“Peter Pyre and Paul Tinder.” All three of us snickered at the ridiculous names.
“They’re supposed to be off on assignment with some models. The timing is awfully convenient,” I muttered.
“The timing is planned,” Hank cut me off. “They’ll keep me busy while they try to take you.”
“Getting the alpha’s mate would be a coup,” Junior added.
“No one but you knows we’re mated,” I reasoned. “And why would it make any difference if they had the alpha’s mate? We don’t even know what they’re doing with the girls.”
“I can tell you this. If they’re smart enough to create a tanning compound that erases scent they aren’t just killing our girls. I would bet they’re alive and being experimented on.” Junior ran his hands through his hair and sighed unhappily.
My stomach roiled. Junior had a good point, but who was doing this? The three idiot humans?
Hank was pissed. He pulled a knife and a small transmitter out of a kitchen drawer. “Essie, this will hurt, but you’ll heal quickly. You can’t wear a wire or you’ll get busted so I’m going to put a device in your arm that will let us track you.”
“Where did you get that? We don’t have those at WTF.” It was tiny. I thought we had state of the art everything at WTF, but I was clearly mistaken.
Junior raised his hand bashfully. “I invented it. My litter of kittens kept running off and I was sick and tired of searching for them so I made a tiny tracking device.”
I stopped short of commenting on the fact that Junior owned a litter of kittens. I was far too grateful that they would be able to follow my movement.
I extended my arm and shut my eyes. “Cut away.”
“He’s going to need to place it where you have some body fat,” Junior said. “I’d suggest her ass.”
Hank growled and I sputtered. “You think my ass is fat?”
“No.” Junior turned bright red. “You have a lovely ass,” he quickly said as Hank’s growl grew louder. “Women have more fat in their asses and boobs. He could also place it in your boob, but you have really nice ones and…I’m gonna stop now before I die a violent death.”
“Good thinking,” Hank snapped as he turned me around and stabbed me in the butt.
“Owwww,” I grunted. “A little warning?”
“It’s better this way. Anticipation sucks.” He inserted the device and put a butterfly bandage over it. “It will heal in an hour. Shouldn’t even leave a mark.”
I was a bit grumpy from being stabbed in the butt so I sucked back my water to keep from calling my mate nasty names. I was happy they would be able to find me no matter where I was, but the implementation was lacking.
“So here’s the deal. I’ll meet with the humans. Essie will go as planned to the agency, and Junior, you will tail her if they leave with her. Essie, you will be armed. I would assume that wherever they take you will lead us to the missing girls. Use the tanner, but let Dwayne sniff you tonight so he can pick up your trail if needed. Everyone clear?”
We nodded. It was as solid of a plan as we could have at the moment.
“How do you know about Dwayne’s smelling talent?” I asked.
“Trust me, I know more about Dwayne than I ever wanted to.” Hank grinned ruefully.
“Oh my god,” I squealed. “Does he have secrets I don’t know about?”
“He’s a three hundred year old Vampyre. He has secrets none of us know about.”
“Speaking of,” I said. “We need to go tell Granny and Dwayne the good news.”
Hank smiled and grabbed my hand. “Lead on, my mate. Lead on.”
Chapter 11
“Honey, I’m so happy for you.” Granny trapped me in a hug that made me gasp for air.
“Thanks,” I choked out as I extricated myself.
“I know you’re my alpha,” she warned Hank with a twinkle in her eye, “but I will tear you a new butt if you hurt my girl.”
“Duly noted.” Hank laughed.
“Will there be a wedding?” Dwayne asked as he bounced with excitement.
Hank blanched and quickly stepped away from me.
“Apparently, but he hasn’t asked me properly yet. However, in the event he gets his act together and does it right, I would like Granny to give me away and I want Dwayne to be my maid, or um, man of honor.”
“Yesssssssssss,” Dwayne squealed and hugged me harder than Granny did. “Can I wear a dress?”
“Well…um, sure.” I was certain I would live to regret that answer.
“Oh my goodness gracious,” he muttered distractedly. “We have so much to do—dresses, invites, showers…Wait. What is that funky smell?”
“Self tanner,” I told him. “What do you smell?”
He circled me and sniffed the air. “Well, if that’s not the damndest thing. It’s muted your Were smell—almost eliminates it.”
“But you can still smell me?” He was amazing.
“Yep, but you’re stinky.”
“I can’t smell her Were at all,” Granny said. “What the hell is in that? Did Junior take a look at it?”
“You know about Junior’s brains?” I asked, shocked.
“Baby girl, Granny knows all,” she said. “Did he examine it?”