Then things happened fast.

The man was identified as Hendry Lennox of the MacKenzie Pack and he was dragged off for questioning, as Sean protested his innocence and I suggested as loudly as possible that perhaps the police should be involved. But that was not how werewolves liked to do things, so I elbowed my way into the interrogation room to make sure all remained above board.

"No half-breeds," said the man on the door, scowling at me.

"How about you try saying that to me while you're doubled over in pain?" I suggested.

"What?"

I kicked the man in the nads, hard enough that his descendants would feel it - assuming descendants were still an option, and he doubled over.

Kenai King laughed. "She can come in. It will do her good to see how werewolf justice works."

"None of you even know why I chased him," I pointed out, and went on to explain about the attack on me.

King turned to Hendry Lennox, cowering at the interrogation table. "Do you deny attacking this part-wolf?"

"It was on my Pack Leader's orders," Lennox stuttered.

"And is there anything else you wish to confess?" King loomed over the man.

"It was on my Pack Leader's orders."

King nodded. "You know our lore. If you were acting at the behest of your Pack Leader, then no blame is attached to you. But if you lie, then I will feed your genitals to my new mate. She's getting tired of eating mine."

I didn't know what to make of that as a threat, but it did the trick.

"MacKenzie Sean ordered me to assassinate the Kenai Pack Leader during the last Lunar Hunt!"

A werewolf must obey his Pack Leader, even when that Leader asks him to do something as underhanded and un-wolf-like as covert assassination. No blame is attached to the man following orders.

"Time to have a word with Sean," growled King.

"We have a confession," I said. "Time to go to the police."

King shot a look at me. "Thank you for your help in this matter, Miss Malone, but your services are no longer required."

"It's not just me you should be thanking." Some would say it took balls to stand up to Kenai King, but today he had other people to vent his rage at.

King looked as if he might change form and tear me to shreds where I stood, but I remained firm.

"Your sons helped me. I couldn't have done it without them. And you accused them of trying to kill you."

"We all make mistakes."

"Some of us apologize for them."

"They're still wastes of space."

"But not patricidal."

King's scowl slowly spread into a grin. "I do like you. I bet you're a hellcat in the sack. If ever you want a man who can handle that fire, then you come see me."

Now was probably not the time to tell him that, of all the Kenai males, he was the only one I wasn't interested in. Stuff like that could wait.

Tanner, Gray and Hudson had remained upstairs when Lennox and Sean were dragged off, and now they sprang to their feet as their father entered.

"Boys," King began, unsure of himself and not happy to be doing this. "I just wanted to say... To say; well done. Well done in catching this man who tried to kill me. I am..." He sought for a word that wasn't 'proud' but would more or less serve the purpose. "...satisfied with you."

He looked at me, as if to ask if that was good enough, and I raised an eyebrow, not letting him off so easily.

"I'm sorry for suspecting you." It was barely more than a mutter, and before he had even finished the sentence, King was turning back for the door.

"Pack Leader," I called after him and King turned back. "If MacKenzie Sean does not arrive with the police completely unharmed, then please remember that I am no longer in your employ and will happily rat you out."

I expected to see anger on his face, but King just shook his head and murmured, "Hellcat."

As he left, I turned back to the guys.

Finally, Hudson spoke. "What now?"

Good question. Of all that I had hoped might happen tonight, closing the case had been beyond my wildest dreams. It had all happened so damn fast. It had been... easy. Sometimes you get lucky. So that was an end of it.

But was it an end of all of it?

"I guess..." What the hell did I want? "I guess, I need to pick up my clothes and my car from Heir’s House."

Though we had decided not to arrive together, leaving together felt perfectly natural, and I wondered how much King knew, or guessed, about my relationship with his sons. Was 'relationship' the word? I didn't know what it was now. It was something that had happened in the heat of the case. It had been beautiful and hot and fun and intimate and exhausting and loving and a hundred other adjectives. But how much of it was tied up in the situation? The doubts of the previous day came back to me as we walked.

How long could it really last?

How would the Kenai Pack react to the immediate heirs mating with a part-wolf?

What would I do if they chose to take other mates? Would they?

Too many questions. Better to treasure what we had enjoyed together and remember it as the special time that it had been, something that had gone way beyond the purely sexual, and something that would remain forever unsullied by failure. If we parted now on good terms, then it would be perfect for all time.

Yeah, that was the sensible thing to do. Shame it hurt like hell.

Back at Heir’s House, the mood was somber.

"Shouldn't we be celebrating?" asked Hudson.

"You guys go ahead," I said, then murmured a few pat things about getting my stuff together, best for all concerned, just a 'part-wolf' and shit like that, before running up to my room. The sooner I got this over with, the better.

I quickly got my stuff sorted and turned to the door to leave, only to find all three of the guys standing there.

"We've been talking," said Tanner. "We don't know what you want - and we're not trying to tell you what to do - but we know what we want. We want you. All of us. And no one else."

"We want you as our mate," Hudson clarified. "Exclusively. A soul mate who is also a sole mate. Like a marriage."

"With three husbands," added Gray.

"Well, yeah, with three husbands, but other than that, like a marriage."

"So, the only question," continued Tanner, "is what do you want?"

But that wasn't the only question, there were so many more.

"I love you all," I said, not wanting them to misunderstand. "But the circumstances..."

"Fuck circumstances," said Gray, sharply. "When you see something you want in life, something that makes you happy, you've got to go for it. You never know what tomorrow will bring. It can all be taken away from you so quickly."

"What do you want?" asked Tanner again.

That was a question that only had one answer. Or, possibly three.

"You," I said, smiling. "I want all of you."