Cooper’s brow was furrowed. “Not as much as we would have liked. The drills are running full speed with all men on deck. They don’t stop for weekends or holidays or even nights. Hell, they don’t stop for earthquakes, either.”
Sharon shrugged into a tank top. “That’s not the interesting part, though. There were two spirits hovering around the site. To the best of my knowledge, no one has come upon two in the same location before.”
“Huh.” Jackson handed her a pair of jeans as she finished pulling up a pair of panties that made him want to drool. “What do you think it means?”
Cooper grabbed his T-shirt. “It means get the fuck off this mountain before you all die.”
“Are you sure?” Jackson asked. That wasn’t more information than they already suspected.
“No,” Sharon said, “but what else could it mean?” She climbed into the backseat of the SUV and put on her tennis shoes while Cooper rounded to the front passenger door.
Seconds later they were all inside, and Jackson pulled away from the service road. “I’m not sure I like being left behind. It’s unnerving worrying about you two.” He glanced at Sharon in the backseat as she pulled a thick sweater over her head, concealing her breasts and making him bite his lip to keep from protesting. At least in her tank tops he could see the contour of her fantastic tits and the swell of her nipples. They rode high and firm even without a bra, and he’d come to realize she often went without.
Cooper chuckled. “Ah, thanks pal. I feel so warm and fuzzy knowing you care.”
Jackson shot him a glare. “Ha ha. You know what I mean.”
“It’s very rare for people to bother wolves in the forest. We aren’t a threat to humans, and if they spot us, they usually assume it’s because they’re invading our habitat,” Sharon informed him.
“Can you tell if anyone else is a shifter?”
Cooper nodded. “Yes. We can scent them, even from a distance. And no one was at that site today. It would almost be easier if they were, but no such luck.”
“So now what do we do?” he asked as he turned onto the main road leading back to Cambridge.
“Let’s head to my office at the college. I need to check in with my colleagues and see if they’ve discovered anything new monitoring the tremors.”
Sharon groaned and leaned her head back. “At least let me nap on the way there. It’s the most boring place on Earth,” she teased.
Jackson was actually fascinated by the idea of seeing Cooper’s equipment at work. Accountants by day who moonlighted in the occasional logging investigation didn’t normally see anything quite so exciting. Although he had to admit to himself that after the crazy fires last November that cleared out several acres of land north of the property owned by Cooper’s family, he’d seen enough weird shit to last a lifetime.
Too bad he was proven wrong in the last twenty-four hours, having reached a new all-time record for weird. The insanity of the infractions he’d investigated at last year’s logging site made a whole lot more sense now that he understood he’d been dealing with wolf shifters and their collective intuition when it came to warning him about the site and his safety.
He gripped the steering wheel tighter, remembering how Amanda’s two mates had come to him, first to advise him about probable violations, and then to warn him of possible danger.
For the rest of his life he would forever be suspect of any warnings he got from folks around him. Were there other shifters out there besides wolves?
Cooper chuckled softly next to him, peeking back to make sure he wasn’t disturbing Sharon. “There are no other shifters. At least none we are aware of,” he whispered.
Jackson shot him a glare. “Get out of my head, Cooper.”
“You’re an open book, Wolf. It’s more like you’re projecting your thoughts than an actual invasion of your privacy.”
Jackson pursed his lips and tried to empty his mind for the rest of the drive.
When he pulled into the parking lot of the junior college, two men were loading the back of a van with equipment in the spot next to him.
Sharon sighed from the backseat as she opened her eyes. “Already?”
Cooper ignored her and jumped down from the front seat while Jackson watched, his gaze following the men standing behind the van.
Jackson opened his door, but didn’t bother getting out of the SUV. He listened to Cooper question the guys for several minutes.
Sharon remained still also as if sensing it would be prudent to leave Cooper alone for a moment.
Cooper spoke to the two men. “What’s the plan?”