Page 31 of Perfectly Leashed
But Luca wasn’t listening. His eyes searched the room frantically until they found what he needed. Darcy, curled up in the chair beside the bed, fast asleep. Relief flooded through him so completely his vision blurred.
Even though Darcy was sleeping, stress lined his features. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his clothes were wrinkled like he’d been there for hours. One hand hung over the chair’s arm, fingers still reaching toward the bed.
Luca had never seen a more beautiful sight.
“How long?” His voice came out rough.
“Six hours. Dr. Martinez stitched you back up, gave you something for the pain.” Santiago followed his gaze. “Your mate hasn’t moved from that spot. Wouldn’t let anyone take him home. Had me return the dogs. Told the owners Darcy had a medical emergency.”
Fragments of memory surfaced—Darcy standing between him and Gilmore, voice fierce despite his size. Deflating the deputy’s tire, fighting for him when Luca couldn’t fight for himself.
“He called me his boyfriend,” Luca said, the words tasting strange and wonderful.
Santiago’s mouth quirked. “Yeah, he did. Told Lenny to watch the dogs because he had to ‘rip an ape off your back.’” He chuckled. “Human’s got more backbone than I gave him credit for.”
Warmth spread through Luca, having nothing to do with the medication. Darcy had fought for him. Actually fought, not just with words but with action, putting himself at risk for a man he’d known three days.
He’d claimed Luca publicly.
Darcy had shocked the hell out of him. He was like a raging storm, going up against a guy twice his size.
Jesus.
“Gilmore?” Just saying his name made Luca’s beasts snarl. While Darcy had run the dogs to the shop, the deputy had told him, “One way or another, I’ll rid this town of the scum infecting the good folk.” Then he punched Luca in his shoulder, causing his wound to start bleeding.
Luca wanted him dead so badly he could taste Gilmore’s blood in his mouth.
“Told Matias he got a call about a shootout yesterday on Hawk’s Ridge. Found a dead body half-hidden in some brush. That car you got a call about towing? Belonged to the dead guy.” Santiago rubbed his eyes. “Your tow rig is parked right behind it, bullet hole in one tire.”
“So Gilmore assumes I killed the guy?” Luca slid a hand over his bearded jaw, which was long overdue for a shave. “Because I’m dumb enough to kill someone and leave my truck at the scene of the crime?” Technically, Luca had killed someone. But wrong body. Or bodies.
“Same thing Matias said. Asked for evidence, but all they have is your truck in the middle of a crime scene. Circumstantial. That doesn’t prove you killed anyone. Just proves you got shitty luck where you left your rig.”
“Do you know who the dead guy is?” If he was gonna be accused of murder, Luca at least wanted to know who the victim was. Couldn’t have been a hyena. Their pack didn’t do sloppy clean-up. They wouldn’t have just removed the bodies. Pack members would’ve wiped away every speck of blood too.
Even before the cops arrived not long after.
Santiago leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “Mike Simmon. Has a rap sheet, mostly minor offenses. The only major one is for not understanding what no means. Did about a year for it and got out about a month ago.”
None of it made sense. Luca didn’t know anyone named Mike.
As if reading his thoughts, Santiago said, “It’s not who he is but who he associated with.”
“Gonna make me ask a million questions or put me out of my misery?” Luca was already stressed. He wasn’t in the mood for guessing games. Not when he’d nearly gone down for something he hadn’t done.
“Grant was his drug dealer.”
Luca’s gaze dropped slightly, searching his mind for the connection, but coming up blank. “Why does that name sound familiar?”
“Jamie’s brother,” Santiago supplied. “The gunfight at the barn. Cesar said there were three guys. We know two of them were Grant and Rowan. Mike must’ve been the third shooter.”
The barn incident was only two weeks ago. Rowan was dead by Cesar’s hands, and Grant was in a secured psychiatric facility because he couldn’t stop babbling on about a werewolf creature that killed his friend.
Grant had knocked his brother around his entire life, causing brain damage. Turnabout was fair play. Grant wasn’t suffering from head trauma, but now his brain was scrambled.
Good.
“Since the cops found a body, I’m guessing that was Grant’s way of tying up loose ends after the barn incident.” It was downright ironic that Luca had gotten into a shootout with hyenas, only to be blamed for a dead body he hadn’t created. “Wait.” He glanced at Santiago. “It’s too much of a coincidence that I was lured to the exact spot where the dead guy’s car was parked. Those hyenas set this up. They had to have put Mike’s car there then made the call to my shop.”
