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“Yep. This human survived. The wolf ran off with a bullet in his ass, but the authorities haven’t found it.”

“Shit,” Theo cursed under his breath. A werewolf could heal itself pretty easily. A real wolf probably would have turned up dead if it’d run off with a bullet wound.

Fee’s gaze found his. “What the hell is going on?”

He shrugged. He was just as confused and horrified as she was. “Guess we better find Lena sooner rather than later.”

“Hey, Mom, we’re looking for this little resort. We think Lena might be there.”

Runa smiled, giving Phoebe one more squeeze before she let go. “Of course. I can take you right there.”

Damn it. The last thing he needed was an escort from Runa.

“Great, thanks,” Fee said, giving her mother a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m sure I can squeeze in the middle seat,” Runa chirped and Theo bit back a growl of despair.

He knew Lena’s life might be in danger and all, but his own was also sucking pretty bad at the moment.

Well, having Phoebe’s mother along for the ride certainly helped with Theo’s boner situation. In that, he no longer had one.

All Runa wanted to talk about was the attacks.

She was still going on about it, crammed into the seat next to him. She was tiny, like Phoebe, but somehow she took up so much room. Her hands flew as she spoke and she kept whacking Theo in the shoulder. He was pretty positive the hit he took to the head a few minutes ago was not an accident.

He knew perfectly well how Runa felt about him and he returned the sentiment. They both thought the other wasn’t good enough for Fee and they were both right.

“It’s werewolves gone wild!” Runa shouted, her hand nearly making contact with his head again. “I mean, really, Fifi, you need to be careful out here. You look like just any other cute little human. What makes you think the next attack couldn’t be you?”

“Mom—”

“They’d never get to her,” Theo growled, jumping into the conversation despite avoiding it for the last half hour. “I wouldn’t let them.”

Runa scoffed and Theo imagined throwing her out the window.

“It’s your kind that’s doing it, Theo. What is going on with you all, anyway? Do you have no decency?”

Theo wanted to snarl and snap at her and prove that decency was not high on the list of werewolf priorities, but he bit his tongue. Hard.

“We don’t know who’s doing it yet, Runa,” he said through clenched teeth. “It’s forbidden. Clearly, someone has gone rogue.” It was one of the few things the packs had agreed on over the years. Stick to your own territory and leave the humans alone. It was for their own safety. There was a time when packs fought for dominance, when they attacked humans and each other for sport, but those days were long gone. A werewolf could heal from a lot of things, but not a gunshot wound to the head. They’d lost too many wolves over the years. They couldn’t risk it anymore. Whoever was doing this was endangering everyone.

“Hmph.”

Theo glanced over to see Runa’s arms crossed over her chest, a frown on her lips, but Phoebe was staring out the passenger window no longer listening to their conversation.

“You’re the one with the extensive spy network. What do you think is going on?”

“We’re not spies.”

“Whatever. Eavesdroppers. Snoops. Busybodies. Your kind knows what’s going on in this forest more than anyone else.”

“Perhaps.”

“So … what did you find out … from those friends you ran into at the diner?”

They hadn’t made it out to their car before Runa had spotted “some girls I know from a time I camped out in Baxter for the summer.” While Theo was going to complain and say for the hundredth time that morning that they had to get going, he also hoped that maybe those nymphs had heard something about Lena. So, he let Runa and Fee chat with them over another round of coffees.

And other than a lot of gossip about some oak-grove drama, they had nothing interesting to say.