Leaving the food, he stalked to the front door. If he cut off the issue before they walked inside, they wouldn’t stick around for coffee and chatter. His pack liked Colby, a blessing and a curse. They wanted to keep her, too. The cock blocking, however, was old.
Pierce waited for him by the vehicle. Fortunately for both of them, the caution on his Hunter’s part meant Brett didn’t have to snarl. The urge remained, but he put the action in check. Even before Brett made him the lead Hunter, Pierce didn’t show up out of the blue for nothing.
After closing the door behind him, he strode toward the waiting wolf. Instead of a dress shirt, he’d donned a cotton t-shirt for the day he’d planned to take off. If possible, he wanted to bribe Colby into a hike so they could get away from the house. The sun had dried the grass, dragonflies buzzed through the air and the heat kissed his skin the moment he stepped outside. Wolf and man were both ready to shed some civility and rough it outdoors—even if roughing it meant taking hiking trails for Colby’s sake.
“Sorry for the early drop in, but I’m heading to Atlantic City to pick up the Thompson Trio.”
Irritation derailed into a fresh direction, Brett sighed. “What did those delinquents do now?” Multiple births weren’t unheard of in pack life. In fact, every generation included their fair share. Brett, himself, had been a twin though his brother had died in utero. Sometimes, he wondered what if the sibling survived? Would he have been Alpha? Thoughts of his long-lost brother crept in at odd times, although he hadn’t even thought of him in years.
Nineteen and full of piss and vinegar, the Thompson trio were never where they were supposed to be. At times, Brett suspected their parents had thrown in the towel and left the discipline to the Hunters.
“Believe it or not, their car broke down.” Pierce’s wry tone spoke volumes. “So, instead of calling for help, they figured they could fix it themselves.”
He didn’t groan. Hell, on any of the road trips he and Luc had taken at a similar age, they’d have tried to do the repairs themselves.
With an absolute sanguine expression, his Hunter continued. “When that didn’t work, they decided to pool their money and gamble for what they needed so they could get a mechanic to fix it.”
The urge to smack his forehead struck. It would be less painful than his current conversation. In addition to being trouble magnets, the Thompson trio were also math geniuses. Each had received acceptance to all of the Ivy League schools, but each had elected to take a year off before starting college. A normal habit for most wolves—they needed time to run and stretch their wings.
“They were counting…”
“…cards. Yep, and they got busted.” Damn, Pierce really was the right wolf for the job. Despite the faint hint of amusement in his voice, he didn’t crack a smile once. “I finished pulling the information together for your earlier request.” He held out a large manila folder. “Everything I could find and what my contacts overseas could pull together. I had to daisy chain through the Enforcers, and they reached out to one of theirs in Italy who used their pack contacts…you don’t care how much work it took do you?”
Accepting the thick folder, Brett nodded. “I appreciate all you do. I’m sure you vetted your sources.” Everything he could want to know about Colby and her family. Since the brief incident three days before, her scent hadn’t vanished again. Nor had she shown any wolf tendencies he could identify. Instead, she seemed almost calm as if the brewing passion between them relaxed her while it left him on edge.
“If you need anything else, let me know.”
He did want to know one specific item. “Have you read this?”
“Some,” Pierce admitted without apology. “The reports from South Korea I inserted directly in the same messenger pouches they arrived in.”
“The investigator in South Korea?”
“An ally.” His Hunter understood the unspoken question. The pack wasn’t used to having someone in the heart of the pack that wasn’t aware of them. He wasn’t ready to tell Colby about the wolves yet. Not when they remained so uncertain of each other…
“Good. Thanks, Pierce. I meant it when I said I appreciate all you do and the timeliness.” He’d only asked him for the information a few days before. “As for the Thompson terrors, bring them home and order them back to their parents for the rest of the week. Next Monday, I will have something for them to do.” Running wild was a normal stage of development. Running stupid, however…
“Happy to dump them on their parents.” He almost sounded gleeful about the idea. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”