Hounded (Shifter Town Enforcement) by Sadie Hart Read Free Book Online Page A

leads, thank you.”
    Tegan withdrew his hands only to place them against her shoulders, squeezing gently. A tremor ran down his arms, and anyone with a good nose would smell the sadness rolling off of them. “Tristan’s dead?”
    Walker let his gaze slide away, almost guilty as he pondered the bush by the door. “I apologize; it’s not how I normally would have broken the news.”
    Kanon rumbled next to her. “And how would you normally have done it?”
    Lennox caught him with a hand against his chest. Now was hardly the time to thrash a Hound. She’d cleared his name last night and now one of their witnesses was dead. Lennox stiffened. The testimonies.
    She dug her fingernails into her palms and forced herself to focus. “Could you pick up a trail?”
    Hennessy shook his head, tired. Bags darkened his eyes and he looked like a man dragged from bed too early. “Couldn’t get a scent to save my ass.”
    He raked a hand over his face, a sigh slipping from him.
    “As far as I know, a baboon could have done it. But the claw marks on him look big, too big for another wolf—though we haven’t ruled that out—and lions are known for having nasty tempers. Took a hit and went with the first names on my suspect list.”
    Lennox understood. She’d have done the same thing. Lions were violent in general. Look at any pride in the wild and scars and gashes abounded. They battled over food, slamming claws into the foreheads of blood relatives as if that were a normal Sunday meal. Adding the human element didn’t always settle the beasts, and by the tension strung out between the two men behind her, it took a hell of a lot of control to rein in the inner lion.
    “Well, I can vouch for these two if you need any more proof. They came home with me.”
    The reproach in her voice dared him to say something, but Walker shook his head, a small smile toying at the edges of his lips. “They don’t smell like they’ve showered. The physical evidence is enough.”
    The Hound started down the stairs, only to pause, one hand on the rail as he tilted his head to look up at her. “If you wouldn’t mind, I could use your opinion at the scene. You’re the best, or one of them. Caesar Torres, you, and your pack are the best.”
    As if she didn’t know that. And Torres and Bree were going to kick her merry little ass soon if she didn’t call and explain things.
    “Never really thought you of all Hounds would be—” He broke the words off midsentence, cringing.
    It would have been easy to take offence. To lift her inner hackles and snarl at him. Except, she really hadn’t seen herself spending the night with two lions. “It’s not quite what it seems.” As if that cliché would save her. She raked a hand through her hair and sighed. “But yeah. Neither did I.”
    There was no way in hell though, that she was admitting Kanon was a target of hers. That he really should be sitting behind bars in a silver cage, not playing necky-necky with her and his partner.
    The expression on Walker’s face told her he wanted to ask, the restraint damn near strangling him, but she wasn’t about to explain further. When she said nothing more, he tilted his head towards the plain blue Crown Vic parked at the curb. “I could still use your take on the scene.”
    Of course he could. There would probably be other Hounds there too. If word got wind and scurried back to Bree... Lennox fought the urge to pick up her cell and call her boss, just to spill her guts before the international gossip highway started talking.
    But gossip wouldn’t move that fast. Not about to refuse him, she did have one catch. She didn’t even have to look at the pair behind her to know they’d both insist on coming, and nothing short of a silver bullet through each of their hearts was going to stop them.
    “They’ll have to tag along.”
    “As long as they don’t touch anything, I really don’t care.”
    Flat handed against his chest, she nudged Kanon back into the