Satisfied that it was Bijou who needed to hear from him, and not the other way around, Remy parked in front of the station and whipped out his cell phone. She was under Blue and he found himself smiling for no reason at all. His thumb traced over her name before he could stop the automatic reaction. He looked around to make certain no one had seen that involuntary, silly reaction, more of a caress than anything else. If Gage or one of his other brothers had witnessed that incredibly ridiculous moment, he’d never live it down.

There was no response on Bijou’s cell. He left three voice mails and texted her three times, still to no avail. Swearing under his breath, he strode into the station house, straight to his office. Apparently everyone saw his face and quickly looked away, not greeting him. He picked up the phone and called the Inn.

Saria answered.

“Where the hell is Bijou? And why isn’t she takin’ my calls?” He demanded, furious, worried, and more than a little inclined to drive straight out to the Inn and the hell with interrogating anyone but his stubborn woman. “What the hell is wrong with women, anyway? How difficult is it to pick up the damn phone?” His voice went low, mean and gravelly, a sign his leopard’s temper was turning into a rage.

“She’s sittin’ right here, Remy.” Saria’s voice became soothing. “Her phone must be upstairs. What’s wrong?”

Okay, now he really looked like an idiot. He hadn’t considered she didn’t have her phone on her. And why didn’t she? “What the hell use is a cell phone if you don’ have it on you? That woman is so damned difficult.”

“Is she?” There was laughter in Saria’s voice that only served to make him angrier.

“I was worried about her, Saria. I knew Robert went there, and last night he challenged me for her. Then he challenged Drake. He’s a complete idiot and can’t be trusted. She’s such a fragile little thing and I knew she’d be really frightened.” He forced himself to sound reasonable when he still wanted to drive out to the Inn and see for himself Bijou was alive and well.

“Fragile?” Saria snorted. “You should have seen her reachin’ for the butcher knife when Dion refused to leave and we knew Robert was in the house but he refused to come out where we could see him. She even jumped up and put herself between Dion and me to protect me.”