Mia looked to discover what he was seeing but couldn’t find anything out of place. Footsteps sounded behind them, and then Erik, Todd, and Claire came into view. “What’s going on?” Mia asked.
“You catch them on the wind?” Erik asked, moving like a graceful predator to the edge of the deck in front of the table. From that position, he could intercept anybody before they came near the house.
“Yep,” Seth said. “Mia, inside now.”
“No,” she argued. “I want to know what’s going on.” As she watched, Claire and Todd strode to the edge of the deck, taking up defensive positions. They were both wearing their deputy uniforms and looked deadly.
“What is happening?” Kurt asked, straightening. Mia shook her head. Figures emerged from the forest. All nude.
“Holy crap,” Kurt muttered. “Do you people ever wear clothes?”
“We can’t shift with clothes on, you moron,” Claire said without looking around, her stance set.
Mia cocked her head to see beyond Erik. A graceful man with long, white hair came into view. He was tall with weathered skin and plenty of muscle beneath it. He had to be several hundred years old. Two muscled bodyguards flanked him.
“Yassi? You didn’t have an invitation,” Seth growled.
Yassi? He was the head of the Copper Pack. Mia hadn’t met him, but she knew the name. Warning ticked down her spine.
“No, but we need to talk and do it now.” Yassi drew Luna from behind his back. She was nude and shivering, and her eyes were wide. Even so, she jerked free and stood tall.
“Luna!” Mia stiffened.
Erik glanced at his brother.
Seth gave him a curt nod. “If you need to take him, do it,” he said under his breath.
Mia held up a hand. “Luna, it’s okay. Come here.” She waved her over.
Seth looked at Claire. “She needs to be out of here, and she needs to be out of here now.”
“No,” Mia said. Luna was her friend, and she needed help. It looked like there was a bruise on her cheekbone.
Seth exploded out of the chair and had Mia out of hers and inside the house in a heartbeat. He set her down none too gently and leaned over her, his eyes blazing. “When I tell you to get out of a situation, you get out of it.”
Claire emerged from the side.
Seth didn’t take his gaze off Mia. “Keep her in the living room. I don’t sense anybody out front. If I yell for you to go, you go, and you go fast. Got it?”
“Got it,” Claire said.
Fury blasted through Mia as he turned without another look and went back outside, slamming the sliding door hard enough to rattle the glass. “What an ass,” she bit out.
Claire chortled. “They’re all asses. I’ve been mated for twenty years and have six kids.” She sobered. “Well, five kids now. But males are all asses.” She put an arm around Mia. “Let them handle their problems. Let’s just wait here like good girls.”
“You did not just say that,” Mia said, stepping away from her.
Claire smiled, for once not looking like a kindergarten teacher. “I have my orders, and you have yours.”
“Yeah, but he let Kurt stay out there.”
Claire winced. “Kurt probably won’t survive the next few minutes. Sorry.”
No way would Seth just kill the guy. Probably. Mia pushed her hair away from her face. “Seth was angry I went to Seattle.” That didn’t make sense. He’d given her the go-ahead.
“They’re always mad about us being independent,” Claire groused.
Mia’s phone vibrated in her back pocket, and she drew it out to read the screen. She frowned. “Rodney’s alibi holds up for the murder of the gas station victim. How does that make sense?” Her shoulders went back. “Oh. Kurt managed to get a phone dump quickly.” She opened the attachment and noted several DC numbers without identification. Then another number came into view. One she knew and knew well. “Claire?”
