“He does. You heard him. He wants to handle it himself.”
“I know. I just don’t get why. It’s not like he was the one who got shot.”
“No,” I said, “but he’s got more to lose than you do if the guy gets away. No one will think this place is safe anymore if he doesn’t do something about it personally. Give him a chance to deal with it.”
“I guess,” he grumbled, quieting as I leaned forward to ruffle his hair and place a kiss on his uninjured shoulder. A sigh escaped him as I rolled over to one side to lie back on the bed, folding my hands over my stomach as I looked at him.
“Honey, nothing else is going to happen on it tonight. Can you just try to relax and get some sleep? I promise I’ll use some handy-dandy detecting skills tomorrow to track the guy down for you.”
He stayed quiet for a moment, mulling it over before giving reluctant agreement. “Okay. Promise me you won’t search for this guy alone? I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Sure,” I said, inwardly cringing. As soon as he left to hunt in the woods, I was going to sneak up to the lodge to see what I could find out about Mr. Cassidy’s mysterious guests.
Chaz stayed as he was, hands tucked under his cheek as he lay still and quiet on his stomach. I reached out to run my fingers through his short blond hair. It was a little stiff from being gelled up into spikes. Gradually, his eyes closed, and I could see the tension trickling out of his muscles little by little as he tried to relax.
I kept up with the soothing stroking of my fingertips over his scalp until the alarm on the table buzzed a ten minute warning. Chaz groaned and rolled to his feet, rubbing his hand across his face.
“Will you be gone all night?”
He glanced at me over his shoulder before heading to the door, expression troubled. “I’ll be back before dawn. Stay inside. I don’t want Ethan to have any reason to be lured back to the cabins. You can watch from the window while we shift if you want, but don’t set foot outside until daybreak.”
Fur was already sprouting on his back. He paused at the door as I called his name.
“Be careful. Please, for me?”
“You got it, love,” he replied, giving me a grin that bared a few too many sharp teeth before he sprinted out into the night, the door swinging shut behind him. I got off the bed and hurried to the window just in time to catch a glimpse of him being swallowed up by the shadows in the trees.
Since I’d fallen asleep last night and missed it, I was hoping to see the pack shift tonight. Watching Seth quick-shift didn’t hold the same majesty as watching the entire pack be taken by whatever it is in the phases of the moon that makes them all change at the same time. I’d seen the entire pack go through the process of turning into their half-man, half-wolf forms once before, but that had been in a dark alley when I was more afraid of being eaten or killed than interested in watching them change.
Though I watched for them, gaze darting over every shifting shadow between the cabins and the trees, I was disappointed when I heard a lone wolf howl grow into two, three, then dozens joining in chorus—somewhere deep in the woods. The pack had shifted far beyond my line of sight and moved well away from the cabins already. Probably for the best; I wasn’t the only one who could potentially be hurt by Ethan if he broke from the ranks and came charging back this way. With a guilty start, I recalled Billy and his playmate. If they carried the gene, they wouldn’t shift until puberty, so were at risk of being attacked. No doubt there must have been a few other humans who had come along to watch over the kids, though I hadn’t taken note of who they were in all the whirlwind introductions.
I waited by the window for a while, listening carefully for calls that would give me any hints as to the whereabouts of the pack. Since I couldn’t hear much of anything out there, I figured I’d brew a cup of coffee. By the time I was done with it, the caffeine infusion should keep me alert during