All's Fair in Love and Wolf

by Terry Spear

  Sarandon nodded, though he didn’t agree with their tactics. He couldn’t imagine keeping Darien and Lelandi in the dark about something this serious. “Okay. Well, we still need to ask Monty if he knows where Alex could be. I can say you just learned of it, which you did.”

  “Thanks. I can give you a list of the pack members’ names though. We have an emergency roster.” Anton left the living room, and a few minutes later, they heard a printer running. He came back with a piece of paper that he handed to Jenna.

  The list included twenty names with phone numbers, email addresses, and snail mail addresses. They could begin to canvass the surrounding area to see if anyone knew of Alex’s whereabouts. Not wanting anyone to warn him and let him slip away if he was staying in the area, they didn’t call anyone first.

  Even then, they figured anyone they talked to could alert Alex and he’d be on the run.

  “We’ll let you know if we learn anything,” CJ said.

  “Thank you,” Sarah said.

  Anton escorted them to the door and shook Sarandon’s hand and then CJ’s. Finally, he took hold of Jenna’s hand and squeezed. “Take good care of Alex for us when you find him.”

  “Thanks so much,” Jenna said. “We’ll let you know if we find anyone who knows where he is.”

  The three of them left Anton and Sarah’s house and stood by Jenna’s car while she called Monty as a courtesy to the pack leader. “Hello, we need to speak to you about a couple of your pack members. Sarah and Anton Dreyfus gave your name to us. I’m Jenna St. James, and CJ and Sarandon Silver are looking for Alex Dreyfus and his sister, Faye. May we visit you, and we’ll let you know what this is all about?”

  “Yes, of course. Are they in trouble?”

  “Alex is. We’d rather talk to you in person about it, if that’s okay with you.”

  “Sure. Come on over.”

  “Thanks.”

  When they arrived at his one-story brick home, Monty walked out to greet them. He was in his sixties, gruff, his black hair graying, and he was frowning at Sarandon.

  Sarandon suspected he’d get the same wary response from everyone in the pack because he looked so much like Alex, but not exactly.

  “Monty Matthews?” Sarandon said. “I’m Sarandon, and this is CJ Silver of Silver Town. We’re Alex’s half brothers.”

  “Half brothers? When did that happen?” Monty asked, looking genuinely perplexed.

  When Alex used Sarandon’s ID and Jenna hunted the wrong man down!

  “We just learned about him, and we’re trying to locate him,” CJ said.

  “Because he’s wanted by the police,” Jenna said. She explained what was going on, not only with him, but with Burt too.

  Monty shook his head. “Why don’t you come inside.”

  When they entered the house, Monty motioned to the living area. “Have a seat. Would any of you like coffee? A beer?”

  “Coffee, cream, and sugar, if it’s not too much trouble,” Jenna said.

  “Same here,” Sarandon and CJ said.

  “So tell me about Silver Town and how you are Alex’s half brothers.” Monty went into the kitchen that was open to the living room, making it easy for him to keep talking to them.

  Sarandon gave him an abbreviated version of how they came to be related, leaving out that their dad had died.

  Monty returned with four mugs of coffee. “And you’re his mate?” he asked Jenna.

  “Working on that,” Sarandon said.

  She smiled at Sarandon. Then she explained about going after Sarandon, thinking he was her suspect, and about the lawyer who would represent Alex.

  “All right. Well, I haven’t heard a thing about any of this. I guess his parents hadn’t known about it either, from what you say.”

  “They hadn’t. We just learned about all of it ourselves,” Sarandon said. “What about his sister, Faye? Sarah said she didn’t think he ever was close to her, but we were thinking since they’re twins, they might have been in touch without anyone knowing.”

  “It’s possible. I don’t have any knowledge of it. We have gatherings, or had, until my mate died. She was always organizing the social gatherings. I don’t recall ever having seen the twins at the affairs.”

  “Is she mated?”

  “Faye is. And she’s got a set of twins herself.”

  “And her aunt and uncle?”

