Chapter 80: Like A Bloodhound

Layla's Bedroom, The Quinn Residence, The Backwoods, Temperance, South Dakota...

Layla had been half asleep when Brick had slipped out of her bed and proceeded to get dressed. He didn't seem to mind the blood that covered his clothes nor the fact that they had holes in them. His cut was untouched aside from a few splatters of blood that could easily be washed off given the material and it was all he cared for despite what became of his shirt, which he left on the living room floor. Brick seemed to dust himself off and turned his attention to venturing back toward Layla's bedroom. She'd still been half asleep when he gently kissed her on the forehead and left her to her own devices. He knew already that she'd need her rest given her shift and school had been on the horizon as he headed back out the front door, recalling how he had crawled from where he'd been shot to her front porch, never more grateful than he had been in that moment that she'd been home that night and had taken care of him.

Being in the presence of his mate had done wonders for him and it made him all the more determined to put her mind at ease concerning the case of the missing girl and whether or not her mother had been involved. Brick took off toward the last place where he'd seen his bike, parked at The McCormick Place before the shooting had taken place, much as he suspected the yellow caution tape and blood stains had remained as well as the rancid stench of death and something else he had not been able to name just yet but it had been oddly familiar.

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The McCormick Place, Temperance, South Dakota....

As expected, the place had been crawling with lawmen and his boys alike, he guessed that they had some concerns once he didn't return from his meeting with Charlie Mack. Rooster had been the first to approach him when he'd seen him stumble out of the woods. Gunther came up afterward with a stern expression filed across his aged face. They had found his bike at the scene and traces of his blood but not his body when the shooting had been discovered.

"Where in the hell have you been?" growled Rooster with his eyes narrowed at Brick who sighed as he met the gaze of the older werewolf clad in a similar biker cut to his own. "Do you know how long we'd been waitin' ta hear from you!?"

"Old man, I was too busy nearly dying of fever to contact the lot of you," admitted Brick much to his annoyance.

Even being a werewolf had its limits and silver bullets pelting his hide had been one of them. Rooster had been shocked to hear this knowing all too well that only one thing could make a werewolf sick enough that he'd take on a full-on fever.

"Shit," grumbled Gunther inspecting the younger werewolf. "You alright kid?"

"I'm fine, old timer, nothin' I couldn't handle...mostly," replied Brick not wishing to go into details about his near-death experience. "The only issue I got is that Charlie Mack was gonna tell me more about the lead he had and ended up getting pumped full of hot lead before my eyes and the next thing I knew I was filled with silver slugs myself."

"You get even a whiff of the son of a bitch that did it?" asked Rooster, his eyes narrowed in rage at the implication of what had taken place.

"Somethin' like that but I was much too focused on not bleeding to death once I realized my gunshot wounds weren't healing like they should," replied Brick in annoyance once more.

He wanted so badly to rip the son of a bitch responsible for his and Charlie Mack's shooting to shreds but knew he had other fish to fry for the time being.

Gunther sighed.

"Listen, when we originally came to get you, we were about to enlighten you as to the next lead we found, Goldie had come through in a pinch and she said to alert you while she and Taz chased it down with Ironclad and Doc in tow," he said meeting Brick's gaze.

"Well what the hell are we waitin' on, let's get to it," replied Brick more than pleased to be mounting up again and hitting the road.

"Now hold on boy, Sheriff Tillman has got some questions for you bout the shooting, you fill him in and we'll be on our way," said Rooster.

"Ain't nothin' to talk about I ain't see the shooter we was both hit and then he was gone," replied Brick in annoyance.

"Well give him somethin' either way so he'll quit yappin' at our damn heels," growled Gunther.

Brick rolled his eyes not at all liking the idea of being interrogated least of all by a puny mortal sheriff.

"Fine, then we hit the road I don't want this trail gettin' any colder," growled Brick.

He'd been reeling in his annoyance when the old sheriff made his way over to him with a pen and pad.

"Evenin' Kenneally, boys," said Sheriff Tillman looking the leather-clad gents over for a few moments before turning his attention back to Brick. "Word is you'd been visiting with Charlie Mack before he was shot dead."

"I ain't never kept it a secret," replied Brick his tone gruff and his annoyance still showing as he glared at the older mortal man. "Was runnin' down a lead in that cold case of yours, Sheriff."

"That's been the word as well," replied Sheriff Tillman making a note of it. "From the looks of your getup, you've seen some bullets flying in your direction as of late as well, even still got the dried blood splatters along your vest."

"It's my blood," replied Brick. "Only fortune is that I'm a fast healer otherwise you'd see the scars."

Sheriff Tillman nodded and made another note before turning his attention to Brick's lack of a shirt.

"Heat gettin' to ya?" asked Sheriff Tillman with an arched brow. "You're shirts gone and taken a holiday of sorts."

"Was covered in my own blood, didn't figure I needed to keep wearing it, being out in the woods and all, might give an animal the wrong idea about wounded prey," replied Brick before he rather bitterly flashed his fangs at the human sheriff.

"Anyone see you wounded?" asked Sheriff Tillman.

"As a matter of fact, after I got shot right along with Charlie Mack, I found myself delirious with fever and on the Quinn front porch," replied Brick honestly. "It was just my luck that Layla had been home to patch me up and let me stay over till the fever broke."

"You and Miss Quinn seem awfully close," said Sheriff Tillman.

Brick folded his arms across his chest and glared at the old sheriff.

"So, I happen to be a big fan of cherry pie and she serves it up just right," replied Brick not at all hiding his intended meaning behind his words as he noted how uncomfortable he was making the old sheriff. "Listen, old man, I got a case to solve and a new lead to see to we can sit here and play twenty-one questions about a shooting you know damn well that I didn't have a hand in or you can let me catch the son of a bitch that took that little girl because nine times out of ten I can bet you the son of a bitch that saw fit to take out Charlie Mack just when he was telling me all I needed to know about the case also took a shot at me in order to prevent us from finding him."

Sheriff Tillman sighed.

"Fine but if I got more questions about Charlie Mack..." he began.

"You'll know where to find me," replied Brick turning his attention to heading for his bike with Rooster and Gunther heading toward their own bikes in a bid to catch up to the rest of the crew and head off after Goldie's lead.

A roar of their collective engines and they had been gone, barrelling down the dirt road and finally the highway toward the meeting spot where Goldie had sent word she'd been waiting.