“I want to go home,” Jeffrey wailed loudly. “I want to leave.”
“The tires are shot out; this car isn’t going anywhere. Let’s go in my van,” Truman said. “We’ve got a tow-hitch in the minivan; Alexander and Paul can hook up your SUV and get it out of here so that we’re not connected to the shooting.” Grant’s SUV was still surrounded by the vehicles that had been driven by Jeffrey’s would-be kidnappers.
There were two minivans parked a short way down the road. Truman slid into the driver’s seat of one of them. Jeffrey, Mandy and Celeste sat behind him. Pete and Reynaldo climbed in and sat in the row of seats behind them. They drove off as Alexander and Paul hurried to the second van.
Jeffrey wrapped himself around Celeste like an octopus as they headed down the road.
“All right. Talk,” Grant growled to Truman.
“You’re welcome, by the way,” Truman replied.
“Thank you for saving us,” Celeste called out.
“Grant found a mate who’s actually got some manners? I guess opposites do attract,” Truman scoffed as they hurried down the road.
“Yeah, she’s the nice one, and I’m the wolf who’s going to start doing open-heart surgery with my fangs if you don’t explain what’s going on here. Someone just sent a bunch of humans to take my boy, someone who knows about werewolves, and I’m not in the mood,” Grant growled. “How did you know where we were?”
“Cliff sent us here to help watch over you,” Truman said, focusing on the road ahead, his expression grim. “He was worried about you not having any pack protection. Having no pack makes you a lone wolf. We all know what happens to lone wolves.”
“What happens to lone wolves?” Celeste asked.
Grant answered. “Lone wolves are a risk to the safety of all werewolves. Many of them are too antisocial to fit into a pack, and most of them are outright feral. They also run an increased risk of getting caught by humans if they don’t have access to pack lands on the full moon. They can legally be killed by any member of a legitimate pack, without repercussions.” He sounded as if he were reciting out of a brochure.
“Most of them?” Mandy mocked him. “Was that based on a scientific survey?”
“Excuse me, Miss Bleeding Heart,” Grant snapped. “It’s actually a little hard to do an accurate study on lone wolves, with most of the packs around the country keeping to themselves.”
“Well, you’re known as the pack’s rules expert,” Mandy said. “Get back to the lodge, work with your brother, and start helping our packs draft up some agreements so we can work together instead of scrapping like a bunch of high school girls”
“We’ll see,” Grant muttered. They took a sharp turn and his arm shot out protectively, in front of Celeste and Jeffrey.
He glanced at Truman. “Where are the rest of your men now? Aside from Alexander and Paul?”
Truman shook his head. “I’m here alone. What do you mean?”
Grant frowned. “Pete? Reynaldo? Do you have any idea who killed off most of the men in the woods? The majority of them were shot, not attacked by wolves. Was that your men doing the shooting?”
“Nope.” Reynaldo shook his head. “I saw some men in camo taking out our attackers. No idea who they were, but they were werewolves, I smelled that much.”
Grant cursed under his breath. First there were mystery attackers, then there were mystery heroes…Too many mysteries swirling around his son. “And how did you get here?” he asked Mandy.
“You hired me to look out for you. I was looking out for you. I just didn’t feel like getting into a conversation with you today, because you were being an asshole.”
Celeste cleared her throat. “Language.”
Mandy glanced at Jeffrey. “I said gas-roll.”
Jeffrey snorted. “No you didn’t.”
Cliff and Taylor were waiting for them on the front steps of the orange mansion when they got there.
Taylor stared at Mandy as they all walked up the steps.
“Sweet mother of God,” she said, looking at Mandy’s blood-splattered visage.
“Yeah, yeah, things got a little messy,” Mandy said. “I’m going to go take a shower, if nobody minds.” She walked past them through the open front door.
“Let me know if you need help scrubbing your back,” Truman called after her.
