Page 14 of Cursed by Death (Ruby Jane #1)

R ally, bless his ass, must have been able to sense the extreme shift in my mood because he stayed quiet and left me alone for the rest of the ride to his home.

He left his hand on my thigh though. And, what was worse, I didn’t even mind.

The house we pulled up to was a small two-story farmhouse. It was painted yellow and seriously faded in places from the weather. The wrap around porch was missing boards in places and looked dangerous to actually have to walk on. There was an outbuilding that was missing part of the roof and looked in danger of collapsing.

The one thing it had going for it that I liked was that it was in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by woods. Much like my own home.

“It’s nice,” I lied as I followed him up the front steps, being careful not to step in a hole and have my foot get stuck.

Rally laughed at me. “I thought I told you not to lie to me. It’s better than being homeless and it’s got plenty of space for my wolves to roam. And it’s off the grid enough to be relatively safe for them.”

I nodded my head like I understood everything he was talking about. I mean, I got the gist of it but I didn’t think I should ask if they change into wolves and run through the woods, maybe sniff each other’s assholes?

Did they live here with him or did he live here by himself and they just stopped by and used this like a home base?

The inside was well loved and cared for. And it was decorated like someone’s elderly grandmother lived in it. Not my grandmother, of course. I had a feeling afghans and Knick knacks had been very beneath her.

The Detective was tied to a chair at the head of the table in the kitchen. He had a bruise on his forehead but otherwise appeared to be thankfully unharmed.

If the Detective was surprised to see me here he didn’t show it. He kept his face carefully blank but his eyes never left me from the moment I stepped into the kitchen. They were so intense it felt like a physical touch upon my skin.

I went to walk around the table to go to him but Rally’s hand on my bicep stopped me. I glanced at him over my shoulder, sure that my question was clear to read on my face. No words were needed on my part.

“You need to be back here Friday night when the sun goes down,” he told me in a deadly serious voice. “For your payment for this. I want you here for my challenge. I want my people to see you and I want you to watch me win. You need to come alone because my people won’t want outsiders here to witness something like that.”

I was an outsider, but I didn’t tell him this.

And I knew damn well he was telling me I needed to come alone for the Detective to hear and it wasn’t for me at all.

“And if I don’t show?” I asked out of curiosity because I just couldn’t leave well enough alone.

He grinned at me. “We both know you’ll be here. You gave your word and you’ll never fumble with that. Also, you’re curious and you won’t be able to help yourself. Keep yourself out of trouble until then, little devil. And stay safe.”

He brushed his lips against mine quickly and unexpectedly, smirking at the Detective when he pulled away, and then sauntered out of the kitchen without so much as a glance back.

I wanted to strangle him.

“What have you gotten yourself into now?” Detective Rowans grumbled at me, making me sigh.

Would a thank you really be too much to ask for right about now?

“Me?” I pressed my hand to my chest as I gasped in mock outrage. “The better question would be what have you gotten yourself into since you’re the one tied to a chair in the Prince of wolves kitchen.”

He glared at me, no longer masking his emotions now that Rally had left the room.

Yeah, perhaps joking around with him right now hadn’t been my best idea but it was too late for take backs now.

I slid one of my knives out of its sheath and crouched down behind his chair. I sliced through the ropes at his ankles first and then moved up to his wrists.

I backed away once he was freed and watched him rub at the red marks on his wrists.

“I’m sorry about your car, Ruby Jane.”

I slid my knife back into its sheath and shrugged my shoulders. “The car is fine and the shifters are fixing the window as we speak. So, there’s nothing to be sorry about on your end.”

Oh no, but there was plenty for me to be sorry about on my end. I owed him a serious apology after all of the trouble I had now caused him.

“Let’s get you out of here. It’s a long ride home and you’re going to need that time to come up with something to tell your cop buddies. Two of them showed up at my house this morning, looking for you. I don’t think it’s wise to tell them you’ve been hanging out at Rally’s place tied to a chair. That might cause some complications with the shifters and we both know the police force don’t like to mess with the supernatural community like that.”

Now I felt even worse. If I’d showed him the tapes of Thomas’s murderer would he even still be looking for them, knowing they weren’t human?

I owed him the truth after the trouble befriending me had caused him.

I had a feeling the ride home was going to be even more uncomfortable for me then the ride here had turned out to be.

And that was certainly saying something.

I called out a goodbye to Rally as the Detective and I left his house. I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t get a response in return.

My guess was the Prince was hiding from the Detective now that he was no longer tied up. I couldn’t say that I blamed him.

All these men in my life were starting to become a real problem for me.

And I still hadn’t gotten laid.

Like a coward, I waited until we were close to his apartment building to tell him what had really gone down with Thomas. Or, what I had suspected had gone down with him.

I also shared with him that I had video footage of everyone entering and leaving the guest house. I figured if the twins really were hunters then they had nothing to fear from the police and they no longer had my blind loyalty.

The Detective was pissed. I could tell, even though he contained it well. He still told me he’d known I’d been lying about something, he just hadn’t been sure of which part.

And that then pissed me off because why the hell had he been so nice to me if he thought I was a liar.

What I had learned about his sister was on the tip of my tongue but I swallowed it back down. He didn’t need me bringing up the tragic past when we had so much bullshit going on today.

I parked in front of his apartment building and cringed. It was actually only about five blocks from the wolves’ garage. It was rundown and there were a group of teenagers standing at the corner of one building. They were brown bagging a bottle of booze and passing it around the circle. One of them was smoking a joint and they were all very loud and rambunctious.

Detective Rowans hadn’t given me grief for being a rich girl so I figured I shouldn't give him any for living on the wrong side of the tracks in poverty.

I opened my mouth to say something but shut it when two cars pulled up next to ours.

Hunter from the garage got out of the car closest to mine and waved cheekily at us before getting into the passenger seat of the other car.

They drove off as the Detective cursed colorfully. “That’s my goddamn car,” he told me.

Huh.

And it was in one piece and everything.

I was betting the BMW would be in my driveway when I got home. And I was happy to find out I wasn’t wrong.