Samantha nodded, and that seemed to be enough to satisfy her sister.
“There’s more I can do with the blood if you want me to,” Loralei said. “I have a contact in the paleontology department at Baylor who can get me DNA samples from extinct wolves for comparison with no questions asked. I can also isolate exactly which parts of the human genes have been affected by the wolf DNA.”
Samantha thought a moment. “How hard will it be to hide what you’re doing?”
She didn’t want her sister getting in too deep. Getting fired might be the least of Loralei’s problems if someone found out.
Loralei shrugged. “I won’t lie, I’ll have to come up with some pretty fancy BS to cover up why I’m doing this. Maybe you could help me come up with a false request from DPD animal control? Make it look like the city is looking for details on an animal attack or something. I need to have something to justify the time and money I’ll have to put into this. This testing is expensive.”
Samantha nodded, promising to send over some ME paperwork that would probably pass a cursory inspection. “Be careful, okay? Absolutely no one can know what’s really going on here, especially not anyone in the DPD.”
Loralei assured her that she would, then headed home a little while later, leaving Samantha sitting on the couch wracked with guilt over the fact that she was betraying Trey more and more the further she took this. But she couldn’t stop now, especially after learning there was wolf DNA mixed with his. There was something strange going on, and no matter what her heart might be feeling when it came to Trey, she needed to know what it was.
The conversation she’d had with Crystal that morning came back to her. The one where her friend suggested coming out and just asking Trey what was going on. But how could she ask him about something so bizarre?
Chapter 12
Trey pulled his Jeep into a parking space at the institute but didn’t turn off the engine right away. Instead, he sat there with the AC on, wondering if coming here had been a good idea. Connor had suggested it, so probably not.
Trey and Connor had spent a good portion of the morning cleaning weapons at the SWAT compound and talking about his conundrum with Samantha. Connor kept pushing the trust your instincts and believe in your soul mate angles, while that little voice in the back of Trey’s mind continued to warn him that Samantha was likely playing him for a sucker.
But Samantha was his soul mate, even if she didn’t know it, which meant he needed to come up with a way to talk to her. While that might sound easy, it was going to be the toughest thing he’d ever done. If he messed this up—or waited too long—there was a good chance she might expose all the pack’s secrets.
He’d been stuck in an endless loop of second-guessing himself when Trevor had come into the armory and told them that the Butcher had struck again. Taking that as a sign he needed to go talk to Samantha, he had headed to the institute, hoping to come up with what to say to her on the drive over. Twenty minutes later and here he was, sitting in his pickup outside her office still wondering what the hell he was supposed to do.
Cursing under his breath, Trey hopped out of his truck and headed for the entrance. He was so busy thinking about how to broach the subject of soul mates with Samantha that he almost missed the sound of raised voices coming from her office. Trey recognized Hugh’s voice at the same time he picked up the man’s scent and that of the other ME he’d met before, Nadia. It was obvious from his tone of voice that Hugh was angry.
“If Louis had given me this damn case, the Butcher would have already been caught and people would be commending this institute for its performance instead of laughing at it. You weren’t ready for a case this big, Samantha, and you never will be. If you were better at your job, you could have pegged that scene this morning as a copycat faster and saved everyone a lot of time and energy.”
Hearing someone bad-mouth Samantha filled Trey with a rage he couldn’t remember ever experiencing. It hit him so hard he felt his claws extend, could taste his own blood on his tongue as his fangs tore through his gums. Knowing there was no way he could show up in Samantha’s office like this, he stopped a few feet from her door, fighting to get his inner wolf back under control. He’d had full control over his werewolf side for years, so this shouldn’t even be happening, but the mere thought of his soul mate in danger was enough to unleash the beast in him.
“Hugh, you’re an idiot. If Louis put you on the Butcher case, you would have been fired already,” Nadia said sharply. “Being a good brown-noser doesn’t make you a good medical examiner.”
Trey was surprised Nadia had come to Samantha’s defense. Finally getting his claws and fangs back where they belonged, he walked into Samantha’s office. She was standing in front of her desk, arms crossed and a perturbed look on her face. Catching sight of Trey in the doorway, she smiled, relief in her eyes.
Hugh turned to look his way, heart suddenly beating nervously at the expression on Trey’s face. Maybe the ME had picked up on the fact that Trey would like to rip Hugh’s face off right now.
Mouth tight, Hugh threw a glare at Samantha, then stormed out.
“Don’t let him get to you,” Nadia said, reaching out to rest her hand gently on Samantha’s arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. “He’s a jealous asshole who knows you’re better at your job than he is every day of the week. If you need help on the Butcher case, let me know. I’m more than willing to slip in and do a little work off the books. Unlike Hugh, I can live without the recognition. I just want this bastard caught.”
Nadia gave Trey a smile as she left, saying it was nice to see him again. The woman’s expression seemed legit, but he couldn’t be sure. When he gave Samantha a questioning look, she shrugged.
“Hugh was being his usual self, trying to shoehorn himself onto the Butcher task force again, and I guess Nadia decided to take the honey instead of vinegar route to get on my good side. While I appreciate what she said to Hugh, I’m still not sure I trust her motives.”
Trey was about to agree with that assessment, but before he could say anything, Samantha stepped forward, her arms coming up to loop around his neck as she pressed her body to his, her face buried against his chest. He heard her breathing deeply as she squeezed him tight, and he found himself wondering what she thought of his scent.
“How are you doing?” she asked. “I’ve been worrying about you ever since you left last night.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close and burying his face in her silky hair, breathing in the scent of cherry blossoms and spring rain. It brought a sense of calm he hadn’t even known he was lacking.
“I’m okay,” he said, “Better than I probably have any right to be, honestly. I have you to thank for that. You kept me sane last night and I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”