Colbey’s chest puffed out. “The town charter states that should anything happen to an existing sheriff, a special election has to be held. It also says there must be two weeks’ notice before the election.” His shrug nearly got him punched. “So, I guess you don’t get to appoint the sheriff, even though you own the town.”
Seth looked over his shoulder at Erik. “We need to get notice out. Have somebody take care of that today, would you?”
“Sure,” Erik agreed.
Colbey looked at the brothers. “Also, when I arrived here, there were no deputies. I was told they’d both turned in their resignations and left town. I find that highly suspicious.”
“They won the lottery,” Seth said easily. “We have a town lottery, and they won it.” Yeah, he’d bribed them. They were human, and they had to go.
He was keeping track of them, though, just in case. One had packed up his young wife and headed to the Caribbean, saying he’d always wanted to own a surf shop. The other, who was single, went to Alaska, saying he’d always wanted to live alone in the middle of nowhere. They were decent guys, but they sure hadn’t minded leaving. Something had probably told them the town wasn’t quite right.
“Lottery,” Colbey muttered. “Yeah, I haven’t seen any signs of that.”
“It was more of a bingo type thing,” Seth said, lying his ass off. “We probably won’t hold it any longer now that my father’s passed on. It was his thing, not mine.”
Mia barely kept from rolling her eyes. He could see the muscles of her forehead twitch, but she managed to refrain. It was impressive, really. He turned to face his brother. “Hey, I need you to get on that second project for me today instead of later.”
Erik’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, okay. You’ve got it.” He looked around the room. “You don’t need me here.” With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the sheriff’s building.
“What’s project number two?” Colbey asked.
Kidnapping, actually. Seth turned. “Nothing. Has to do with the family finances.”
Mia shook her head. “I don’t think we need Erik to launch any sort of project.” Yeah, his woman was smart. She knew exactly what he was planning.
“We can talk about it later,” Seth said.
“Oh, we’re going to talk about it now.” Mia, her head held high, grabbed one of the case files, clutched it to her chest, and stomped toward him.
Man, she was something. She halted unexpectedly, her eyes widening.
“What?” Seth asked.
“I think I’m...” Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she started to fall.
Both Seth and Colbey moved, but Seth got there much quicker. He caught her before she hit the floor and lifted her.
She was out cold.
Chapter9
Luna McElhanney changed the playlist to a mellower tune, considering it had started raining outside and hard rock just wasn’t doing it for her. The music wandered through her quiet lab, and she settled in, glancing at the rain already pelting her windows. The wind had decided to join the act. Oh, she’d smelled the rain on the breeze earlier but had hoped to have another sunny day.
Her makeshift lab resided in the basement of her three-bedroom cabin fronting Shadow Creek, and it could get a little dark.
Her people didn’t believe in science, or rather they just didn’t care about it. She did. She didn’t have much of a choice. Hopefully, it would save her life.
She hummed softly and moved to the nearest microscope to view the blood sample she’d taken from her shifter friend the other day. Not many in the Copper Pack would give her their blood. It just wasn’t in their nature. But she had some good friends, and everyone had loved her grandmother, bless her soul. She had passed on only ten years ago, which for a wolf shifter was recent and still hurt.
Luna turned and walked over to a printer already spitting out new data. If she could only get her hands on the blood work from at least one of the other Stope Packs. Just think of what she could accomplish. But no way would that happen.
No sound alerted her, but the scent of a male had her jerking her head and spinning around.
Her mouth gaped. Shock wandered through her.
Erik Volk stood in the doorway of her lab.
She blinked once. Was he a mirage? Nope. He was there, just looking at her. Well, this couldn’t be good. She glared at the stormy weather outside. He’d obviously stayed downwind and had taken advantage of the falling pine cones around them to mask his scent. He also hadn’t made a sound as he infiltrated her cabin and walked down the stairs, but now here he was.
