Wolf at the Door by Sadie Hart Page A

who stood nearby.
Nathan Bannock had refused to leave the room, and now Brandt could
see why. Tate had made it sound like she wanted to help them, but
this woman was scared stiff, perched at the edge of her chair like
she was ready to bolt at any second.
    “Ms. Dawson...”
    “I don’t want to do this, Nathan.” Her voice
trembled. Brandt opened his mouth to say something, anything, to
calm her, but her alpha stepped up beside her and knelt. Bannock
lay one hand against her knee and squeezed.
    “They need to hear it from you,” he said
softly.
    Kim Dawson shuddered, then reached out and
clutched her alpha’s hand. Nathan Bannock wasn’t a small man, and
he still looked every bit the Marine he’d once been. But when
Bannock knelt before one of his wolves, his face soft with
sympathy, Brandt could see the man behind the alpha who ran one of
the largest wolf packs on this side of the country. Here was a
reason Nathan remained unchallenged.
    And it was the reason why, when Kim Dawson
looked back at Brandt, she seemed more at ease. Because she had to
know the man kneeling next to her could stop damn near any danger
from getting to her.
    “I hate reliving this nightmare,” she told
Brandt, and her lips trembled. “I just want to forget, you
know?”
    He knew. Especially after witnessing Timber’s
harsh and broken terror, he knew. Brandt nodded. “I know. I just
need you to tell me what happened.”
    “I was leaving work. It was late. I wasn’t
paying attention. I was texting. My daughter—” She closed her eyes
and blew out a long, shaky breath. “My daughter always texts me
when I’m at work. I always park in the same spot, so it wasn’t like
I had to pay attention. I was just about to text her back when he
pulled me into the alley.”
    “Where do you work?”
    “At the hotel up on Grand Street. There’s an
alley next to their staff parking lot. It was a month ago. I
still—I still can’t let Jason touch me.” She shivered.
    Brandt glanced at Nathan. “Jason Dawson, her
husband. Mate. He’s one of mine as well.”
    Brandt filed that information away and
processed what she’d told him before. Her attack had happened a
month ago. That put it before the first victim. “Did you report
it?”
    “Yeah. The other pack was on shift. Someone
named Monroe or...”
    “I know the pack.” And he’d have Monroe send
him the case file the moment he left here. Considering it happened
before they’d known the Wolfman was back, he wasn’t surprised no
one had noticed the connection. Monroe was a good Hound, but no way
could he have known what was coming.
    Still, taking a look at the file now couldn’t
hurt. There might be information that hadn’t meant anything then
but mattered now. Brandt met her gaze. “Was the man who attacked
you a wolf-shifter?”
    “Yes.”
    Brandt filed her answer away in the back of
his mind. It helped to narrow the timeline down a bit. It was hard
to estimate just when Wolfe had been turned, but apparently it
hadn’t happened while he was here. Brandt estimated it must have
happened several months ago, but that was just a wild guess.
Drawing a breath, he pulled out his phone and opened to a picture
of Timber. He passed it over to her. “Do you know this woman?”
    Nathan raised both eyebrows and Brandt saw
the wolf’s jaw tighten. Still, the alpha held his tongue. It wasn’t
surprising to learn Nathan recognized Timber, since he kept tabs on
every wolf-shifter pack that bordered his. Hell, now that he
thought about it, Nathan had probably known more than Shifter Town
Enforcement about Timber’s pack.
    Ms. Dawson leaned over to look at the phone
and frowned, confusion scribbled all over her face. “Uh...she’s the
Bear Creek alpha.” She glanced at Nathan as if looking for
confirmation, but her alpha didn’t look at her. He was staring at
Brandt, no doubt waiting for an explanation.
    Brandt kept his attention on Ms. Dawson.
“Yes, but do you know her?”
    She shook her