SEAL Wolf In Too Deep(77)

“And you’ve actually seen the parents and the four kids?”

“Yes.”

“Can we take a look at the cabin where the fishermen are staying?”

“You can search the perimeter.”

“That would be fine. Thanks.”

Debbie thanked someone and ended her call. “A man rented a cabin in the woods, but it has a lockbox so the rental manager never really saw him and couldn’t say whether he is there or not. He never personally met him.”

“Okay, and the two fishermen could have been Otis and Lloyd staying at one of the cabins.”

After calling for a couple of hours that afternoon, then breaking for lunch, they finished up. They’d checked storage units that were in more countrified settings and the cottages or hotels that were also out in the woods.

Allan said, “Are you ready to do this?”

“I sure am.”

They grabbed their coats and headed out the door.

“I know you’re not serious about us getting so few hours of sleep a night and you figure I’ll just fall asleep anyway,” she said, climbing into the car.

He just smiled. Even though she had gotten used to sleeping with him, she still hadn’t moved her things into his bedroom. He’d hoped she’d continue to sleep with him this week when she couldn’t shift. He had half a notion to join her in her room, if she opted for staying there. Of course, it would have to be up to her, but he would try, if she attempted to keep her distance from him. So far, she hadn’t. A good sign.

“Are you certain Vaughn’s who he said he is?”

Allan glanced at her. “Yeah. He’s wearing hunter’s spray, but he’s one of us.”

“How can you tell?”

“When you were taking a shower, we questioned him about things he wouldn’t know unless he’s one of us.”

“Unless Sarah told him about some of the stuff.”

“We called his cousin Devlyn. He confirmed information about his wolf pack and sent us a news clipping about his mate, Bella Wilder, being put in a zoo when she’d been a wolf. It all matched up. And he sent some other information—a photo, some key things that only his cousin would know—to help identify him.”

Debbie gaped at Allan. “Devlyn’s wife was put in a zoo?”

“Yeah. She couldn’t hold her form during the full moon. It sure caused a stir.”

“A zoo,” Debbie said, shaking her head. “She must have been terrified. She couldn’t hold her form. Was she newly turned?”

“No. Her lupus garou roots don’t go far back enough to prevent her from shifting during the night of the full moon.”

She gaped at him. “You mean I’ll never be able to either then?”

“As long as you’re fine for the rest of the month, you should have no problem.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“It all turned out well in the end for both Bella and Devlyn.” Allan wasn’t about to mention that a male wolf had been in the exhibit with her and was interested in a mating. Debbie had enough to worry about as it was. “Bella and Devlyn mated, run the pack, and have…” Allan hesitated to say. He didn’t want Debbie to balk at being his mate because of the real possibility she’d have a whole litter of pups at one time. The lupus garou were born knowing that. They were used to having lots of siblings who were the same age. Although occasionally an only child was born. But that was rare. Like having multiple births instead of one baby was rarer for humans.

Debbie was waiting for him to finish his sentence.

“Lovely children,” he said.

She raised a brow and folded her arms.

“Triplets,” he finally admitted. He thought about seeing Debbie when she was playing with Cindy and her twin girls. He had worried when he heard Debbie growling in the cabin and then Cindy growling back, her little ones adding to the ruckus. When he’d peeked in through the living room window, he’d seen them all roughhousing, and he was glad they had been playing.

He’d worried Debbie had shifted and couldn’t control it, until the girls told him before they went home that they had wanted Debbie to shift so they could play with her. She’d gotten along with them just fine, careful not to hurt them, nipping them a bit when they got too wild, and playing more vigorously with Cindy, but not as wildly as she played with him. He realized her playing with others was important: she-wolves, pups, males. Except that when it came to males, he wanted to be the only one she frolicked with.

Then he changed the subject. “Devlyn said his cousin wasn’t around much because of his work—he’s a SEAL like us, on his own SEAL wolf team, but he was visiting when this situation arose with Sarah. He said Vaughn has great instincts and that’s why he sent him to check into the matter.”

“A SEAL? I’m not surprised. I’m glad Vaughn is not another suspect,” Debbie said.

“I’m glad he’s here to help us,” Allan agreed.

When they reached the first rental unit on their list of fifty-two possible places to investigate, including seven that weren’t being leased at the time, Allan thought he would show the owners the photos of Otis, Lloyd, and Sarah, in case she had been alive and didn’t know what they planned to do with her. He’d also try to catch their scents. Even if Otis and Lloyd had been wearing hunter’s spray, Sarah probably wouldn’t have been and he would recognize her scent from her apartment.