I could’ve done without the two big wolves looming over us, but we needed the intel, and if that’s how my sister wanted to roll, we’d play it her way.
For now.
“Boys,” she said, “meet Detectives Aiden Hobb and Russel Lansky, my right-hand men. Detectives, meet the boys of Blackmoon Bay. Ronan Vacarro and…” She looked at me and hesitated, weighing her words before finally settling on the truth. “My brother, Detective Emilio Alvarez.”
She’d said the wordbrotherlike she’d just bitten into a lemon, but at least she hadn’t tried to pass me off as someone else.
“You’ve got a mean right hook,” I said, shaking Hobb’s hand. For the sake of the investigation and a shot at saving our friends, I was willing to overlook the assault. I even smiled to let him know there weren’t any hard feelings.
Hobb shook my hand, but he clearly wasn’t interested in my humor. Or my smile. Or anything even remotely human. He held tight a few seconds longer than necessary, sizing me up the whole time. Aggression and distrust rolled off him in waves.
“Thanks for coming over,” I said, hoping to ease the tension. “We appreciate the cooperation on this.”
His grip tightened, and he arched an eyebrow. We were about the same height, with similar builds, but now he lifted his chin and peered down at me, as if he needed to feel taller than me. Better. “Who said anything about cooperation?”
I squeezed his hand right back and grinned.
I had no intention of submitting—I had no loyalty to him, and he’d yet to earn my respect—but I wasn’t about to challenge him outright, either. Like it or not, the RC was his territory. Ronan and I were outsiders, and Hobb wanted us to know it.
A pack of lone wolves didn’t have the same structure as a traditional pack, where one alpha typically led. Wherever he’d come from, this guy was clearly an alpha, but so was my sister—and she was his boss. They seemed to make it work, but I was betting it hadn’t been an easy ride for either of them. Alphas butted heads a lot, and the power dynamics were a minefield—one of the many reasons I’d kept to myself after Elena and I parted ways.
In one last attempt at camaraderie, I kept my grin in place and said calmly, “We’d like to tell you what we’ve been dealing with in the Bay. If you guys have got any insights, we’d love to hear them. No obligations beyond that. Fair enough?”
He offered a stiff nod. Apparently, that was as friendly as this guy got.
The other shifter was much warmer, with a youthful smile and an easy-going nature—clearly the good cop in this operation.
“Don’t worry about Hobb,” he said with a wink. “He’s just pissed your sister keeps breaking up with his big dumb ass.”
“Guys.” Elena sighed. “Can wetryto keep things professional for one day? Just one? Please?”
“You two are a thing?” I asked, gesturing between them.
“One date! One!” she exclaimed, and Hobb grunted out something that almost passed for a laugh. Smacking him in the chest, she said, “Hobb just doesn’t know how to move on. So.” She clapped once and nodded toward the dining room table. “If we’re done with the awkward trip down memory lane, I’d really like to get down to business. That, and I’m starving.”
There was no point in asking the rest of us. Wolves were always hungry, and Ronan wouldn’t say no to food, either.
As we took our seats around the table, Elena served up strong curl-your-toes coffee and heaping plates oftortillaand fruit salad while I tried to avoid my own trip down memory lane.
Ronan brought her men up to speed, carefully skirting the same details I had about Gray’s other powers and her connection to Death.
“Sothat’swhy you requested the amulet from forensics,” Lansky said when Ronan had finished.
I nodded, spearing a strawberry with my fork. “It belonged to Gray’s mother. It was taken from her long ago by the father of the hunter we’re tracking.”
“And?” Hobb asked.
“And we’d like to return it to its rightful owner,” Ronan said. His face was a mask of steel, but his leg was bouncing under the table. He was just as anxious as I was to get on with the show—to get out there and do something.
Unfortunately, it looked like we’d have to endure more of this dog-and-pony show first.
“Out of the goodness of your hearts?” Hobb drained his coffee cup, then let out a grunt. “So tell me, how longhaveyou two been fucking the littlebruja?”
Ronan and I were out of our chairs in a flash, but Lansky jumped in first.
“Lay off, asshole,” he barked at Hobb. “We all want the same thing here—to keep our communities safe and out of the spotlight. The sooner you drop the chip on your shoulder, the sooner we can get back to doing our jobs.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Elena shot Hobb an icy glare before heading into the adjoining kitchen to refill the coffee carafe. “Hobb, this is your one and only warning. Reign it in, or see yourself out.”
