It took Sierra and Adam a good hour to make it safely back to Carver’s house because they were trying to avoid running into the men. They never saw them, though they were watching and listening for any sign of humans tromping through the underbrush in hot pursuit. When they reached the cul-de-sac, she waited in the shrubs as a wolf, figuring she would be well hidden if the men ended up around here somewhere, while Adam, to her surprise, stayed as a wolf too, ran to the front door, and disappeared in the deep recesses of the entryway.

  She assumed he’d thought better of running naked through the front yard with the streetlamps giving off a fair amount of light. If anyone saw him as a naked human, they might have called the police, but in his wolf form, they would most likely think he was a dog or possibly a coyote, not a wolf anyway. There weren’t any wolves in the Portland area, only coyotes.

  She heard the front door open and close. It seemed like it took him forever to turn off the security alarm before he came around through the backyard to the side gate, opened it, and whistled for her to let her know it was him and not anyone else. She raced into the yard and past him into the house.

  He was wearing a pair of jeans, and she assumed that was the reason it had taken him longer to come for her.

  She shifted. “You can get our clothes out of the shed since you’re partially clothed. I’m going to get a glass of water for each of us.” She was dying of thirst. She imagined he was too.

  He soon returned with their clothes and they dressed and drank the water.

  “Well, that was quite a run that I hadn’t expected,” she said, relieved they were safe for the moment but worried about who the shooters were and why they’d been shooting at them.

  “Yeah, and not in a good way either.” Adam already had his phone out and was calling the incident into the police. “This is Detective Holmes. My friend and I were sitting out back having a drink and heard gunfire in Forest Park, north of Carver’s place.” He gave the officer the address. “Yeah, thanks.” He ended the call. “They’re sending some officers, but I’ll need to go with them to help search for the shooters. I know the park as well as the park rangers who work there. Even better than them, actually.”

  “From running all over the place as a wolf. Besides having the nose of a bloodhound.”

  “Exactly. I have to get my gun from the Hummer. After the police get here, I want you to drive to my house. I’ll most likely be tracking these men down for a couple of hours, and you can get some sleep in the meantime. I’ll get one of the officers who is helping with the manhunt drop me off at my house afterward. I have a spare house key, so you can take the one I have with the key to the Hummer.” He grabbed his gun, flashlight, gloves, and baggies for evidence from the locked glove box and walked Sierra back inside.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you and help you search for the shooters?” Sierra figured with both of them using their enhanced abilities, surely they would catch up with the bastards in less time than it took for one of them to find the shooters. The police could split up into two teams. She put their empty water glasses in the dishwasher.

  “No. It’s a police matter for now.”

  Sierra pulled Adam into her arms and kissed him. “Ever since I met you, I’ve wanted to do this with you, but then after I broke up with Richard, I was afraid it might seem too soon.”

  “Hell, no.” Adam smiled and kissed her mouth back with feeling that said he was eager to get started on something deeper between them.

  She smiled. “Good. Thanks for worrying about me, and you could be right. I’ll stay with you at your place if it looks like Dover is behind the shootings tonight. Unless you think I’m too hot to handle.”

  Adam sighed but wasn’t letting her go as he ran his hand over her back. “What if this is just someone else and has nothing to do with Dover? At least this time.”

  She patted Adam’s chest. “Then we’re back to me returning home tomorrow. Alone. But we’re still dating.”

  “Hopefully, this has nothing to do with Dover and is just some random nutcases. Though I would still feel better if you stayed with someone. Me, preferably, of course. And don’t worry about me. I’m trained to manage too-hot-to-handle cases.”

  She smiled.

  “And yeah, we’re definitely dating,” he agreed.

  It didn’t take long after he called it in before they heard three cars pull up in front of the house. Adam said to Sierra, “Go to my place and get some sleep. You’re welcome to any bed. I’ll see you in the morning.” He gave her his keys to the vehicle and house, and they walked outside together so she could leave and he would lead the search party.

  She knew why he didn’t want her out there. She wasn’t a police officer, even though she worked for the bureau. She didn’t have a gun if the shooters shot at her. But it was also because she wouldn’t have the bureau’s backing on her chasing down suspects like this. And it would be hard for her to explain why she could track the shooters and knew the area better than the park rangers—all because she was a wolf and had traveled so much farther and faster than humans could in all kinds of terrain in the time that she’d lived here.

  Fine. They could deal with it. She was going to Adam’s home to sleep and hoped they would find the shooters without her. She thought he was cute to offer any bed to her. So did he mean he was offering for her to join him in the master bed? She smiled, suspecting so. Was she taking him up on the offer? No way. Not for now, anyway. But she suspected, feeling the way she did about him because he was really the bright spot in her life, they would end up together in the same bed sooner rather than later.

