“We’re planning to hit a few more bars before we call it a night, but she’s going to be hard to identity, even with this drawing,” Trevor said. “She’s a trained predator and people are her prey. She’s not going to slip up and make herself easy to find.”
Trey took a sip of his beer. “Speaking of prey, any word on that guy we rescued in the park last night? Has he woken up yet?”
“I talked to STAT a couple hours ago and as of then, the guy was still in a coma,” Trevor said. “They’re giving him fluids and trying to replace all the crap the creature sucked out of him, but they have no idea when—or if—he’ll wake up.”
Connor leaned forward to regard him thoughtfully. “Back to your date for a minute. Why are you here instead of rolling around in bed with a certain attractive medical examiner?”
Trey frowned, rubbing his thumb over the fancy label on the beer bottle. When he didn’t respond right away, his pack mates looked back and forth at each other like they were playing a silent game of rock paper scissors to see who would have to dig the issue out of him.
“What happened?” Trevor finally asked.
Trey opened his mouth to tell them what he’d found at Samantha’s place, but at the last second, his tongue made a wide right turn and decided to go in a different direction. “You remember that buddy of mine I served in the army with, Kyson? Samantha and I went to visit him tonight and found out that he killed himself a couple weeks ago.”
No one said anything, then they were all talking at once, asking why Kyson had committed suicide. Trey told them about the issues Kyson had been dealing with since being medically discharged from the army but had to admit he had no idea what had ultimately pushed his friend to take his own life.
“I’ll probably never know why he did it,” he finally said. “I’m just sorry that when it really mattered, he didn’t reach out to me. After everything we went through together, he decided to go it alone.”
“You doing okay?” Connor asked. “I know you guys were close.”
Trey nodded. “I’m okay, thanks to Samantha. After I found out about Kyson, I kind of shut down and she was there for me. I don’t know what I would have done without her.”
“Dude, if that isn’t proof that she’s The One for you, I don’t know what is,” Connor said.
Trey felt the corner of his mouth edge up. “I’m not even going to try to fight you on that anymore. Samantha is definitely The One. That only makes it even harder to accept the fact that she’s planning to betray us.”
His pack mates exchanged looks, clearly confused.
“What do you mean?” Connor asked.
Trey blew out a breath. “I got a look in her guest bedroom, and it’s one big stalker haven. Three walls were covered with pictures of the Pack, and she’s got all these pieces of yarn connecting each pic to other shots of various crime scenes where we used our werewolf abilities. I don’t know how, but she even has stuff from when we were in New Orleans and LA. Worse, she has a file on me with my whole life in it—military records, work evaluations, even medical stuff. And I’m willing to bet she has similar files on all of you guys, too.”
“Damn,” Trevor breathed. “How much do you think she’s figured out? Does she know we’re werewolves?”
Trey shook his head. “I don’t think so. But considering what happened Saturday night, I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time before she has proof.”
“What happened Saturday night?” Hale murmured. “And why are we just hearing about it now?”
“We were in her kitchen making out when Samantha broke a coffee mug. She started to reach for the pieces and I instinctively put my hand out so she wouldn’t get cut.” Trey held up his right palm. “I sliced myself pretty good, too. Blood went everywhere.”
“Shit,” Connor groaned.
“Yeah, exactly,” Trey muttered. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t even think about it at first. I assumed it was an accident. But in light of all the stuff I found in her apartment, now I’m wondering if she orchestrated the whole event to get a blood sample.”
That announcement was met with complete and total silence. Trey didn’t blame them. This was huge.
“What do you think she’s going to do with it?” Trevor asked. “I mean, what can she do with it? I’m not exactly up on the science of werewolf blood. Can she find something to prove you’re a werewolf?”
Trey shrugged. “Samantha is a doctor and a medical examiner with access to a multimillion-dollar DNA lab. If anyone could rip my blood apart and pull out the werewolf bits, it would be her.”
“What are you going to do?” Hale asked.
Trey would have laughed if there were a single thing about this effed-up situation that was funny. “I don’t know. I mean, seriously, she could be in the process of outing the entire pack as we speak. So if any of you guys have a suggestion, I’m all ears.”
He didn’t honestly expect an answer, especially since they seemed as blindsided by the whole thing as he was, so he wasn’t surprised when the first piece of advice was less than brilliant.
“I say we grab her,” Trevor suggested. “You know, to protect the Pack.”
Trey gave him a wry look. “And what do we do with her then? Keep her locked up in the arms room at the compound?”
Trevor winced. “Okay. Maybe that wasn’t the best idea. But we have to do something.”
“Agreed,” Trey said firmly. “But not that.”
“This might sound crazy, but maybe you should simply talk to her,” Hale advised. “Put your cards on the table and see what she has to say.”
“Put my cards on the table?” Trey snorted. “And what do you expect me to tell her, that yes, the entire Dallas SWAT team is a pack of werewolves, but that she shouldn’t hold that against us because we’re really nice people? Or maybe I should tell her she’s my soul mate? Because I’m sure that would go over really well.”
“Maybe it would,” Connor said. “If Samantha is The One for you, then she’s going to feel the connection, too. Do you think she’d honestly out the Pack once she knows the two of you are soul mates?”
Trey did a double take. “You’re willing to risk the Pack’s safety on the chance that Samantha would be willing to drop everything she’s spent the last two years collecting simply because she’s my soul mate? That’s damn risky, don’t you think?”
“Maybe,” Connor replied. “But it’s not like we have a lot of choices here. If you won’t talk to her, the only other option would be for the whole Pack to go on the run.”