Mia’s phone rang, and she lifted it to her ear to speak. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
He turned his head. “Was that the FBI? Are you needed?”
“Yes,” she said, just as they’d rehearsed. “They have more information, and I do need to get back to work.”
“You’re excused.” Seth turned back to the crowd.
He barely kept himself from smiling at her indignant snort. Her stomp off the deck and back into the house was a little louder than it needed to be. Humor expanded through his chest. Even so, he kept his expression stoic.
“Em and I will go with her,” Erik said quietly.
Todd shook his head. “I’ve got her. I’m a deputy.”
“You’re with me, Todd,” Seth ordered. The guy would make a good backup Enforcer should Erik have to leave. “Erik and Em, cover Mia.”
Mia’s voice echoed, even through the house. “Mia can cover herself, damn it.”
Erik followed Emily into the house. “We’ve got her.”
Seth looked back at the men and women he’d vowed to protect. “As I was saying...”
Mia satin the back of the SUV with Emily next to her as Erik drove. Erik had won the argument with Todd, who had decided to stay back to protect Seth. Not that Seth needed any protection.
She couldn’t get the image of him brutally slaying those six other shifters the night before out of her head. On an intellectual level, she understood the need to do so to deter any other attacks, but she couldn’t forget the brutality and the unbelievable quickness of how he’d killed.
Emily kept glancing at her.
“What?” Mia asked, turning to the side.
Emily shrugged. She had a black eye and was holding her arm as if it still hurt. “You’re pregnant.”
Erik looked over his shoulder. “You’re pregnant?”
“Watch the road.” Mia gestured wildly.
Erik rolled his eyes and turned his gaze back to the road, his hands loose on the steering wheel. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Mia said. She studied Emily. “How did you know?”
“I could smell the babe.” Emily shrugged. “I have an advanced sense of smell and can usually determine differences in bodies.”
Mia nodded. “We just found out.” Could Emily determine that the baby had been conceived before the mating? She held her breath, but Emily didn’t ask any other questions, so maybe she couldn’t smell the difference to that degree. “What do I smell like?”
Emily exhaled, moving her black sweater. Her shiny blond hair was up in a ponytail, and even without makeup, she was stunning. “You smell like freshly cut grass in the spring. It’s a scent of newness and birth, I guess. It’s sweet-smelling, if that helps.”
“Yeah, that kind of does help,” Mia said. The last thing she wanted to smell like was rotten eggs or something for the next nine months. Man, this new wolf world she’d entered was weird. “Emily, how are you feeling?” The bruising looked painful.
“I’m fine,” she insisted. “I wish I could figure out who kidnapped and kicked the crap out of me, but I don’t know who it was.”
Erik’s hands visibly tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
Mia took several swallows as nausea rose. “Let me help you find out who it was. I’m a pretty good investigator.”
Emily smiled, the expression lighting up her sculpted face. Even bruised, the woman was shockingly beautiful. “That’s okay. We have our own investigators on it. This is a wolf matter, Mia, not FBI.”
Mia shrugged. “All right. If you need help, let me know.” She had no doubt that Emily could take care of any threats against her. And with Erik at her side, there wasn’t a lot to worry about. Even so, she was a detective at heart. “Why would somebody kidnap you?”
Emily shook her head. “I don’t know. If I’m taken out, then Erik won’t become Alpha of our pack. Nor will I.” She rubbed at the bruise beneath her eye. “Though, as you know, I don’t want to be Alpha, and I never did. It’s not something I’m even remotely interested in.”
