“Same here.”
When Allan put his phone away, Debbie cleared her throat, then said very seriously, “You know, Rowdy thinks you and the rest of your family are part of a werewolf pack.”
Allan found her comment disquieting. “He does, does he? You know what they say. It takes one to know one.”
She laughed.
“So how did he come by that notion?” He pretended to take the news in a lighthearted, humorous way, even though he felt anything but.
She explained about the shootings near the jumping cliff. “You have to admit it sounds rather peculiar.”
Allan was quiet for some time, but then he let out his breath as if relieved. “He didn’t see me shift then.”
Debbie chuckled, loving that Allan could play along. “Besides, you are the one with close family ties. Rowdy has none. So he couldn’t be a wolf. But he told me to watch out where you’re concerned.”
“All that means is that he’s a lone wolf and not associated with a pack.”
“I’ll tell him what you said next time.”
“So what do you think?”
“Oh, you’re a wolf all right.”
He smiled.
“He told me about the shoot-out you had with bank robbers. Rowdy thought a pack of wolves was involved. But wolves don’t go after humans like that. Unless they were rabid, maybe, but then the victims would have tested positive for rabies. He said you witnessed that attack.”
“No, I was shot and couldn’t do a whole lot.”
“Where were you shot?” she asked, surprised. She didn’t remember seeing any mark on his beautiful skin, except for some cute freckles on his shoulders. But she hadn’t witnessed any scars due to a bullet wound.
“Minor scratch, and it’s all healed up. No scar even.”
“You must have been in a bad way. They took you away in an ambulance, Rowdy said.”
“Just as a precautionary measure.”
“You wouldn’t have been lying around when armed men were shooting at you and the others.” Then she frowned a little. “Do wolves heal miraculously like vampires? No wounds left behind?”
“Absolutely.”
“Thought so. I’ll have to let Rowdy know. Did Paul see any of the ‘wolves’?”
“He was too busy trying to rescue Lori. She’d struggled with one robber and then both fell off the cliff. You know she was pregnant at the time, right? So Paul was concerned about her condition and was trying to reach her right away.”
“Yes, that was so awful. I was glad to hear she was fine. I realize she knows martial arts, but she’s seen these two bad criminal cases that must have really shaken her up. So in the bank robber case, she had been struggling with a naked man?”
“The police found his clothes in his vehicle. Maybe he was planning to dump them, afraid he’d been identified, or maybe he had blood splatter on them from shooting me. Anyway, we thought maybe he was high on something, but nothing showed up in his system during the autopsy.”
“That leaves only one real plausible explanation. He removed his clothes, shifted, and chased after Lori as a wolf.”
“She wouldn’t have been able to fight off a wolf.”
“Unless she had been a wolf too.”
“A female fighting against a male?” Allan shook his head. “I doubt a female would have survived a vicious male’s attack.”
“Unless Paul came to rescue her as a wolf. And then there would have been two wolves against one.”
“I see you have all this well thought out. Have you asked Paul about his role as a wolf?”
“Heavens no. I figure you and I are friends, and you’ll keep the others from turning me.”
Allan raised his brows a little. “What if I wanted to turn you to make you my mate?”
She smiled as if she rather liked the idea. “I might just bite you right back.”
“That’s all part of being a wolf.” Then he let out his breath. “About tonight…”
She knew before he said it that he wasn’t staying with her tonight. He was backing off from getting too involved, and she couldn’t help but be disappointed. “Yeah?”
“I need to stay closer to home, but I’m calling the sheriff’s office to make sure someone drives by to check on you every once in a while.”
“I’ll be fine, Allan. Really.” But she knew he’d call it in anyway. And she had to like that he still worried about her, even if things were cooling off between them again.
*
After ensuring some of his law enforcement friends would check on Debbie periodically, Allan drove to Paul and Lori’s cabin on the lake. He really hated leaving Debbie alone, partly because he wanted to be the one protecting her and partly because he wanted to just plain be with her. But despite how he wanted it, he knew this was the best for all concerned.
When he arrived at Paul and Lori’s cabin, Lori fixed them dinner.
“Rowdy told Debbie we were part of a werewolf pack,” Allan told them.