“Interesting.”
“Whatever.”
“I mean, that’s very civil of you, taking into consideration his family’s feelings and pain in spite of your obvious affection for your human.”
Indigo didn’t say anything else. He seemed to be mulling over her decisions as they drove. They traveled along the main road to downtown Old Coot, Arkansas. If Old Coot’s sheriff, Hunter Valero, saw her, he’d likely wonder why she was riding along with someone other than Wyatt. Would he stop them? Maybe.
Valene watched for Wyatt’s best friend as they went from one end of town to the other, and tried to think of a clever plan to let him know she was in trouble. They didn’t see a single other vehicle on the road. They finally turned onto a smaller street filled on either side with houses.
A left turn, a right, another right—Valene lost track of direction in the maze of the housing division where each house looked very much like its neighbor’s. Valene went back to wishing Hunter had been out and about patrolling, but apparently he was otherwise occupied. Probably just as well, as she hadn’t come up with any plan to alert him that she was in trouble.
Another turn to the right put them in a more upscale sub-division where the houses weren’t as cookie-cutter as the previous neighborhood.
Indigo turned into the driveway of a very nice home with a three-car garage, a rarity in this area. He picked up a different remote and pushed a button. The middle garage door opened and he pulled the big SUV in like he did it every single day. He turned the vehicle off and got out, closing the garage door with the remote as he rounded the front bumper to her side of the vehicle.
“Where are we?” Valene asked.
“Don’t you already know?” He asked the question like he had a trick up his sleeve that she hadn’t figured out yet and was amused by her ignorance.
“No idea.”
“Well, it will be a surprise then.” He zip-tied her hands in front of her and pointed to the door leading into the house. When she didn’t move, he dragged her by her wrists toward it.
Inside the house, there was a short hallway going only one way. Indigo pushed her back against the wall. “You should stay here,” he said, walking a couple of steps toward what looked like the entrance to the kitchen. “I can’t be responsible for your feelings if you follow me.” He grinned. What was he up to?
Valene could see the corner of the refrigerator. His expression dared her to follow him. She lifted away from the wall, eyes narrowing, and wondered what he was up to.
In the doorway, his back to her, Indigo stood stock still for a couple of seconds and then morphed before her eyes into the man she was in love with, Wyatt.
From the top of his head to the crisply pressed sheriff’s uniform he always wore to his well-worn dark brown boots. She gaped.
How did Indigo do that? How was he an Alpha shapeshifter? How had he turned into Wyatt?
Indigo grinned at her with Wyatt’s sweet mouth asshestared at him in horror, suddenly realizing the scope of his incredible powers. No wonder he’d been able to escape from any prison anywhere.
“Daphne,” he called out using Wyatt’s voice. “Where are you, darlin’? It’s me, Wyatt.”
Valene’s mouth dropped open in utter shock.
What fresh space potato hell is this?
“Wyatt?” Daphne Charlene’s very surprised voice came from the kitchen. Indigo-Wyatt disappeared into the kitchen.
Valene moved slowly forward, unable to stop herself from walking to the doorway to see what he planned to do.
Indigo-Wyatt winked at Valene and then kissed a happily shocked Daphne Charlene passionately on the mouth.
Road Trip to Suspicion, Minnesota
Dixie Lou dug up the address of the dead woman she planned to visit before leaving home—well, alleged dead woman. This would be an epic journey and exciting mission to discover why Constance Brickwood had faked her death. She couldn’t wait to get the juicy details.
She plugged the Minnesota address into the fancy navigation system of the vehicle she’d borrowed from her boyfriend, Ed, gathered a few supplies and hit the road with Miss Penny.
“How long will it take us to get there?” her friend asked as they passed the final Maxwell the Martian billboard on the northbound road out of Alienn.
“A day and a half, if we hit it hard. Two if we take our sweet time.”
