Colby shook. He had the distinct feeling that Ben was testing his grip, so he did his best not to disappoint—but also his best not to use shifter strength to inadvertently crush the man’s hand.
The woman stood up next, presenting him with her hand in such a formal manner that Colby almost felt like it would have been more appropriate to bow over it and kiss it. She wasn’t being snooty about it, either; she just had a kind of natural nobility.
“Doreen Clarke. Aria’s mother.”
Her handshake was just as firm as her husband’s. They might have looked like an odd couple, but Colby thought appearances could be deceiving there. They were really two of a kind.
“And this,” Doreen said, “is Mattie.”
“Hi,” the little girl said. Her voice was small and shy.
Colby went down into a crouch, putting them eye-to-eye.
“Hi, Mattie. Tell me something: how totally, completely, mind-numbingly boring has it been for you to be stuck here all day?”
A tiny smile started to show on Mattie’s face, and a spark of humor appeared in her dark eyes. “Pretty boring.”
“I figured. I’m going to get you out of here soon and make sure you’re safe, but I thought maybe you could use something to help kill the time.”
He held out the Slinky and the Rubik’s Cube.
“Either of these look good?”
She tentatively lifted the Rubik’s Cube out of his hand.
“I’ve never had one of these before. You try to get it so each side only has one color on it, right?”
“Right,” Colby affirmed. “And if you can do it, I’m going to be super-jealous and make you show me how, because I’ve never figured it out.”
Mattie’s smile turned into a full-on grin, letting Colby see one of her missing baby teeth.
“I will. I totally will.”
Doreen Clarke seemed to have been watching that interaction closely, and Colby guessed that she approved of it, because the severe angles of her face softened. That little bit of relaxation instantly made her a hundred percent more approachable.
She said, “My daughter just stepped out to get a bottle of water, Deputy Marshal Acton. She should be back any moment.”
He was pleasantly surprised she’d nailed the actual job title. It wasn’t like the Marshals got the widespread press of cops or FBI agents.
Still, he only really cared about getting that kind of formality from people he didn’t like. “Colby’s fine, really, Ms. Clarke.”
He hadn’t expected her to reciprocate by offering to let him call her Doreen, and she didn’t—which was fine, since he didn’t know that he could have gotten himself to actually do it. He didn’t even know if he could bring himself to slouch around her.
He heard the break room door open behind him.
Colby turned around. The movement jarred part of the Slinky out of his hand and sent it cascading to the floor in a bouncy corkscrew.
So this was Aria Clarke. He could see right away why Wilson had asked if he’d seen a picture of her.
Her skin was the same rich, smooth brown as her mom’s, and her features were just as striking, but she didn’t have her mom’s aura of cool, composed remove. Her presence in the room felt almost electric and seemed to have its own kind of warmth. She had her hair back in a poufy ponytail that looked like a soft dark cloud. Her body was all promising curves over well-honed muscles. It was as easy to imagine her curled up on the sofa with a good book as it was to imagine her hiking up a mountainside searching for the perfect angle on some sparkling valley lake.
And then his eyes met hers.
Colby’s whole life changed, like some bright sun inside of him had just come out.
Mate! his wolf cried.
She’s perfect,