  * * *

  Adam knew Sierra wasn’t happy with him saying no to her helping track the men down, but he couldn’t justify her being there. Not only that, but he was afraid the police officers wouldn’t believe she could track the shooters better than they could. Not to mention he didn’t want the shooters to shoot her, and she wouldn’t be armed to shoot them back.

  He just hoped he could locate the men and have them arrested. And he really hoped they weren’t Dover’s men. Just some random shooters. If they were Dover’s men, that meant they must have followed them to the park, and hell, Sierra shouldn’t be home alone. He immediately pulled out his phone and called Tori. “Hey, I know it’s late, but—”

  “What’s wrong? What do you need me to do?”

  “Sierra and I were at Carver’s place when we heard shots fired.”

  “Someone was shooting at you while you were in your wolf coats,” Tori said, figuring out what he was trying to say without him saying it.

  “Yeah, and I’m with a team of police officers, trying to track down the shooters.”

  “More than one. So you want me to come out and help you track them?” Tori sounded ready and eager, and he felt fortunate that he had her for his new partner.

  “No. I need you to get ahold of Sierra and go to my house, if you don’t mind. She might need protection.”

  “I’m on it. And, Adam, we’re partners. So if you need help, or any pack members need it, I’m there for you or them. Don’t ever feel like it’s an imposition.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I guess Sierra and I can’t both come to look for the culprits, can we?” Tori still sounded like she would rather track down the shooters than babysit.

  “Not Sierra. She’s not a police officer and she may be their target.”

  “Dover’s men,” Tori said darkly.

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay, I’ll let you know what happens in a text message when I get to your house. But I’ll give her a heads-up too.”

  “Thanks.” Adam gave her his home address, thanked her again, and ended the call. He called Sierra to let her know that Tori was coming to stay with her until he got over there.

  “Thanks for letting me know. Hope you find the bastards soon.”

  “I sure hope so too. They’re taking a bite out of my dating time with you.”

  Then they ended the call and he continued walking on the trail with the other police officers for a good long while, then headed off trail where the shooters had gone—a man and a woman. And damn if the woman hadn’t been one of the kidnappers who had been at Sierra’s house. He figured this all had to do with Dover.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” one of the new officers asked him.

  “Yeah, I do.” It was understandable that the officer wouldn’t have faith in Adam’s ability to track the shooters as dark as the park was, though with his wolf’s sight, he could see much better than they could armed with flashlights. He was using one too, not wanting to look like he had superpowers. But it was his nose that really clued him in as to where the shooters had gone. The smell from the gunpowder on their hands and that one, damn it, smelled of the woman who had helped to kidnap Melissa told Adam he was right on track. It also meant that Dover most likely was involved in this.

  Three of the police officers knew he and Josh were some of the best trackers they had on the force, at least until Josh had retired. One of the two new guys who had questioned Adam hadn’t been with the bureau that long. He was a transfer, not a rookie.

  The other officers followed obediently along as if knowing Adam knew what he was doing, even the other new guy who followed their lead.

  Then Adam kicked a shell casing, though he was sure only he could hear his boot hit the metal. He could smell the propellant from the gun in the vicinity, like dusty smoke, boiled eggs, but hitting the shell casing with his foot was still damn lucky. He shined his flashlight down at the ground and found the casing. “Found a shell casing!”

  One of the officers bagged it for him.

  The men began searching the area for others then and one said, “Found another!”

  They combed through the area and found three more.

  Adam was following his nose, searching trees for any more shell casings and hopefully a discharged bullet he could find. He was sniffing the area, smelling the pungent nitroglycerin after the ammo had been fired when he flashed his light on a tree and found a bullet lodged in the bark.

  “Found a bullet!” Adam dug it out with a pen knife.

  The terrain was rugged in this area, and they would be lucky if no one twisted an ankle as they moved forward, searching for any further evidence. Cell phone service wasn’t available in several remote areas, so Adam hoped he would hear from Sierra or Tori before he lost his cell service and that he was still tracking the shooters out here and that they hadn’t followed Sierra to his house instead. He couldn’t help worrying about both women.

  He smelled his and Sierra’s wolf scents through this area. The shooters had been tracking them for a while as Adam and Sierra had run off, trying to avoid getting shot, and then the shooters had headed in a different direction. The man and woman must have lost sight of the wolves at that point, which Adam was grateful for. While Adam had been running, he had felt like the shooters could smell him and Sierra and had continued to track them all along and back to the house.

  Adam tried his phone to see if he still had service. He didn’t. Damn it. Tori might have tried to get ahold of him to tell him everything was all right then. At least he hoped so.