  “Died a few years back.” Monty pulled out his phone. “I’ll see if I can get ahold of her.” Monty shook his head and then tried another number and spoke to someone. “Is Faye there? Okay, has her brother been there? Alex?” Monty looked up at Sarandon. “Okay. Um, has he been by to see her? Recently?”

  Sarandon hung on every word, watching Monty’s expression—which revealed that whoever he was talking to knew Alex. Which meant Faye must too.

  “Okay, thanks, Bill. Can you…have her call me when she returns? Thanks.” Monty put his cell phone on the coffee table. “Faye’s on a camping trip with her girls. Her husband said she has no cell reception where they are. He had to work, or he would be there with them.”

  “He knows Alex?” CJ asked.

  “Yeah. He said he isn’t there.”

  “He knows him,” Sarandon said. “Which means Faye does too.” He ground his teeth. “Where are they camping?”

  Monty let out his breath and made another call. “Hey, Bill, can you tell me where Faye and the girls are camping? Yes, it’s about Alex. I need to get ahold of him. It’s really important… Thanks.”

  They ended the call again, and Monty told them, “They’re at Wild Wolf Run. It’s a private camping ground, the property owned and operated by our pack for pack members. I’ll give you the directions. You can’t find it with GPS.”

  “Cabins?”

  “Yeah. Number five.” Monty wrote down the directions for them on a script map. “I suspect Bill and Faye know something about the trouble Alex is in. Bill wouldn’t say, but he sounded worried they’d be in trouble for not having told me. Keep me informed about this, will you? Seems I’ve been rather out of the loop of late.”

  “We will,” Jenna said. “And we’ll let you know, or we’ll have him call you, when we locate him.”

  Then they left the house, and CJ said, “Why don’t we head out to the campsite first? Afterward, we can split up and each take five of the people on the list of names Sarah gave us who she suspects could know something.”

  “Just as long as Sarandon and I get to speak with Alex’s girlfriend,” Jenna said.

  Sarandon was still surprised Sarah had added her name to the list. Maybe Christina didn’t like Sarah and felt she was interfering in her relationship with Alex.

  First, they caravanned out to the camping area where seven log cabins were set around a picturesque lake, the firs and pines between each of the cabins giving them enough privacy from their neighbors to make for the perfect camping experience.

  Sarandon, Jenna, and CJ went to the fifth cabin on the dirt road, but when they reached it, they noticed the place was dark, and no vehicle was parked beside it. They sure hoped Faye’s husband hadn’t lied that they had no cell reception or that she had a satellite phone and was warned that someone might be coming for Alex—or to question her about his whereabouts—and she took the kids and left.

  “Maybe they went on a wolf run,” Sarandon said, hoping that was the case as they got out of their vehicles and looked around the cabin for signs of anyone outside grilling or playing near the lake. Though that didn’t explain the absence of a vehicle.

  Before Jenna could knock on the door, Sarandon saw movement in the brush and turned to look. Five adult wolves were watching them from the woods. They wouldn’t have shown themselves unless they had smelled Sarandon, Jenna, and CJ’s scents and known they were wolves.

  The wolves growled, baring their teeth. It didn’t seem to ma
tter that CJ was wearing his deputy sheriff’s uniform.

  “Hey,” Jenna said, frowning at them. “We’re here looking for Alex Dreyfus. We want to help him. Has he been here with Faye? She’s not in trouble. He is, and we want to ensure the human police don’t arrest him before we can talk to him and make sure he has the best wolf lawyer there is to represent him.”

  They didn’t even know if these wolves knew anything about Alex or the kind of trouble he was in, but Sarandon agreed that they needed to set them straight.

  “We’re his and Faye’s half brothers,” CJ said. “I’m CJ and this is Sarandon Silver, from Silver Town.”

  Then a smaller wolf appeared behind the larger male wolves. Faye?

  She paused for a moment, then headed for the cabin and ran through the wolf door. Sarandon, Jenna, and CJ waited, hoping she was shifting and getting dressed and would speak to them, while the other wolves watched them, ensuring they stayed put in the meantime.

