“Curtis?” my father said into his phone. “This is Greg Sanders, from the U.S. council.” He paused, and we all listened to the elder Dean’s gregarious greeting. “Yes, it has been a while.” Another pause, during which Colin’s dad apologized for his son’s abominable behavior. “Don’t even mention it,” my father said, somehow managing to sound generous. “That’s between you and your boy now. I have a question for you on a separate matter.”

Behind me, Colin sighed in relief, but his stance remained tense. He clearly wasn’t looking forward to the afternoon’s family reunion.

“Do you guys have an Alpha named Dillon?” my father continued, turning to Michael for confirmation. “Roger Dillon?”

Michael nodded, and all eyes went back to my dad’s phone, waiting for the answer. But I knew what it would be before Mr. Dean ever made a sound, because Kaci’s father was no Alpha. He wasn’t even a werecat. I had no doubt about that.

“No, there’s no Dillon,” Councilman Dean said, curiosity pitching his voice a little higher. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, we’re just trying to straighten something out down here. I’ll tell you all about it when I have more time.”

But we all knew that when he did, he would not be mentioning Kaci. Since she was either born into or infected in Canadian territory, one of the local Alphas might decide he had a legitimate claim on the “extra” tabby. Such an assertion would make it very difficult—politically speaking—for us to hold on to Kaci, assuming she wanted to stay with us. Which I didn’t doubt for an instant.

Unfortunately, I also had no doubt Colin would fill his father in the moment he stepped off the plane, and there was nothing we could do about that, other than cross our fingers that the Canadian council wouldn’t decide to make trouble.

We were all full up on trouble at the moment, and had no provisions in place for the overflow.

My dad thanked Councilman Dean, then hung up. “Jace, get on the phone and tell all of our search teams to go back to where they found Tindale’s body for a second look around. We have to find his wife before the humans do. Michael, fire up your computer again and see what else you can find out about Kaci’s father. Where is he? Is he still looking for her?”

Michael nodded and took off toward our cabin at a fast jog.