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CODY

“We have a problem.” I stalked into our alpha’s home office, removing my hat as I entered.

Tyler followed behind at a much slower pace.

Rob Wolf was behind his desk and looked up from his computer. In a western snap shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a crease in his dark hair–with the cowboy hat that creased it on the corner of the desk–he appeared the quintessential rancher. No one but those in our pack knew he was also a shifter. And… fuck, maybe one young human.

Rob’s gaze slid from me to Tyler, then widened. “What the hell happened to you? ”

We stood side-by-side in front of him. Tyler wore nothing but a pair of sweatpants I had in the back of my Jeep for emergencies. He bore gashes in his torso and was covered in other cuts, bruises, and dirt. There were a few twigs in his hair. He looked like he fell down a mountainside, which may have been better than what he told me really happened.

“Sit,” the alpha ordered, pointing to one of the empty chairs. “Hell, Tyler.”

Rob didn’t rush to get medical supplies. They weren’t needed. A quick scan of Tyler–even though he looked rough–was enough for Rob to know he was quickly on the mend.

Tyler dropped heavily into the leather chair. “Mountain lion. But I messed up. I’m really sorry.”

I was proud of him for admitting it, especially to his alpha, but an apology wasn’t going to solve the problem. Rob arched a brow. “Oh? Do we need to track an injured animal and put it down?”

I sighed and let it out. Let Tyler talk. He was nineteen, not six. I would stand by him and support him, but to be a man, to be a wolf, he had to own his mistakes. Especially with our pack alpha and also his boss. This wasn’t stupid cow tipping or other teenage shenanigans. This was a big fucking deal.

“No, sir.” Tyler winced as he shifted in the seat. The cuts and bruises that had been on his body when I’d found him had healed quite a bit. The bleeding had stopped, and the smaller wounds had already disappeared. The perk of young wolf genes. “I was with Riley Abbott down by the river.”

The corner of Rob’s mouth tipped up. I had a feeling the alpha and his mate may have spent some time down by the river on a day off themselves. I had no doubt Tyler’d had sex with another shifter teen before, especially after a moon run. The topic wasn’t embarrassing or a big deal to any of us.

“A mountain lion must’ve been stalking us,” Tyler explained. “We were… distracted, and I didn’t get the scent early enough. Once I got a whiff, it was too late. He was already up on us. He attacked. I fought it but switched to wolf form.”

Rob’s eyes widened, but he stayed quiet. His gaze slid to me.

I nodded. He wasn’t seeking confirmation from me; no one would lie to their alpha. He was silently confirming what Tyler hadn’t said. Yet.

“So she knows? This Riley Abbott?” he asked. I’d seen Rob get riled, but it was rare. Just like me, we were known to keep calm in sticky situations. I didn’t run a pack, but I ran the only bar in Cooper Valley, and I dealt with shifters and humans partying, drinking, and burning off steam.

“She’s Kyle Abbott’s daughter,” I added. “He’s a deputy sheriff with Levi.”

Having a shifter as county sheriff came in handy on occasion.

“Right,” Rob said, making the connection.

Tyler nodded. “Yes. She saw me. Watched me fight and kill the mountain lion.”

“You said you were distracted. I assume then that she’s your mate?” Rob wondered.

I hadn’t asked Tyler that. I’d been too focused on the fact that a girl he knew from high school now knew that my son was a shifter. Hell, had he found his mate? At his age, it would be lucky. I was forty, and I had never met mine. Tyler’s mother was a female who’d been on a moon run with me when we were barely older than Tyler is now. Clara was not my mate. In fact, she’d met hers only a few years later.

Tyler’s words pushed my thoughts aside. “Actually, I was distracted because she definitely isn’t my mate.”

Rob frowned. So did I.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“She was into me,” Tyler said, glancing between us. “I’m not a player or anything, but I know when a girl’s interested. She was. She put out all the signs. Then we kissed.”

“So you went for her even though you knew she was not your mate? You let your dick do the thinking?” Rob asked.

I understood what it was like to have my dick do my thinking for me. Usually, if I wanted sex, I went for a she-wolf. Could I go for a human? I could, and had, especially with the easy pickings owning a bar. Every woman thought a bartender was hot when she’d had a few drinks. I didn’t take advantage of a woman who’d been drinking, but hookups were inevitable. I couldn’t be too hard on Tyler, considering.

“You’ll know,” Rob said with authority, not only as an alpha but as a shifter who’d found his mate.

I couldn’t agree because I didn’t know.

