Page 80 of A Wolf's Wound
“I should go.”
“Okay.”
But I don’t want to leave, not when we’re still pressed so close.Not when her face is flushed and her hair tousled.She looks so beautiful.
Hannah grins.“Shouldn’t you be going now?”
“Right,” I say reluctantly as she moves off me.I stand up and Hannah walks me to the door.Before I open it, I lean down and kiss her again.“Is it okay if I come back later?”
“Yes.”Hannah leans against the wall as I open the door.“Be safe, Ryder.”
“You too, Hannah.”
Before I get in my car, I flag down the closest guard.“I’m going into the city for a while,” I tell him.“Make sure this house is guarded at all times.”
He promises me it will be.
I head back to town.I know it’s a long shot, but I want to ask around and see if anyone might know about this guy who approached Hannah earlier.
But after an hour of striking up conversations in restaurants and bars as well as hanging out in the park near the café where he first talked to Hannah, I have to admit defeat.This guy’s appearance is generic enough that, without a name, no one’s sure they know who I’m talking about.
Disappointed but not surprised, I go back to the compound.Gavin wanted to have another meeting tonight, so I find him and my brothers in Gavin’s kitchen, clustered around the table.
“How’s Hannah doing?”Michael asks as I come in.
“She seems okay,” I say, pulling out a chair.“Still a little shaken up.”
“I don’t blame her,” Evan says.“Do you think that guy was going to attack her?”
I nod.“What I don’t get is why he ran away.I mean, I’m glad he did.But it makes me think he’s unpredictable.”
“And that’s not good,” Gavin says.“Especially if he’s the one leaving the notes.”
“Exactly.”I nod.“I thought I was beginning to figure out a pattern, chiefly that Hannah was involved.But if he ran when he got her alone, I’m back at square one.”
“I think we should increase the security force,” Michael says.
“How much more can we go, though?”Thomas asks.“We have almost every member of the pack assigned somewhere in the forest or city.”
“Let’s decrease the numbers in the forest,” Gavin decides.“There haven’t been any more bodies or hurt animals found there.I think the threat in that area has declined enough that we don’t need to make it as high a priority as the city.”
“I agree,” Michael says.“If we do that, we can ensure that every section of the city is being patrolled around the clock.”
Gavin nods.“Okay.Michael, you and I will draw up new teams and schedules tonight to begin implementing tomorrow morning.”
Michael nods.“I think that makes a lot of sense.”
“Yeah, unless the next body shows up in the forest,” Evan says.
Gavin and Michael both glare at him.
“Kidding!”he says, holding up his hands.“I don’t think that’s going to happen.You guys are right, the forest has been clear for days.And it’s super-boring to patrol.”
“Something else we need to discuss is paying more attention to strangers in town,” Gavin says after leveling a stern glare at Evan.“The guy that Hannah saw, no one recognized him.Right?”
“No one I talked to did,” I agree.“Stonehaven’s not that big, which makes me think he’s new around here.”
“Let’s pull some records and make a list of new arrivals to Stonehaven,” Gavin says.“I’m thinking we look at lease records, deeds to new properties, things like that.”
