Adam sat back in his chair. “But they needed a third person driving the getaway car.”

  “Yeah, that would have been Lonnie, but Burt said they couldn’t get ahold of him. I think Dover assumed I was wired at the jail, and that’s why he asked me twice why I was there. It would have been better to have sent Burt to see him. He has been visiting him since Dover went to jail.”

  “Well, thanks, Kinney. You gave it your best shot.”

  “I feel better knowing Dover didn’t try to kill me, if I’m right in my assumption. I just hope you found enough evidence to put Victor and Phyllis away for a long time.”

  “We hope so too. Thanks again, Kinney.”

  Kinney left and Adam went to talk to Sierra. He’d barely had a chance all day.

  She smiled at him and kissed him. “So what’s next on the agenda?”

  “Tori and I have to speak to Victor in the hospital as soon as—”

  “He’s out of surgery and now is awake. The bullet went through his hand,” Tori said, hurrying to join them with her phone in hand.

  “Okay, good luck, you two. If I don’t see you before I leave, I’ll be going to my house to begin packing up all the rest of my clothes and food to take to your house, Adam.”

  “Our house. They both are now.”

  “And remember, I’m helping you both after all the help you were with me,” Tori said.

  Actually, everyone who had helped Tori had offered to help Adam and Sierra move too.

  “As soon as I’m done with the interrogation of Victor at the hospital, I’ll meet you at your house,” Adam said.

  “Okay, see you there.” She gave him a hug and kiss, some other officers smiling and shaking their heads.

  Then Adam and Tori took off for the hospital.

  “So who gets to question him?” Tori asked.

  “You can, if you want. Or we can feel him out and see which of us he might be more willing to talk to. That’s how Josh and I did it. Sometimes someone was more hostile toward him and other times toward me, so we just feel the situation out and then go with whoever we believe can get the most out of the perp.”

  “Okay, sounds good to me.”

  They finally parked at the hospital and went up to the room where Victor was recuperating before they took him to jail.

  Adam and Tori spoke to the guard, then went inside the room where Victor was lying in a bed, his head partly elevated while he watched TV.

  Tori turned off the TV, and though Victor had been read his rights, she gave them to him again. She glanced at Adam, but he motioned with his head to let her question Victor first.

  She began going through the list of charges against him and ended with the boat they had found in the storage unit. “Dover’s not happy that you and Phyllis hooked up. He wants a word with you when you join him.”

  “Who told him that?” Victor asked.

  “She wasn’t seeing him or taking his calls. Then Dover learned for sure that you and Phyllis have been an item. He says it was your idea to do the kidnapping of the girl and frame Ms. Redding.”

  “Like hell it was. Dover tasked us to do it. He gave the order. He wanted revenge. We had no reason to do it otherwise.”

  “So why do it?” Tori asked.

  “Phyllis was feeling guilty about not seeing him. And she worried he would do something about it if she didn’t do the one thing he wanted her to do.”

  “Why did you order the hit on Kinney?”

  Victor ran his good hand over his arm.

  “Phyllis is testifying against you.”

  Victor’s eyes widened. “I don’t believe you.”

  Adam brought out the recorder and played the part where Phyllis had given up Victor’s location and promised to testify against him.

  “Hell. She’s the one who ordered the hit on Kinney. She was so angry he wouldn’t do the kidnapping so she wouldn’t have to be involved and risk her pretty neck, and we couldn’t find Lonnie, so she had to do it.”

  Adam just sat back while Tori questioned him and he gave all the same answers that the others had given, except that Phyllis had ordered the hit on Kinney. They’d have to verify that with the others to see if it was true, if the others knew the truth.

  Once they had gotten as much out of Victor as they could, Adam said to Tori on the way to the vehicle, “I’d say the den of thieves are all turning on each other.”

  “Just the way we like it.” Tori smiled at him.

  He got a call from Sierra and answered it on Bluetooth. “Hey, what’s up, honey?”

  “You know the hotel where Dover broke into my room? They have a seafood restaurant that has the best shrimp scampi. Only this time, I’m eating with you in the restaurant. Ask Tori to join us too.”

  He smiled at Tori and she was smiling and nodding. “We’ll meet you there.” But he dropped by the bureau so that Tori could follow him in her own car.

  He hoped that all the perps would be tried and convicted. And that would be the end of the harassment Sierra had been getting.

  Before long, he was sitting down to eat with Sierra and Tori, and they all had shrimp scampi, since Sierra so highly recommended it.

  With glasses of champagne, they toasted each other. “To crime solving and selling my house,” Sierra said.

  “Hear, hear!” Tori and Adam said.

  Then they discussed what had happened today, from witness sketches to interrogation and searches they’d conducted.

  They were halfway through their meal when Sierra got a text. She answered it, then gave her phone to Adam. “What about this place bordering Forest Park? One of the bedrooms could even be my art studio.”

  He looked at all the pictures of the spacious living area, island counter and seating, the large deck out back, huge kitchen for large parties, a large den, fenced-in yard, five bedrooms, and three baths, and he smiled. “Is this the one you want?”