“So you were looking for a little fun and would’ve found it if a mountain lion hadn’t messed things up?” I asked.

Tyler ran a hand over the back of his neck, and a twig fell to the carpet. His gaze dropped. “Well, no. Because it was bad. The kiss, I mean.”

“You mean she’s a bad kisser?” A slow grin spread across Rob’s face.

Tyler shook his head, then frowned. “No. It wasn’t right. I felt nothing. Maybe even a little weirded out. Like kissing a sister, if I had one.”

Rob’s grin dropped to a scowl. “What did she think?”

“Oh, she was weirded out by the kiss, too, but not for long because…” He circled his finger in the air. “Mountain lion. Then me shifting into a wolf. She was definitely weirded out by that.”

“Where is she now?” Rob asked.

“She ran.”

“ Ran ?”

“Yeah. After I healed enough to move, I hiked the trail all the way to the head, but there was no sign of her. It was probably a good thing, too, because I was pretty much naked. Even I know no female–human or shifter–wants to be stalked by a naked guy.”

“Where is she now?” Rob repeated.

Tyler shrugged then winced. “I know what you’re asking. I wouldn’t have left her.” He flicked his gaze to me. “Dad would kick my ass worse than the mountain lion if I ditched her.”

I nodded because I would kick his ass if he didn’t treat a female right. Whether a kiss was good or not, he needed to make sure she was home safe before moving on.

“But she left me, ” Tyler continued. “Her car was gone from the parking lot where we met. Like I said, it wasn’t like I could chase after her with my balls hanging out.”

“He called me, and I met him at my house for him to get clothes, then we came right here,” I told Rob.

“We have an unmated human who knows you’re a shifter.” Rob laid it out there with one sentence. “Out in Cooper Valley. Freaked and definitely not your mate.”

“Yes.”

“Pack law says we kill her,” Rob said evenly.

What the?—

Tyler popped to his feet, wobbled a little, but held his ground. “What? No way! I was protecting her. It’s not like I could have kept my wolf from doing everything it could to keep her safe. She doesn’t deserve to die because of that!”

“Don’t shout at your alpha,” I warned him, even though I agreed.

Rob held up a hand. “No. He’s good,” he said to me. Then his gaze shifted to my son, and the corners of his lips ticked up. “I’m proud of you, Tyler. You did the right thing. She’s safe and unharmed, and that’s all that matters. But now your father’s right. We do have a problem. Especially if she’s already told her dad what happened.”

“You’re not going to kill her?” Tyler practically squeaked.

Rob shook his head. “No. I wanted to see what you’d say. I need to know my pack is made of worthy, protective males.”

Tyler’s chest puffed out.

“But we need to wipe her memory of the wolf as soon as possible,” he continued. “Hell, she may have already told someone. That makes her a liability to the entire pack.”

Tyler sighed, relieved Rob hadn’t been serious about killing her.

“She needs to be taken to Marion.”

Marion. Shit. Marion wasn’t one of our kind, but the Shifter Council used her talents on occasion to straighten out problems with humans. She had the creepy ability to wipe select memories from her victims or even implant new ones. It was an amped-up form of hypnotic suggestion. And she charged a pretty penny for the trick.

What’s more, she lived in Missoula and didn’t do house calls. We’d have to bring Riley to her.

Fuck.

This was getting complicated.

Mind wiping could also be dangerous. But Riley Abbott was young, and it was only one brief incident that had to be replaced. Hopefully, she wouldn’t suffer anything more than a headache. We needed her to believe her date with Tyler had been uneventful, other than a bad kiss.

Rob was right; every second that ticked increased the chance of her telling someone what she saw. Of course, if Marion could reprogram her memory into something more plausible for a human to understand, it would get Riley to explain that she had been confused about what happened with Tyler. Maybe even wipe the mountain lion part away, which could be traumatic in itself.

“I’ll take her,” Tyler said.

Rob shook his head. “She’s probably not going to get anywhere near you.” His alpha gaze shifted to me. “You’ll take her.”

I didn’t disobey an order from my alpha, so I nodded. I’d have to get one of my employees to open at the bar tonight, but that could be arranged. There was no other choice. It had to get done.

Rob went around the desk, opened a drawer and pulled out… shit. He pulled out a syringe and filled it, then capped it and handed it to me. “This is a low-dose horse tranquilizer. It won’t knock her out for mo re than an hour, but that will allow you to get her to Marion without giving her more memories that need to be erased.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“Get it done.”