Alex was willing to head home in order to regroup, but he had no intention of doing nothing, not when Tawny’s life might be in danger.
By the time he and Liam walked in the house, it was close to seven. He’d called Mason on the drive back to let him know they were on their way there now, and Mason said he would be by with food. Alex then texted Benson with the same information.
It wasn’t long before all of the men, along with Ariel, showed up. It was solemn occasion.
“Tawny never mentioned she knew a Rich,” Ariel said.
Zach shook his head. “In the back of my mind, I remember Tawny mentioning someone with that name, but for the life of me, I don’t know when or in what context.”
“We know she knew him if she said his name,” Benson shot back. “Are you sure she said, Rich?”
He looked over at Liam who nodded. “Yes.”
Mason picked up his backpack and extracted his laptop. “I thought we might need this.”
“What do you hope to find?” Ariel asked.
“How many Richards can there be in our town who drive a blue vehicle? Dad will be able to work the blue truck angle, but I can search better for a name than he can.”
“It’s possible that this Rich guy and his friend aren’t from Wildwood. They could be from Midvale, a town in between Wildwood and Midvale, or aren’t from Montana at all. We can’t count out Paul Franklin’s Clan wanting revenge for killing two of their own,” Alex said.
“Alex has a point,” Benson said. “We drove Paul Franklin out of town.”
“You didn’t drive him out. He committed murder and is on the run,” Liam said.
“Point taken. That being said, my father has been expecting retaliation ever since from some of the clan members.”
Mason held up his hand. “Let’s see what I come up with first.”
While he researched, they worked on the pizza that Mason had brought. Too bad, Alex’s appetite wasn’t very good at the moment.
A half hour later, Mason pressed a button on his computer. “I just sent my dad a list of anyone withRichardas part of their name who is from anywhere near Wildwood or Midvale. He’ll have to see which of them drive blue vehicles.”
“It seems as if we’ve switched gears here from thinking this is some kind of attack by human vigilantes to revenge by Paul Franklin’s group,” Zach said. “Which is it? I know the people who shot me were human.”
“We’re looking at all angles,” Mason said. “We don’t even know if these men who kidnapped Tawny are wolf or human.”
“I think they may be connected,” Liam said.
“How so?” Benson asked.
“It’s always bugged me, Alex, and Tawny how these humans knew that the Grangers were werewolves in the first place. From what I can tell, your family has been very careful about keeping that secret,” Liam said.
“We are,” Benson said.
“So how did these humans know the Grangers were werewolves?” Liam lifted a hand. “The answer? Someone told them. The question is who?”
Benson’s jaw tightened. “And that someone could have been Franklin or someone in his group. What better way to take the spotlight off themselves than to use humans to do their dirty work?”
“Exactly. And when these human vigilantes failed to kill me—assuming they know I’m alive—the Clan realized they had to take things into their own hands,” Zach said. “I don’t know how much truth there is to that, but it’s logical.”
“It is, but why take Tawny?” Alex asked.
“They couldn’t find Malia?” Preston asked.
Alex wasn’t sure why they’d mention her. “Why would they want Malia?”
“Because some of the Franklin Clan died on our father’s property. I know that idea is way out there, but if they had been able to abduct Malia, they would have tried to trade my sister for the bodies,” Benson said.