Page 61 of Sear
She wasn’t willing to promise more than that. If the alpha pair’s reaction was any indication, the whole thing was going to be an ordeal, and she wouldn’t blame him one bit for refusing to attend.
“You better tell him that he’s part of this pack now, and his alphas’ request and require his presence,” Great Uncle Bill said, his tone as cold and unyielding as iron.
Chapter 17
Lucas spent the first half of the morning snug and dry in his cabin with a fresh pot of coffee. He logged into his laptop and did his best to catch up on his caseload.
Then he received several text messages in a row from Tringstad.
Had his fellow game warden heard the news about Malia and blown a gasket, as Lucas had predicted?
Somewhat gingerly, he opened his texting app, and was relieved to see that the messages were strictly business.
Poachers hit again yesterday. Got a report from a local rancher about a dead black bear on his property, minus most valuable body parts.
Tringstad followed up with the GPS coordinates of the site, then continued,
Plus, there’s a report of an untagged bull elk, headless and partially butchered, on Wolf Creek Road.
I’m running a roadside checkpoint today with Evan. Can you go check out those reports without compromising your cover?
From experience, Lucas knew that a roadside checkpoint was an all-day affair. Every vehicle belonging to a hunter was stopped. While a game warden verified hunting licenses and tags, a state wildlife biologist would quickly measure and record the vital statistics of any big game the hunters had taken. The information would be used to track the general health of the area’s wildlife population.
Sure, no problem, Lucas replied.I’m at my cabin and tired of writing reports. Will head out ASAP to investigate.
Great.Tringstad immediately sent him a second set of GPS coordinates for the dead elk.
Lucas wrote,Bickham mentioned he’s looking for game meat to supply his steakhouse of his. This might help my case.
Great. Thanks,Tringstad wrote.I’ll hit the local taxidermy shops tomorrow and see if anyone’s dropped off that head for mounting.
Lucas considered revealing that Malia was now his mate, then decided it was news best delivered in person. Just in case his fellow game warden wanted to take a well-deserved swing at him.
So, he signed off, grabbed his rain gear, digital camera, sampling kit, and badge, and headed out.
He planned to photograph each scene, plus collect DNA samples from both dead animals for possible use as evidence if they managed to recover the stolen bear parts or the elk’s head at some point.
He located both poaching victims without any difficulty, and conducted his investigation. Despite the downpour, it felt good to be outdoors, surrounded by nature.
The bear carcass was missing its paws, pelt, and gallbladder, all worth a lot of money on the black market. Angry at the brazen slaughter, Lucas pulled on a pair of latex gloves from the supply stashed under his truck seat, and searched for the bullet.
No luck.
He didn’t fare any better with the elk. It had been professionally butchered, and there wasn’t a whole lot left other than the hide and legs. No bullets to be found here, either.
Lucas swore as he bagged his samples and stowed them for shipment to the lab. Without ballistic evidence, the only way to tie these two poaching incidents to Bickham and Silvers was if they could match the meat served at Salt + Bourbon to the samples. And the paperwork for requesting a warrant and seizure at an out-of-state location would be a fucking nightmare.
Then, since it was already past lunchtime, Lucas drove into town to buy the fixings for the dinner he’d promised his new mate.
When he returned to the cabin, his girls had finished with school for the day. It was time to call them and tell them about Malia.
Lucas had faced down armed poachers and negotiated risky situations numerous times during his career. He found grim humor in the fact that he was fucking terrified to find out how his daughters would react to the news that he was mated to someone they’d never met.
“Daddy!” they chorused after his mom answered the video call, the girls sitting on either side of her.
“Did you catch those bad guys?” demanded Savannah.
Taylor piped up, “Are you coming home?”
