Now wasn’t the best time to call because Allan was with Debbie, but Paul would know that. Which meant Allan was probably needed for a pack-related emergency, and he worried that it had to do with Franny and her claim that the accident she had been involved in hadn’t been an accident. With Paul’s broken leg still incapacitating him, Allan was taking up the slack.
“Allan, we’ve got a problem.”
“Okay. Just a sec. Debbie and I were just on a case, and we’re suffering from a mild case of hypothermia.” Which Paul would be aware of, as the EMTs who rescued Franny would have told him. But Allan couldn’t let Debbie know that Paul was aware of it. “We’re dropping by her place so she can dry her hair and get warmed up a bit and I’m headed over to my cabin. Can I call you back?” Allan didn’t want to have to watch what he was saying.
“Call me as soon as you can. We have a minor emergency.”
“Will do.” Allan was dying to know what the emergency was all about, if it was related to Franny or something else, but he really didn’t want to ask in front of Debbie and then have to make up some story about it later.
They ended the call and he phoned the clinic. “How are Franny and Stacy doing?” he asked Dr. Christine Holt.
“They’re in stable condition. Your partner didn’t suspect anything?” Christine asked him.
“No.”
“Good. Are you all right? The EMTs said that you went back in the water after her purse.”
“Yeah, in case she had something important in there.”
“Well, she pulled a piece of paper out of her purse, sopping wet, the ink all gone, but she said it wasn’t important anyway. She was so out of it, she just knew she had to have her purse with her. Both Franny and her baby will be fine. Her husband is here with them now.”
“Good to hear. Debbie and I will be dropping by later as soon as we can get dry and warm.”
“Give us a heads-up when you’re on your way. We don’t have any other patients at the moment, but you never know when we might, and we need to make sure that Franny remains human.”
“Will do.”
“Take care.”
Allan told Debbie about the condition of Mom and Baby, but not about the purse. He didn’t want her reminding him how he shouldn’t have gone after it.
He was tasked with ensuring all the new wolf pack members worked well together, but he also helped with any trouble the pack was having. He should have been interested in one of the lovely single she-wolves, but he couldn’t get his thoughts off a certain sexy, kick-ass human. Some of it was because they worked together, but they also had a lot in common: they both loved to dive as a hobby, loved thrillers, Italian food, and read some of the same fantasy books.
“I’m glad to hear Franny and her baby are doing well. Is there a problem at home?” Debbie asked.
“Not sure. Probably some minor family issue.” This was the part Allan hated. He’d told her about his family, as far as he could say. That his mother and sister had taken Paul in. That he was like a brother to them. But Allan hadn’t been able to say much more than that. Certainly nothing about their wolf pack, and their increased longevity, though that had changed and they were aging nearly the same as humans now, but they hadn’t figured out why. He and his family had lived for many years, though they didn’t look it.
Trying to explain how eons ago he had run through a forest that once was on dry land and now buried underwater in Lake MacDonald, and other such things, wasn’t an option. He had gone diving with her there just for fun, and wished he could have told her about the time Paul and he had a very close call with a bear, when the forest wasn’t underwater. She would never have believed him.
“Hope everything’s all right,” she said, sounding genuinely concerned.
The problem was she had a cop’s way of thinking. She was curious and had good instincts. She could tell something was going on. He knew the longer they worked together, the dicier it would get. Paul had warned him, but what could Allan do? He couldn’t very well ask for another partner when he really loved working with her, and how would he explain why he could no longer work with her?
Anything he said might hurt her career. And he wasn’t about to do that.
He sighed. Somehow he would just have to keep up the facade. That meant not letting on that he could smell things that humans couldn’t. She’d already commented on his remarkable eyesight when it was getting to be dusk and dawn.
Yeah, working with her was great…and dangerous. Not only because of what he was, but because he totally had the hots for her. And that was a no go in this business. He told himself it would be easy because partners didn’t date, normally. If he just kept it on a professional basis, he should have no problem.
His focus turned to Paul’s phone call. He knew the situation wouldn’t be some minor issue. He was anxious to learn what the trouble was this time.
Chapter 3
Debbie really loved working with Allan, though he was…different. Maybe that’s why she loved working with him so much. She could tell he really wanted to see her after hours, and did sometimes—to talk more about a case.
They would keep working on cases no matter the hour, have dinner together, work on them some more. Get up early, start on it again. They’d rescued four people who had fallen through ice while ice fishing, saved a baby moose that had fallen through ice, and rescued two accident victims due to icy road conditions this month. Not only that, but they’d been working on this murder case too, and though the vehicle and body had already been removed from the lake, they planned to see if they could find anything else in the water around the site of the accident.
She glanced at him, trying to read his expression. He had one of those faces that made her think of a really nice guy, but she knew Allan could be all business when it came to taking someone in hand.
He appreciated her training and often remarked on what a great partner she was. She knew he wasn’t saying it just to be nice. He truly meant what he said, and she really respected him for it. She felt the same way about him.
“Are we still on for pizza?” she asked, wanting to check on the baby and mom at the clinic to see for herself they were okay, but she was also dying to have a pizza. She hadn’t had one in ages, and it was a nice way to take a break once she dried her wet clothes and her hair. At least the car heater was now warming her up.
“You bet.” His eyes always lit up when his gaze caught hers. He was seriously sexy, muscular and in great shape and that appealed too.
She’d always wanted to hear his SEAL stories, the ones that he could share with her. He’d told her about a couple of rescues he and his team had performed for private contracts. They’d been in the Amazon a number of times on dangerous missions. She found him to be the most fascinating man she’d ever met.
Some of her fascination was because his family was so important to him. She was estranged from her own. Her father had been the town drunk, and her mother, the perfect enabler. Good thing Debbie was an only child so only she’d had to suffer the consequences of a dysfunctional family like theirs.
“When you were getting Franny’s purse, she said a red car nearly hit hers, slid on the ice, and she turned to avoid it. That’s how she ended up careening down the hill and sailing into the culvert. She said he did it on purpose, but she doesn’t remember the SUV being upside down. Just that somehow she managed to get out and then couldn’t get to her baby. So I suspect she just imagined the driver had caused the accident on purpose.”
“Hell, I thought she was mistaken. The driver didn’t stop to help? Call it in or anything?”
“It wasn’t technically a hit and run, and he might have been afraid if he tried to brake on the ice he’d be where she was.”