In Nashville. This morning.
If Jay were a lesser man, he might have laughed at Bender’s expression of disappointment. Instead, he just raises an eyebrow.
The senior detective coughs. “Bender. We’re done. Thank you for calling this in, Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Costas. Next time, though, maybe keep your dog out of the woods. There are bigger things than little Tsuki out there.”
He pats Tsuki on the head and receives a friendly lick on his hand in return.
The evidence bag is in his other hand, and when he catches Leo trying to get a better look, he shoves it inside his coat pocket.
“We’ll get out of your hair.”
“But, Ayre—” Bender sputters. “We haven’t questioned the rest of his pack!”
“Let’s go. Forensics is done. These nice people have bigger things to do than entertain inane lines of questioning.”
Detective Ayre heads for the car, raising a hand in a lazy goodbye before slamming his door shut and starting the engine. He follows it up with a honk on the horn to get Bender moving.
Leo coughs to hide his laugh.
Bender grinds her teeth so loudly that Tsuki cocks herhead at the high-pitched noise, ears flicking. But instead of arguing, she just narrows her eyes, gives a tight nod, and turns on her heel.
Jay should feel bad—she’s just doing her job, after all.
But as soon as she’s in the car—her door barely shut—Ayre throws it into reverse, kicking up a cloud of dust, and they’re gone before the air even clears.
All he and Leo can do is watch as forensics loads the dead guy into a black bag and then into the van before following suit. The whole thing took less than forty-five minutes from start to finish.
“Wonder who he was on the phone with,” Leo muses as the front door swings open, and their family spills out. “And what was in that bag? And did he call her Tsuki? And what did he mean, bigger things?”
All good fucking questions.
Jay turns just in time to catch his mate. Nix throws himself into Jay’s arms, scenting him in a flood of warm vanilla and dough. “She looked mean, Jamie.”
“She was mad at her boss, baby boy. Can’t blame her. He cut her off at the knees after that phone call. The whole thing was strange.”
Tsuki takes off toward the woods again, retracing the detective’s steps with Rowan close behind.
Leo whistles, and they both return at a run.
Neither offers anything up, but Rowan presses up behind Nix before tilting Jay’s chin and kissing him deep, tongue and all.
“Whoa. What’s that for?” Jay isn’t complaining, no sir-ee.
“Smells weird out here. Wanted to get her scent out of my nose.” Rowan’s enormous hands slide between Jay’s belly and Nix’s.
“Ro,” Jay exhales, half a sigh, half a warning.
He’ll have to curb this possessiveness—or at least talk to Nix about setting boundaries. Their mate is not a bone to be fought over in the yard.
The car trunk slams shut, and Gideon hands the remaining bags to Grayson and Leo.
“I thought we weren’t staying?” Jay asks as Nix slides his legs from around Jay’s waist. Their omega jogs over to help Luca drag his bag across the rockydriveway, and when Rowan moves to follow, Jay catches his arm.
“Hang back, Ro.”
Gideon’s voice is firm. “We’re staying.”
The front door slams behind the others, leaving Jay and Rowan alone in the fading light.
