Page 22 of Alpha Rising (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

“How do we do this?” she asked. “Just walk in the front door like nothing happened? Or slink through the back?”

“The front,” I said. “Butnotlike nothing happened.”

“What do we tell them?”

“The truth.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Which is?”

“That I found you in the woods. That I fucked your brains out for twenty-four hours, and now we’re home.”

She went a little pale. “You’re kidding.”

“A little. Let’s just see what questions they ask and go from there.”

“Will they assume I’m your...um...mate?”

I frowned. She was clearly uncomfortable with the unfamiliar word, and it was a subject I’d prefer to avoid. “They’ll know it didn’t go that far. If we were mated, they’d scent it.”

The mountain lion grumbled inside my mind, still disappointed things hadn’t gone that far. But one of us had to be the voice of reason. The animal side of my nature had never been much for logic, being ruled strictly by instinct. So it had a hard time understanding why I’d put such warped restrictions on myself.

Judging by the sun, it was about noon when we entered the lodge, so I headed straight for the staff cafeteria in hopes of finding at least one of my siblings.

As we entered, a few employees were returning their dirty dishes to the kitchen. Robbie and Josh both gave me chin nods as they passed, though Josh’s expression turned curious when he spotted Sarah, walking barefoot behind me.

I didn’t have to turn around to know Sarah was setting her jaw in that obstinate way she had about her. She didn’t need my protection when it came to questions about her reputation.

I spotted my siblings—all of them—sitting at a table in the back of the room. They’d naturally sensed their alpha enter and all eyes were on me. Sam stood, but the others remained seated.

“Grab yourself something to eat,” I told Sarah. “Then meet me at the family table.”

I felt her go, then quickly crossed the room.

“Good of you to join us again,” Sam said. His tone was a mix of irritation and relief.

“Is Sarah all right?” Toby asked. “She had us worried.”

“Fine,” I said. “I found her yesterday.”

“We saw the prints,” Toby said, “and assumed that’s what happened. But it’s good to see her safe.”

“You don’t smell mated,” Angel said, stating what they all were undoubtedly thinking.

“Of course not,” I said, and Melanie seemed to sag with relief. “But we’ve come to an understanding. If any of you are going to have a problem with—”

“No,” Sam said quickly. He put one hand on the table and leaned toward me. “But speaking of problems. We’ve got a big one.” He gave Angel a quick glance.

Angel bent over and picked up a small cardboard box from the floor by his seat. He set the box on the table and flipped open the flaps.

“What is it?” I stepped closer to see inside. Then I reached into the box and picked up a fluorescent pink vinyl ribbon about three feet in length, the kind used by land surveyors. It was wrinkled in places and flecked with dirt.

There were several more like it in the box, along with similar white ribbons and some broken plastic and metal bits and two camera lenses.

“When we went looking for Sarah,” Toby said. “Angel and I came across an area of our land that had been marked with these surveying ribbons. Do you know anything about it?”

“No.” I was pretty sure I would have noticed if I'd come across anything of the sort in the days I’d been gone. But, admittedly, my thoughts had been distracted.

“There were these cameras, too,” Angel said, picking up one of the lenses. “We found two of them about an eighth of a mile apart, mounted in the trees.”

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