Are you up already?
If I weren’t up, I would be now!Griffin’s disgruntled voice reaches me.
Where are you? At your place?
No, at Elder Francis’ place. Is it important?
It is.
Then meet me there,he says.But be careful not to be seen. That’s why I am here so early in the morning.
Right. They must be working on the task Luna Rose handed them. I do as he said, using the more narrow, secluded path to Dr. Francis’ place, instead of walking through the center of the pack. Once there, Griffin opens the door before I can even knock.
“You are really annoying,” he complains. “Normal people would just send a message instead of linking someone in the middle of the night.”
“Don’t be such a princess,” I grin.
Griffin glares. “Who are you calling a princess? Are you drunk?”
“A little,” I say. “But I have news that can’t wait.”
Griffin leads me further into the house to the living room, where Dr. Francis is watching us curiously. “We have a fun little gathering now, huh?” he says with a smile.
“I am sorry for coming by unannounced,” I say.
“Don’t worry, boy. What happened?”
“Rory Allistair,” I say promptly.
“Huh?” At that, I certainly have Griffin’s interest while Dr. Francis eyes me curiously.
“Who is that?” he asks.
“He is Luna Rose’s cousin,” Griffin says. “She asked me to look into his disappearance. We just put priority on researching the late alpha couple’s death, so I haven’t mentioned him yet.”
“I met with some betas and warriors tonight,” I tell them.
“Yeah, I know,” Griffin grins. “I was part of the scheming and planning. You really are drunk, dude!”
“Sorry, I had to keep up the pretense, so had more than usual.”
“Wait a moment,” Dr. Francis says, getting up and rummaging in one of his cupboards. Then he is back with a glass of water and a pill. “Take this and drink the water. It’s good against any hangover that might hit you and will clear your mind a little.”
“Thank you.” I swallow the pill and empty the glass before turning my attention back to the two men. “It went well,” I say.
“It must have if you only returned now,” Griffin muses.
“I kissed up to Luis and Jonah—"
“Jonah?”
“A warrior from Jordan’s pack, and clearly one of his trusted men. I’ll bet he was there to spy on me. Believe me, I kissed so much ass, I might have just licked at it and pushed my tongue—"
Dr. Francis smacks the back of my head while Griffin just laughs. “Dude, I love it when you are drunk.”
“Sorry.” I rub the back of my head, looking at Dr. Francis apologetically. “What I was saying…”
“You kissed up to them,” Griffin says.
