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“With no luck,” Mo acknowledged. “I managed to find out she’d been seen in Billings, and this was the closest job I could get. I suppose I started asking the wrong questions, or maybe the right ones.” He let go of Zack’s hand to rub his head and Victor was almost giddy he hadn’t let go of his. “I don’t remember much of yesterday. I’d gone to a couple of bars and shown her picture around. I remember going to the bathroom in the second one and I suppose I got hit over the head. I have flashes of questions that made little sense, and then the next thing I knew, I woke up here.”

He looked around at everyone. “So, are you going to explain to me now how I don’t have so much as a black eye?”

Daniel eyed him first, then everyone else. “I guess that depends on if you knew that your mother was a wolf-shifter or not?”

Even Victor gasped at Daniel’s bluntness. He got ready for his mate to explode but as he chanced a glance at him, he wasn’t reacting shocked, scared, or outraged. He looked puzzled, but he wasn’t running for the door. “What do you mean?” Mo asked.

“Are you prepared to sign a confidentiality agreement?”

“Hell, yeah,” Mo answered, and wouldn’t you know it, Daniel had one on his phone. Mo signed and gave his phone back. “When you say ‘wolf-shifters,’ are we talking the huge, popular romance genre?”

Victor wasn’t even gonna ask. He read science fiction when he could get his hands on it. Riley chuckled. “Hundred percent yes.”

Mo’s mouth fell open. “It’s real?”

Zack sighed. “It depends on what you read.” Riley shot a look at Victor and Zack, which Mo followed. “Fated mates, definitely.” Mo snatched his hands back and Zack and Victor growled simultaneously.

Mo looked at them both. “No. Absolutely not. I have a sister to find.”

Victor wasn’t sure Mo realized what he’d said, and he sneaked a look at the bear. He met Victor’s gaze with understanding. Mo hadn’t objected to having a mate, even two maybe, but he’d objected to having to deal with that on top of finding his sister. Interesting.

“So, this is Khloe’s known last sighting, and that’s why you’re here?” Victor clarified. Mo nodded.

“Do you know anything about the drug deaths at the school?” Daniel asked.

“I knew the kids involved. I didn’t know them personally, as I work with kids needing extra help.” He looked at Riley. “Tyler, for example.”

Riley nodded. “Tyler and his sisters came to live with us about 18 months ago. None of them had ever had any schooling. Tyler is very bright, even though he needs to catch up. Our other son Alex persuaded him to enroll.”

“They are all a credit to you,” Mo said honestly.

Riley smiled, and he nodded at the others. Victor assumed that was Riley’s bullshit meter confirming Mo was telling the truth, but he didn’t need Riley to know that.

“Tell me what you meant about wolf-shifters and why you think my mom was one, and what that has to do with my face?”

Riley glanced at Zack as if he was asking if Zack wanted to answer, and Victor was suddenly irrationally pissed that Riley didn’t think him capable of an explanation. Victor stood. “Might be easier if I just show you.” He sighed, not giving any fucks about undressing, which he did with speed. Mo gazed at him like he was crazy. He didn’t look at the bear. Victor took another step back and reached into himself. He knew by the surprised faces that he’d shifted quicker than they expected. He had gotten quick out of sheer necessity for survival and he didn’t even feel the change now. One second, he was human, and another he just wasn’t.

He looked at his mate. Mo hadn’t moved, didn’t look like he dared breathe. “He won’t hurt you,” Zack murmured, and that shocked him. It would have made sense for Zack to encourage Mo to be frightened of Victor, but then Victor wouldn’t have done that to Zack, either. He padded slowly forward, not that there was a huge distance between them, but Mo still hadn’t spoken, and Victor was concerned he was about to freak out. But he didn’t, and when his snout was an inch away from his legs, Mo leaned forward and put his hand out.

“Can I touch you?”

Victor lowered his head in answer, and he couldn’t restrain the shiver of pleasure as Mo ran his hand through the fur on his head and the back of his neck. Victor groaned, and he rested his head on Mo’s knees, steadfastly ignoring the chuckles around the room. Victor didn’t do touch. Not even as a wolf, which is why he was always on patrol when the pack had their scheduled runs. It gave him the excuse he needed. Victor had learned as a pup that touch meant pain, so he’d trained his wolf not to need it.

But this? Fuck, he could stand here all day. “You’re huge,” Mo said, and Victor tried to work out what was in his voice. Nuances of sound were harder in his wolf form, but there was a small smile curving the corners of his lips, and so Victor didn’t think the words were a criticism. He definitely wasn’t frightened. He inhaled cautiously, wanting to fill his lungs with Mo’s sweet scent, and while it was there, so was another scent. Strong enough that if he shut his eyes, he could imagine he was in the forest. He could smell the earth, grass, and deep wood tones, but on top of that a spicy orange zest wrapped around him and made him shiver. Victor raised his head and looked at Zack, gazing in wonder. The scent was coming from him. He’d been around the bear a dozen times, but he’d never smelled anything like this. Victor wanted to roll around in it, scent-mark himself. He met Zack’s gaze and got his second shock. Zack was staring intently at him, his nostrils flaring as if he was scenting Victor, but it was his eyes. Both huge, blown pupils so distended and dark the brown was almost black. The instant punch to his gut, and the way his body reacted, had him taking a step toward the bear before he knew it. Every cell in his body tightened.

It was a good thing he was all wolf right that moment, because if he’d been a man, a naked man, he would have grabbed both his mates and taken them somewhere private.

Both. His. Mates.

Victor didn’t know if his life had gotten easier or a million percent more complicated, and he shifted back, turning away while he dressed, and scooting his chair under the table when he sat. Not that any of the shifters would say anything about his body’s reaction, but Mo would be able to see his hard-on from space.

Mo spoke after a few seconds of shocked silence. “Are you saying my mom could do that?”

“Not necessarily,” Daniel said. “It would depend on if she was a pure-bred wolf shifter or not, and I can’t scent any animal in you.”

Riley nodded. “Neither can I.”

"Differentanimals?" Mo asked.