Perfect Tales of the Were - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,13
uncertain about just how to ask if he had a violent streak. Man, this was awkward.
“What is it, Cassie?” He lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles in the sweetest way.
“It’s silly, really.” She tried to laugh. “It’s just something Emma said.”
He backed off a little, suspicion entering his mysterious eyes. “What did Emma have to say?”
“That there was a woman with a black eye in your truck when you came to interview for the job.” She said it fast, like ripping off a bandage. It still didn’t hurt any less when the warm light in his eyes died, to be replaced by cold fury. She backpedaled. “I mean, I didn’t think you were the kind of guy to hurt a woman, but Emma saw it with her own eyes. She was afraid for me. She warned me to be careful.”
“And, because I like to dominate in bed, you automatically assume I could hit a woman? My God!” He left her sitting on the counter, spinning away toward the backdoor.
“I don’t know!” All her uncertainty filled her voice. He stopped and faced her from across the entryway. “Could you?”
He was silent for so long, she thought he wasn’t going to answer.
“When you figure that out, you know where to find me.”
He slammed the door on his way out, breaking her heart in the process.
*
Cody was absolutely devastated by Cassandra’s lack of faith in him. That she could even ask that question made him sick to his stomach. He was very afraid his wolf was going to come out and snap at her, so he beat a hasty retreat, though he hated leaving her with such a misunderstanding between them. Still, she wasn’t ready to learn about his other half, right now. Her questions only proved how little she actually knew or trusted him.
He’d have to earn that trust and school himself to patience, which had never been his strong suit. He’d have to woo her and prove to her that he wasn’t a violent man—unless the situation warranted extreme action. And never against woman. Never.
Aside from this major disappointment, the day had been a good one. Rich had asked him, unexpectedly, to go into town to pick up the feed. Usually, that was a job the foreman liked to do himself, but his wife had needed his help with something related to her ongoing renovation projects in and around the outbuildings, so he’d trusted Cody to do it.
That had given him the perfect opportunity to get away from the ranch for a bit so he could do some investigating. He had made a few phone calls while he was driving down the road and had set the wheels in motion. He’d found out that the sheriff, Shane, was already at the site on the back forty, out behind the Weavers’ homestead. Joe was able to get the feed ferried out there to meet Cody, so he wouldn’t actually have to go into town.
Rather, the feed store would come to him, allowing him to pretend that he’d made the trip when, in reality, he’d gone to help with the investigation of the scene. Cody met Cal Weaver out at the end of his driveway. Joe had called ahead and asked the man to grant access to Cody, as he had earlier in the morning for the sheriff. Still, Cody could tell Cal wasn’t too pleased to have other wolves prowling around his territory.
Wolves were Pack animals, and they liked being part of the bigger group, but some—males especially—tended to get a bit territorial about their private spaces. Cody understood Cal’s feelings and told him as much when he stopped the truck. Cody got out, and he and Cal shared a few words before Cal would let Cody drive over his land to get to the site.
When Cody drew closer to the area he’d checked out earlier in his fur, he found Shane, the sheriff, there ahead of him. Shane drove a large SUV with the seal of the Sheriff’s Department emblazoned on the sides and a reflective stripe wrapped around the outside for safety. Cody parked his pickup truck next to the sheriff’s vehicle and got out, looking around for the sheriff.
Shane was relatively new to the town, but he’d come to Big Wolf with the highest recommendation from his home Pack. He’d simply outgrown the small Pack to which he’d been born, and he was best friends with that Pack’s Alpha. No way would he challenge his best