“I’m telling you she looked me right in the eyes,” Lucas said for about the twentieth time.
“Dude, I think the look she threw your way was disgust. Now, the one she sent in my direction was hot!” Ren replied with confidence.
“You’re both delusional,” James said. “She wanted nothing to do with any of us, and if you ask me, I think we scared her.”
“James, you don’t know shit about girls in general and hot ones in particular,” Lucas said, voice dripping with condescension.
“There’s a difference? Girls are girls; doesn’t matter what they look like,” James said.
“That’s how I know you know absolute shit about the ladies,” Lucas, who was in the lead, said, looking back.
Because his head was turned, he didn’t see the massive fur-covered form that lunged out from behind the trunk of a wind-toppled oak tree. The surprised looks of his two friends caused him to turn back just as the first blow slammed into the side of his face. He was unconscious before he hit the ground and didn’t see the second blow that lifted Ren almost completely off his feet. He didn’t see James stumble backward, almost fall, but instead turn and run down the trail. He never regained consciousness, never heard his friend’s final screams as darkness fell upon Robinson Woods.
Thirty-eight hours later, a dark SUV with government plates pulled into the town’s police department parking lot and three doors opened.
“Tell me again why we couldn’t have flown?” Mack Sutton asked as he exited the rear passenger door and stretched.
“Agent Jay doesn’t hand out airline tickets like candy, Mack,” Special Agent Caeco Jensen said as she left the driver’s seat. “I’m lucky I was able to get her to agree to bringing both of you with me. No way would she pay airfare for you too.”
“That wasn’t you at all,” Jetta Sutton shot back. “She listened to Declan more than you.”
Caeco frowned and looked away.
“Okay, that was below the belt,” Jetta said with a grimace. “Sorry. I’m grouchy from the ride. But in my defense, you did eat all the chips.”
“You know the rules… you snooze, you lose,” Caeco said, her frown relaxing away. “And I’m already regretting it, believe me – talking Jay into it that is, not the chips. Now, follow me, keep your mouths shut, and let me do the talking.”
The brother and sister both snorted at almost the exact same time, then laughed the same laugh. Caeco sighed.
Shaking her head, Caeco led them into the police station and up to the bullet-resistant glass booth. The man who looked up appeared more like clerk than an officer, but either way, his expression was completely unwelcoming. His name tag said Larry. No last name.
“What?” was the extent of his greeting.
Visibly squaring her shoulders, Caeco pulled out her Bureau credentials and pressed them flat against the glass.
“You’re joking?” the man said, glaring like she was trying to get the better of him.
“No joke. Special Agent Caeco Jensen to see Chief Kent,” she said.
He frowned even deeper if that was possible, studying the ID and then her before doing it all again.
“Perhaps I should just call him on his cell and save you the effort?” she asked.
“Knock yourself out,” the man said, even grouchier, now staring over her shoulder at her companions. “What kindergarten did they escape from?”
She waited for a nasty response from Jetta or Mack or even both, but when they stayed silent, she glanced back at them. They waited with bored expressions, Jetta with arms crossed and Mack leaning against the wall, studying his cell phone.
Rather than argue, Caeco lifted the phone to her ear; it was already dialing.
“Chief Kent? Agent Jensen… I’m in your vestibule. Larry, your receptionist, won’t let me in. Yeah, thanks.” She hung up and put her hands behind her back in parade rest, eyes locked on Larry’s.
Moments later a tall, muscular officer with just a hint of gray at his black-haired temples strode up. He shot Larry a quick look of annoyance, then opened the locked door leading into the station.
For his part, sudden concern flooded Larry’s face, then he turned away and made himself busy with filing paperwork.
“Sorry about that,” Chief Kent said, reaching out to shake her hand.
“I don’t look like a typical agent, and having these two with me makes it worse,” she said, waving at the brother-sister duo coming in behind her. “Chief Kent, this is Jetta Sutton and her brother, Mack. They are specialists in werewolves.”
The chief was looking at them with a touch of astonishment on his face. “You look more like college kids,” he said, smiling slightly to ease the comment. Still, there was an open curiosity mixed with a bit of disbelief in his expression.
“We are college kids. Our school released us to help Caeco with your potential werewolf attack,” Mack said. “It’s like a field trip.”
“Your school released you?” the chief asked, frowning lightly.
“These two have hunted more werewolves than most anyone else I know, with the exception of Chris Gordon,” she explained. “And they go to a very special school.”
“Where a third of the student body are weres, mostly wolves but also a few bears, cougars, and a couple of leopards from Africa,” Jetta said.
“You hunt werewolves and go to school with them?” the chief asked.
“And she’s dating one,” Mack said with a nod at his sister. “We’re young, Chief, but we really do have a lot of experience with two-natured people. And witches… lots of witches. Plus a few vampires, but they’re all a lot older.”
“My boss, Special Agent Lois Jay, who heads up the Special Threat Response Team, agreed the Suttons would be useful. It’s
