Read White Wolf 2: The Call of a Soul for Free Online Page A

tablespoons of dark grounds into the container. “Guess who I ran into at the country club last night?”
    “Who else besides the female that warmed your bed, you mean? Valérie de Verteuil wearing a ziga-carat diamond.” Mike accepted the cup Drake handed him and smiled at his brother’s jaw-hanging expression.
    “How in heck do you do that? You’re always one ahead of me.”
    “’S why I’m the alpha, bro.” For the first time since he’d left the animal clinic last night, Mike’s sense of impending doom lifted. He and Drake were more wolf than human, and the dramatic and tragic loss of their father when Mike was morphing from cub to wolf and Drake was still a pup had cemented the impenetrable and unbreakable bond between the brothers. That, plus the added strain of living without a pack since each had come into their wolf and having a mother who knew nothing of their wolf heritage had served to reinforce their us-against-the-world attitudes.
    “Who’s the condemned bastard?” Mike took a swig of the brew and closed his eyes as the scent and taste did a double hit to his system. Nothing like a strong shot of java to revive flagging adrenaline.
    “Justin Laroque.” Drake snickered. “Love it when what goes around finally comes around. You think Valérie knows he’s a switch-hitter?”
    Mike shrugged. “Don’t care. She’s off my back for good. No way Mom can throw us together anymore.”
    “Valérie ain’t over you, bro. I’d watch my back. It’s not as if marriage vows mean anything to that family.”
    Henri de Verteuil and Pierre Laroque, along with David Dorland, founded Chabegawn in the early 1700s. The descendants of the two French families considered themselves town royalty. That they shared a trait with other monarchs and had once owned 90 percent of Mackinac County made them the de facto social rulers of the community. Henri de Verteuil V, the direct descendant of the original Henri, and his wife Chantal, Valérie’s parents, were both rabid, blatant adulterers. The Laroque family tended to be more discrete about their affairs.
    “I’m not worried. Justin, huh? I would’ve figured she’d go after Pierre the Sixth.”
    Drake rolled his eyes. “She’d eat him up and swallow him whole. From what I’ve heard, he’s severely autistic and when they gave out that story about him going to a fancy boarding school, he was actually institutionalized.”
    Mike sipped on his coffee. “I could’ve sworn Mom said Pierre was in town recently.”
    Frowning, Drake gave a little head shake. “Not according to coat-check Harry at the country club. He said Laroque Senior had Pierre locked away for good.”
    “Once again you’ve gone off on a zillion tangents. Focus, pup. Have you got everything ready for the conference?”
    “Yeah. I’m assuming that, for now, we’re sticking to the plan?”
    “For now.”
    “Wonder how the town will react?”
    “We’ll be creating jobs. First with the building of the facility and then after, with the steady employment.” Mike and Drake had done a ton of research on the area before deciding how to use the land that they’d purchased anonymously over the years. “Even those that believed the old rumors will be grateful.”
    “I guess.” Drake pulled out his chair and sat. “Want to wager on how long the Laroque-de Verteuil alliance will last?”
    Mike shook his head. “Not on your life. Something else happened last night. Doc G. was called to oversee a crime scene. Eddie Mato was killed about two miles north of the reservation.”
    Drake whistled. “The second ever murder in Chabegawn. Gives me that squirrely back of the neck feeling.”
    Mike nodded. “Me too. That’s one of the reasons I followed Doc G. and Melanie to the murder site—”
    “Whoa! Melanie was there? You sly alpha. Had to stake your claim right away, didn’t ya? How’d she react?” Drake did a double brow raise. “Hubba hubba. Big bro’s gonna get himself laid and then