Page 67 of Clashing With The Grumpy Wolf

Then I understand. Stealing the tiara was just a by-product of something bigger. Something much, much more personal.

“Sabotaging Julia was the goal, not the tiara?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.

“For months, I tried to sabotage this wedding. I lost vendor contracts, created miscommunications with the caterer, mixed up RSVP cards. I even bribed those orchid suppliers to destroy their own shipment.”

Courtney laughs, a brittle, broken sound, full of bitterness.

“Nothing worked! Julia just kept fixing everything, making it all better.” Courtney shakes her head, ponytail swinging wildly. "The tiara was supposed to be the final blow. The one thing she couldn't replace."

"Who is your client?" I growl, allowing my wolf to come right up to the surface. "Who hired you to destroy Julia’s career?"

Courtney remains silent, her eyes flashing and her mouth pinched to a fine line. It’s clear she has no intention of giving up her client.

I catch another scent floating through the thick, humid air. Another human, another woman. It seems like I’m going to have the answer to my question.

Something moves in my peripheral vision. The car door opens slowly, silently. I tense, acutely aware of my nakedness, my lack of weapon. Courtney sees my attention shift and smiles.

"You're not as good as I thought you were," she whispers. “So much for the big, bad wolf.”

From the car emerges a woman I've never seen before. Tall, immaculately dressed in a tailored pantsuit, silver-streaked dark hair sweptinto a chignon. Cold eyes assess me over the barrel of a sleek black handgun pointed steadily at my chest.

“Where is the tiara?” the woman asks, never taking her eyes off me.

“Here, Vera,” Courtney says, holding up the glittering jewel in the moonlight. She must have crawled toward me and taken it while I was focused on Vera. “I couldn’t get the money, though.”

My eyes narrow as I look at the woman once more. Vera Castell. Julia's former mentor. The woman who destroyed her career in New York.

My wolf growls, wanting to be let loose again. I restrain it, but barely.

"Well, Sheriff Wolfsbane," she says, voice cultured and calm as if we're meeting at a cocktail party. "This is an unexpected complication."

I hold perfectly still, calculating distances, angles, chances. I could shift again, but the transformation takes precious seconds. Seconds during which she could put a bullet in me.

That’s not an opportunity I’m willing to give her.

"Ms. Castell, I presume," I say, keeping my voice level.

She smiles thinly. "My reputation precedes me."

"Something like that."

Vera keeps the gun trained on me as she steps around the car. Her movements are precise, controlled. By the way she’s holding that weapon, I know this isn't her first time holding someone at gunpoint.

"You know, I had hoped to avoid this sort of messy confrontation," she says, voice almost conversational. "My plan was elegant and simple. Take the tiara, ruin the Draak wedding, leave young Julia's career intatters. Then orchestrate a return of said tiara and swoop in to save the day."

"Why are you dead set on destroying Julia’s career? First in New York, now here."

I can't keep the growl from my voice. Vera's eyebrows lift slightly and a fleeting cloud of fear passes over her features. She’s soon enough back to her stony expression, though.

“She told you about that? How charming.” Vera looks down at Courtney before returning her gaze to me. “Julia was starting to forget her place, taking the spotlight where she didn’t belong. My clients were beginning to request her specifically instead of me.”

Her face hardens. "I couldn't allow that."

"So you leaked your own client's information to the press and framed Julia," I say, putting together the pieces.

Vera shrugs elegantly.

"It wasn’t as planned out as you make it to be. My contact was supposed to be more discreet about his sources. When it all blew up, someone had to take the fall." Her smile turns predatory. "It certainly wasn't going to be me. So I got rid of two problems in one. Julia was disgraced and my reputation was saved. Win-win. Well, a double win for me."