  A few minutes later, she opened the door and said, “I’m Faye Emerson. My brother, Alex, isn’t here. Come in and tell me what this is all about.” Her hair was a lighter brown than Alex’s, and she had blue eyes. She didn’t look like Alex at all.

  “I’m Jenna St. John, a fugitive recovery agent. I’m looking to take Alex in to meet his trial date, but we’ve got a good wolf lawyer to represent him. Do you know the trouble he’s in?”

  “He wouldn’t talk about it. He said he was in trouble, but he didn’t do it. He trusted Burt to help him leave Colorado Springs, but now he’s in even more trouble.”

  “We’re here to help him,” Jenna insisted.

  “You’re here to arrest him. You don’t care about anything else.”

  “That’s not true. He has to go in though, because he has a warrant out for his arrest,” CJ said. “It’s not going away.”

  “He didn’t do whatever they’ve charged him with,” Faye said.

  “Fine. Let him explain himself in court then,” Sarandon said. “With a good wolf lawyer representing him.”

  “I don’t know where he is.”

  “He’s been in touch. Recently,” CJ said.

  They’d smelled all kinds of male wolves in the area, and any one of them could have been Alex’s scent. One of them smelled like the paw prints left behind near Jenna’s home.

  “Yeah, I’ve seen him since he got into trouble.” Faye sat down in the living room, and they joined her.

  “He was staying here.” Sarandon was only guessing, but he suspected that’s why she left with her kids and returned with some of the male wolves camping here.

  “Tell me about this wolf lawyer.” Faye tilted her chin up.

  Jenna explained who he was, and Sarandon corroborated that he had helped him out.

  “All right. He ditched his phone, knowing he could be tracked. As soon as I can reach him, I’ll tell him what you’ve told me.”

  “You don’t have any idea where he went?” Jenna asked.

  Sarandon was sure Faye knew where he was, but she only shook her head.

  “Okay, well, we’re out of here then.” CJ stood. “I just wanted to say you’re family too. And we’d like to get to know you, if you’ll let us.”

  Sarandon and Jenna joined him.

  “We’ll help him,” Jenna said, and then they left the cabin.

  The other wolves were hanging around outside but looked up at them as they walked down the steps of the deck.

  They didn’t say anything to the wolves; no sense in repeating what they were there for. Sarandon, Jenna, and CJ were trying to take in the wolves’ scents, but all of them had been in Sarah and Anton’s house at one time or another. He couldn’t smell Alex’s scent among them, if the wolf who’d been in Jenna’s territory had been him.

  “We have a wolf lawyer for Alex, if he cares to talk to us.” Sarandon figured he’d give it his best shot.

  None of the wolves came forward.

  A car tore down the gravel drive and parked off to the side of Jenna’s car.

  “Looks like someone’s in a growly wolf mood,” Jenna said.

  “How much do you want to bet it’s Bill, Faye’s mate.” CJ had his hand on his holstered gun.

  The man threw open his door.

  “You’re probably right.” Jenna moved closer to Sarandon. He figured she thought she’d protect him because he didn’t have a weapon on him like she did.

  “Where’s my—” the guy said.

  “I’m here, Bill. I’m fine. They just wanted to talk to Alex, but he’s not here,” Faye said, coming out on the deck. “They’re leaving.”

  “Yep, we sure are,” Sarandon said, irritated, but he knew if anyone had come to Silver Town accusing him of being a crook, his people would… Well, they did stick up for him. So it was understandable.

  “Okay, let’s take care of interviewing those on the lists,” CJ said. They hoped none of the wolves here were on Sarah’s list.

  “Sounds good.” Sarandon got into Jenna’s car. She drove while he navigated for her, and CJ followed them out of there.

  “Do you think Alex was there?” Jenna asked Sarandon.

  “I suspect he could have been,” Sarandon said. “Either he took off when Monty called Faye, or he was standing there with the rest of the male wolves, maybe shielded by their scents. I was trying to watch Bill’s face when he glanced at the wolves, but I couldn’t tell if he spied Alex among them.”

