Madison Layle - Falke’s Captive

These tests show an anomaly, which is why I’d like to double check the results against a second sample. All I need is one vial of blood.”

“One more vial, you mean.” Heidi seemed to close up right then. Her friendly expression left her face. She held up the papers, wrinkling them in her fist. “The answer is no. These tests were not authorized. The sample you have was obtained without our permission, and don’t try to tell me you assumed it would be okay, because you knew before you stuck him with a needle that he must belong to someone. The collar was clue enough.”

“Don’t you want to get to the bottom of this? For the sake of his health? A mutation of this type could—”

“I already know all I need to know about his health. I’m his vet. He gets his vaccinations here.”

She waved toward a file cabinet. “And before you ask, I can’t show you those records, either. Call it doctor-client confidentiality, if you like.” When Beth made to dispute that, Heidi leaned forward, her gaze locking with Beth’s. “Our family has permission from the city council to keep Falke within city limits, and the mayor and sheriff are close family friends. If you have an issue with the fact I won’t let you go poking another needle into him, then I suggest you get over it and move on. You, Ms.

Coldwell, are the outsider here. Don’t forget that.”

Beth seethed. So much for that famous Leavenworth hospitality.

Heidi leaned back, opened her top drawer and dropped the crumpled papers in it.

“Hey—” Beth stopped her protest. The papers were just a printout. The original results were back at the lab; she could always print more copies.

Then Heidi lifted out a tiny Ziploc bag. “Here’s your GPS microchip implant. I’ll be keeping this stuff…as evidence. Something else you did to Falke that was unauthorized. We don’t need it to keep track of him.” She stood and walked to the door. “If there’s nothing else, I have patients to tend to.”

Beth recognized a dismissal when she heard one and stood. “No. Nothing. Thank you for your time.” She walked out the door Heidi held open for her and found her way back to the waiting room, glancing once again at the painting on the wall that had grabbed her attention.

Her equipment was just fine; the needle and vial had been brand new. The lab held no contaminates. There was something strange about that cougar, however, and the vet knew it. If Heidi hadn’t been hiding something, she would have let Beth take another sample.

Beth pushed through the front door and out into the sunshine.

She hated the thought that tickled the back of her mind, but she couldn’t push it away. She wondered if, because she’d gotten intimate with two of the Falke brothers, they’d let her take another sample.

As she got into her Jeep to head to the forestry base camp, she again thought about her night with Kelan and Reidar. She didn’t want to tarnish whatever they had together by bringing up Falke, but how else would she get another blood sample?

Maybe Professor Whitmore would have some ideas.

“Three of a kind, aces high,” Kelan said, laying his cards on the dinner table and laughing at Reidar’s expression. He’d beaten his brother at poker for the third time in a row.

“Remind me to let you place the bets the next time we vacation in Vegas. How in the hell do you get so lucky?”

“I’m not lucky. You just suck.” Kelan glanced at the clock when he heard the garage door opener activate. “They’re home.”

“Show time,” Reidar muttered as he gathered up the cards and put the poker chips away.

That morning, they went to work as usual, only to be sent home by Axel to wait for their dads.

Now midafternoon, their house arrest was almost over…or just getting started, depending on how things went with their fathers.

Seconds later, Fridrik and Burke came in, laughing and carrying overnight bags.

“Hey, Dad,” Kelan said, approaching Fridrik who was closest. “Let me get that for you.”

Fridrik handed over the bag, eyeing Kelan then Reidar with suspicion. “Why aren’t you two at work?”

Kelan looked at Reidar. “Axel finally gave us a day off.”

Burke harrumphed. “Been workin’ you too hard, huh? Hard work is good for you, builds strong bones, but I can see how too much can wear a man down.”

“Yeah, don’t I know it,” Reidar muttered, not missing his father’s sarcasm. He took a second bag from Burke. “How was your visit?”

“Good. Good. Dick took off today on his way to China. Some big business meeting for that corporation he heads up back east.”

“Dick Haven?” Kelan asked with surprise.

Burke nodded.

“I didn’t realize you guys were still close. After what happened between you three and Mom…”

Fridrik chuckled. “Axel told ya ’bout that, did he?”

“Gunnar actually, but yeah. He said Mom was out on a date with Dick back in high school when you two showed up and went all wild animal on him.”

Burke laughed. “It was a long time ago, but Dick’s a good guy…and smart .”

“A good friend,” Fridrik added. “Besides, we helped make him a very rich man, put him in touch with our financial advisor in New York. They’re partners now in the venture that’s sending him to China.”

“Ah,” Kelan said, not sure what to make of that and a little disturbed by the realization of where they’d wound up. He and Reidar had followed their fathers into the den, a room off limits to the children unless they were in trouble.

At thirty, neither Kelan nor Reidar were kids anymore, but the room still emitted an exclusive aura.

As they entered, the two older men briefly split up. Fridrik took his seat in one of a pair of recliners, which Kelan and his siblings had long ago dubbed the thrones. Burke went to the wet bar and poured himself a drink before he sat too, and bade them over to the couch separated from the recliners by a scarred oak coffee table.

As they took their places, Kelan exchanged a glance with Reidar, not daring to say anything, not even telepathically. His fathers would hear it.

“Now that the small talk is over,” Fridrik began, “which one of you wants to tell us the real reason you’re both at home in the middle of the afternoon? Don’t know how many times we went through this when you two were in high school.” He shook his head and pursed his lips, waiting.

Kelan took a deep breath and started the story of how he’d been on a run near Axel and Gunnar’s home when he was captured by a troublesome scientist and her lab partner. Reidar took over the tale during the time Kelan had been tranquilized at the store, and both of their dads listened without comment until they’d finished.

“Reidar thinks it’s all over now that the woman knows the cougar isn’t a threat to the civilians of Leavenworth.” Neither he nor Reidar shared the events that took place after Beth left Catamount Outfitters.

“Axel does too. He made it pretty clear,” Reidar added, “that we wouldn’t look the other way if she didn’t take her pistol and lab and go elsewhere to find her four-legged science experiments.”

Kelan’s heart stuttered at the thought of Beth leaving, pulling out of town. But that was a subject he was definitely not ready to broach with their dads. Besides, why would he? She was just a hot piece of ass.

Yeah, right. He clenched his teeth. It was right. He had to convince himself—and Reidar—of that. He’d avoided his brother’s every attempt to discuss what happened last night between them and Beth, but Kelan didn’t know how long he could bury his head in the sand. Something happened to him, something deep, and he didn’t know how to deal with it. Reidar insisted Beth was the one . All he would accept right now was that she was attractive and dangerous.