He shrugged. “It was easy to convince Dad. I didn’t see most of the fight so there’s nothing to contradict my version.”
“Except me and Jess,” I remarked.
“Which you won’t do because Dad has agreed to allow Jess unconditional Pack membership.” He caught the sudden hope on my face. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
“I can’t thank you enough for what you did, Caleb,” I murmured, rubbing my mouth. “What you did….”
“You’d do the same,” he dismissed, and nodding to the door, he asked with a smile, “You ready to face your adoring Pack?”
***
I threw the body in the back of the Jeep with a grunt. “How did I wind up with clean up duty?”
“Technically, you volunteered,” Caleb answered, checking the ground for any evidence we had been there. “Double brownie points with Dad though.”
“Don’t want anyone questioning your story,” I muttered, tugging a tarp over the two bodies. “We good?”
“Yeah, just looks like an animal kill,” Caleb answered, then nodded at the back of the Jeep. “We dumping them?”
“Uh huh.” My smile was feral as we hopped back in the Jeep. “Figured we’d take them back where they came from.”
The drive to the Hanley border was short and we made quick work of rolling them out the Jeep, dumping the bodies where they were sure to be found.
“You think this is a good idea?” Caleb asked nervously, keeping watch as I pissed all over the dead bodies. “They’re going to retaliate.”
“That’s the plan,” I said simply, nodding for him to get back in the Jeep. “I want them enraged and careless. Picking them off one by one is easier than a direct attack.”
“But what if they don’t attack us?” Caleb pointed out, watching me carefully.
My jaw tightened thinking of Sam and the nephew I’d never met. The Hanleys could take their anger out on them, but it was a risk we had to take. “It’s going to happen eventually,” I answered slowly. “I’d rather it be on our terms.”
He nodded, not convinced but unable to argue. “What about the pack to the North? Did Trent talk to them?”
I snorted. “Talk might be a stretch. He was basically ordered to leave. Never got a chance to talk to anyone important.”
“What are they like?”
“Mysterious,” I replied, the Jeep jolting over a creek bed as I steered us home. “Trent couldn’t tell anything about the person he talked to.” I glanced at Caleb, wiggling my eyebrows. “They might be aliens.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Now, I know you’re yanking my chain. Come on, tell the truth.”
I held up my hand. “Scout’s honor. They had no scent, wore a hooded jacket, and he said even the voice was husky, could have been male or female. They did not want to be ID’d.”
“That’s strange,” Caleb replied, his expression mystified. “What’s with the secrecy?”
“Aliens, man, aliens,” I drawled, dodging his punch. “Look, Trent got the feeling they escorted him off the property.”
“Got the feeling? He couldn’t tell?”
“That’s the thing. He didn’t see them, hear them, or smell them.” I shrugged. “Ghost wolves.”
Caleb’s head thunked back on the seat as he sighed, staring out the window. “I wish I could have gone.”
“One day,” I promised and he snorted, rolling his head toward me.
“When? When I’m forty?” He shook his head, his eyes glinting reflectively in the dashboard light. “Dad’s never going to let me go.” His fist thumped against the seat. “Hell, he won’t even let us go to school tomorrow.”
“It’s only a day,” I answered calmly, even as worry crept through me. Jess would be alone. The entire Pack was confined to Pack land until the Alpha had assessed the threat the Hanleys presented. Caleb’s fib hadn’t helped the issue because now the Alpha thought they were targeting his son and heir, not Jess. Caleb’s glance said he didn’t believe me and I didn’t have it in me to try to convince him when I had my own worries.
Trent was going to keep an eye on her, follow her to school if necessary. Part of me hoped she would stay home sick after today’s events, but I knew that was wishful thinking. She wasn’t the crybaby type. She’d be even more determined to prove she wasn’t scared, even if it put her at risk.
“We’ll keep her safe,” Caleb said, startling me with how accurately he’d mirrored my thoughts. He grinned. “It’s not hard to tell when you’re thinking about her, you know. You get this dumb little grin.” He gestured like he was cracking a whip. “It’s kind of,” he paused and I waited for whatever joke he was about to crack. “It’s kind of nice,” he finished, turning serious.
“Your time will come.” He didn’t look like he believed me, but I nodded, pointing out the dark windshield. “She’s out there. Believe me, you’ll know it when you find her.”