Page 5 (2/2)

"Why would I worry about that?" Alcide hadn&039;t been thinking about the news too hard, I decided

"All the people who got shot? They were two-natured," I said "Now they&039;re saying on the news there&039;ve been a lot s in small towns Bullets that match the one recovered fro all the other victihtful silence on the end of the line, if silence can be characterized

"I hadn&039;t realized," Alcide said His deep, rumbly voice was even more deliberate than normal

"Oh, and have you talked to the private detectives?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"If they see us talking together, it&039;ll look very suspicious to Debbie&039;s family"

"Debbie&039;s family has hired private eyes to look for her?"

"That&039;s what I&039; up the phone

I didn&039;t knohy on earth the detectives would be watching my house, or where they&039;d watch it fro down my driveway, it would be easy to connect the dots and come up with a totally erroneous picture They&039;d think Alcide killed Debbie to clear the way forI hoped like hell that Jack Leeds and Lily Bard Leeds were sound asleep rather than staked out in the woods soed ain I was overwhelmed by the size of hi bell ringing in ed him back

We sat on the couch and half turned to face each other Alcide earing work clothes, which in this weather consisted of a flannel shirt worn open over a T-shirt, heavy jeans, and thick socks under his work boots His tangle of black hair had a crease in it fro to look a little bristly

"Tell me about the detectives," he said, and I described the couple and told him what they&039;d said

"Debbie&039;s fa to me about it," Alcide said He turned it over in his head for a"I think that means they&039;re sure I made her vanish"

"Maybe not Maybe they just think you&039;re so grieved they don&039;t want to bring it up"

"Grieved" Alcide mulled that over for afor words "I used up all the energy I had to spare for her," he said finally "I was so blind, I alic on me Her mother&039;s a spellcaster and half shifter Her dad&039;s a full-blooded shifter"

"You think that&039;s possible? Magic?" I wasn&039;t questioning that ic existed, but that Debbie had used it

"Why else would I stick with her for so long? Ever since she&039;s gone lasses off ive her so much, like when she pushed you into the trunk"

Debbie had taken an opportunity to push me in a car trunk with my vampire boyfriend, Bill, who&039;d been starved for blood for days And she&039;d walked off and left me in the trunk with Bill, as about to awake

I looked down ataway the recollection of the desperation, the pain

"She let you get raped," Alcide said harshly

Hi it like that, flat out, shocked me "Hey, Bill didn&039;t knoasto eat for days and days, and the impulses are so closely related I mean, he stopped, you know? He stopped, when he kneas me" I couldn&039;t put it like that to myself; I couldn&039;t say that word I knew beyond a doubt that Bill would rather have chewed off his own hand than done that to ht mind At that time, he&039;d been the only sex partner I&039;d ever had My feelings about the incident were so confused that I couldn&039;t even bear to try to pick through theirls had told me what had happened to them or I&039;d read it in their brains, I hadn&039;t had the auity I felt overyou didn&039;t want him to do," Alcide said simply

"He wasn&039;t himself," I said

"But he did it"

"Yes, he did, and I ful scared" My voice began to shake "But he came to his senses, and he stopped, and I was okay, and he was really, really sorry He&039;s never laid a finger on me since then, never asked me if we could have sex, never" My voice trailed off I stared down at my hands "Yes, Debbie was responsible for that" So that out loud made me feel better "She kneould happen, or at least she didn&039;t care ould happen"

"And even then," Alcide said, returning to histo rationalize her behavior I can&039;t believe I would do that if I wasn&039;t under soical influence"

I wasn&039;t about to try to uilt to carry "Hey, it&039;s over"

"You sound sure"

I looked Alcide directly in the eyes His were narrow and green "Do you think there&039;s the slightest chance that Debbie&039;s alive?" I asked

"Her family" Alcide stopped "No, I don&039;t"

I couldn&039;t get rid of Debbie Pelt, dead or alive

"Why&039;d you need to talk to me in the first place?" I asked "You said over the phone you needed to tell "

"Colonel Flood died yesterday"

"Oh, I&039; to the store when another driver hit him broadside"

"That&039;s awful Was anyone in the car with hi back to Shreveport for the funeral, of course I wondered if you&039;d come to the funeral with me"

"Of course It&039;s not private?"

"No He knew so many people still stationed at the Air Force base, and he was head of his Neighborhood Watch group and the treasurer of his church, and of course he was the pack life," I said "Lots of responsibility"

"It&039;s tomorrow at one What&039;s your work schedule?"

"If I can swap shifts with soe and go to work"

"That shouldn&039;t be a problem"

"Who&039;ll be packmaster now?"

"I don&039;t know," Alcide said, but his voice wasn&039;t as neutral as I&039;d expected

"Do you want the job?"

"No" He seeht, and I felt the conflict in his head "But my father does" He wasn&039;t finished I waited

"Were funerals are pretty cere to tellI just wasn&039;t sure what it was

"Spit it out" Straightforward is always good, as far as I&039;m concerned

"If you think you can overdress for this, you can&039;t," he said "I know the rest of the shifter world thinks Weres only go for leather and chains, but that&039;s not true For funerals, we go all out" He wanted to give me even hts crowding right behind his eyes, wanting to be let out

"Every woman wants to knohat&039;s appropriate to wear," I said "Thanks I won&039;t wear pants"

He shook his head "I know you can do that, but I&039;m always taken by surprise" I could hear that he was disconcerted "I&039;ll pick you up at eleven thirty," he said

"Letshifts"

I called Holly and found it suited her to switch shifts with me "I can just drive over there and et you and bring you back"

Okay, if he wanted to go to the trouble of fetching e on ured My old Nova was none too reliable

"All right I&039;ll be ready"

"I better go," he said The silence drew out I knew Alcide was thinking of kissing arded each other fros I need to be doing, and you should be going back to Shreveport I&039;ll be ready at eleven thirty toot my library book, Carolyn Haines&039;s latest, and tried to forget my worries But for once, a book just couldn&039;t do the trick I tried a hot soak in the bathtub, and I shaved s until they were perfectly sernails a deep pink and then I plucked my eyebrows Finally, I felt relaxed, and when I crawled intoSleep came upon me in such a rush that I didn&039;t finish my prayers