After a dreamless night, Mia stretched awake in the cabin, surprised to find the other side of the bed cold. Blinking, she rolled over to see a folded note on the bedside table. Yawning, she opened it to see Seth’s bold handwriting.
Morning, sweetheart.
I had business to take care of and took off before your aunt or mom woke up. Give me a call when you’re up and about. I have your house covered, so you’re safe.
She rolled her eyes. She was a trained agent, and several of her weapons held silver bullets. Even so, he was sweet in trying to protect her.
She stood and stretched, finally not feeling nauseated first thing in the morning. Maybe her body was getting used to this pregnancy situation. She frowned and pushed her wild hair over her shoulder and out of her eyes. Soon, she would probably need to tell her mom and aunt, but she wasn’t ready for that discussion, so she used the facilities and then stood in her closet, trying to find something decent to wear. It was time to do laundry.
A light tapping on her window had Mia turning to see a naked woman on the roof ledge outside. “Luna,” she exclaimed, rushing toward the window to open it. “What are you doing?” She reached for the woman’s arms to pull her inside.
Luna gracefully stepped inside and then immediately tripped. “Ouch,” she said, looking down at the carpet that had nothing on it to actually trip over. “Huh. I came to check on you.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake.” Mia hustled back to her closet and grabbed a T-shirt and a pair of sweats. “You obviously traveled in wolf form.”
Luna nodded, her hair a wild mass down her back. “Yeah, I was trying not to raise suspicions. You know we’re not supposed to talk.” The woman looked lovelier than ever, if a little dwarfed by Mia’s clothing as she put it on. “I was worried about you and wanted to see for myself that you were doing okay. How are you?”
Mia sat on the bed. “I’m fine. Pretty tired, but I think that’s normal for a pregnancy, right?”
Luna shrugged. “Heck if I know. I’ve reached out to all my medical contacts in the other packs, and the stories coming back are pretty much the same. Nobody knows much more about babies born as hybrids than I’ve already told you.” Her expression fell. “I really hoped to have better news.”
Mia reached over to the bedside table and grabbed a ponytail holder to toss at Luna. “If you need it.”
“Thanks.” Luna gathered her hair and piled it on top of her head to fall in a cascade that looked as if it had taken hours to achieve. “I also did some research about the silver injury you received right before you mated. As far as I can find, that’s never happened before.”
Well, that was just fantastic. Mia sighed and fought the urge to flop back onto the bed, roll over, and just stay there for the rest of the day. “It’s nice to know I’m such an anomaly.”
Luna nodded, apparently missing the sarcasm. “I did find out that you definitely should be eating a lot of protein, which I think is the same for pregnant humans, but also, organ meat is really good for wolf shifters—and wolves in general.” Luna winced. “I know most humans don’t like organ meat, but we usually stick to that of other animals, so if you can stomach it, I would give it a shot.”
Mia preferred a nice bowl of ice cream to any sort of meat, but she nodded. “I do appreciate your help.”
Luna leaned over, now nicely dressed, and patted Mia’s hand. “We’re friends, right?”
“Sure.” Mia studied the young woman. “I believe all friendships start with a decent kidnapping.”
Luna laughed. “Well, in the shifter world, you’d be surprised.” A figure suddenly filled the window, and Mia yelped, starting to stand. Where was her weapon?
“Morning,” Erik said, crouching to enter from the roof. His light blue eyes scanned the entire room and landed on Luna. “Little wolf.”
Luna pivoted and backed away until her hips rested against the vanity on the far wall. “What are you doing here?”
Erik grinned and looked the young shifter over. “For a while, I was watching a beautiful naked shifter climb up onto the roof of this cute little cabin. Sorry to see you found clothes.”
“Erik,” Mia admonished.
Luna glared. “You were watching me?”
“Of course, I was watching you,” Erik said. “Do you honestly think you could come into our territory without being spotted?” His gaze lingered on her face, and he cocked his head to the side. “I scented you the second you crossed the border.”
Luna blushed a very pretty shade of Georgia peach.
That was interesting. Mia studied the two. The tension in the room was thick enough that she almost waited for thunder to roll.
Luna crossed her arms over the worn green T-shirt Mia had given her. “Watching naked women is just rude.”
Erik grinned. “I can handle rude, especially since said naked woman was in my territory climbing trees and has what can objectively be called an excellent ass. Why are you here, Luna?”
Mia stood before Luna could smack him. “Erik, leave her alone. She came to visit me and see if everything was okay.”
“Do you have any news or anything you’ve discovered?” His eyebrows rose.
Luna shook her head. “Nothing great, except that organ meat should help with the nausea. I don’t have anything new on the baby or the silver injury.” She looked crestfallen.