  “Yeah. I saw it with the Realtor this morning after I sold my house. I just walked in and it felt like home.”

  They clinked champagne glasses again.

  “To your first home together,” Tori said.

  “Yes!” Sierra said.

  But Adam was already on the phone, making an offer. A home for the two of them. He couldn’t be more thrilled than to make his mate happy. And tonight, after they finished dinner, he was all for making her happy all over again.

  * * *

  Sierra adored Adam. She had thought he would want to see the house first before committing to it, but she was thrilled when he went ahead and made an offer. This summer had been the best—what with working at the bureau and mating Adam. Just the best.

  Her parents had even sold their home this morning and were getting ready to move to the ranch. Two of her art students had won contests. Not once had she had to do dead-body sketches since the new sketch artist had come on the scene. Nothing could be better.

  Then a hotel clerk ran into the restaurant, having recognized Adam from investigating the hotel theft before, and hurriedly said, “We’ve had a robbery in one of the guests’ rooms and the man just left the elevator.”

  “Go,” Sierra said to Adam when he glanced her direction as if making sure it was all right with her.

  Tori and Adam raced off, but Sierra paid for the meal and hurried after them and the clerk with sketch pad in hand, just in case the detectives didn’t catch the thief and the security video hadn’t either. “So what did he look like?” she asked the clerk.

  Life would never be the same. But it still was all good.

  Epilogue

  Four months later

  After having dinner and fancy ice cream sundaes, then leaving through the back-gate wolf door of their new home in Forest Park as wolves, Sierra and Adam were having a ball running with Josh, Brooke, Brad, Janice, Tori, and Ethan. But things had changed. Sierra, Janice, and Brooke were all pregnant with twins, and the guys were still fussing about them running as wolves. Which sure didn’t stop the ladies.

  Sierra was still giving art classes a couple of days a week at the ranch, and Janice and her parents couldn’t wait for her and Brooke to give birth. Sierra was also still doing the part-time police sketches, mostly witness sketches, and the new guy was still totally grateful she gave up the full-time job to him. She’d even planted her Pacific Northwest wildflower seeds at their new home as soon as they’d moved.

  And Sierra loved her art studio. She took all the pictures Phyllis had torn up and redid them for her clients. Sierra had even painted Mount Hood in the distance, including her whole family in the woods—all in wolf form—to hang over the fireplace mantel.

  Tori, Cassie, and the moms helped Brooke, Sierra, and Janice decorate the twins’ rooms for their arrivals while the guys barbecued steaks and ribs and helped out with whatever the ladies needed.

  Tomorrow, they were all going for a ride on the boat, just like Sierra and Adam had talked about before they were mated. Her parents and Adam’s and Brad and his mate enjoyed the boat when Sierra and Adam had to work, and she was glad the boat wasn’t sitting idle. They had even managed a couple of love fests on the water, and the captain’s bed was indeed soft and just perfect for what they had in mind.

  They finally ran home, and once inside, Brooke and Josh shifted and dressed in one of the guest rooms, Brad and Janice in one, Tori in another, Ethan in the den, and Adam and Sierra in the master bedroom. Since it was eleven that night, everyone gave a round of hugs and told them they’d see them at the marina tomorrow. Maybe Tori wouldn’t get seasick this time.

  “’Night all,” Adam and Sierra said, remembering the time four months ago when she and Adam were running as wolves and Dover’s men were shooting at them. With all the bad guys incarcerated, they had no more trouble and wolf runs were a joyous nightly occurrence. Though Sierra was really glad she could sleep in most mornings now.

  “Are you too tired for what comes next?” Adam asked, lifting Sierra into his arms and hauling her to bed.

  She laughed. “No. Never. We shouldn’t have put on so many clothes.”

  “That’s the fun part, stripping them off each other again.” Then he howled in the bedroom and she howled back.

  Best of all, they were finally taking their honeymoon—leaving in two days for South Padre Island, Texas, for two whole weeks—and this time, she knew she wouldn’t get bored!

  She loved her adoring wolf.

  * * *

  Life couldn’t be any richer than with Sierra as his mate. Adam couldn’t believe that he was going to be a daddy at the same time as his best friend, Josh, and his brother-in-law too. He had a lot of learning to do, and Cassie had been giving the guys lessons on diapering and feeding infants. He was ready as he began stripping Sierra out of her clothes and leaned down to kiss her belly. Then they were making love, and he was so thankful that she had come into his life, decided to settle down, and took him as her mate.

  “Love you, my beautiful she-wolf.”

  “You were always the only one for me, wolf paws down.”

  Read on for a sneak peek of Terry Spear’s exciting return to Arctic wolves in

  While the Wolf’s Away

  Coming soon from Sourcebooks Casablanca.

  Chapter 1

  Eager to get their clandestine meeting started, David Davis got ready for his weekly Skype session with Elizabeth Alpine. It was their only opportunity to visit face-to-face since she lived in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, and he was located near Ely, Minnesota, the gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

  They had to do this in secret because her Arctic wolf-pack leader, Kintail, would have done something drastic had he known they were still in touch. To say Kintail had issues with his pack members trying to break free was an understatement.

