JAYCE

I scented one of my fellow pack members on the other side of the door before I saw them, but that still didn’t give them any right to pound my knocker at the most inopportune times, which they always did.

I was the enforcer of the pack. I prevented messes before they happened and I cleaned up messes when they did. I knew this better be good or someone was going to pay for interrupting my quality time with Violet. It was like I had put all of my responsibilities on the back burner just for her. I got lost in her eyes and in the sound of her voice and I suddenly forgot that I was just a lone wolf out here in these mountains.

I pushed the door open and barreled out onto the porch.

Ray rushed at me with fright and panic in his eyes. “They’ve got Roy. My brother. They’ve got him.”

Suddenly, my rage turned into concern.

“Wait. Who’s got Roy?”

“The cops. The humans.”

This wasn’t good. I blew out in frustration. “How do you know they’ve got him?”

“I ran to the woods just like we planned but my brother wasn’t behind me. I ran back and they had tasered him. I saw it all go down. They know he’s a shifter and one of the cops said that we—us shifters—we’ve been causing trouble in town lately…vandalism, damaging crops, scaring away the tourists, I don’t know.”

“Hell,” I grumbled. “Why were you on human territory to begin with?”

From the way Ray looked at the ground, I could tell he was guilty as charged. “We go every now and then to hang out at the bars and kick it with the chicks. We only hang out with the nice ones, you know. Nothing like this has ever happened. It was like the cops were patrolling hard that night, man. I thought he’d be released by now, but he’s still in there. Can you do something? Can you maybe send a message out to one of your human cop friends? My brother did nothing, man. We’ve been together this whole time. I swear it!”

“Okay, calm down. We’re going to get your brother out, but you can’t go back into the town. Rogues from the Black Ridge pack were spotted and have been terrorizing the area. The cops will use any excuse to arrest us and implicate us all. Now, they have solid evidence that shifters have been trespassing where they’re not supposed to.”

“Oh, man,” Ray wailed. “Get him out fast, man. He’s never been locked up. I should have been the one, not him.”

Ray and Roy were twins. They were known troublemakers, but most of their actions were innocent. Pranks here and there that drove residents crazy, but nothing that would cause harm to any living person or animal.

“Just sit tight, Ray. I have some things going on here,” I said, without revealing too much. “I think it’s all related. I’m sure we can get your brother out soon enough once we clear the Timber Rock shifters of all wrongdoing.”

Ray nodded. “You have a woman in there.”

I exhaled, hoping he hadn’t smelled the evidence of our love-making session, but I wasn’t the only one with a good nose.

“I heard her before I smelled her. I was coming up the trail when I heard her screaming. You were givin’ it to her good, man, but I couldn’t wait any longer. My brother’s in trouble.”

“Look, just keep what you saw or heard here a secret, alright?” I asked.

Ray smiled. “Your secret’s safe with me. She smells like a human too. Since when did you have a girlfriend?”

“It’s complicated. Listen. I’m not trying to brush you off or anything, but I’m going to get to the bottom of this. We’ve been trying to spread the word to the pack about not going into town at this point, considering what’s going on.”

“You’re right. You need any help with that? I’m headed east to fix an HVAC unit for my grandma. Roy was supposed to help me, but…I can’t keep her waiting. She’s complaining that it’s getting too hot in the afternoon.”

I clapped him on the back. “Go right ahead. Go get your grandmother squared away and we’ll do everything we can to get him out. There are some tools in my back shed if you think you might need them. Just make sure you bring them back when you’re finished.”

“Alright. Thanks, man.” Reluctantly, Ray backed off the steps, but I knew he would persist on getting his twin brother back even if it killed him. The two were inseparable. The last thing I wanted to do was encourage him to go back to the town where there was a good chance he could get picked up and interrogated too.

Things were coming together now, but this needed to be sorted out before things took a turn for the worse. Or anybody else became incarcerated—or worse, harmed or killed.