Gorge rose in my throat, and I swallowed it, keeping my lunch down with sheer will. “Well, that’s just…lovely.” I couldn’t find a word graphic enough to describe such pointless slaughter. At least we ate the animals we hunted. “What about Kaci? What does it say about her?”

“Officially, she’s missing and the investigation is still open. But an aunt told the local paper that they don’t expect to find her alive. Last month her dad bought a burial plot next to her sister and put up a stone memorial.”

Well, at least that was in our favor. Morbid, but definitely good from our perspective. No matter what happened next, Kaci couldn’t go back to live with her father, if he was truly human. That wasn’t safe for him, or for us.

The back door of the lodge slammed, and we turned as one to see Colin trudging across the grass toward us, Jace on his heels.

“You rang?” the blond tom said, not bothering to screen malice from his tone.

Paul Blackwell stood straight on his crooked old spine, both hands on the curve of his cane. “Until that plane leaves the ground, you are in this jurisdiction and under my authority. You will adopt an attitude of respect, or I will see you pay for your impertinence. Can you wrap your thick skull around that, Dean?”

Colin nodded curtly, his gaze focused several inches over his Alpha’s head. The Canadian import was one big motherfucker—Lucas was the only one of us who could look him in the eyes—and he towered over the old man. But size isn’t everything, which Colin’s own cowardice had proved.

“Good. If you want to make it home in one piece, listen up and answer Councilman Sanders’s questions.”

Still scowling, Colin turned expectantly to my father, reluctant curiosity written in each frown line on his face.

“Your father is Alpha of one of the Ontario Prides. Curtis Dean, right?”

Colin’s curiosity deepened, as did his put-out glower. “Yes. Why?”

“Give me his phone number.”

Colin’s eyes went wide in panic. “Why? What did I do now?”

Paul Blackwell growled viciously, glaring at his disgraced enforcer, and I nearly choked on surprise. I’d had no idea such an ancient set of vocal cords could produce a sound so fierce. “Give him the number.”

The unfortunate tom glanced from his Alpha to my father, and prattled off a series of numbers. My dad dialed, then dismissed Colin with one careless wave of his hand. Colin stepped back, but lingered at the edge of the circle to listen in, obviously still convinced the call involved him.