Martin nodded. "I'm not set up to deal with that sort of surgery anymore. I've patched him up the best I can and stemmed the bleeding, but that's about all I can do."
"Can I talk to him?"
"Quickly. We called for an ambulance ten minutes ago, so it should be here any minute."
"Where are the rangers?"
"Down in the main ballroom, interviewing folk and taking samples from pack members." Martin shook his head. "The damn fools even insisted on getting a sample from me."
He raised his eyebrows. "Were they already here when René was shot?"
Martin nodded. "Lucky, too. With the snow still falling, they might not have found the footprints and tire tracks otherwise."
Both were evidence that could be used in court, but was the attack on René linked with the attacks on the women? That's what they had to discover — and fast, he suspected.
"You'll let me know if the rangers come back?"
"The surgery door is locked, and these old bones don't move all that fast."
Duncan smiled and headed into the next room. René was lying on the bed closest to the wall, stripped to the waist, and he had a huge swathe of bandages around his shoulder and left arm.
"I think I should give up the moon dance as a lost cause this cycle," René said without opening his eyes.
"At least he or she didn't shoot your vitals."
René snorted. "I guess there is that to be thankful for."
Duncan stopped at the end of the bed and crossed his arms. "So what were you doing when it happened?"
René opened his eyes, a smile twitching his lips. "What do you think I was doing?"
"And your mate?"
"Frightened, but okay." He grimaced. "I doubt she'll ever dance with me again, though. Reckons I'm dangerous to be around."
"You're dangerous to be around even when you're not getting shot."
"True." Amusement touched his mouth but quickly fled. "I never heard them approach. Never smelled them."
"Which means they probably had a long range rifle. Where were you when it happened?"
"In the summer house."
"Where, exactly?"
"Sitting on the seat, back to the outside fence, with a wet and willing wolf sitting snugly on my lap."
The shooter had to have been in the trees beyond the wall. If he'd been in one of the trees close to the summer house, René would surely have heard him. Or, at the very least, smelled him. "Martin told me they found tracks."
"Apparently. I was pretty out of it for a while there, so I can't really tell you much of what went on after I was shot."
"Then tell me what was going on between you and Betise."
Contempt was evident in René's dark gaze. "That bitch is nothing but trouble."
"She claims you made promises you've failed to live up to."
His brother snorted. "The only promise I've failed to keep was the threat to knock her out if she didn't stop harassing me."