  One of the officers glanced at him, raising his brows as if he thought Adam should be finding more clues. Adam didn’t want to alienate any of the police officers by being arrogant about his abilities. Most of them were glad when he helped track someone down. Usually the skeptics were convinced after he located the culprits or the victims. But a couple of the officers gave him a hard time over it, wanting him to prove over and over again that his ability to locate people wasn’t just a fluke. Now, he suspected they did it just to rib him about it. And he had no problem with that either.

  Then he got a text and quickly checked it, glad he had cell service again.

  Tori had texted: I’m at your house with Sierra. No one seems to have followed her here.

  He texted back: Good. I’m still tracking the shooters. They lost our trail, so I’m still searching for where they went next.

  Tori: Good luck with that. Sierra’s taking a shower. I’m lying down on the couch.

  He texted: Good show. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way back.

  Adam had thought of calling Josh to come and help him search for the shooters, but Josh wasn’t with the bureau any longer and the park was closed for the night, though Adam was certain the police officers would welcome Josh’s help. Adam thought about Ethan too, though he was DEA. He was also a wolf so he could help track down people.

  The shooters had circled back toward Carver’s house. They were still heading through the underbrush and not on any main path, then they finally broke through the brush and ended up on a main trail.

  “They doubled back,” Adam said.

  “To…?” the new cop who had questioned Adam before asked.

  “Toward the house where Sierra and I were having a drink when we heard the couple shooting. I have no idea what they were shooting at, but hunting isn’t allowed in the park,” Adam said. “I suspect whatever they were after took off and they chased it all over the place.”

  “And then back to where you first heard them,” the officer said.

  “Most likely they had a vehicle parked nearby there.”

  Adam and the officers finally reached Carver’s house and the back gate. He didn’t smell any sign of the man or woman. For that, he was thankful. Still, he was careful when he entered the backyard but didn’t smell either of the man’s or woman’s scents there either.

  He locked the gate after the officers joined him. He let the other officers through the house, and then he set the alarm and locked the door.

  He was disappointed they hadn’t located the shooters and arrested them, but he was eager to get home to relieve Tori of guard duty so she could return home and get some sleep and he could protect Sierra himself.

  “Hey, can one of you guys give me a lift back to my place?” Adam asked the officers.

  “I’ll take you,” the transferred investigative officer quickly said. “Roland Paulson.” He shook Adam’s hand.

  “Thanks, Roland. Adam Holmes. You started just a couple of days ago, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah. I was working out of New York City and needed a change of pace. I broke up with my girlfriend, and it was time to move on.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Adam said, then waved good night to the other officers, and Roland drove him home. Adam texted Tori to let her know he was headed back to his house.

  Tori texted: See you soon.

  “I’m sorry we didn’t find the shooters. So how do you do it?” Roland asked Adam.

  “Track them down?”

  “Yeah, Evans was telling me you and Wilding, your former partner, could find the perps like you were a couple of bloodhounds on their trail.”

  “Just lucky, I guess.” That was the problem with having the ability but not being able to share why they could do what they could do with others.

  “Nah. I don’t believe in luck. You’ve got something special going on. My aunt always knew when someone was going to call her at home. She just had this really uncanny ability. She would look up at the phone and everyone else would glance in that direction and it would ring. Like clockwork. Of course, that was before cell phones. She wouldn’t own one of those. So how do you do it? The guys said you got some of your friends, who live out at a ranch, to help search for a missing six-year-old boy in Forest Park. That he’d gotten away from his parents on a hike and they couldn’t find him anywhere. Everyone was looking for him, search parties everywhere, but when you and your friends arrived, you all took off into some really rough terrain and in no time at all you found him.”

  “Yeah, we were glad to. We had bad storms coming in and it was getting dark.”

  “Do you sense things out of the ordinary? Like my aunt did with the phone calls?”

  “No, nothing like that.” Adam appreciated that the officer didn’t have any qualms about believing in paranormal abilities, but he knew if he told him the truth that he was a lupus garou—which he would never do—that would be a little too much for the officer to handle.

  “It was too dark to really see if plants were trampled off trail or branches or twigs were broken, like old-time trackers would use to follow someone. And then pure dumb luck that you saw the first shell casing.” The officer cast a glance in Adam’s direction, and Adam suspected he believed that he had psychic powers or something like that.

  “I just pay more attention to details, listen carefully, watch for movement, breathe in different smells. Like for instance, you ate a hamburger in the car a couple of days ago, you used a pine air freshener, you’re wearing cologne, someone spilled milk in the car a few days ago, and a dog has been in the back seat. Oh, and you had ketchup on your french fries that probably came with the fast-food hamburger.”

  “Hell, you’re good. You must have a really great sense of smell.”

  “I just really pay attention to the smells around me.”

  “Okay.” But Roland didn’t sound like he believed Adam.

  Adam didn’t blame him. If he were Roland, he would think it was unbelievable that Josh and he could find people like that.

  “So what do you think they were shooting at?” Roland asked.