“Can you tell me what’s going to happen?” she asked, her voice admirably strong.
Tonya gestured behind her. “Over there is the Moss family acreage complete with barbed wire and honest-to-God gun turrets. We’re going to knock on the front door and show them the warrant. They’re going to let us in nice and polite because they have no choice, and no one is going to shoot anything or anyone.”
Becca sighed. “Why don’t I believe it’ll go that smoothly?”
“Because you don’t know us,” Tonya answered. Then her expression softened. “If Theo is in there, we’ll find him.”
“Okay,” Becca said softly. “Thank you.”
Carl squeezed her arm and gave her an encouraging smile. “It’ll be just like she said.”
Becca eyed the shotgun on his hip with a wry expression. He shrugged.
“It’s just a precaution.”
Alan chimed in from the other side of the truck. “Absolutely. Don’t plan to fire a shot.”
Which was the God’s honest truth…in part. They were here just in case the Moss family was larger than expected. In case things got out of control. In case…any of a thousand possibilities occurred.Meanwhile, Tonya got back into her car. He thought she’d leave without another word, but she dropped her window long enough to shoot Alan a glare. “That Glock better be registered.”
“You can come check my paperwork anytime.”
She didn’t respond except to roll her eyes and then she drove farther down the road. Meanwhile, Carl couldn’t keep himself from touching Becca. “It’ll be fine,” he repeated. “You’ll see.”
She nodded, probably knowing he was reassuring himself as much as her. And then she looked at his gun. “Why do you need that? Can’t you go…” She raised her hands like claws and mouthed, “Grrrr.”
It was adorable and he wanted to kiss her right then and there, but he held himself back. “Can’t until I get some rest. Only the wolves can change more than once a day, and that’s only around the full moon. Most of us can’t even do that. It takes a ton of energy to switch forms.”
“So you’re stuck as a man?”
Only someone who’d never been around shifters would call it “stuck” being human. They all thought it was cool to suddenly become an animal. No one ever thought about the cost. Or that between animal and man, nothing in his head was ever peaceful.
“Some of us like it as a man,” he said gently.
“Only someone who can shift easily would ever say that,” groused his brother in a weird reverse echo of his own thoughts.
Then another voice spoke, deeper than theirs and thick with disuse. “And both of you suck in either body.”
Mark stepped out from the trees. His dark hair looked shaggy, his face haggard, but his eyes were bright and his mouth was curled in a smile. God, it’d been years since Carl had seen that smile, though what it meant was anybody’s guess.
“At least we don’t smell,” countered Alan. “When was the last time you took a shower?”
“This here is one hundred percent natural musk,” Mark said as he clasped Alan’s hand and drew him into a bear hug much to Alan’s gagging discomfort. “Not that froufrou shit you use.”
Carl almost smiled at the exchange. It seemed friendly and human. But Mark didn’t touch people if he could help it, which made that bear hug suspect. And sure enough, while he watched, Mark dropped something into Alan’s pocket.
“Okay, morons,” Carl drawled, his gut knotting as he guessed what was going on. “Cut that shit out. Tell me what’s happening. And while you’re at it, Mark, tell me when was the last time you ate with utensils and slept in a bed.”
Mark shoved Alan away and snorted. “Yes, sir, Mr. Max, sir.” There was no respect in his tone, just a teasing camaraderie. He started to speak, then sniffed the air, his gaze going unerringly to Becca.
Great. Even in human form, the man’s nose was better than a wolf’s.
“Hello, ma’am,” Mark said as he held out his hand. “I’m Mark Robertson, the only bear worth shit in the Gladwin clan. Your Theo is a good kid. I’ll get him home safe.”
“Thank you,” she said as she shook his hand, her tiny fingers completely engulfed by Mark’s massive paw. “And please call me Becca.”
“Becca,” he said with a low, throaty growl that immediately spiked Carl’s irritation. Without willing it, his body started to bulk and if he hadn’t been too exhausted to shift, he’d have sprouted fur.
Which was exactly the reaction Mark had been watching for. Damn it. The man’s gaze shot to Carl and his expression turned from blatantly sexual to vaguely pitying.
