“They’ve run ballistics on the rifle. It’s not the one that was used to shoot you and Tara.”
She hadn’t thought he even knew about Tara. Just that she had been shot. “No? I thought Vaughn believed it was Otis’s.”
“It is. It was registered to him. But it’s not the one he used in the shootings.”
“Ah, okay. Well, I thought you might have had it all tied up.”
“I need Otis’s body first.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment as Allan helped her out of her boots.
“You still there?”
“Yeah. Well, Vaughn said that the surveillance showed the kind of vehicle he was driving. Did you put an APB out on it?”
“Yeah. But I have a feeling in my bones that he’s no longer among the living.”
“You mean like a sixth sense?”
“Yeah, you know me and my paranormal musings. Anyway, yeah, like a sixth sense.”
“You think maybe a hunter got him?”
“I ’spect we’ll be finding him come spring, if not sooner, wearing a few predatory bite marks. Nothing ominous—just a hazard of running around in the wilderness in the dead of winter when on the…lam.”
“So you’re no longer worried about him?”
“Are you?”
“Not when you’re on the case.”
Rowdy sighed. “Are you really doing okay?”
“Yeah.” She was naked now and so was Allan, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead, cheeks, and chin. “I’m fine. Thanks, Rowdy, for everything.”
She swore Rowdy knew the truth. But why let Allan and his pack know it? Why not pretend they didn’t exist? He didn’t seem to fear that they might turn him or eliminate him.
“I’ve been hearing you’re marrying one of them,” Rowdy said.
“Ah, Allan. Yeah. I finally caught my man.”
“Well, more power to you. You can’t say I didn’t try to save you, but I figured once he wanted you, it was like a dog with a—”
She cleared her throat.
He didn’t finish what he was going to say.
“Allan says it takes one to know one. Are you sure you’re not one of them?” Debbie asked.
“Not yet. But I imagine that it’s coming.”
“You don’t mind?”
“It’s either that or end up like that poor fool.”
“He murdered innocent people. And you would never do what he did.”
“You think? It’s hard to say. If I saw one of them killing another, I don’t know. Whole different world out there.”
“Well, all I know is Allan’s the right one for me.”
“What about our Friday night pizza?”
“Maybe once a month now. We have some newlywed time to nurture.”
“No pizza night during the full moon though, right?” Rowdy asked.
“Only if you like living dangerously,” Debbie said and kissed Allan on his throat. She was certain Rowdy was taking notes. New moon—no wolf change.
“You’re on. Usual time? I’ll be there,” Rowdy said.
Then they ended the call.
“What’s up?” Allan asked, pulling her toward the shower.
“He knows. Or at least he suspects. I think he believes we’re the good guys though.”
“Well, we are.”
“Is it wise to keep meeting with him?” she asked.
“Yeah, it is. If only to ensure he knows we’re just average folks like everybody else when we’re not wearing our wolf coats.”
“And so we can keep up on what he’s thinking or doing with regard to our kind?”
“Absolutely. Vaughn said to watch out for Rowdy. He believes he’s sitting on the fence—he can either try to prove we exist or join us. So we’ve got to prove we’re worth joining.”
“Or just turn him against his will.”
“If we have to, but it would be a whole lot better if we could make him one of us because he wants it.”
“But you can’t tell him we’re werewolves for real.”
“No. That’s the problem. Once that’s done, he doesn’t have a choice.”
She nodded. “Thank you for loving me, Allan, and for having a pack who cared enough about the two of us that we could be together as wolf mates, even if they didn’t know how it would work out between us.”
“I was angry to begin with, afraid of how you’d feel. On the other hand, I wanted you for a mate and I’m glad you’ve found a family with us. With me. I can’t tell you enough how much I love you.”
“In your every action, you’ve shown me. I was so stuck on you before I learned what you were, but you know what?” She pulled him into a warm embrace and kissed him. “That’s what intrigued me the most about you. Here I thought it was just because you were a SEAL.”
He smiled down and kissed her right back. “You have to know you’ve made me the happiest wolf in the world.” Then he took her into the shower, the one where she had sat as a wild wolf watching him soap that hard body of his, only this time she was soaping that hard body of his.