"Fine. I'll stop there." Ashe went to collect the stack of ten titles he'd placed in the floor nearby. His parents had approved ten books; Ashe had gathered them quickly.
Aedan and Adele were sitting in the coffee shop, waiting on both boys to finish shopping. "That's quite the stack there," Aedan remarked when Ashe and Sali showed up at their table.
"Dad, I'll have these read by the end of spring break." Ashe replied with a grin.
"Can you pace yourself a little? I was hoping to get some help at the store," Adele said. "And we'll pay for Sali's books if he'll help."
"I'd help for cookies," Sali agreed, his brown eyes pleading hopefully with Ashe's mother.
"I was throwing cookies into the deal, too," Adele laughed.
"All right," Sali breathed happily. "Cookies and free books."
"Come on, you two," Aedan rose and ruffled Ashe's hair.
On the drive home, Sali slept in his corner of the back seat and Ashe was nearly asleep on the opposite side when Aedan's cell rang. He passed it to Adele to answer. Aedan never talked on his cell while driving and normally wouldn't ask Adele to answer either. Something on the caller ID convinced him to hand the phone to his wife. Ashe woke completely as Adele said, "Nathan? What's wrong?" Usually, Ashe appreciated his gift of acute hearing. He heard Nathan's voice clearly as he explained that James Johnson's savaged body had been found in a field behind the Evans' home.
Ashe huddled into his corner of the back seat, utterly stunned. He wanted to wake Sali, and then thought better of it. James Johnson was Marco's best friend. He and Marco were often engaged in horseplay and frequently ended up in Principal Billings' office. That's how the lock on the Principal's door had been broken, Ashe recalled. And James was a werewolf—old enough to go hunting at the full moon with Marco and the other adults. It would take someone or something extremely strong to kill a werewolf.
Ashe listened while his mother informed Nathan Anderson that they were nearly home and terminated the call. Aedan, who'd listened in just as Ashe had, spared a glance for his wife and sped up.
When they arrived home, Ashe saw cars and trucks parked everywhere surrounding his house while people milled about in the front yard. Sali finally woke when the SUV's engine shut off inside the garage. Adele was out of her seat and opening Sali's door as Nathan and Lavonna Anderson walked into the garage, Marcus DeLuca right behind them.
"Have you told him?" Marcus DeLuca asked, gripping Sali's shoulders as he slid out of the vehicle, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"No, we let him sleep," Adele replied.
"What's wrong, Dad?" Sali stared groggily at the Cloud Chief Packmaster.
"James Johnson was killed in the field behind this house, son," Marcus held Sali away from him as he explained. "Your brother Marco went crazy when he was told. Turned and broke through a window getting out of the house."
"But how?" Sali, still half asleep, wasn't sure he understood. Ashe, standing nearby, wasn't sure he understood either. Shivering in the early spring night, Ashe watched as Marcus knelt and pulled Sali against him. "Son, we don't know. James was strong. It would have taken somebody really tough to take him down. Micah is there, checking the ground and doing some sniffing with Ben, but we don't have anything yet."
"How did they find him?" Adele asked.
"Cori," Marcus turned to Adele with a sigh. "She and James have been dating on the sly, I suppose. Neither of their parents knew of it. When James didn't show up at the usual spot half a mile from here, Cori tracked his normal path, roughly six hundred yards behind your house. Her panther tracks are there, but we can't get a good scent off the ground around the body—it's still wet from the snow we had two days ago."
"How's Cori doing?" Ashe was worried for his friend. Even he hadn't known that Cori liked James.
"Understandably upset," Marcus raked fingers through his hair. "Greta and three other wolves are searching for Marco. I hope they find him soon."
"Aedan, may I see you in the house for a moment?" Nathan hadn't said anything until now. Tall, with dark-blond hair and green eyes, Nathan, Cori and Dori looked very much alike. Cori and Dori were his daughters, after all, and Ashe wondered where both girls were since Nathan and Lavonna were inside his garage.
"Sure," Aedan answered, nodding to Nathan. He punched the code into the keypad at the back door and he and Nathan walked into the kitchen, shutting the door behind them. Adele rubbed Sali's shoulders as Marcus spoke softly to his son. Attempting to remain unnoticed, Ashe edged away until he was standing next to the back door. He could hear if his father were speaking to Nathan in the kitchen. He was.
"Aedan, we may have trouble," Nathan said. Ashe strained to hear the rest. "You're not going to like this," Nathan went on. "We've got at least three werewolves who think this murder is a vampire's work."
Chapter 3
"Both of us have solid alibis," Nathan said as Ashe continued to listen to the private conversation. "But Old Harold was at the school, stripping the floors by himself. I called him—he wasn't lying when he said he hadn't gone anywhere else after sundown, but we must be on guard against any rumors. We don't need to go back fifty years because a werewolf decides to point the finger at a convenient vampire."
Ashe silently agreed. James, a senior and nearly eighteen, was still considered a child by the community and that made the crime worse. James and Marco had been born nearly a month apart and had grown up together. Ashe could understand Marco's grief and anger; he'd feel the same if anything happened to Sali.
"Have you been to the site? Did you scent anything?" Aedan asked.
"Yes, and it baffles me. I couldn't get any scents except those of Cori, Ben and Marcus. They were on the scene before I was called. Cori ran to Marcus' house since nobody was home here."
"Then someone was very careful," Aedan growled. Ashe knew what that growl meant; his father was becoming angry.
"Aedan, we may be reading this wrong and the perpetrator may be caught or come forward tomorrow, but it certainly doesn't look good. Did anyone else besides Sali's parents know you were going to the city?"
"No." Ashe drew in a breath at his father's answer. Was someone trying to frame his father for this? At least Ashe knew his parents couldn't have been involved and were above suspicion. Not only did Marcus and Denise DeLuca know about the trip to Oklahoma City, but Sali had gone with them. Ashe wanted to talk the whole thing over with Sali, but Sali was walking out of the garage with his father, likely headed home to wait for news about Marco.