The three of them stepped inside. In contrast to Cassidy’s parents’ house, there was a lot of light streaming in. While he wasn’t a big fan of flowered sofas and stripped chairs, the place was neat and clean.
A woman who he assumed was Mindy’s mom entered from another room. “Oh, my. There are three of you.”
“Mom, Cassidy has two men in her life now, remember?”
“Two, yes, but not three.”
Zach held out his hand and introduced himself as Cassidy’s other mate. “This fellow is my brother, Mason. He wanted to come since he is the brains of the family.”
“Ha. Can I have that in writing?”
“In your dreams,”Zach telepathed to him. “We wanted to see Mindy, of course, but we worried Doug and his clan might have bugged your phone, which is why we stopped by.”
Mrs. Everwood nodded. “I have that fear too.”
Mason pulled something out of his backpack. “If you don’t mind, I’d first like to sweep the house for bugs.”
“Certainly.”
Zach had no idea he had that with him, but if the clan had already bugged the house, the Kitcheners would know they were there.
Mason did his thing and returned five minutes later. “Your house is clean. We are free to talk.”
Mrs. Everwood blew out a breath. “I feel so much better. Thank you.”
Mindy placed a hand on Mike’s arm. “I trust this has something to do with Cassidy? Has something happened to her?”
Mrs. Everwood motioned they all sit down. Mike went through the story again about how she spotted Sherman Watts in Wildwood.
At the mention of his name, Mindy stiffened. “He is bad news. How did he know to look for Cassidy there?”
The mother glanced to the side. “I’m so sorry. I told him. I had to.”
“What? Mom, how could you?”
She faced the men. “One of the men with Doug said he’d really hurt Mindy this time if I didn’t tell them. I just said that Cassidy was in Wildwood, Montana. That’s all. I swear.”
"How did you know she was there? I never told you," Mindy said.
"Maybe not intentionally, but right after Cassidy called to say she was safe, she told you Mike and Zach were her mates. I knew you'd had that excursion in Wildwood with Mike. I put the pieces together that she was there." She looked up at the men. "I am so sorry."
The poor woman was nervous and stressed. “It’s okay,” Zach said. He turned to Mindy. “You haven’t heard from Cassidy after she called the other day, have you?”
“No.”
“We’re hoping she came here to check up on you, but also to keep the Kitcheners away from us. Cassidy is quite protective.”
Mindy nodded. “She has a right to be. She told me that once when she was with Doug, someone stepped out of line, and about ten wolves attacked and killed the person. That image will never leave her mind.”
That would traumatize anyone. “I’m sorry she had to see that. I don’t know if Mike ever mentioned it, but I come from a large family. We even have our own trainers who work with us to improve our fighting skills. It seems more and more of late, someone in the family is being targeted.”
“I’m happy you’re being trained, but you and Mike work alone in the woods. You’d be easy to target. Get rid of you two and Cassidy would have no reason not to be with Doug—or at least that’s what I imagine he’d be thinking.”
Mindy had a point. “We’ll have to protect her—and us—the best we can. But we have to find her first,” Zach said. “Her mom thinks that if Cassidy doesn’t come to town that she might head to Idaho Falls to visit her grandmother. Do you think she might go there?”
Mindy’s eyes lit up. “I do, but I would imagine she’d try to come here first if only to show her parents they didn’t need to worry about her.”
“Let’s hope Doug doesn’t think along those lines and has set some kind of trap,” Mike said.