Free Werewolves in Love 2: Yours, Mine and Howls by Kinsey Holley

just in time, but they can’t tell the amount of damage yet.” He heaved a sigh. “Goddamn it. I had no idea the wolf was in trouble. I should’ve sensed something.”
    He headed for the room behind the fireplace. “Shawn, get some rest. You’ve got a long day tomorrow.”
    Ally made up her mind as he walked away. “Cade, can I speak with you?”
    He turned to her. “I’m really beat. Can it wait ’til the morning?”
    “I don’t know. It’s about Aaron Stapkis.”
    “What about him?”
    She stopped, suddenly self-conscious, and wondered if she should just tell him everything, here in front of Shawn. He sensed her hesitation.
    “Shawn. Go get some sleep.”
    Shawn didn’t protest being ordered off to bed like a child. He gave Ally a wide smile and a good night.
    On his way out, he stopped and hugged his Alpha tightly. Cade returned the hug, ruffling Shawn’s bright red hair and planting a kiss on top of his head. Pack wolves were more demonstrative than Lones, but Ally doubted Cade MacDougall went around hugging and kissing all his wolves like that.
    Watching Shawn leave, she asked, “Does everyone just do what you tell them?”
    He gave her a tired smile. “Yes. That’s why I’m the Pack Alpha. What did you want to tell me about Aaron?”
    His stare was direct and unnerving. “I saw him at a restaurant this afternoon, talking to another wolf. It sounded like they were having an argument, and—”
    He raised an eyebrow and held up a hand to stop her. “Wait. Not here. In my office.”
     
     
    He closed the curtained French doors and sat behind his desk, motioning her to one of the two leather chairs in front of it.
    There were no Scandinavian-style pieces like those in the living room and the bedrooms she’d seen so far. This furniture was what she’d always thought of as high cowboy . Cade’s huge kneehole desk faced the foyer. Made of a dark, rough-hewn wood, it had a lovely dark green leather top.
    A bookcase armoire covered almost the entire back wall of the room. It looked like something behind the bar of a fancy saloon in an old Western. It even had a large mirror stretching the length of it. People facing Cade’s desk were forced to either focus their attention on him or look at themselves in the mirror.
    Taking her seat, she resolved to keep her focus on him for as long as she could handle it. It wouldn’t be that difficult. She’d never liked looking at herself, and she welcomed an excuse to stare at him.
    MacDougall leaned back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair again, tugging at his dark curls. She found it strangely comforting to recognize a fellow hair torturer.
    “Okay. You saw Aaron at a restaurant this afternoon. Can you describe the man he was with? How’d you know they were arguing?”
    If she recounted the conversation, he’d have more questions about her, questions she didn’t want to answer. But a guy’s life might be at stake here, and she remembered Seth’s words earlier, about finding a new way to live. The small bit of honesty she’d tried so far tonight was like standing up straight for the first time in years, long after you’d grown used to the weight pressing on your shoulders.
    She briefly explained the visit to the restaurant and what she’d overheard. “I got a good look at Aaron, but I didn’t see the wolf he was talking to, except from the back.”
    He frowned. “How did you know they were wolves?”
    “I…I can just tell.”
    “Of course you can.” He did deadpan sarcasm quite well. “You can just tell werewolves by barely looking at them.”
    “Yeah, I guess it’s from living with three of them.” She tried to smile and couldn’t quite make it. She tucked her hands under her legs to keep them out of her hair. Of course he could smell her nervousness.
    “How close to them were you sitting? At the next booth over?”
    “I don’t know— I mean, no, not right next to them. No. I was some distance away.”
    “Some distance