“It didn’t spread though. Only grass around it caught,” I added, putting doubt into our idea.
Dad leaned forward to grab his empty glass and paused for a second, then picked it up and stood. He went through the open sliding doors and into the kitchen.
The room hadn’t been updated since Mom had done it when I was in second grade. It could use an overhaul, but since she was gone, I hadn’t known my father to make many changes. Her death had messed with him. I hadn’t seen much of the sunny and warm man I remembered since.
“What are you getting at, Alison?” he asked, setting the glass in the sink for Mary, the housekeeper.
He turned and faced me, and I met his gaze. I saw the strong and formidable man I’d known my whole life, but I looked at him a little differently now.
He’d shot those wolves. He’d admitted to it. Been found guilty. Given a fine for breaking the law, which was like a drop in the bucket to the family finances.
“I don’t know. But you aren’t bothered that the original homestead cabin burned down? All that history destroyed?”
“Of course I care, but it’s too late.”
“Too late?” I asked.
He turned away, making me wonder if he had something to hide. Was I being paranoid?
“Mary left a casserole.” He went to the fridge and pulled out the covered dish.
“I’m having dinner in town with friends,” I said.
He glanced at me, then went to set the temperature on the oven.
“I’ll call the insurance company about the cabin in the morning. I assume the paperwork is in the file cabinet in the office?” I said.
With a heavy clunk, he set the casserole on the center island. “We don’t need insurance adjusters out there.”
“It wasn’t on the policy? I’d think it’d have something about outbuildings.”
“I won’t have our rates go up because of a claim on a place that was barely standing.”
The last I remembered, the place had been more than barely standing. That cabin had been built like a log fortress. Small but mighty. Then again, I’d been away for years, and we had rough winters. Maybe the roof had gotten a hole and weather got in. It would easily fall into disrepair if that had occurred.
“I’ll call the adjuster, just in case,” I stated. “You never know how much they’ll—”
“No!” Dad shouted, his deep voice echoing off the tile floor and sturdy walls.
My eyes widened and I stared, stunned by his outburst.
“You will not do that.”
“Just like I won’t talk to the police officers who came to the house yesterday?” I countered somewhat bitterly. I wasn’t used to being dictated to as if I were a child.
I might be his child, but I’d expected to come back as an equal. A partner. Was this why Steven had moved to Spokane? Had my brother up and left because Dad was being an asshole?
“Alison,” he said, the tone of his voice familiar from childhood when I’d done something wrong. I hadn’t been angelic, but I hadn’t been a hellion either.
“I’m not eight, and I didn’t spill nail polish on the carpet.” I set my hands on my hips and glared right back at him. “You’re intentionally not answering my question.”
I hadn’t thought before I’d asked, but I wanted to know. Why was he being so demanding and difficult about the cabin? Was the DEA correct? Had the path Theo had followed led him directly to the source of meth? My father?
“Those police officers like to stick their noses into people’s business.”
“You mean like last year, when you illegally shot endangered wolves?”
“You’re taking their side now?” His shoulders went back, as if hardening himself against what he felt was a personal attack.
“I was stating a fact,” I replied as calmly as I could. “You shot the animals, and you faced the consequences. It’s not the sheriff’s fault you don’t like that he enforced them.”
“They were on our land!”
“No, they weren’t!”
He frowned. “They would have been.”
“You paid a professor at the university to tag them so you could track and then kill them. That’s not even sport hunting.”
His gaze narrowed on me and for the first time, I saw something inside my dad I didn’t recognize. Something dark.
“How did you hear about that?” he asked, his voice quiet.
“When your story didn’t match the sheriff’s, I looked it up on the Internet in the Wolf Springs paper and read all about it.” After I saw Holt and Theo.
“Now you’re a wolf lover?” he snapped.
I tossed up my hands. We weren’t getting anywhere. I glanced at the rooster clock on the wall above the sink. I had a date to get to.
I didn’t answer his question aloud, but as I left him with his casserole, I was starting to think: yeah, I was a wolf lover.
5
THEO
We didn’t have to do any more searching after we found the burned-out cabin. The scent of ammonia was too strong for our shifter noses to miss. Then Ali had appeared upon her horse as if our wolves had summoned her. Then we’d kissed and made a date, and any work thoughts were pushed to the side.
We’d pulled together food. Holt had picked up and changed the sheets on his bed because if Ali was open to more than just kissing, we’d be using it all night long. That outdoor convo had gotten me to take a shower and rub one out, although that didn’t do anything to slake my need for her. My wolf was pushing me to claim her, and that meant a hard dick all the time. She had been more than eager earlier, and that had been with both of us. It gave me hope—enough that I called my parents, and told them we’d found our mate.
To say they’d been thrilled would have been an understatement, and they understood why I’d be spending my time with Holt—and Ali—for the foreseeable future.
I was in. Holt was in. My parents, while they had no say in any relationship I had, were in. Even the alpha was in.
We had to get Ali in… or us in Ali.
Six couldn’t come soon enough, and while we could have waited for her to come to the door, we heard her car approaching with our shifter hearing, and met her when she parked.
Holt’s place was in the foothills, tucked back in the pine forest. It sat up on a knoll with views of the entire valley. If Ali moved in there with us, she could look down upon it and more. As far as the eye could see.
I opened the car door for her, and Holt took her hand and helped her out. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans with her cowgirl boots, and a blouse that showed off her belly button and made her tits look amazing. My mouth watered.
“I can skip the steak. She definitely looks good enough to eat,” I remarked.
Holt obviously agreed because he took her lips in a claiming kiss.
“Wow,” she said when they finally broke apart. “That was a great welcome.”
“Lemme taste,” I insisted, catching her around the waist to turn her to face me. I slanted my mouth over hers, slipping my tongue between her lips when she parted them. I held her up against my body, my free hand sliding around to cradle the back of her head from beneath her cascade of auburn hair. “Mmm,” I rumbled my approval. “I’m ready to eat.”