Page 12 of Watch Me

“Ricky? What are you doing here?” Fin frowned and set the kickstand so he could stand upright.

“We’re in charge of patrolling with King out of the area,” I started, giving my excuses. “I was thinking we could go along the border of pack land together at sunset.”

Grabbing a rag to wipe his hands, Fin didn’t meet my eyes. “You could start now.”

No, my wolf grumbled. We both wanted alone time with him.

“Be more effective if we went together, don’t you think?” I pointed out, moving from the entrance to stand in front of him.

“We can cover more ground and time if we patrol separately,” Fin insisted, and damn if it wasn’t logical.

Scrambling, I decided to appeal to his caretaker side. “You want me to face two Alpha bears on my own? We onlymade it out alive last time because there were a few of us. And you still got hurt.”

“I–” Fin’s eyes widened, and I knew I’d won. “No, I don’t want you to face them alone.”

“Perfect,” I grinned, stepping close enough to run one finger along his exposed clavicle. He drew in a sharp breath, but didn’t stop me. “Want to grab dinner first? Rel has a shift tonight, but I don’t. I can cook and we can shift behind the house.”

There. I didn’t know how I could be more clear. I invited him over and let him know the house was empty. Plus, his clothes would need to be retrieved, so we’d end up back at my place. The ball was in his court.

“The bears do tend to act at night,” Fin admitted, watching as I dragged my finger down between his pecs to dip between his defined abs. “Cover for shifting and crossing our border.”

“Mmhmm,” I cooed, stopping at his belly. I got closer, smelling his woodsy musk, mixed with motor oil like usual. “And then Channing and Gramps will be in for the night. Whatever will we do with our time?”

Fingering the knot where he tied the arms of his jumpsuit had Fin’s eyes finally meeting mine. “Ricky, I don’t think–”

Whatever rejection he was cooking up was cut off when a loud ringing came from the pocket of his outfit. I could feel the vibrations of it and kept my eyes on his as I slipped fingers into the pocket and pulled his phone out. I was going to put it on silent so we could continue our conversation, but then I saw who it was.

“It’s Gramps, Merle King,” I explained, holding the phone towards Fin. He frowned and took while hitting the answer button. Before I could ask, Fin hit the speaker button.

“Hey Merle, what’s up?” Fin started, and I wondered if he was going to tell the old alpha that I was there too.

“Fin! You have to come quick,” Merle practically yelled, the fear and anguish clear in his voice.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, wondering why Channing wasn’t helping the old man. She was strong enough to lift him if he fell and couldn’t get up.

“Channing went to town while I was taking a nap and now she’s missing,” Merle said, the tremble in his voice evident. I didn’t know he was so afraid of her being alone with the threat of the bears looming overhead, but the man had lost most of his family. “You have to find her.”

“Okay, Ricky and I are in Blue Lake at the shop. Where do you think she is?” Fin asked, handing me the phone so he could zip up his blue jumpsuit. “We’ll bring her home and impress on her how precarious it is right now.”

“You don’t understand,” Merle grumbled, and I could hear the sound of him pounding his hand on some wooden surface on the phone. “Pam, that busybody neighbor down Wolf Creek Road, just called.”

“And?” I asked, tired of waiting for the point when something had clearly gone wrong in the pack. “What did she say?”

“She said Jed MacTaryn died and his sons weren’t even at the hospital.” He sounded exasperated, so instead of replying, we gave him a minute. I got the feeling this wasn’t about them being neglectful to their father. Merle let out a heavy breath and a sense of dread trickled down myspine like ice water. “They were at the casino, and I think Channing was visiting the tribe.”

“Northlake is small, but the houses are not on the same property as the casino,” Fin stated, obviously trying to calm the patriarch down. “We can head that way and make sure their paths don’t cross.”

“No, dammit,” Merle yelled and we both went silent at the authority he still held. “Channing is going into heat. They’ll smell it on her. You have to…it might be too late.”

Fuck.

Chapter eight

Fin

JedMacTarynwasdead.We should be celebrating the death of a man who turned his town into a meth-riddled hell. I didn’t think his sons would be any better. They were younger, bigger, and more stupid than their father. But one less bigoted asshole in the world is never a bad thing.

How had Channing being about to go into heat slipped by me? As Ricky clung to me on the back of my bike as we tore along the road to Northlake, a cut off phrase Riley said came back to me. He’d said, ‘But Channing–’ like there was more. I thought it was about her coming home at the time, but what if he’d been saying she was going to be home and vulnerable?