Maybe he’d taken the trail and followed her scent when it veered off. In all other times, I’d call him diligent in his job. In this instance, it was downright nosy.
“I am well aware.” I tried to keep the defensiveness out of my tone.
“Well, who does it belong to?” he asked.
Dammit. I’d had no intention of telling Gib any of this saga until he got back and I had it well resolved. Now he was asking me about it point-blank, and I couldn’t even explain with Caitlyn nearby. Hell, I couldn’t explain without Gib losing his shit. I didn’t doubt he’d drive back from Montana right away and put an end to all of this.
That made my wolf snap and snarl, because no one fucked with my mate.
“I can’t talk now,” I said, even though I knew it would piss him off.
“What? Where the fuck are you?”
As if I was going to tell him we were observing a wolf biologist studying pups in the wild. Oh, and yeah, she was our mate.
Not happening.
“Dealing with it. I’ll call you back.” I ended the call without waiting for a response. Even after we got things all worked out and our marks on Caitlyn’s neck, Gib would probably punch me in the nose when he got back, but I could take it.
“Everything okay?”
I spun on my heel, not even realizing Caitlyn had approached. So much for wolf-fucking hearing. I’d been so in my head, so involved in what Gib was going to do, I hadn’t even noticed.
“That was my brother,” I explained. Sticking as close to the truth as possible was probably my best option. “One of our neighbors reported your car at the trailhead near our property, and wanted to make sure there weren’t any trespassers.”
Caitlyn’s brows dipped.
“But we already found you.” I attempted a grin and a wink, but she continued frowning. My wolf didn’t like that.
“And you’re dealing with me?” She made air quotes with her fingers around the word dealing.
Shit, how much had she overheard? I glanced at Wade, who shrugged.
“Well, I thought we had dealt with you,” I waggled my brows, “but I’d be happy to have a second go-round if you’re into it.”
She still didn’t relax.
“This is my brother’s land. Well, it’s mine, too, but since he’s older, he feels… in charge.”
That sounded fucking awful, but it was the truth.
“I just didn’t feel like explaining that we’d invited a wolf biologist onto the property. I told you how touchy we are about people messing with the wildlife.”
She bit her lip and looked up at us through her lashes.
“Is there… is there something you guys are hiding up here?” Caitlyn’s voice shook a little as she asked the question.
Fuck! I shot a glance past her at Wade. Should we tell her? Right now?
His eyes were wide and he gave a quick, alarmed shake of his head.
Double-fuck.
“No, sugar.” I hated lying to her. With all my heart. My wolf snarled at me for keeping the truth from her. The sooner she knew about us, the sooner we’d claim her. The sooner my wolf would bite and mark her. But she’d hate us for the truth. Not because we were shifters, but because she’d learn that we were going to shut down her work.
She started chewing on her thumbnail. “Are you guys… religious? Like a cult or something?”
I snorted, never even considering that as something she’d even imagine. “Definitely not a cult. Nope. We’re just a close-knit community. You might call us backwoods, but there’s nothing sinister here. I promise, sugar.”
Wade pulled her hand from her mouth and held it, sending me a worried glance over the top of her chestnut head. “Have you ever seen wolf pups like this before?” Wade was the master of distraction.
It seemed to work. “Only in captivity at a wolf sanctuary back in undergrad. Never in the wild.” Her face lit up with pleasure, as if she was remembering back.
I had to say, Caitlyn’s reverence for the wolves softened some of my misgivings about her research. Still, we had to figure out a way to keep her from publishing her data if it showed a healthy wolf population, because while she was seemingly pro-wolves, her data could be used by others in harmful ways. Gib would rip my throat out. The pack would be pissed. I would do nothing to harm my fellow shifters—but at the expense of my mate?
Fuck, I was in big trouble here. Because while Gib and the pack would be upset, I had to assume Caitlyn would be devastated, and I couldn’t think of a way to avoid that. Yet. Hopefully we had enough time to come up with an idea before my brother returned and he handled it his way.
8
WADE
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered as Landry pulled my truck onto the dirt road leading back to my cabin. He’d gotten to the truck first and climbed behind the wheel, and I hadn’t argued. He outranked me in the pack. If he wanted to drive, I had no beef with that.