She broke down into the kind of bubbly, unstoppable laughter that always came when the tension finally broke. It took her a moment before she could pull herself together.
“I can see how that wouldn’t be ideal,” Aria said gravely. “But I don’t exactly keep men’s clothes lying around.”
“Anything would work.” He thought of another thing that would hopefully provoke that beautiful laugh. “Just so I don’t have to go around with my bait and tackle hanging out.”
He grinned as that won him another fit of giggles.
“I’ll see what I can do. Hang out in the kitchen for a minute, and I’ll bring you something.”
She went to go get her family, and Colby tried to take stock of the situation.
They had an enormous dead wolf, a naked US Marshal wrapped in a blanket, and a busted front door. And one of the Hebberts was still out there. Colby couldn’t smell him anywhere in the vicinity, so he doubted there would be another attack tonight. But Aria was right. Sooner or later, he’d come back.
Whatever Aria had seen before that had made Hebbert come after her, now it was ten times worse.
And now, Hebbert’s brother was dead.
Colby frowned, remembering that strange argument between the two wolves. The dead one had whined... and submitted.
Submitted to being cannon fodder.
He had the sinking feeling that the wolf whose body he was looking at was Weston Hebbert, not Eli.
Eli had been the alpha wolf, growling, forcing Weston to submit.
And, in the end, die.
Luke had said that Weston was almost as fierce as Eli, but Eli had thrown him away without even a second thought, and Weston had let him. Weston had obeyed his alpha, even when he might have been strong enough to challenge him. Eli had left Luke behind, but Luke had st
ill felt a pull of loyalty towards him.
Eli Hebbert was ruthless enough to sacrifice his own pack but powerful enough to keep them in line. Someone like that could always attract new followers. If they couldn’t catch him soon, he’d gather up more and more allies who would be willing to die for him.
The curtains were hanging cockeyed now, with the rod snapped in two. Colby yanked one down and lowered it over the wolf’s body. He didn’t want Mattie to see anything like that.
If only all of their problems could be solved that easily.
9
“Marshal Colby, why is Mom bringing you clothes?”
Colby was still hiding out in the kitchen. Aria was combing through her wardrobe for something that would, in a pinch, fit an adult male werewolf with completely different proportions from her. Ben and Doreen were concerned about the body on the floor.
So far, Colby would say this was going about as well as he expected.
“I got my clothes dirty,” he said, pitching his voice so that it would carry into the living room. “Your mom’s just rustling me up something to wear until my friends get here with my clothes.”
“I’d rather wear dirty clothes than be naked,” Mattie said.
“I’ve got a blanket.” He tried to sound cheerful. “And they’re not just dirty, they’re sort of... shredded. It’s a long story.”
He heard Doreen say, “Mattie, shh. Don’t ask naked men questions.”
Not a bad rule of thumb, all things considered.
He had already called Martin and let him know that they were okay, and he’d at least gotten to it in time for Martin to keep the local cops from showing up. The last thing any of them needed were a bunch of regular, human police officers showing up on their doorstep and asking a lot of questions about the enormous dead wolf currently residing under Aria’s curtain.
Meanwhile, Gretchen and Theo were officially on their way.