched my jaw to keep from raising my voice. “They may not forgive you, but they are going to have to learn to accept you.” I walked around the car to find Jason, closing up his medical bag. “Got everything you need?”
He nodded and straightened up. “Yeah.”
There was no way his werewolf hearing didn’t pick up every word Sasha and I had just said. I waited for him to say more, but my patience was rewarded with him turning to put the tissue samples back in his car.
Sasha came around with the blanket. “Can we move the body now?”
I glanced over toward Jason, and he gave me a nod. “Looks like it.”
She opened it and laid it on the concrete floor. “We need to move him onto the blanket. Then we’ll wrap him up so we can transport him out of here.”
Seeing Barry in this condition was a nightmare in itself, but touching his cold, blood-wet body was a whole new level of horrific. At least he wasn’t stiff yet. Sasha had his legs—or what remained of them—while I braced his head and shoulders. We laid him out on the blanket, and Sasha quickly wrapped it around him. Most of the blood had already seeped out onto the seat of the car and the concrete underneath his door, so thankfully it didn’t soak through.
I scooped him up into my arms and stashed him in the trunk of Jason’s car, sending out a silent prayer that his spirit was already long gone. No one should end his life wrapped in a blanket and stashed in a car like garbage.
Jason carried a bucket of cleaning supplies to Barry’s car. Wordlessly, Sasha took a pair of rubber gloves and a bottle of bleach from the bucket while Jason pulled out a large trash bag and started fashioning a cover for the blood-soaked driver’s seat. I grabbed a scrub brush and got down to help Sasha wash away the evidence from the concrete.
Together we made quick work of the crime scene. Jason finally broke the silence. “Someone’s going to have to drive his car. We’ll need to get it far from here, and maybe Gareth can rig the engine to spark.”
“We’re going to set his car on fire?” I asked.
Jason crossed his arms. “Unless you’ve got a better idea. Barry’s family will file a missing persons report when he doesn’t come home tonight. If the police find this car…” He frowned. “They can’t ever find this car.”
“I’ll drive it.”
I shook my head, denying her request. The stench of blood still hung heavy in the car, not to mention sitting in the spot where a violent death occurred. It would be torture for whoever had to endure it.
“No.” I worked with Barry. It felt like I should be the one to drive his car. “I’ll do it, Sasha can ride with you.”
Jason started to hand me his keys. “I’ll take it. I work with blood all day. It won’t bother me as much.”
Sasha pushed past us and sat on the black plastic covering the driver’s seat. “You’re both wolves. My sense of smell isn’t quite as keen as yours.” She looked up at me. “And I didn’t know Barry, plus I’m a police officer. I can distance myself from what happened here.” Slamming the car door, she added, “Just tell me where I’m going.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sasha
The car stunk. Even with all the windows rolled down, death drowned me in its stench. No amount of showering was going to get this reek out of my nostrils. The plastic bag crackled and flapped in the wind as I followed Aren and Jason toward a remote destination. A condemned casino sat just outside of the city limits. We’d leave the car parked in the lot and one of the other Pack boys would meet us and rig the engine to blow.
I could hardly wait to meet the next member of Aren’s Pack.
After spending years as a female detective in the police department, I was somewhat numb to being judged, often unjustly so. Playing it tough and proving their impressions wrong was hardwired in me now. Jason’s reaction got under my skin because his judgments weren’t unfounded. Aren’s Pack had every right to hate me. When he blamed me for getting their previous Alpha, Aren’s father, killed, he was right.
There were days after that blood bath when I wished I’d been the one shot at the lake that night. Other than a few bumps and bruises, I was unharmed. A green-eyed werewolf favoring his back leg had pulled me to safety away from the fight. A few days later, Sebastian brought me up to speed on what had happened.
Aren dropped Jason off at his house before we made our final stop. Another Pack member, Gareth, would be meeting us to finish the job. We’d return Jason’s car when the deed was done. Lucky for us, the doctor had more than one vehicle, and Fonthill wouldn’t be looking for an ivory-colored Lexus.
The brake lights lit up in front of me, and I followed Aren on another right turn. The abandoned casino sat up ahead on the left. I pulled around the back of the building and got out of the car, grateful to be free of the blood-soaked driver’s seat. Even with the plastic barrier, the death seemed to seep right through my clothes.
“You all right?” Aren walked toward me. The car keys jangled as he put them in his pocket.
I nodded. “Yeah.” His arm slid around my waist, drawing me in closer, and I let my head rest against his warm chest. He smelled like heaven after the hell I’d been trapped in on the drive over. I closed my eyes and whispered, knowing he’d hear me just fine. “I’m so sorry about your father, about Barry, everything.”
His grip tightened, pulling me even closer. I wrapped my arms around his waist, grateful for his comfort and his silence. I didn’t want him to lie to me and tell me none of this was my fault. We both knew the score, and he was still at my side.