Trevor shook his head. “But how?”
“Power calls to power—how is rarely important.”
Trevor only stared at the big male, his thoughts racing.Howwas important to him.
“Sebastian’ll be the choice to walk through yer house next,” Graeme said.
“Sebastian isn’t on the Abigail White investigation anymore; Canyon and Timber are. Sebastian is on full-time surveillance of the demon babies.”
“Sebastian can help with this particular complication, the two cowboys cannae.”
Trevor knew Sebastian had mind powers like Crew did. “Ok,” he said, inclining his head. “I’ll get Sebastian out here. It’s a good plan.”
“Aye.”
Trevor nodded once more. “Tell Kendra I said nice work—and thank you.”
Graeme’s expression broke into a rare smile. “Aye. She’s quite pleased, as am I.” He nodded once, then strolled into the forest.
From the other side of the house came Ella, his perfect and beautiful mate. She was dressed in jeans and a dark shirt, and boots, her long black hair in a low ponytail down her back. Trevor smiled at her, putting aside what Graeme had said for the moment. Ella was holding Treena, their infant daughter, a pudgy beauty with a thick shock of black hair that stuck mostly straight up. Track, her twin, ran alongside as a small black wolf pup—he growled a greeting at Trevor while Ella looked at him questioningly. Trevor shook his head and gathered his mate and their daughter into his arms, burying his face in Ella’s hair,letting her scent cool him and calm him. Track flopped down on the ground and chewed on Trevor’s boot.
“No one knows for sure,” Trevor told Ella, his voice muffled by her hair. “Crew doesn’t think she’s still around. Graeme won’t say either way. He says Sebastian should do a walkthrough.”
Ella was silent for a long time. They stood like that, not speaking, holding each other, relying on each others’ strength, their eyes on the house.
“I want you to stay out of there for now,” Trevor said.
“Definitely,” Ella said. “It creeps me out thinking she can hear us.”
Trevor growled lightly. Track imitated him and so did Treena. Ella smiled at her young, but mostly her eyes were on the house.
Trevor quieted, then nuzzled Ella behind the ear. “I’ve got to go to the station,” he whispered hoarsely. “Want to come?”
Ella considered. One of her sisters, Cerise, came around the side of the house from the back and waved for Ella to go that way. Track saw his Aunt Cerise and took off toward her like a shot. Treena shifted in Ella’s arms and jumped to the ground as a tiny black wolf pup still wearing a purple onesie. She ran after her brother.
Ella motioned toward them. “Looks like we’re staying.”
Trevor smiled at her and pulled her into another embrace, saying his good-bye. He kissed her. “I won’t be long. Call me immediately if anything gets weird.”
Trevor got in his truck and sped toward Serenity, thoughts of his mate and his young heavy on his mind.
27—Twilight Zone Shit
Canyon Wheeling prowled through the abandoned neighborhood in wolf form, his nose low to the ground, his black-furred ears pricked and scanning. He worked his way around the bases of several trees, then down a row of houses, using the scent data to build up a sense of the place in his mind.
Canyon was with his brother, Timber, working together on a mission-critical investigation. They were ‘up the bluff,’ in a hidden, off-the-grid,foxenneighborhood they hadn’t known existed until last week. They’d named it ‘Spookville,’ and they were trying to figure out what had happened to thefoxenwho lived there.
A cold breeze trilled pleasantly through the surrounding forest. The sun was high in an overcast sky. The scents were dissipated and mostly destroyed, but Canyon still was able to determine that no human orfoxenhad been near in days.
A flutter of light fabric on the back porch of the nearest house caught Canyon’s eye. He loped up the steps to a door and found it standing slightly open, drapery blowing out the gap. Canyon nosed at the door and crept inside, cataloging every scent as it came, layering each atop the other in his mind. The scents told him three people lived here: a mostlyfoxenmale, a human female, and their mostly human child. They’d had recent visitors, allfoxen. There’d been many meals cooked and eaten in this area. Several different cleaning products had been used. The carpet was vacuumed often. Beyond, in the kitchen, he could scent food spoiling on a counter and ground beef congealing in a cast iron pan, plus a moldering of the contents of a trash can.
His brother’s voice cut into his head.
I found an open window. I’m inside: The table is set, there’s food on the plates, water in the cups. The meals look half-eaten—this is some Twilight Zone shit.
Here too,Canyon responded. It’s like they all disappeared at the same time.
No scent of the Pravus.
