“There’s no need to say it like it was my fault.”
He put a hand over his chest. “Sometimes I think God sent you here to test the strength of my heart.”
“Then you’re weird.”
He snorted. “Says the person who always flushes the toilet twice—before and after she uses it.”
“Says the person who stupidly lies that he’s color-blind.”
“I am color-blind.”
Gwen rolled her eyes. “I’m too sober to deal with you. And stop with the dramatics.”
“I’m not being dramatic. Yvonne thought the damn ghosts had come for you.”
Gwen frowned. “Ghosts?” As Yvonne then told her what happened, Gwen gaped. “I don’t get how the girl could have helped.”
“Ally said the girl gave her a sort of . . . dose of preternatural energy,” Yvonne explained. “It boosted her healing skills, because her healing energy is preternatural too. Or something like that. She said it better.”
“Damn, I wish I’d been awake for that.”
Marlon looked at Zander. “I heard you saved my sister and then practically ate Ezra Moore alive. For that, I will forever adore you.”
Not really sure what to say to that, Zander just nodded. That seemed to please Marlon, because he beamed at him and then declared he’d make pancakes.
Donnie frowned. “I want Pop-Tarts.”
Marlon sighed. “I’ll get you Pop-Tarts.”
Yvonne stood and drew Gwen into her arms, squeezing her tight. “I’m so glad you’re okay. You scared me last night. I wasn’t sure you were going to make it.” Her voice broke at the end.
Gwen hugged her tight. “I’m sorry that Ezra, Moira, and Brandt hurt you and—”
Yvonne pulled back and gripped her face, pinning her gaze. “Don’t you apologize. Nelson was restraining you and had a gun to your head.” Ignoring Zander’s growl, she continued, “There was no way you could have done anything, Gwen. Besides, you got free in the end. You saved us both . . . and then Zander and Ally saved you.” Yvonne smiled at Zander. “Thank you. And thank you for not dragging her away from me—I can see you want to keep her close right now.”
Zander ignored the teasing note to her voice. Besides, she was right. He needed to keep Gwen close, needed to breathe her in. He sat, and at his urging, Gwen settled on his lap.
“You okay, Donnie?” Gwen asked him as he bit into a Pop-Tart.
Donnie gave her a thumbs-up. “Nearly died.” And for some reason, he sounded . . . cheery about it. Like it was the first bit of excitement he’d had in a long time. “If Ally hadn’t done that healing thing, I’d have met the reaper and you’d be planting lilies over my head.” He looked at Yvonne. “Make sure that happens when my ticker finally stops ticking, okay? Lilies. I want lilies.”
“Lilies,” Yvonne promised.
Donnie lifted a brow at Gwen. “What do you want planted over your grave?”
Zander growled. “Let’s not talk anymore about Gwen dying, yeah?”
As Marlon made pancakes and Yvonne made coffee, more and more people came downstairs for breakfast. Considering the night before had been one hell of a fuckup, it was surprising that the atmosphere was . . . peaceful.
The arrival of a car ruined it.
“It might just be Julie and Chase,” said Yvonne.
But as Zander stepped out onto the porch, it was to see that she was wrong. The sheriff slid out of his car, face grim. Beside him, Gwen quietly cursed. The others all emptied out of the house and spread out along the porch.
As Colt marched up the steps, Gwen lifted a brow. “Can I help you with something?”
“Where’s Ezra?” he demanded.
Gwen blinked. “Ezra?”
“Don’t play with me, Gwen,” he clipped.
Zander growled, and his wolf swiped his claws. “Watch your fucking tone.”
Colt’s lips thinned. “Last night, I had several reports that there were all kinds of noises coming from here.”
Yvonne snickered. “Kind of you to check on us the day after the reports came in.”
Perching his hands on his hips, Colt jutted out his chin. “Shifter business is shifter business.”
He had that right, thought Zander. “We went on a pack run. Things can get noisy.”
But Colt wasn’t buying it. “Ezra talked about coming here with his brothers, making you pay,” he told Gwen. “I calmed him down, thought I’d made him see reason. But I went by to see him this morning, and he’s gone. So are Moira and Brandt. His chauffeur and brother are nowhere to be found either.”
Gwen frowned. “And you think they’ll come here?”
“I think they have been here. I think you did something to them last night.”
“Why?” she asked.
His face flushed. “Because they wouldn’t just vanish like this! I want to search the premises. I want to get a crime-scene unit out here and—”
“That’s not going to be possible,” Zander told him, voice hard.
Colt did a slow blink. “Excuse me?”
“Well, see, you have no jurisdiction here anymore,” Gwen explained. “Haven’t you noticed all the shifter markings?”
Colt’s nostrils flared. “That doesn’t make this shifter territory.”
“This does.” Derren handed the sheriff some folded-up papers. He snatched them fast and began to read them. “These are the deeds to the house and land,” said Derren. “As you can see, they no longer belong to Yvonne.”
“Who’s Nick Axton?” Colt asked.
“Our Alpha,” said Jesse. “That makes this shifter territory, which means, as Gwen said, you have no jurisdiction here.”
Gwen barely hid her smile as Colt glared at her, looking ready to explode. Nick had bought the house and land from Yvonne just days before the hearing to cover their asses in case such an event occurred.
Fisting his hand in the papers, Colt growled, “Your neighbors said they heard fighting!”
Gwen arched a brow. “Do we look like we’ve been fighting?” Thanks to Ally, the answer was no. And as they’d moved the cars so that they covered the bloodstains on the ground from Zander’s and Rory’s duel, there was no way to tell that there had been a battle without taking a stroll around the marsh.
The bodies of the dead shifters and humans had all been lumped together deep in the marsh near two of Ezra’s cars. According to Zander, Cain would be sending some people from The Movement to collect them all. Collecting and disposing of bodies was apparently something they’d done for the Phoenix Pack before.
“The deeds,” said Derren, holding out his hand.
Colt handed them back with a petulant frown. “Ezra and Moira wouldn’t have just . . . left.”
“They might have if they were worried that shifters would come hunting Brandt for what he had done to Andie,” said Harley. “We’ve all heard of The Movement.”
The sheriff shook his head. “Ezra would have told me if he was leaving. And he wouldn’t run from shifters.”
“But he might run from Kenny Cogman,” Gwen mused. “Ezra said some pretty mean shit about me at that hearing. Told some lies about me too. Kenny wasn’t too happy to hear that.”
Colt’s frown turned thoughtful. “If you have nothing to hide, prove it and let me inside.”