  “Alex must be a beta wolf, don’t you think? Or he would come forth and just deal with this.”

  “That could very well be.”

  Armed with five of the names, Sarandon and Jenna went to see Christina first. She was living in a one-story, white brick home on the south side of Cañon City. When they arrived at her red door, the blond, blue-eyed woman gaped at Sarandon.

  “We’re looking for Alex. I’ve just learned he’s my half brother and wanted to touch base with him and welcome him into our family and our pack. Is he home?” Sarandon asked.

  “Ohmigod, I can’t believe it. He only recently learned his father was the sheriff of Silver Town, except he learned Sheridan is dead now. Along with Ritka, his mother. He was upset to learn that but couldn’t understand why his family gave him up. You look just like him. Did they give you up too? Or did they raise you?” Christina asked.

  He hadn’t expected her to question him about all this, but if she and Alex were going to be mated wolves, he could understand why she’d want to know. “He was more of an absentee father after my mother was murdered. Ritka was not my mother,” Sarandon said.

  “Oh. I’m sorry to hear it. I guess Alex should be grateful his adoptive parents raised him.”

  “He would have enjoyed being with us,” Sarandon said. “Four brothers and three cousins to include him in all our shenanigans.” Not that Sheridan would have liked it if Alex had come to live with them, but Sarandon knew his brothers and the rest of the family would have accepted him into the family.

  Jenna said to Christina, “Are you mating Alex?”

  Christina frowned at her. “Why? Are you interested in him?”

  “No.” Jenna took Sarandon’s hand. “Sarandon is the one I’m courting. I’ve never even met Alex.”

  Sarandon was surprised Christina would even think some other she-wolf was interested in him if he was planning to mate her.

  “Okay, listen,” Jenna said. “Alex is in a lot of trouble. The police are looking for him after he skipped bail. If you know where he is, we need to get in touch with him. My family has a really good wolf lawyer, and we want to help him clear his name, if we can.”

  “Why?”

  Sarandon thought it was interesting that Christina didn’t appear shocked or surprised that Alex was in serious trouble. And she hadn’t asked what he was in trouble for. Which meant she knew all about it.

  “We want to help
him because I’m courting his half brother, and he wants to help him out. If you don’t know already, Alex impersonated Sarandon when they caught him and charged him with identity theft. Do you have any idea where he has gone? He can’t hide forever, and he’ll have a warrant out for his arrest until we take care of this.”

  “He’s been in Colorado Springs on a job.”

  Old news, but the cavalier way Christina said it made Sarandon think she knew where he was. “When was the last time you heard from him?”

  Christina chewed on her lip. “Last night. He called me and said he wasn’t coming home for a couple of weeks. That’s not unusual. It just means he’s got another construction job.”

  Which Sarandon thought was odd. If he was courting the she-wolf, like Sarandon was courting Jenna, he’d be seeing her all the time. It wasn’t that far to Colorado Springs. “Did he tell you for sure where he was going to be working?”

  “Nah. It’s not something that would interest me, so he never really talks about his jobs.”

  Again, that surprised Sarandon. He didn’t think they would become mated wolves at that rate. “Not even where he’ll be staying?” Sarandon asked.

  “No. Not unless I ask.”

  And why wouldn’t Christina ask Alex where he was going to be? Sarandon would certainly know where Jenna was going if she was trying to track down a fugitive and he wasn’t riding shotgun. He’d probably be making a nuisance of himself, calling her for updates constantly if he couldn’t be with her.

  “So, he lives with you normally?” Jenna asked.

  “Yeah, but we’re not mated. His mother doesn’t like me, and he’s trying to ease her into the idea that I could make a good mate for him.”

  Which made Sarandon really believe Alex was a beta wolf. Otherwise, he would have done what he felt in his heart was right. Even though families were often close, choosing the woman who would be his mate was just as important. Either that, or one of the two of them wasn’t that eager to mate.

  “Why does Sarah think you wouldn’t be a good mate?” Jenna asked.

  “Are you kidding? No one would ever be good enough for her golden son.”

  “Golden son?” Jenna asked.