“Someone was here.” His voice is low and tight. “The ground is disturbed. But the scent’s all scrambled.”
Derek catches up behind him. “Scent neutralizer. He had to be using one. There’s no trail at all.”
I glance between the two of them. “What’s that?”
“A chemical wash.” Grayson’s eyes haven’t left the tree line. “It hides a shifter’s scent from another shifter. Most of them also flatten a human scent on the same wearer. They aren’t cheap, and they aren’t easy to get.”
Derek’s jaw tightens. “That’s how he got past the patrol. They track by scent. Mask it well enough, and a man can walk right up to the tree line.”
“So whoever it was knew what he was doing,” Grayson says harshly.
“Yes.”
Ethan’s hand fists harder in my shirt.
Grayson turns to me, and the gold has receded a little but not enough. “Inside. Both of you. Now.”
I don’t argue. Carrying Ethan in through the back door, past the abandoned dinner plates, up the stairs to his bedroom, I keep his face pressed into my shoulder so he doesn’t have to look at anything. He clings to my neck the entire way. I get him into his pajamas with my hands steadier than they feel, brush his teeth at the small sink in his bathroom, and settle him into bed with ChuChu wedged under his chin.
“Miranda.”
“Yeah?”
“He was looking at me.”
I climb up next to him on top of the blanket and pull him into my side. “You’re never,” I murmur into his hair, “leaving my sight again, buddy. Not in this yard. Not anywhere. Do you understand me?”
He nods against my chest.
“Now go to sleep. As long as your dad is here, nobody can take you away from us.”
He just burrows into me. He doesn’t seem to understand why everyone is upset, but it’s impacting his mood as well. I stay there until his breathing has evened out and his small fist has loosened in my shirt. Then I ease him onto his pillow, pull the blanket up to his chin, kiss his temple, and close the door behind me with a soundless click.
I make it three steps down the hallway before voices reach me from the kitchen.
Coach has come back.
I stop on the landing and listen, my hand on the banister.
“...the boy. Is he all right?”
“He’s all right.” Grayson’s voice. “He’s in bed.”
“Vanessa?”
“Could be.” Grayson sounds grim. “She has the resources. She has the motive.”
Derek’s voice now, quieter than the other two. “Whoever it was knew enough to come prepared and knew enough to retreat the second Miranda called out.”
A long beat passes before Coach speaks again.
“Then she does not get to know any more about Miranda than she already knows. Not who she is, not what she is to you. If word reaches the Crimson Rock pack that Grayson has a fated mate who is a human, Vanessa can take it to the Council herselfand force a hearing. Right now, she is fighting a custody case in a human court. If she opens that other door, we lose every option we have. Until the custody case is closed and we have a clean path to a petition, Miranda’s identity stays sealed.”
Derek murmurs his agreement.
“Fine.” Grayson exhales. “I’ll tell her.”
“You don’t have to tell her every little thing, Wolfe.”
