Unless he was making unconsummated love to a wolf or had mated her, the woman was probably human. Lupus garous could have sex with humans if they weren’t mating, but if they were courting a wolf, they didn’t screw around with anyone else.

  She stormed down the hallway, smelling his wolf’s scent and no she-wolf’s scent, so it was a human woman. She smelled his brother’s scent too. He must have visited recently.

  When she reached the bedroom and saw a blond-haired woman riding astride a man, though she couldn’t see his face, she said sharply, “Richard!”

  The woman squeaked and rolled off the guy. The guy looking back at her was not Richard. It was his twin brother, Jethro. She would have been embarrassed under different circumstances for walking in on them, but not now. Not when she was too angry with Richard. And not when Jethro was in Richard’s bed.

  “Ohmigod, Sierra, what are you doing here?” Jethro’s eyes were round with surprise.

  “I could ask you the same question. Where is Richard?” And what was Jethro doing in Richard’s master bedroom having sex with a woman in Richard’s bed? Sierra bet he wouldn’t have allowed it.

  “He’s on field maneuvers. Didn’t he tell you to cancel your trip here?” Jethro covered himself with the sheet and sat up in bed, while the blond frowned at her, the sheet pulled up to cover her breasts.

  Don’t bother on my account, Sierra wanted to say. The damage was already done.

  “Obviously he didn’t. It must have slipped his mind.” And that said a whole lot about their relationship. “Fine.” She whipped around and headed down the hall. She wasn’t about to tell Jethro she was done with his brother. Jethro would surely tell him what had happened when Richard returned home. That could be a couple of weeks from now, depending on how long he’d already been in the field. She didn’t care. She was too pissed off.

  “Sierra!” Jethro said, chasing after her, wearing the sheet around his waist. “Wait!”

  She grabbed the front door and jerked it open, then seized her bags and headed to the sidewalk, leaving the door wide open. Now what the hell was she going to do? No way was she returning to Portland and having to explain to anyone why she needed to cancel her vacation to see her boyfriend. Not that she had to explain it, but she’d feel compelled to give some reason and she wasn’t lying about Richard, that was for damned sure.

  Besides, she’d paid for the trip out here and she had the time blocked out on the schedule. She was here now, though there wasn’t anything she wanted to do in Killeen. She could see her parents in San Antonio, but she’d seen them before she left for Portland, and she knew her mother and father would both give her grief about Richard. That would make a great vacation. Not.

  She googled a map of Texas and decided South Padre Island could be fun. She got on her phone and looked for a flight today to Brownsville, the closest airport to South Padre Island, and found one leaving in two hours. Perfect. She made the reservation.

  Still wearing a sheet, Jethro called out, “Sierra!”

  She didn’t answer Jethro and the door shut. She called for an Uber. While she was waiting for the car to show up, she made a reservation at a rental unit right on the white sandy beach on the island. Terrific. She would enjoy getting out of the Oregon rain, get a nice tan before she returned home, and she wouldn’t let on she had broken up with Richard until she had a chance to do so with him—over the phone. So much for this face-to-face business.

  A few minutes later, Jethro opened the door wearing a pair of jeans shorts and hurried down the walk toward her just as her Uber ride showed up. “Don’t say a word,” she said to him and got into the car, and the driver took her to the airport. Even though none of this was really Richard’s brother’s fault, she didn’t want to talk to him about this situation.

  This was between her and Richard.

  * * *

  Later that afternoon, Adam was at the scene of an armed robbery at a jewelry store, just wrapping things up. Thankfully, the owner of the store recognized the voice of one of the two masked men, one of whom was his nephew. Adam headed to his SUV when he got a call from Brad Redding, Sierra’s brother, surprising him since he usually didn’t get calls from him when he was working. “Yeah, what’s up, Brad?”

  “I got a call from Jethro Wentworth, Richard’s brother.”

  “Richard, the guy Sierra’s seeing?” Already Adam was worried about Sierra. He got into his SUV and drove off toward the bureau.

  “Yeah, how did you know?”

  “She finally told me his name was Richard. What’s happened?” Normally, Adam kept his cool under pressure, but this time he couldn’t shake loose of his concern that something bad had happened to Sierra.

  “Richard’s in the field on maneuvers with his division, his brother said. She left the apartment angry, and he thought I should know because he can’t get ahold of his brother or Sierra to try and iron things out.”

  “I take it she hasn’t contacted you.” Adam figured that had to be a given.

  “No. I’m sure she thinks I’ll tell her I told her so. I had hoped, since you work with her, she might have texted you in case she was returning to work earlier than scheduled.”

  “No, she hasn’t. Did you check return flights to Portland?” Adam assumed Brad would have, but he had to ask.

  “Yeah. She would have gotten into Portland forty-five minutes ago if she was on the flight coming home. She wasn’t. I thought since you’re a police detective and have sources at the airport, you might be able to check the airlines and see where she went.”

  “You think she went someplace else?” To lick her wounds?

