Chapter Two
Ross was even more cautious than usual, melting back into the trees of the forest that backed onto their offices and homes. The agency had expanded to either side of what had once been a small office so that each brother had their own living space. OK, so there was a shared kitchen, but the set up worked well for them. It also meant that Ross could do his job and make sure that everything was running smoothly in the pack. Thankfully, he and his brothers got along pretty well, and even the addition of Sarah a little over a year ago hadn't changed things too much. In fact, Thomas had mellowed quite a lot and wasn't the overly cautious, always-on-edge guy he had been before he'd met her.
A sudden wave of longing swept over him, stopping him in his tracks. Giving himself a shake, Ross frowned into the darkness. He didn’t need a mate, not yet anyway. He was quite happy leading the pack alone. Ignoring the wolf’s slight growl, Ross walked farther into the woods, fully aware of where Ash and Conner were.
“Here?” Ash asked quietly. “I don’t think anyone can see us.”
Ross glanced around. The woods were dark with absolutely no light from either the moon or the streetlamps getting through. So why did he still feel uneasy?
“Yeah, I guess,” he said slowly. “I mean it, though. We need to be careful.”
Connor grinned in the darkness, Ross’s eyes catching the flash of white. “Come on, Ross. It sounds like you’re afraid or something.”
“Not afraid,” Ross growled, his chest rattling. “Wary. There’s something not right about this situation—about that Davidson guy.”
“Then no time like the present to go find out,” Connor replied with a grin.
Without another word, Connor began to shift, followed by Ash and then Ross. The wolf wanted out of his skin so badly that it was much more painful than normal. His skin tore quickly, pushing fur through. His bones stretched and snapped, and muscles tore and formed again. Determined not to make a single sound, Ross kept his scream of pain in his chest until his transformation was over.
All at once, his senses went haywire. Even though his human senses were pretty enhanced, they were completely honed as the wolf. He could smell everything, his sharp eyes taking in each and every tree, searching for any shadows out of place.
Everyone OK?
Ash and Connor moved toward him, their noses sniffing the air.
Yeah, fine, Connor said, his voice inside Ross’s head. Where are we going?
Ross sniffed again, getting the faint scent of their offices. They would need to go back there to get the trail of Mr. Davidson.
Back this way, he said, walking toward the office and back through the woods. Mr. Davidson’s scent will be close.
His paws made very little sound on the forest floor, his entire body tensing as they walked toward the offices. His nose quickly picked up Mr. Davidson’s scent, and he could see in their eyes that his brothers had caught it too.
Standing slightly taller and broader than his brothers, Ross took the lead. Keeping to the shadows, he began to trail Mr. Davidson through the small town of Rockshore, his ears taking in every single sound.
The trail zigzagged around the town, as though the man had gotten lost and was trying to get his bearings. Either that or he was deliberately trying to confuse them. At two separate points, his scent crossed over the path he’d already walked on and Ross had to work hard to separate the fresher scent from the slightly older one.
Finally, the path led toward the back of the town. It stopped zigzagging and became much straighter. Ross fixed his eyes on the path, moving carefully but quickly.
We got him, he heard Ash say. He can’t hide now.
No, he can’t, Ross replied, his chest rattling in warning as they approached a large, dark house. There wasn’t a single light on in the place, shrouding it in darkness and gloom. His fur ruffled, his paws taking careful steps.
Stopping suddenly, Ross caught another scent. Something was wrong. There wasn’t just Davidson—there was something else. Someone else. In fact, there were at least four other scents leading toward the house, and none of them had come back.
Careful.
Connor butted him with his head, apparently unafraid. We know. You’ve said it a few times.
He walked over to the house, his nose sniffing hard.
Ross followed, taking his time. For a good few minutes, the three shifters worked hard to find where the scents led, finding one that seemed to lead around the back.
I’ll be back in a minute, he said, seeing his brothers lift their heads. Stay here.
Trotting around to the back of the house, Ross froze as he sensed movement. He still couldn’t see anything moving, but his senses told him something—or someone—was nearby.
A slight sniff caught his ears. Someone was crying. Sniffing the air, he moved forward, keeping his body pressed against the cold stone of the house.
Hearing the sound again, he walked forward until he found a grate. The sniffing came again, much more clearly this time, until Ross had no choice but to look.
From his angle, he could see very little, given the darkness, but eventually, a small, crouched figure came into view. His breath huffed from his nose in surprise, his lip curling back. There was a woman down there, and she was crying.
Ross didn't know what to do. Normally, he was pretty good at making decisions and acting on them straight away, but right now he was pretty stuck. If she did see him, she'd probably scream and that would ruin everything. Unfortunately, Ross was certain that this was the missing Jenny, the one Mr. Davidson had been “so upset” over. A low growl escaped him as he thought about how much the man had pretended to be upset. Ross wondered if he'd managed to fool the police. It wasn't going to be difficult to do that since the police didn't have the skills or the expertise they did.
“Is someone there?”
Ross slunk into the shadows, pressing himself bodily against the wall. He froze, not moving a muscle as he waited for her to either speak again or move away.
“Please,” came the voice again. “If you can help me, I need to get out of here.”
A growl rippled out of his chest as a flood of emotions filled his wolf form, a protective instinct greater than he’d ever experienced before. Ross tried to hide the sound, stop it from escaping, but his growl was caught by the wind.
“I know you’re there,” came the voice again. “I can sense you.”
Slowly, Ross moved closer, his glowing eyes looking sharply through the grate. A pair of eyes looked back at him, a couple of fingers pressed through the grate. For whatever reason, she wasn’t afraid of him.
"You're one of us, aren't you?" the woman said, her voice a breathy whisper. "You have to run. You have to hide. He won't stop until he gets all of us here in Rockshore."
Who? If she really was a shifter, she'd hear him. He waited, not moving until she answered.
"Greg," she replied softly. "He called himself Greg Davidson, but I don't know if that's his real name. He's after us. Hunting us. Please, go."
Ross didn’t want to. He knew she was a shifter now. She had to be, and a shifter didn’t leave another shifter in danger. It wasn’t done. The alliance between the packs across the states meant that he had a responsibility. No matter if she begged him, Ross wasn’t about to leave her here.
A sudden whine came from around from the front of the house, making Ross immediately on edge.
“Listen to me, please,” she said again. “Go, now. He’s here. He knew someone would come.”
I’ll find a way to get you out, he promised, hearing the sound of her stifled sobs.
The fingers disappeared back into the grate, and she dropped her eyes as she moved back into the darkness. Ross was forced to run back toward his brother, suddenly terrified as to what that whine had been about.