I tapped the steering wheel as I waited, my normal calm just out of reach. Crow didn’t know exactly what had happened, andcuriosity was burning through both of us. Finally, my phone rang.
“What happened?” I asked as soon as I answered.
“Not sure,” Dexter whispered. “We got a ton of cops and emergency personnel here. Sebbie is fine, but they’re checking him out before they question him. He seems a little… out of it. But he’s fine,” Dexter assured me.
“Dexter, what the fuck happened?” I asked again, because that was not a fucking answer.
Dexter sighed. “We were in some shop looking around, and when we turned around, Sebbie was just gone. We didn’t think anything of it at first, but Toby tried his phone, and Sebbie wasn’t answering. We left the shop, but I had no scent of him nearby. That’s when I called Liam. He traced the phone, and it looked like Sebbie was just walking, but he was already like a mile away. The car was blocks away in the opposite direction, and Toby just wanted to get to Sebbie, so we headed after him.”
I growled low in my throat, frustrated that they hadn’t gotten there sooner.
“Toby’s not a runner,” Dexter said, and I could hear the affection for his mate in his voice. He wasn’t, and this wasn’t Toby’s fault, so I got myself under control.
“I know. Keep going.”
“So we were on with Liam, and he told us Sebbie had stopped at a house and probably gone in, and that’s when we picked up the pace. When we got here I could tell someone was dead, and I told Liam. He did his clicky clacky computer typing bullshit and said you were already on your way and he’d send you the address.”
I nodded, even though Dexter couldn’t see me. I’d known that Toby and Dexter were there, and then I’d gotten the text.
“I made Toby wait on the porch, even though he didn’t want to. I’m not sure… Corbin, I’m not sure what the fuck I walked into,” Dexter admitted.
“Tell me everything you saw,” I answered.
“There was a guy on the floor, bruised and beat up, unconscious, labored breathing, although it seemed to get better the longer we were there. There was another guy on the floor across the room, and Sebbie was standing over him. I said his name, but he didn’t even look up. I said it again, louder, and at that point Toby barged in. Before I knew what he was doing, he was grabbing Sebbie’s arm and leading him over to the couch, and then he was trying to talk to him.”
There was a pause, and I waited.
“I didn’t want to touch him. I didn’t want Toby to touch him, either. It felt… dangerous. But Sebbie was fine. I mean, he seemed confused and out of it, and he said he didn’t know what happened, but it was just Sebbie. When he was standing over that body… It didn’t feel like it was just Sebbie.”
I blew out a breath. Sebbie had unboxed something that couldn’t be put back, wasn’t that what the man in the black suit had told me? And now someone was dead.
“The cops think the younger guy—he was the other guy’s son, apparently, and he had a bad history with drugs and theft—they think he was beating on his dad and had a heart attack, and that Sebbie must have heard and gone into the house to try and help them. That’s what Sebbie said—that he heard a noise.”
“Okay. That’s okay. Nothing suspicious about that,” I confirmed. “That shouldn’t cause any trouble with the cops.”
“Yeah.” Dexter’s voice got lower. “Only he said he heard the noise in the shop, Corb, and that’s why he left. The only problem is that we’re at least a mile and a half away from that little shop. I don’t think he even knows that. I told him to tell them he heard it when he was taking a walk, and that’s what he did.”
I heard Toby’s voice calling Dexter’s name through the phone, and it didn’t surprise me when Dexter just hung up without another word. He had never quite mastered basic social skills, although he was getting better now that he was mated to Toby.
Eventually, I got a text that they were ready to head out, and I drove over a street to pick them up. There were still cops and one first aid squad hanging around, but no one paid much attention as Toby and Dexter led Sebbie to the car. Crow called out to him, and he looked over, a small smile appearing on his lips. Dexter helped him into the car, and I think it took him a minute to realize I was driving. He only put his head back and closed his eyes, though, and Toby climbed in next to him while Dexter got into the front seat.
“Where’s your car? I’ll bring you guys back to it,” I told them as I started driving.
“Oh, well, you can drop Dexter and me off, but would you mind taking Sebbie straight home afterwards? I’m sure he’s really tired,” Toby said, and when I looked in the rearview mirror, he gave such an exaggerated wink that I was glad Sebbie’s eyes were still closed.
Subtle was not Toby’s forte.
I watched as Sebbie gently elbowed him in the side, but he didn’t disagree with Toby’s plan. That was good, because I wasn’t planning on letting Sebbie out of my sight until I knew he was okay.
Dexter led me to their car, and I dropped them off. Toby gave Sebbie one final pat on the hand, then he climbed out. He looked at me, concern on his face. I could practically see the desire to take care of his friend warring with the desire to set us up, and it made me want to laugh. Toby was a good packmate.
Sebbie’s eyes were still closed, and I didn’t think he was quite sleeping, but he wasn’t really awake either. He made no move toget out of the car or switch to the front seat, and that was fine. He needed to rest.
“I’ll take care of him,” I promised Toby.
He nodded, and Dexter led him to their car as I drove off.
I knew where Sebbie lived, and the drive back to Paradise Falls seemed much shorter than the drive to find them had been. When I pulled into Sebbie’s driveway, I shut the car off. His house was a cute little cottage with a nice front porch. It was on the outskirts of town, and it reminded me of a mini version of our compound of houses. It was surrounded by woods and connected to nature, although this patch of woods wasn’t nearly as extensive as ours.
