I knew, I would tell you. It’s Were-something, I just don’t know what.”
“Can I give it a whiff?” Mr. Cassidy asked, startling me. I hadn’t seen him among the others earlier. Too busy getting blood on my hands and yanking arrows out of my boyfriend, I suppose. Mrs. Cassidy and George were also there, a little apart from the others. It struck me as an unspoken show of their being different from, but supportive of, the Sunstrikers.
“Sure, be my guest,” Chaz muttered sourly. The luminescence in his eyes seemed to be fading now that he was more irritated than outright angry.
Mr. Cassidy came forward, extending his hand for the cloth and the arrow. Nick handed them over, careful not to let the silver arrowhead brush against any exposed skin. The old man lifted it up, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply through his nose. His eyes flashed open, and he looked down in surprise, then anger. “I know this scent. This was a guest, a recent one.”
“Who was it?” Chaz demanded.
“He goes by Hawk. I have a hard time believing he’s the one who did this, though. I’d like to speak with him myself, but he checked out earlier today. So did the other two boys he was here with.”
Crap. “Did you get their contact information when they arrived? Like an address attached to a credit card, a cell phone number, anything like that?” I asked.
He shook his head, frowning. “Maybe. I’d have to check my records.”
“Check them, and let us know what you find,” Chaz said.
“I can’t just give out his information. Really, let me try to contact him first; then I’ll let you know what comes of it.”
“Hey, I’m a P.I.,” I said. “I can call my partner back in the city and have her run a trace on the guy if you can give me any information about him.”
Mr. Cassidy gave me a thoroughly disapproving look, handing the stuff back to Nick while he spoke to me. “Young lady, I’m not in the business of telling the secrets of my patrons. If he really was responsible for this, I can guarantee you I won’t let him get away with it, but I’m not going to start a witch hunt based on a scent. There’s a chance I’m wrong, that it was somebody else, and I’d like to make sure before you all go jumping to conclusions and do something we’ll all regret later.”
Chaz growled softly, though I knew he was struggling mightily to keep his temper in check. He liked the Cassidy family and this retreat, so I doubted he wanted to do something to get himself banned from returning. “Look, we just want to ask him a few questions, too. We’re not going to kill him unless he tries something like this again.”
“Sonny, you listen up, and you listen good. This is my territory. You’re here by my invitation, and I will revoke it if you abuse my hospitality and good will. Give me the opportunity to find out what’s going on in my own damned territory before you start horning in, got it?”
I’d never seen Chaz look so sullenly submissive as he did right at that moment. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” Mr. Cassidy relaxed a little, some of the tension filtering out of his brawny frame. “I’ll find the boy and let you know what he says as soon as I hear from him.”
Chapter 15
Chaz was in a terrible mood after dealing with Mr. Cassidy. He didn’t want to go back to the cabin. He didn’t want to be hovered over. He didn’t want to hang around the lodge. He didn’t want to let any of the rest of the pack wander around alone. Basically, he was being an uptight pain in the ass.
After a little while, between the efforts of Simon, Nick, Dillon, Sean, and myself, we convinced Chaz to come back to the cabin and rest up so he wouldn’t be completely strung out when he was forced to shift at moonrise. It took some effort but, once the guys left, he finally agreed to lie down. He sprawled on his stomach on the bed while I rubbed some of the tension out of his shoulders. He seemed to enjoy the fact I was straddling him more than the back rub.
“I don’t understand it, Shia,” he said, grunting a little as I dug into a knot in his lower back. “Why is that old fart protecting the guy who did this? You’d think he’d want