Page 48 of New Blood (Werewolf Alliance #1)

“ I can explain,” Jude pressed out.

“Yeah, explain it to the Alliance here in Bozeman. We’re sending the jet.”

Before he could protest any further, Hendrick had disconnected the call.

The elder had thrown the book at him. The Werewolf Alliance had received an anonymous call that Jude had mated with the lowest-ranking female of the pack instead of with one of the Gallagher women.

Somebody certainly hadn’t lost any time to stab him in the back.

He wouldn’t put it past any of the Gallagher siblings to have made that phone call.

But he had bigger fish to fry. The jet wouldn’t arrive for a few hours, which meant he had enough time to expose Violet for what she’d done and initiate her removal from the pack. It was the only way to keep Danielle safe.

Shoving his cell phone back into his pocket, he rushed into the house. The kitchen was empty as was the laundry room. The door to the storage room was wide open, and Flora was rummaging through some boxes.

“Where is Violet?” he asked without preamble.

“I don’t know,” Flora replied, shrugging. “Probably in the small study, the one next to yours.”

Without a thank you, he marched to the small study next to his office and ripped the door open without knocking. The room was empty. He walked to his own office, but that too was empty. In the library, he found Wendell and Owen talking. They looked up when he entered.

“Have you seen Violet?”

Both men shook their heads.

“Damn it!” Jude cursed.

“Something I can help you with?” Owen asked.

“No!”

He left the room and headed for the living and dining rooms, where he found Francisco and Austin deep in conversation.

“I need to find Violet,” Jude said.

“Haven’t seen her,” Austin said.

Francisco simply shrugged.

“What’s wrong?” Austin asked. His brother knew him too well.

“It’s Violet. She’s the one who rigged the brakes in Danielle’s car. She tried to kill her.”

Behind him, a loud gasp startled him. He spun around on his heel and saw Flora standing in the open door, her eyes wide in horror.

“No!” she cried out. “Violet would never…”

Jude glared at her. “She did. She was seen at the garage this morning. She had every opportunity to tamper with the brakes.”

“That’s no proof!” Flora protested.

“I have more: she is also capable of rigging the brakes. You said so yourself. She knows her way around cars and can fix them. That means she can also disable them.”

“That’s not true! She has no reason to do that!”

Flora’s face was beet-red by now.

But Jude felt just as heated.

“No reason? I guess you don’t know your daughter that well after all. She wanted to mate with me. And when she found out that I’m mated to Danielle, she decided to get rid of her.”

“That’s not true. You said you would mate with Eve, not Violet! She would have never thought that you would mate with her. She had no reason to wish Danielle dead.”

“She did! Eve was overheard saying that she wouldn’t mate with me. Violet must have found out and knew that the position was hers if Danielle was gone.”

“That’s outrageous!”

Jude turned back to his brother and Francisco. “Search the house for her. I’ll go warn Danielle.”

She was probably still busy moving her clothes into the master bedroom. If she was anything like other women—particularly his sister—it would take her a full day to go through all her clothes and hang or fold them properly.

Taking two steps at a time, he raced up to the second floor and ran down the corridor to the master bedroom. He pushed the door wide open and entered.

“Danielle?” he called out and headed to the master closet.

Women’s clothes were neatly hung on hangers, and T-shirts and sweaters were folded and stacked on the shelves.

There were far fewer items than he’d expected.

But Danielle wasn’t there. The bathroom was empty too, though her toothbrush and a few toiletry items lay next to his.

He charged back out and headed for Danielle’s old room. Maybe she was in there to bring the rest of her things into the master bedroom. Without knocking, he entered.

“Danielle?”

But instead of Danielle, he found Mason in the room, tossing socks into a drawer.

His cousin snapped his gaze to him. “Have you already forgotten that Danielle moved into the master?”

“I can’t find her.”

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and tapped on Danielle’s number.

It rang. As he stepped out into the hallway again and walked closer to the master bedroom whose door he’d left open, he heard it ring in there.

Surprised, he entered the bedroom and followed the ringing sound.

He found a cell phone plugged in an outlet near the bedside table.

“Fuck!” He disconnected the call.

When he heard footsteps behind him, he pivoted. But it was only Mason who’d followed him.

“What’s going on?” Mason asked.

“Violet is the one who tampered with the brakes in Danielle’s car. She tried to kill her. And now I can’t find Violet or Danielle.”

Fuck! He’d never felt so panicked in his entire life.

“I’ll help you search for them.”

“Take the top floor. Francisco and Austin are searching downstairs. I’m heading outside.”

