Page 69 of Fire Dancer
She was friendly enough, and clearly the alpha’s mate, because while motioning me to a chair, she clamped a hand over her mate’s shoulder and pushed down in an obvious hint.
The guy scowled but lowered himself into a chair. Slowly.
I’d heard of him, of course. Ty Hawthorne, alpha of Twin Moon pack. The agency listed Twin Moon as an up-and-comingwolf pack, but an update was sorely needed. Not that I would be the one supplying that update.
All my local sources agreed that Twin Moon pack wasthedominant wolf pack in the Southwest and a positive force that ran their own…well, call it a neighborhood watch program.
A very effective neighborhood watch, and no surprise, judging by their leader’s thunderous aura.
Ty Hawthorne’s eyes blazed, but Lana cut in before he could growl,What the hell do you want?
“How can we help you?” she asked.
Same message, different delivery. Thank goodness for level-headed women.
“That hiker death in Sedona, about a week ago…” I started.
Ty looked at Kyle, their inside man in local law enforcement. Very handy.
“I read the report,” Kyle said. “The coroner ruled it accidental.”
I shook my head. “They missed the bear shifter scent. It was all over the ledge she fell from.”
Soren, the bear shifter and saloon owner, bristled.
“I couldn’t ID them,” I said before he took it as an accusation.
“Surely the agency has the resources to ID scents,” the one named Tina said.
She had a strong family resemblance to Ty, except she was beautiful and she actually smiled. His sister, I figured.
I took a moment to word my reply carefully. “They do, but my request was rejected because it was tied to an unapproved investigation.”
Ty Hawthorne’s lips quirked, the first glimpse of sunshine in his stormy expression. Any failure of the agency was good news for a pack that liked to run under the radar.
And honestly, I couldn’t blame them. As I saw it, my job was to hunt down bad eggs, not law-abiding packs that minded their own business.
“Unapproved investigation?” Soren growled.
Like many bears, his vocal cords didn’t seem capable of regular speech. Just growls, snarls, and grumbles.
I nodded. “Unapproved because the evidence so far is circumstantial.”
Also because of a certain restraining order, but I glossed over that part.
Ty didn’t seem concerned. Clearly, he was more of a trust-your-instincts type of guy than a champion of painstaking forensics. The question was, would he trustmyinstincts?
“On a separate occasion, I identified another suspicious bear shifter, new to Sedona,” I continued.
“Anothersuspicious bear shifter?” Soren rumbled.
I shot him a look. No, not all bear shifters were suspicious. Hell, some of the best guys on the fire crew I used to work on were bear shifters. But Stacy’s driver gave me nothing but negative vibes.
“He works for a company based out of Park City, which I believe is tied to a place in Sedona called La Puebla.”
Lana cocked her head. “The one on Schnebly Hill?”
Kyle scowled deeply. Deep enough to make it seem personal. Why?