“What? You’re kidding? After last night?” Neither Bryan nor Daniel looked like they could quite believe what they’d just heard.
“Yeah, especially after last night.” Ryne rubbed his neck and sighed. “Uh...thanks for helping out last night. You both did good...real good. But it just re-emphasized to me that my wolf is getting too attached to her and it’s too dangerous to have her around. She’s here to ask questions about me and I can’t take the chance that some day she might fit the pieces together.”
“The Keeping?” There was no smile on Bryan’s face as he uttered the words.
“Yeah. We have new pack members joining us and I have a responsibility to them.”
“Mel seems harmless enough,” Daniel added quietly.
“That she does.” Ryne stared out the window, a vision of Melody’s big brown eyes and soft golden hair forming before him. He turned away from it and tightened his jaw. “But looks can be deceiving. A while back, I was talking to Kane and he said a reporter had been looking for me in Smythston, specifically mentioning the wolf photo. It was Mel.”
The other two looked solemn, knowing the story behind the picture.
Bryan spoke first. “Why didn’t you say something when she first came? All you said was to stay away. We figured it was just a territorial jealousy thing your wolf had going.”
Ryne felt a bit sheepish. “In part it was, but mostly it was caution. I wasn’t sure if she knew anything about Lycans or if she was just a reporter with a bee in her bonnet about me. Either way, I decided to wait and watch for a bit, to see what she did and then make my decision.” He shrugged and tried to hide the regret he was feeling. “I’m pretty sure she has no suspicions, but, as I said before, I’m done taking chances. This morning I sent her packing.”
“Um...Ryne?” Daniel looked worried. “There was an e-mail today from the Registry.”
“Really? About the Loberos?” It was the only reason Ryne could think of at the moment.
“No. Someone from this area was going through the Lycan site and made an application for membership. They wanted to know if we were aware of anyone in the area who was a shifter.”
Bryan frowned. “How would the Registry know it was from here?”
Daniel rolled his eyes. He was the ‘computer geek’ out of the three of them. “The IP address. When someone gets an e-mail, you can usually get a general idea of where it came from by right clicking on the sender. You go to view message source, find what IP address it’s from, and then do a search where it’s located. There isn’t a specific home address, but a general area appears. I didn’t think much about it, when I read the e-mail this morning—I figured it was probably a hoax. You know, some kid playing around, but now, from what you’ve said about Mel, I’m not so sure.”
Ryne felt a chill wash over him. Had Mel been searching for information about werewolves? Was it because of the slip-up he’d made over Harley? Or was it just a coincidence as Daniel had said, some kid fooling around?
Slowly, Bryan frowned and walked over to the book shelves. “That reminds me... I didn’t think much of it at the time, but that night Mel slept over, she might have been looking at the heritage books. When I was straightening up in here the next day, I saw they were just shoved back on the shelves.” He pulled the books out and looked at Ryne. “I thought maybe you’d been looking at them and wondered why they weren’t put back properly, since you’re usually so careful with them.”
Ryne shook his head. “I haven’t had time to look at them in weeks.” He strode across the room and plucked a book from Bryan’s hand, checking the title. It was Lycanthropy. Raising the book to his nose, he took a sniff. A faint trace of Melody’s scent remained. Grimly, he clenched the book in his hand. “I think we have a problem.”
Chapter 29
Ryne pulled into the parking area in front of Melody’s cabin and forced his jaws to relax. The drive over had been accomplished at record speed, but the pressing urgency he felt inside left no time for the niceties of traffic laws. He had to find Melody as quickly as possible, ascertain what she did, or didn’t know and deal with it swiftly. Curses had tumbled from his lips the entire length of the drive. His complacency, his arrogance, his lust...all three had combined and conspired against him, causing him to ignore his duties as Alpha. And now, because of him, the lives of his pack and Kane’s could very well be at stake. But no more. Firming his resolve, he climbed out of the truck and slammed the door.