“Sorry, baby,” he said, emotion punching each word.
“We need to talk,” I said. “When you have time.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Sure. As soon as this job stabilizes, we’ll talk. I promise. It shouldn’t be too much longer.” He and Spud were out the door so fast, I couldn’t have said a word if I’d tried.
I pressed cool fingers against my eyelids, let out a slow breath, then picked up Ryder’s plate, took it to the kitchen, and found a note on the coffee pot. “Full pot. Omelette in the oven.” He’d drawn a little heart on the note. I stared at that heart for a long time. Then I carefully folded the paper and dropped it in the drawer with all the other morning notes.
Chapter Two
I hadn’t expectedthe werewolf blockade.
I slowed my Jeep on the narrow, two-lane highway just outside Otis and turned down the radio.
A dozen members of the Wolfe family, all wearing flannel and denim, stood on the sides of the road talking to cars stopped on the shoulder. It looked like they were handing out flyers.
“What are they doing?” The dragon pig, in the passenger seat next to me, grunted and propped its feet up on the window, its too-hot breath steaming little circles against it.
“Chief?” A knock on my window followed, so I rolled it down and came face to face with Jame Wolfe.
Jame was a good-looking guy. Built like a cement truck, he was a firefighter who also put his lycan strength into helping out with the gravel business his family owned.
He and Ben had caused quite the stir in Ordinary because werewolves and vampires usually didn’t get along, much less dated.
I thought there might be wedding bells in their future, and for one unreasonable moment, I was insanely jealous.
Jame’s heavy eyebrows went up. I knew he heard the spike in my heartbeat and the rush of heat through my body. He’d be able to smell jealously, no matter how brief, and I was embarrassed about that. Which he’d probably be able to smell too.
“All good, Chief?” His strong hand gripped the top of the door, but he gave me a puzzled smile.
“How’s Ben?”
“Still gay. Why? Tired of Ryder?” The smile was teasing, but his nostrils were wide. He smelled emotions on me.
I sighed. “I am not after your boyfriend, for gods’ sake. And before you get nosey, we’re fine. Ryder and I are fine. Every relationship has its ups and downs. We’re in a…” I lifted my hand and did a flat wavy motion that was supposed to mimic a roller coaster.
He could smell uncertainty, even though I worked to keep it out of my tone, out of my body language.
“Uh-huh.” He glanced at the interior of my car, spotted the dragon pig, then focused on me again. “You’ve been acting different lately, Chief.” Blunt. That was another trait of most werewolves. “I keep thinking you’re dealing with,” he took a moment to inhale, his eyes narrowing, “something you want to hide.”
“One, stop sniffing up in my business. Two, I’m not hiding anything. Three, now’s the time to give me a good explanation for why your crew is blocking traffic.”
“We’re not blocking traffic, just catching a few cars coming in and out of Ordinary.”
“I can see that.” I nodded toward the two cars and one motorcycle stopped on the shoulder, the driver of each vehicle being addressed by someone from the Wolfe pack. “Why?”
“We’ve been robbed.”
“What? What’s missing? When did this happen? And who’s ‘we’?” I threw on my lights, unbuckled my seat belt.
He stepped back to give me room to get out of the car.
“Here?” I scanned the area.
Otis Junction was a tiny blip of a place. On one side of the road stood a diner that sat twelve people, max. The other side of the road offered a gas station and corn dog stand. Kitty-corner to that was a swampy field where the occasional flea market and swap meet broke out during the summer months.
Not exactly a spot where I’d expect a robbery.
“Not here.” He held up a flyer, and I took it from him. “This. It was stolen. Early this morning. From the office at the pit.”
