Page 28 of A Wolf's Heart

“It’s not you, it’s him,” Weylin said, walking up behind me. He put his hand on the small of my back, guiding me towards therestaurant. All morning, I’d been excited for his touch and smell, but right now, my wolf wanted to be closer to Rainor.

Though I was sure the mate bond was at play, I didn’t want to ask these two men. It was at this moment that I wished I’d known my biological parents. Was this a talk shifter parents had with their young? I had to believe so.

Rainor seemed rigid as we walked into the restaurant. No one greeted us, no one escorted us to a table. Instead, he led the way. The dining room was a mix of black and natural wood, sleek stainless steel, and elegant cream-colored cloth on the tables. The tables were empty, not a person to be seen anywhere.

To the far wall was a line of boxes, or rooms, giving complete privacy to the tables within. This was where Rainor led us. He stopped at a booth that had a curtain for a door and held back the curtain for me. I slipped in, Weylin following me, while Rainor slid into the seat opposite us.

He picked up the tablet on the end of the table. “Drinks?”

“Water is fine, I’m parched.” Weylin wiggled his eyebrows.

Rainor sighed as if he were in pain. “I’m sure you are. Detective Evans?” He glanced up at me, and I could just barely make out the red ring around his pupils.

“You can call me Lila.”

Rainor licked his lips, his nostrils flaring. In this small room, his woodsy, smoky scent filled the air, and I leaned towards it. The scent was so much more than the scraps of it I had been visiting on the forest floor. “What drink would you like?” he asked.

“Water, please.”

Rainor finished on the tablet before setting it down and gathering his own tablet and a file folder from his bag, while Weylin took out his laptop. “I have you set up in our system now,” Rainor said, being all formal. “Here is your login and password. You can change it if you so choose.” He handed me asticky note. “I’ll have the program link sent to your email, so you can download it onto your computer, but everything pertaining to the case will be available to you.”

“Thank you.” I smiled. He seemed very different from the man that had me pinned in the alley, the wolf that had rubbed his scent all over me.

Our drinks, along with a few appetizers, were dropped off, announced by a soft chime at the curtain, and Weylin pushed it back. A short, stubby robot that looked similar to a vacuum cleaner with a tray on its head waited. Weylin retrieved the drinks and food, placing it along the table.

“Yes, steak bites,” Weylin said, quietly cheering.

“Is there any waitstaff here?” I asked.

“Yes, and they are readily available if needed. However, this establishment prides itself on its discretion,” Rainor said. He took a glass of whiskey from Weylin and downed it in one gulp.

“Is it such a good idea? This place isn’t exactly busy, and it’s lunchtime.”

“It’s closed from five a.m. until three p.m., since it’s more of a nighttime establishment, catering to the wolves.”

Oh.

“Try this,” Weylin said, holding up a piece of seasoned meat on the end of a toothpick.

I took the toothpick from him, sensing a bit of disappointment from him, and put the meat into my mouth. It was savory and tender, absolutely delicious. “So good.”

Rainor cleared his throat. “Right. Let’s get to it.” Weylin and I picked at the appetizers while we listened to him. “I’m going to try to explain as much as I can, but I realize you know nothing of this world, so just try to keep up.”

“I’m a quick study,” I said dryly.

“Yes, well. You do know wolves run in packs, typically families, but packs also include clans, territory, andestablishments.” He acted as if he was talking to a child, but the joke was on him. I was watching him. I was figuring out his mannerisms, learning the way he talked, the looks he shared with Weylin, and I was soaking up all this information that he didn’t say aloud. I was reading between his lines.

Rainor pulled up a map on his tablet, and I leaned over it. It was in the area, and then some. The different colored lines along the sections could have indicated towns or county lines, but the closer I looked, the more I realized the lines actually cut through towns at some points on the map.

“What you are looking at is a color-coded map of packs on our continent. The more you zoom in, the easier it is to see exactly where boundaries lay, as well as the large number of small packs. Each color is specific to a pack.”

He let me take the tablet, playing with the map and zooming in and out at different towns. I kept playing around with the app, pressing lines, which caused information to pop up. Different packs, their population, leadership.

Weylin and Rainor talked to one another while I kept myself busy. Food arrived, some sort of rice and fish dish. I ate while I worked, since it was how I normally did things.

The largest area was lined in a reddish-orange color. I clicked on it, not surprised at all when the name Cridhe Pack popped up. It was Kage’s pack, and he was listed as alpha. Rainor was listed assecond, and on the same level was Weylin, given the titleguard.

I raised my head from the app. “You’re a guard?” I asked, interrupting Weylin just as he flicked a piece of rice at Rainor. Rainor brushed it off his suit jacket with disgust. “Are you even a certified detective or officer of any kind? Where is your branch?”

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