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“Noooo! Chase didn’t, did he?” Hayley nods as Leah stares off into space, trying to fit this new piece of information into her memories. “That makes so much sense now. Josh never spoke to me again. I thought it was a bit over the top for one missed date.”
Riveting as their reminiscing is, it’s not going to help me. If we can’t tell him about shifters or that we have the perpetrators of the attacks in custody, how the hell are we going to convince him to stop digging around in the pack’s business? Or in my business?
Groaning, I hold my head in my hands. “What am I supposed to do? He followed me on my run this morning. He stayed well back, but he was there. And when I came back from work yesterday, he’d definitely been lurking around my house. I could smell him everywhere outside.”
His scent still lingers, and it’s bothering me. Without realising it, he’s practically marked his territory by leaving a big circle of his dominant scent all around my home. The postman refused to step onto the porch this morning in case it pissed him off. Worse than that, my bear enjoys the evidence of him in our private space far too much for my liking.
“He needs a distraction,” Leah announces. “A project, or a new case, something he can sink his teeth into while we convince him there’s nothing to see here. Zoe is talking to Blake, trying to come up with a plan, but we need to buy ourselves some time.”
Blake is a smart man. He’ll come up with something, I just hope he can do it before Chase pushes me into a full-blown migraine.
“That’s all good in theory, but what could possibly distract Chase? He’s like a dog with a bone.” Deep in thought, Hayley sips her coffee and stares out the wide picture windows and the uninterrupted view of the forest and valley right on the packhouse doorstep.
It’s so beautiful here, and peaceful, especially compared to where I grew up. I can’t blame Leah and Hayley for loving it and wanting to raise their families here. Even if they hadn’t met their fated mates, they had already made Grey Ridge their home. It seems unfair that their well-meaning but interfering big brother is trying to pry them away from this place.
If he exposes the town’s secrets, who knows what will happen. Would he blackmail them into leaving by threatening to expose what he knows?
My eyes fall to Hunter, fast asleep in the sling around Hayley’s chest, downy brown hair sticking up at all angles, and I frown. What would happen to Hunter? I feel bad that Chase is being kept in the dark, but I feel protective of these women even more.
“A red herring. That’s what we need,” Leah announces, her curls bouncing as she jumps up and down in her seat, hands clasped together. “We need to send him on some kind of wild goose chase, with fake clues and a different location, preferably far, far away from here. By the time he figures out that it’s a dead end, hopefully Blake and Cooper will have a real plan ready to go.”
Both women look at me, a mischievous glint in their eyes.
“We might know someone who could come up with some kind of elaborate ruse, plant some evidence, and lead him in the wrong direction.” Leah smiles wickedly at me. “And you do seem to have already caught his attention.”
Pressing my lips into a thin line, I shake my head, adamant this is not going to happen. “No. NO! This is my job. I can’t make up a fake suspect or create evidence. I’d get fired!”
“Fired by Marcus? And anyway, you wouldn’t have to make someone up: He’s already following you. YOU just have to act mysterious and secretive, keep his focus on you. I mean, he already is, but even more. Just until the council lets us tell him, or until Marcus comes back to work and you can sic him on Chase.”
She makes it sound so simple, but she doesn't understand. I can’t explain to her that the reason Chase's attention makes me so uncomfortable is that a small pathetic part of me enjoys it. He makes my stomach flip every time I see his dark, intense stare from across the street, or catch his heady scent on the breeze. He’s the predator stalking his prey, which is laughable given my animal’s dominance, but for some strange reason, my bear loves it.
“This is a terrible idea,” I protest weakly, but when I fail to give a decent reason why, or suggest an alternative, the sisters grin, knowing they’ve won. With a groan, I relent. “You are going to owe me big time for this. Your husbands, too.”
Two weeks of acting shady to keep Chase’s enquiring mind fixated on me?
I can do this, and I can make it fun if I really want to torture him.
Marcus deserves to enjoy some time at home with his baby, and the Walkers need some time to work out what to do about their brother.
So that makes me the one being thrown to the wolves.
CHAPTER 9
CHASE
Natalie Lennox is the most boring person on the planet.
If I wasn’t so confident in my surveillance skills, I’d swear she was doing it on purpose.
First up this morning was a long run, at the crack of dawn, at a pace that had me pushing myself to the limit to keep up. Natalie barely broke a sweat.
I’ve made a note to add more long-distance cardio to my training regime, because seeing her pulling away, hair swishing back and forth like she was out on a leisurely jog, dented my pride more than I care to admit. The view as I lagged along behind wasn’t bad, though. I’m man enough to admit that.
After putting in a couple of hours at the office on what was supposed to be her day off, judging by her colleagues’ reactions when she appeared at the station, she went grocery shopping, and had a visit with her brother. Marcus’s cabin is high in the mountains with a narrow, winding driveway and wide-open spaces leading up to it.
Nowhere to hide and easy to see anyone coming.
Instead of parking inconspicuously and waiting for her to leave, I took the opportunity to scout around the deputy’s place while it was unattended.