  “Yeah. She already had the vacation time scheduled and I know her. She wouldn’t have wanted to return straight here after what had happened. Everybody would have sympathized with her, but I imagine she doesn’t want to deal with it right now. And she had already paid the money to go out there. I just need to know she’s going to be okay and that she knows we’re here for her if she wants to talk. Now I feel kind of bad because I instigated the situation with no one driving her to the airport. Thanks for taking her.”

  “I had a case to work on there, so yeah, I took her. Okay, do you know which airline she took where she flew to initially? Do you know where this guy lives?”

  Brad gave him the details of her flight times and the airline and destination. “He’s an army officer stationed at Fort Hood, so that means Killeen, but she wouldn’t have hung around the area. There’s nothing much to see there. She was stationed there before she retired, and I visited her a few times. I called Mom and Dad and she didn’t go see them in San Antonio, probably figuring they would give her grief over it. They’ve been telling her since she retired, like I have, that she needs to settle down in Portland and find a mate—one who is there for her.”

  “Um, yeah, I agree. So that means Richard didn’t tell her that he was going on field duty and had no plans to see her?” Adam couldn’t believe the wolf.

  “Nope. And she pays her way out there every time. If it wasn’t that it’s her business to handle this the way she sees fit, I’d punch the guy out.”

  Adam felt the same way and knew her brother would actually do it too, for upsetting his sister. “Okay. Let me look into it. One other thing…” Adam hadn’t told anyone about the postcard yet, except for his boss. Normally he wouldn’t tell family members or others about a case he was looking into unless the person it pertained to wanted him to, but they were wolves and handled things a little differently. “When I was dropping off Sierra at the airport, she handed me a postcard from a person that used the initials of DM.” He explained to Brad what the card had said.

  “DM? Dover Manning, had to be, damn his hide.”

  “Yeah, so I turned it in to check for fingerprints. It came from Portland, not the jail, so someone mailed it for him or sent the message on his behalf. I just wanted to let you know in case she needs to move back to the pack’s ranch temporarily until we catch this guy.”

  “Or guys. You thought there were more than the one you caught, in addition to the hotel staff.”

  “Right. I’ll get back with you as soon as I learn anything about where she’s gone to and what’s going on with this veiled threat.”

  “Thanks, Adam. Are you going to tell Leidolf?”

  “Yeah, that’s next on the agenda.” Not about Sierra going somewhere else for the rest of the vacation but about the threat to her life, if that was what this was. The pack was always there for each other.

  “Okay, then I won’t have to.”

  Adam was swamped with cases because of losing his partner to retirement, but when it came to one of their red wolves, that situation shot straight to the top of his list of important missions.

  “And thanks for trying to locate Sierra. I owe you,” Brad said.

  “Think nothing of it.” Adam arrived back at the bureau, but before he went inside, he called Leidolf to explain to him what was going on in case Sierra needed a security detail.

  “Hell,” Leidolf said. “I think she should move back to the ranch. No one who plans any mischief would get to her here.”

  “I agree, but I still think it should be her call as long as nothing is going on. It may be just a veiled threat, and nothing will come of it.”

  “Okay, just keep me informed.”

  “I will.” They ended the call and Adam gathered the paperwork on the jewelry store robbery and headed inside the bureau.

  He’d just set his paperwork on his desk when a woman wearing a light-gray suit with a skirt walked into the suite of offices. She had long legs, high heels, her dark hair in a bob, and a smile that was at once disarming and put him on alert at the same time.

  Some of the guys smiled at her, a couple were gaping at her, but luckily none of them gave a wolf-whistle. No sexual harassment was allowed here.

  Adam’s boss called out from his office, “Looks like your new partner, Tori Rose, is here.”

  Adam looked back at her. If she’d been a wolf, he might have been interested in getting to know her better—as in courtship. But Sierra dominated his thoughts and now maybe he would even have a chance with her if she and Richard were on the outs with each other.

  “Adam Holmes,” he said, stretching his hand out to Tori.

  She joined him, her dark brows instantly rising, and her ruby lips parted. “You certainly are one of us.” Her words were soft, for his ears only, as she shook his hand.

  He instantly cataloged her scent and smelled she was a red wolf too. How could he have gotten so lucky? “Hell. All right! Have you talked to Leidolf and Cassie?” He wanted to introduce her to their pack leaders as soon as he could.

  “Leidolf. He’s the one who convinced me to come here and apply for your former partner’s position. He said it would be best for both of us to work together as partners. Cassie is still on a trip. I wanted to meet you right away, but you’ve been busy all day.”

  “Yeah, Josh Wilding retiring has put me in a bind. I don’t blame him though. He wanted more time with his new, uh, mate.”

  Tori smiled. “I don’t blame him either and now I’m here. I’m eager to get started. I spent all morning doing the paperwork to start the new job. What do you want me to do first?”

  “That was Josh’s desk over there. It’s yours now. If you don’t mind, go through these cases stacked up on my desk that I’ve been working on. See if you can come up with anything to nail these guys with. Armed robberies have priority, but if we can’t solve those right away, just take your pick.”

  “What are you going to do in the meantime?”

  “I’m trying to track down our part-time sketch artist.”

  “Sierra Redding? Leidolf said she was one of us.”

  “Right. She is.”