“It’s okay.” Mia hastened to reassure her. “It’s not your job to take care of me.”
Erik lifted a powerful shoulder. “It kind of is. We let you go free, and that leaves a certain responsibility.”
In a surprising move, Luna turned, grabbed a decorative wooden hairbrush off the vanity, and chucked it at Erik so quickly that Mia barely saw it spin through the air.
Erik caught it an inch from his nose, and his gaze darkened. “You’re a brat, my cute little scientist,” he chided.
Awareness prickled along Mia’s body.
“You’re a jackass,” Luna said, losing all sense of her usual calm and sometimes medical vocabulary.
It was all Mia could do not to laugh. “You two should just get a room,” she murmured. “Luna, is there anything else you needed today? Would you like to stay for coffee?”
Luna shook her head. “No, I’ll be leaving your territory.” With that, she stomped toward the window.
“Be careful.” Erik scooped her up and easily leapt outside. “I’ll make sure you get to the tree line safely.” He chuckled, and when Luna punched him in the throat, he laughed harder.
Mia watched them go. As Erik jumped off the roof, her brow furrowed. Her life had become absolutely insane.
Shaking her head, she wandered down to the kitchen to find her mom sitting at the table petting a gorgeous, sable kitten with bright blue eyes. Her eyebrows rose. “We have a cat now? This is getting ridiculous.” They had a puppy, a grown wolf in the form of Erik who wouldn’t leave them alone, and now a cat.
Her mom’s hand was steady on the cat’s fur as she petted it, making the animal purr. “Yes. I was playing mahjong yesterday, and my friend Louise’s cat recently had a litter. This is little Contessa. I don’t know, but I feel like having animals around really brings peace.”
Mia snorted and then caught herself. Sometimes, she forgot that her mom didn’t know about wolf shifters. “Peace, huh?” She caught wind of coffee and wandered over to see if it was decaf or regular.
“I’m sorry, honey,” her mom said. “It’s decaf. I’m trying to stay calm these days.”
How convenient. “Oh, no. Decaf is fine,” she assured, quickly pouring herself a cup.
“Since when?” Gena asked.
Now that was a hard one to explain, wasn’t it? “I don’t know. I think calm is good.” Mia took a deep gulp and wandered over to pet the cat. She purred and looked up at Mia, her cute little nose twitching. “Well, she is adorable,” she had to admit. “No more animals, though, okay? I think the several we have—if we’re counting the wolves around here—are good enough.”
Her mom laughed. “The wolves are wild, sweetie. They won’t be around forever.”
Ha. That’s what her mom thought. Mia just smiled. “All right. Whatever you say, Mom.”
“Oh, before I forget,” Gena said, “you got a phone call yesterday on my cell.”
How strange. Why would anybody call her mother to reach her? “I did? My cell phone was with me so anybody could’ve gotten a hold of me.”
“I thought it was very odd.” Gena pulled her cell out from under a stack of tangled yarn. “It was a man, and he said he left a present for you.”
Mia’s hands tightened around her coffee cup. “A man said he left a present for me?”
“Yes, and it was hard to tell where he was calling from. Lots of traffic in the background. He said he got our numbers mixed up and wanted to make sure you knew that he left you the present with a big red bow.”
Mia frowned. “I didn’t get a present with a big red bow. Did he give you his name?”
“No,” Gena answered. “His voice was smooth, so maybe he’s charming? Almost like he was a secret admirer.” Her eyes lit up. “Do you think you have a secret admirer?”
“I sure hope not,” Mia muttered. “Did you see the caller ID?”
“Yes, it came up as an unknown number,” her mom said. “He called about, oh, I don’t know, maybe four in the afternoon.”
That didn’t sound good. Warning ticked down Mia’s back. “I’m going to need to take a look at your phone, all right?” She’d ask the techs in either Seattle or DC to investigate.
“Sure.” Gena handed it over. “Feel free.”
She had a bad feeling this was connected to the current case, but one never knew. “Great. I’ll be right back.” Mia left her coffee and ran upstairs to her phone to dial Kurt. It was early, but he was dedicated when he was on a case.
“Morning.” Kurt said. “I’m already at the office. It’s time to head back out to Lost Asylum and interview everyone about Nurse Bobbi Trienze. I don’t like the coincidence that two of the most recent victims were nurses. Are you coming in?”
Mia reached for a heavier sweatshirt and tucked her phone between her shoulder and ear. “I am. I wanted to know if we missed any detail in that report last night. It was so preliminary. It didn’t tell us anything but the victim’s name.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I just spoke with the head of the forensics unit out of Seattle. They’re sending over a more complete report. This murder was a little different than the others.”
“How so?” Mia asked, holding her breath.
“The killer left a bright red bow on the body.”