The two wolves, as Becky, thought of Rob and Jon. So human, yet so not. They came in looking exhausted. It was almost four-thirty in the morning. Why were they all still awake? She didn’t know. “The bar is ready for tomorrow. Bart and Paul are tracking some scent Jon found in your clinic, Becky. So, all is not lost. They will see what they can find. We suspect the rogues used the fire as a diversion to get into the clinic for medical supplies and medications. There was a physical altercation, and we know at least one rogue was injured.” “So, what you’re saying is that I was lucky I wasn’t there for them to kidnap.” Becky couldn’t believe it. This is what Rob was protecting her from. Jon grunted as he nodded, along with Rob. “Or they could have mistaken Janie as the vet and taken her, thinking she could help the injured fool.” Jane Ann gave him a look of alarm, before she turned her round eyes on Becky, looking for some kind of assurance or support.

Bart returned to the motel where he left Grace to her own means after he got off work. She was oddly unhappy about that. But she told Bart she wanted to take the information she now knew and do a little research. Grace thought she might have something, but it was in her notes. She’d also warned Bart that her investigative instincts told her that his new workplace was having issues, and he needed to watch what he said or did. Little did Grace know that was something Bart always needed to do. Edit what and how he said things, make sure he could explain how he figured out something that wouldn’t raise suspicion. That was the life of a shifter who worked with humans. You couldn’t actually tell them you were following a scent trail. Humans didn’t do things like that. But no matter how much he wanted to explain that to her now, it was far too early. If he could tell her at all. He let that go, claiming he wanted to go home, do a few things and change. Which was su

Bart could spend some quality time with Grace that evening and still got enough sleep before work. The next morning, they could come in late because of the fire investigation and the break-in. The bull pen was jumping today, and Grace was sitting in his office looking angry. “Morning. What brings you here?” “You know how I want to talk to a few of the families of the missing?” “Yeah, have any of them contacted you?” “Now that I think about it. No, and that is odd. Normally, in something like this family is out trying to lead the charge. What did you find out?” “Well, it’s taken a week to get any of them to return my calls. I ended up on the doorstep of one in sheer desperation of speaking to someone. Bart, someone paid for their silence with money and who knows what threats.” “That’s crazy, and it makes it a matter for me to investigate, not yours. This proved my point last night that this is far too dangerous for you. Who

Grace couldn’t get a moment to herself to think about today. She’d slipped out of the police station while Bart was dealing with his own nightmare of a boss. That, too, was a story she’d love to tackle. There was something weird about what he permitted to be done and what he didn’t. Grace hadn’t figured out what he was trying to do. If he was padding numbers or letting certain people get away with crimes and not others. It was a problem in many of the small towns. But as long as it didn’t go too far, no one blinked an eye. Now, though, Grace was looking at this small town through a microscope and little things would pop up. No trails to follow or signs spelling out exactly what was going on. But it was enough to keep her here. That and this Hectric situation. That would go a long way if she could offer them up to the correct media and law enforcement agencies. She was coming to terms with the idea that Charlie was small potatoes, and her story was too big fo

Becky couldn’t believe this was happening in her clinic. She couldn’t deal with it. This wasn’t her problem. Why did she have to deal with any of it? She’d still not come to terms with the idea that she’d messed up her life by having sex with someone who wasn’t fully human. What was she thinking about that? If she got pregnant, it would be nothing but trouble. How could she protect herself and a baby? Now, there were people in her waiting room protesting and threatening her against becoming Rob’s mate. They’d just met a few days ago. This was all too fast for her.“Jane Ann, I can’t. Make them stop, please. This is all too much. I never asked for any of this. Who do these people are to threaten and bully me? What did I ever do to them?” Jane Ann watched the door close behind Becky as she leaned against it and melted down into quiet sobs.They could hear the confrontation happening in the waiting room through the door. Rob handled the heated situation with authority. If Becky wasn’t so