  “So she has gone missing?” Frowning, Tori sounded concerned.

  “Her brother called me and said he’s worried about her. I’ll fill you in on the details later.” Not about Sierra’s private life though. That was for Sierra to share if she was so inclined.

  “Sure. If you need my help with it, let me know.”

  Glad that Tori was fitting in right away, he nodded, pulled his phone out, and pointed to the stack of folders on his desk. He would tell Tori about the postcard Sierra had received once he located Sierra and made sure she was safe.

  “Right on it!”

  Man, was he glad to have a partner again. He hoped she was as good at the job as Josh had been. There would be some getting used to a new partner. He swore Josh and he were like twins, able to anticipate the other’s moves in a crisis without any trouble. If Adam wasn’t so concerned about Sierra’s whereabouts, he would have taken a picture of Tori and sent it to Josh to show him his replacement.

  “Hello, Fred. This is Detective Adam Holmes with the Portland Police Bureau.”

  “Hey, Adam, glad to hear from you. What do you need?”

  “I’m trying to locate a woman by the name of Sierra Redding, one of our”—Adam didn’t see anyone within hearing distance—“pack members. She took a flight out earlier this morning from Portland, Oregon, to Killeen, Texas. Then booked another flight somewhere else. Thanks.”

  “Yeah, I know her. I’m on it.”

  It helped to have a red wolf working security at the airport!

  Chapter 4

  On South Padre Island, Sierra finally settled into her condo on the Gulf, the fresh air blowing in her face as she sat on the patio on the second floor. She smiled as she looked out on the blue water, a light smattering of white clouds drifting across the blue sky, then took in a deep breath and sighed. She’d been upset with Richard the whole flight here, not knowing what to expect, but now that she was here, she was glad. Someone was sailing farther out in the Gulf, and a couple were walking along the white sandy beach, hand in hand. Four kids—anywhere from toddler size to maybe about eight—were building sandcastles, their parents sitting nearby watching them. Seagulls screeched to each other high above, eyeing Sierra speculatively, hoping for food. But she’d read the signs on the second-story balcony. No feeding the birds. She could imagine the mess they would leave behind as they congregated on the patios looking for handouts.

  Heck, if Richard had been at home and she’d stayed with him, she wouldn’t have half as nice a time. They would be sitting in his condo eating what she had cooked and watching TV. He didn’t take her anywhere. They just enjoyed each other’s company. It was all right when she actually lived in Killeen, but not now, when she had to spend a lot of money and time to visit him.

  But if she’d been here with him, that could have made the experience perfectly fine.

  She had even had the notion that while she was staying with Richard, she didn’t have to worry about the message from the cryptic DM. So much for that thought, because she was on her own—not that DM’s cohorts would come all the way out here to make trouble for her. The thing of it was that if Richard hadn’t encouraged her so much to come to Killeen, saying that he missed her all the time, she probably would have ended the relationship already.

  Sierra went back inside her condo to put her bathing suit on and glanced at her cell phone, sitting on the chest of drawers in the room. She had turned it off when Jethro had called her number several times. She didn’t need to hear his explanation of what was going on with him and the human woman. She only needed to talk to Richard, and she knew that wouldn’t happen. When he was in the field, he was focused on that and only that.

  She grabbed her suitcase and pulled out the blue swimsuit she’d thought she would be using to swim at the clubhouse pool with Richard. This place had a swimming pool with a view of the Gulf and the sugar-white beaches. Even better.

  She glanced at her phone. Nope. She was on vacation. She didn’t have a care in the world. After she swam in the pool and went out someplace to eat a seafood dinner, she would take a wolf run on the beach when it got dark. Then? Maybe she would curl up in bed to watch something she wanted to see. She was not going to let Richard ruin her two-week vacation.

  And that was just what she did. It was a moonless night, the beach free of people, and she left her condo as a wolf. They did allow pets; she made sure of it. She raced onto the beach and ran for a couple of miles, enjoying the Gulf breeze in her face, the sound of the waves gently washing ashore, the feel of the sand between her wolf toes, and the smell of the salty sea in the air.

  Later that night, she was enjoying a historical adventure on TV when the hotel phone rang. She answered it, thinking there was something wrong with her credit card or someone had seen her let her dog run out on the beach off leash or something. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Adam here.”

  She sat up straight in bed. “Adam? What… How…” If he’d tracked her down, something had to be terribly wrong.

  “Jethro called your brother who called me to use my expert detective talent to locate you. Your cell phone must be turned off.”

  She muted the TV and relaxed in bed again. “Can’t a woman take a vacation without interruption?”

  “Not when her brother is worried sick about her because things fell through with her vacation and she has disappeared off the face of the earth.”

  She was glad Adam didn’t mention the reason things fell through with her vacation. Despite not wanting to feel that way after what Richard had put her through, she was glad to hear Adam’s voice. It was deep and warmly reassuring and she couldn’t help but think about the difference in the two men’s voices. Adam’s was soothing, comforting, when he wasn’t being in charge of a crime scene. Richard’s voice was just as deep, but it didn’t have the warmth that Adam’s voice had. Why in the world was she even thinking of that at a time like this?