Free Wicked Days with a Lone Wolf by Elisabeth Staab

woman. Whatever she had going on in DC, she could handle. Right now with Zoe out of the pack, Ash and Jett were the closest thing she had to family. God knew what would happen if Pop found out she was pregnant with his dead offspring’s child. And then the doctor said there could be some abnormality or something? Shit.
    Jett marched back over to his partner and the doctor. He pointed to the doc. “Get security down here. We need to search, see if she’s still anywhere in the hospital.” His glare and his accusing finger turned to aim at his partner, who had some serious fucking explaining to do. “I need to talk to you.”
    They moved to stand by a table full of magazines near the door. “What the hell was that shit? Why was that doc talking to you like you knew something about Zoe’s baby?”
    Parker shrugged. “I was in the room with her yesterday when she woke up. She started to flip out. I got her calmed down. I hear she asked for me later. People started to assume things. I let them assume, because if I disabused them of the notion that I was her...” Parker coughed and gestured vaguely. “Her mate, or whatever, then they wouldn’t keep giving me information about her condition. We needed information.”
    Jett didn’t quite buy the story. The words made logical sense, but the cutting mix of smells wafting from his partner, the fear and anger and something like affection, did not.
    “Lane, I’m family. I could have gotten what we needed.”
    “You’re her brother-in-law. You think they’re gonna give the brother-in-law the same information they’d give her husband?”
    Jett gritted his teeth. “You’re a fucking police detective. I know you know better than to lie to get medical information.”
    Something else flared up inside of Lane right then, the scent of regret maybe. Tough to tell with all the other things in the mix. His body heat rose. Jett could sense the change in him, the stiffening of his muscles and the rise in his stress hormones, as close together as they stood. Jett had touched a nerve.
    Lane jammed his hands into his pockets. “I didn’t lie. I simply didn’t correct them. You’re right though. If you want, I’ll take a step back from the case.”
    This gave Jett pause. He’d expected further belligerence. He was as confused by this as his partner’s bouquet of emotional output. So he shook his head. “We’re both too close, but I’m the only shifter expert they’ve got. Let’s just find Zoe. If she didn’t kill that John Doe we found, then maybe she fled the scene because she knows something. Either way, you heard the doc. We need to get her back to make sure she and her baby are safe.”
    “I have an idea where to look.” Lane pointed toward the exit. “Up where I found her that first time, there was a house. She said she needed to go back. Something about kids.”
    Jett’s phone rang. Ash. “All right, I’m down in the parking lot. Not to be insensitive, but we better find her fucking fast. I’m leaving Sherri holed up in a hotel room with her psycho-criminal ex-boyfriend.”
    Fuck. Jett growled. “This day keeps getting better. Meet us on the third floor.” He hung up and turned back to Lane. “Okay, work up a plan and get out there. Fast. Take Ash. He knows the area.”
    Lane paused mid-step. “Should I be taking a civilian?”
    “You should be taking backup. I’m going to stay here and coordinate with security on the off-chance she’s still in the building. If you run into any nonhuman interference out there, you’ll need him. If we catch heat for it, we’ll say he’s a civilian consultant or some shit.”
    Lane smiled slightly. “So I’m not the only one who’s willing to use the gray areas to get things done?”
    “Shut the fuck up.” But Jett smiled back. He and his partner had been mostly cordial but never friendly. Until today, he’d kinda had Detective Parker pegged as a potential fur-phobe who got stuck with a were for a partner and was