He rushed downstairs and could hear some of his men calling for Violet. They didn’t know yet that Danielle was missing too.

He crossed the foyer when he almost ran into Grant.

“Have you seen Danielle? Or Violet?” he added as an afterthought.

“Yeah.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder indicating the front door. “I saw Violet leave in the Land Rover, and I’m pretty sure she wasn’t alone in the car. But I couldn’t really see who was with her.”

“Fuck! How long ago?”

“Maybe ten, fifteen minutes?”

“I need somebody to check the surveillance footage to see who was in the Land Rover.”

“I’m on it,” Francisco called out from the door to the cellar that he was just emerging from. “Nobody’s down there.”

“Grant thinks Danielle left with Violet.”

“Oh fuck!” Francisco hissed, but headed straight for a small room under the stairs where all surveillance equipment was kept.

Jude followed him, his heart pounding out of control. He paced while Francisco logged into the system to find the camera that surveilled the driveway in front of the house.

“How long ago?”

“Go back fifteen minutes,” Jude instructed.

It felt like an eternity until Francisco had found the correct camera and the time when Violet came out of the house and walked to the Land Rover. Danielle was on her heels, getting into the passenger seat.

“Fuck!” he cursed. “She’s got Danielle.”

Cold sweat ran down his spine, chilling him to the core.

“I’ll trace Danielle’s phone,” Francisco suggested.

“Danielle’s is upstairs, charging. Trace Violet’s and send it to my phone.”

He turned around without waiting for his reply. In the foyer, he called for his brother.

“Austin!”

He emerged a moment later, joining him in the foyer.

“Violet has Danielle.”

Flora appeared in the door to the small office and stared at him.

He pointed his finger at her. “If your daughter hurts Danielle, she’s as good as dead.”

Without waiting for Flora’s reaction, he charged out the door and jumped into the closest car, a Mercedes. He appreciated the fact that most pack members left their keys in the cars, since the estate was so heavily guarded that nobody had to worry about theft.

The tires spun as he raced toward the gate. His phone pinged, and he tossed it to Austin to navigate. Like a racecar team, they worked in tandem to follow Violet’s trail.

“And you’re sure that it’s Violet who’s behind this?”

“You heard me explain it to Flora,” Jude said, his jaw tight.

“I should have seen this coming,” Austin said, shaking his head. “The morning you told me that you and Danielle were mated, I almost collided with Violet when I left your office. She might have eavesdropped.”

“Fuck!” Not that it would have changed a thing. “You think she knew about Danielle and me before the rest of the family found out?”

“It’s possible. But I wouldn’t have expected her to go so far as to try to kill Danielle. Calling the Alliance to expose you, yeah, but that? No.”

Kicking the gas pedal down harder, Jude took a breath. “Yeah, about the Alliance. Somebody did call them and told them about me and Danielle.”

“Fuck!”

“I spoke to Hendrick a few minutes ago. He’s sending the jet. I’m to return to Bozeman immediately.”

“They are removing you as alpha?”

“Yeah. That means you’re up.”

“Oh fuck!”

“I’m sorry, bro. I didn’t mean to do that to you. But Danielle… she’s my life. Even if that means I’ll never be an alpha, never have my own pack. As long as I have her, everything will be fine.”

“Then we’d better catch Violet before she can hurt her.”

Austin’s phone rang, and he picked it up and put it on speaker mode.

“It’s Grant. I’m following you guys with Parker, in case you need backup.”

“Thanks, Grant,” Jude said. “Appreciate it.”

“We’re about half a mile behind you, catching up quickly.”

“Thanks, bro,” Austin replied. “I’m keeping the line open.”

He set his phone in a cradle on the dashboard.

“Jude, take the next left.”

“You sure?” The next left was a side street that didn’t look like it went anywhere.

“Trust me, it’s a shortcut.”

Turning the steering wheel hard to the left, Jude took the turn, barely slowing down the car.

“How far?” he asked, getting more and more impatient, his fear for Danielle ratcheting higher with every heartbeat.

“The car stopped.”

“Where?”

“About three miles ahead of us.”

Jude kicked the gas pedal down, speeding along the narrow street. Every second Violet’s car wasn’t moving was an opportunity for her to kill Danielle. He had to get to her before Violet could act.

“Watch out!” Austin cried out. “Pedestrian on the right.”

Jude swerved just in time to avoid the woman. Sweat was beading on his brow and nape now.

“Almost there,” Austin assured him. “There. Into the parking lot.”