  Not that David would ever consider himself one of their pack, even if they did, technically, save his life. It was either be turned or die of a heart attack during a bear hunt gone terribly wrong in Maine. And he was glad he wasn’t dead, no complaints there. But once he was turned, Kintail and his pack thought they owned him.

  David had other ideas. And so did Elizabeth, which was why she’d helped him to escape.

  She’d meant to escape with him so they could make a home together in Seattle, Washington where he was a PI and be free of Kintail and the pack, but Elizabeth’s grandmother, Ada, had gotten sick. Elizabeth couldn’t abandon her only family; she would forever have regretted it. Ada had often told David that Elizabeth just needed to leave to be with him and get on with her life, and the pack would take care of Ada just fine.

  But Elizabeth wouldn’t have been just fine if she had left her grandmother in other wolves’ care. Especially with the way Kintail treated his pack. The other wolves might really want to help Ada but be prevented from doing so by Kintail.

  David drummed his fingers on the table as he placed the Skype call and waited for Ada to pick up. She was always trying to sneak in some “before time” with him. And sure enough:

  “Oh, David, you’re looking more handsome every time I see you.” Ada smiled. “I want you to come and take Elizabeth away from here before I’m gone. Kintail and his men are bound to be watching her to ensure she doesn’t leave as soon as I’ve passed on to join my dearly beloved mate.”

  They’d been over this a dozen times before. David smiled gently. “Elizabeth needs to be there for you for her own peace of mind and for yours. But as soon as—”

  “No. Now. I feel it in my bones that I could go any minute now. Oh, scratch that. You smile at me and look at me with those big, adoring brown eyes, and I almost forget I’m as old as an ancient oak tree. If Elizabeth and I could trade places, I would be racing out of here to be with you. She’s a silly goose to waste her life away here without you.”

  Sometimes, Ada’s curly white hair was piled high on top of her head in a chic coiffure, as if she were getting ready to go to a dance. Other times, like today, her hair was long and silky and down around her shoulders as she lay in her big bed. She did seem more tired than usual, but she still had good days too. Besides, David was used to this line of conversation. Ada had been saying she could go any minute now ever since Elizabeth had returned home to take care of her. He smiled wider and gave her a wink for good measure. “You’re not going anywhere and good thing too. Who would sing my praises if you weren’t around?”

  “Are you on Skype already?” Elizabeth asked, hurrying into her grandmother’s room with a couple bottles of water. She sounded mildly accusative, but David knew it was a game the two women played, Elizabeth pretending to be late to the session, David and her grandmother getting on just a little early so she could chat privately with him.

  “Grandma, you know you’re not supposed to be on Skype without me. I never know what the two of you are plotting.” Elizabeth’s beautiful brown curls were partly up and partly down. She looked like she’d been working in her grandmother’s garden again.

  He hoped Elizabeth would love gardening in the plot at his cabin. He hadn’t planted anything there yet. He wanted it to be her garden. Every summer he kept it weeded, just in case he had to go rescue her and bring her home. In the winter, it lay dormant waiting for the spring. Waiting for her.

  “What am I plotting?” Ada said. “Running away with this handsome wolf since you won’t? We would make a lovely pair, wouldn’t we?” She sighed dramatically. “But alas, he only has eyes for you. You need to go to him.”

  “I can wait,” David said, like he’d said so many times before, because there had never been anyone like Elizabeth and he knew there never would be. “I’ll wait forever for you, Elizabeth, honey.” And he would. He would wait as long as he had to. But being together like this wasn’t the same as being together. The last time they’d actually been together, they’d been on the run from her pack leader. But staying in hotels and having unconsummated relations because wolves mated for life hadn’t really counted.

  Yet, they’d known then and they knew now they only wanted each other.

  Still, he couldn’t help the doubts that crept in. When they were finally able to physically be together, safe from danger, would they still feel the same way about each other? When they finally lived in his cabin on the lake, and he was off working as a PI and she was… She was what? He didn’t even know what she would do when he was away on missions. Would the magic still be there?

  “She’s treated like an omega wolf here,” Ada was saying. “I’m not just crying wolf. She needs you and your pack’s protection. And she needs it now.”

  “Grandma, shush. I’m fine. I’m happy to be here with you, and I won’t leave until it’s…” Elizabeth took a deep breath, but the tears in her eyes said it all.

  David hated that Kintail was such an ass. He wanted nothing more than to swoop in and take Elizabeth away from her pack, get her out from under his control. David had been glad Elizabeth had more time with her grandmother before the end came, but he hated that Kintail and the other pack members were still giving Elizabeth grief for having freed David and his friend Owen. It’d been years since then, but Kintail knew how to hold a grudge; losing new wolves wasn’t something he would ever get over.

  Losing yet another wolf wasn’t something Kintail would stand for either. And Elizabeth would leave, the first moment she could. It might have been a different story with a different leader. If Elizabeth had been met with kindness, with understanding, maybe she would have stayed. But Kintail was who he was: Controlling. Demanding. Greedy for power. Kindness was weakness, and weakness was death.