Page 86 of Purchased

“Oh.”

“Do I need to assign a detail to babysit you?”

“No, that won’t be necessary,Maître.”

I disagree there. I need to know that she is being taken care of, and that there is someone ensuring that the darkest plans emerging from her miserable mind do not come to fruition.

I pick up my phone and send a voice message. “Beau, can you come to my office, please?”

Beau is similar to Jenny in age, which is to say, significantly younger than her mate was. He served in the foreign legion for a time, and is a big man with blue eyes and dirty blond hair with a lighter trimmed beard to match.

“Do you know Jenny?”

“Barely,” he says, with a little bow to her. “Enchante, mademoiselle.”

For a woman who was just on the verge of murder avenging her mate, she is remarkably receptive with a hint of an answering smile.

“I need you to ensure that Jenny is comfortable, safe, and not getting into anything she shouldn’t,” I tell him. “For the next thirty days, I’d like you to be her constant companion and bodyguard.”

“Understood,Maître.”

“Very well. The two of you may be on your way.”

I sit down in the aftermath of the attempt on my life and I am surprised by how calm I am. My mate is God knows where doing God knows what with bodies and tags, I just had a bullet whistle by my skull by the grace of the same deity, and now I am left wondering if this is the end of things. Have we covered our tracks? Will we atone for our sins? Beatrix especially.

Ironic that I just sent Jenny away with an armed guard, but my murderous little scamp is doing as she pleases.

I also have the strangest feeling I’m still forgetting something. I used to be on top of all pack business. No matter how many irons were in the fire, I used to feel as though I had everything under control. Now I wonder if anything is under control.

I take a deep breath.

“Maître…”

“Yes, Antoine?”

“We’ve discovered a vehicle accident on the backpack road. Must have happened a couple of days ago.”

“The detectives!” I suddenly remember what I forgot to do. “I meant to send an escort after them. Was anybody hurt?”

“Well, the tree they hit isn’t happy. But they’re missing.”

“Missing?”

“The car is empty. There’s blood in it, but nothing else. We followed some tracks not far off and found a collection of bones. As if they’d been eaten by wild animals. But there are no wild wolves in this region.”

He gives me a pointed look. We all know what this means. She’s struck again. I really thought I’d gotten through to Beatrix. Calmed her down. Made her behave, but it feels as though the second my back is turned she is off murdering people.

I cover my face with my hands. “Can you please bring my mate to me, if it’s not too much of an inconvenience for her, if she’s not in the actual act of murdering an authority figure.”

“I believe she was speaking to Mr. Volkov,Maître, and he is very aggressive if interrupted.”

“Fine. I’ll get her.”

* * *

Beatrix

“I just feel like this is what I was made to do. Clean up. Take the rubbish out. Keep bad people away from those I love. The dreams I had… the memories. They’re all times I couldn’t stop something bad happening. And now I can.”

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