Panther gave a long sigh of release and slowly relaxed under her ministrations.
She brushed his back with long, hard strokes, and moved down the sides of his neck. Without really intending to, he lifted his head to let her get the front and let out a long purr of contentment. She used her fingers to massage along his jaw and up around his ears. He head-butted her gently, and rolled to one side to let her brush his belly and smooth the fur down over his legs, massaging and brushing as she went.
He purred until he drooled, letting her groom him from nose to the tip of his flexible tail, and caught himself rolling to catch her in gentle claws when she paused.
This ain’t exactly dignified, his human reminded him, but his panther was too delighted by the attention to pay him any heed.
She kneaded muscles that Wrench hadn’t even known were tense, even relaxing the pads of his big feet. She sat between his front feet and did things to each side of his jaw and down his thick neck that nearly crossed his eyes with pleasure, leaning in with talented fingers to find every knotted muscle and hidden pain.
At last, he lay in her lap, gleaming with some sort of minty oil that she’d rubbed into his fur, and purred in a half-stupor of joy.
“I can do this to your human form, too,” she told him in amusement. “If you let me.”
Wrench shifted, head still in her lap.
“Right now I’d let you do anything to me,” he confessed, feeling languid and relaxed.
Lydia bent over to kiss his forehead. “Anything…?” she said suggestively.
Wrench grinned back. They had some time before Ally would be back.
Chapter 36
“Here’s the list of people that have arrived since Wrench started working here, that are still here at the resort. Unless our attempted assassin arrived here off the books, this is who we have to start from.”
Scarlet adjusted the projector, bringing her tidy handwriting into focus on the screen. The projector must have been a product of the time the resort was first built in the 80s. Lydia was sitting next to Wrench in the darkened room. Only the most trusted of the staff was there—and their mates. As she’d assured Wrench, Scarlet was not taking the attempt on Wrench’s life lightly.
The list was frustratingly long; it was the busiest time of the vacation season and people had been steadily moving in and out. Some of the staff had turned over as well, as the isolation of Shifting Sands proved too much for some people to handle long term.
“I do not have record of any snake shifters at all, but people have lied on their applications before. We can eliminate anyone we’ve witnessed shifting into other forms.” She crossed out several of the names herself.
Bastian volunteered, “Dana? That’s the one with glasses who hasn’t put down a book for more than five minutes in a row? I saw her shift into a cat of some sort on the beach.”
Scarlet put a line through her name.
“Those two guys were in the bar when the attack happened,” Tex said helpfully. “Couldn’t have been them.”
Other names were eliminated, but the list was still painfully long.
Graham frowned at the list. “Lars? That the Swedish hockey player?” he asked gruffly.
“Expert!” several of the staff chorused mockingly.
“He’s not a bear like he says.”
“Oh?” Wrench was all attention. “He could be the type. How do you know that?”
“Ate half the shrubbery around his cottage two nights ago,” Graham growled.
“Oh, snap,” Breck said. “He’s lucky he’s still alive.”
“We do try to avoid sending our visitors home in boxes,” Scarlet reminded them firmly.
“No one wants that review on Yelp,” Bastian joked.
“‘Excellent food. Great view. Insane landscaper attacked guests with machete,’” Travis mimicked.
Graham looked more amused than offended.