Aldric was amused by the children's deep concern for his health, and their visible relief when he showed them the healing injuries. He promised that Faith had been an excellent nurse and he barely hurt at all. It had been somewhat tricky when Kaylee asked why he was healing so fast, and Faith had finally just told the girl who she was staying with.
At which point Kaylee turned to Jake, wide-eyed once more, and asked, in an awe-stricken voice, "You can turn into a wolf?"
"Not yet, but Daddy says pretty soon! Daddy can, and he’s huge!“ Jake said proudly, his almost six-year-old chest puffing up until Kaylee smacked his arm and started complaining that he hadn't told her, and weren't they best friends, and shouldn’t best friends tell each other everything?
It resulted in the most entertaining argument Aldric had ever witnessed before the two finally made friends again and ran off to play on the swings, supervised– and guarded again– by Tamika, who ended up answering a lot of questions about werewolves and why Jake couldn’t just tell her and why Kaylee now had the important job of keeping the secret.
"Well. That went better than I thought," Faith said, flopping into the armchair by the window in his office. She could see most of the play set from her position, but she watched him instead. "How are you doing, anyway? I've been busy with the kids all morning, trying to keep them out of you and Marc's way. We made cookies. They're in the kitchen."
"I shall try them when I get up from here, thank you," he answered. "I am healing well enough, as you saw. I may have a scar or two from the worst of it, but otherwise by tomorrow evening it will seem as if I was never injured."
"I'm glad," Faith smiled at him. "I've been worrying about you. I didn't sleep well because of it. Well, and the rest of it all." She grimaced and sighed.
"The two remaining strangers were tracked out to the road. They must have had a car waiting there, because their scents vanished again. I have the clan's trackers spread out searching for traces of the scents. My cousin Leo is also scanning the area for unusual activity or video of your sister or the strangers," Aldric said. He wanted to make her smile again, but did not have any news that would do that.
"How does he know what Crissy or the strange wolves look like? I mean, We don't even know what they look like. Not as people, anyway. Well, not as human people. Ugh, this is so confusing."
Aldric nodded. "I understand that. And we do not know what the strangers look like, but if they were following your sister he could see that, and make an educated assumption. As far as your sister, I believe Leo hacked into a state driver's database of some kind." Aldric sighed heavily. He kept discouraging his cousin from such blatantly illegal activities, but in this case he couldn't argue that it wouldn't help them. Now everyone had not only Crissy's scent from the clothing she left in the cabin, but also her image, which Leo sent to the enforcer's and tracker's group chats.
"Well, tell him not to get caught," Faith muttered before turning to watch the kids though the window.
She just curled up in the chair and, after a few minutes he watched her eyes droop closed and a moment later soft snores drifted to him. He tipped his head to the side for a long moment and wondered at this human who was so comfortable around him that she would simply drift off to sleep as if she had no cares in the world to worry her. He stood and left the office to retrieve a blanket, which he draped around her, then returned to his desk to continue his work.
When Faith woke again several hours later, it was time to call the children in for a snack. Aldric joined them, having coffee rather than milk with his cookies and apple slices. The knock at the front door felt like it echoed through the entire clan house, and the three adults in the room froze, instantly alert.
"I will answer the door," Aldric said, standing from his seat. The command to the others to stay in the kitchen with the children remained unspoken, but Faith and Tamika both nodded.
At the front door, he paused, listening and trying to scent the visitor. He wasn't as skilled as the wolves, even in their human forms, but he was still a predator after all. Under the familiar scents of his clanmates was another scent, less familiar, but still an ally. He hoped. He opened the door.
"Detective, any word on Miss Latham's sister?" he asked.
Detective Lincoln smiled broadly at the abrupt greeting. "Good afternoon to you as well, Mr. Donnelly. No, there has been no sign of the elder Miss Latham as yet, though we are still investigating. How are you? You look tired, if you don't mind my saying. There seems to have been a lot of wolf activity in the woods last night, I hope they didn't keep you awake?"
Aldric's eyes narrowed and he stared at the human in front of him, but the detective gave nothing away.
"No, I was up late regardless of the wolves' howling," Aldric said. “Something about missing friends and dead bodies tends to keep one up at night.”
“That’s very true. But try not to worry too much. Just leave all that
