Crimson Moon

Twelve

Cain stood with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Xander as his brother lingered around the house. As Cain had known, Xander found no evidence that Lou had ever been there. If his brother's nose has been as good as Joseph's, then they might have had a problem.

Right after Joseph had smelled Lou on Cain's arm, while they were waiting for Darryl and Paul to return, Cain had stepped into the bathroom to inspect the sweatshirt himself. He had buried his nose in it, inhaling deeply. Amazingly enough, he indeed detected the slightest hint of Lou's honey-lavender-coconut scent. If he hadn't been so attuned to that scent, because of his wolf's obsession with her, he never would have caught it. Even then, the only reason he could smell it was because the fabric was basically shoved up his nose.

There were a few other instances in the two hours Xander and Joseph searched the house where Joseph caught Lou's scent. Each time he had glanced at Cain, but said nothing and moved on. Joseph better not let on what an impressive nose he really had. If the council ever found out what a good tracker he really was, they'd never let him go.

Cain had followed them around the house, trusting his four warriors and Beta to protect the pack while he made sure Xander and Joseph did nothing more than sniff around. He didn't need his brother rummaging through his pack's things.

Xander had grown more and more frustrated as he continued to find nothing. He'd obviously been riding on Lou's presence here. Cain almost grinned at the thought of the other councilmembers chewing him out for losing Lou.

"You've had your look," Cain growled. "You found nothing, so you don't get to search my territory."

"Cain, be reasonable. What if she's out there, alone?"

"Then my patrol would have found her." He wasn't budging on this. "It's within my rights, as an Alpha, to deny you access to my territory."

Xander growled in frustration, knowing that Cain was right. Unless there was a written order signed by all thirteen members of the High Council, Cain could deny Xander the opportunity to search his territory. He could have done the same with the house, but he didn't want to give Xander any reason to believe he was hiding Lou.

"Why are you so determined to keep me from searching it? Are you hiding something?" Xander raised a dark eyebrow.

Cain rolled his eyes, his patience falling to zero. "For Christ's sake, Xander, now you're grasping at straws. I simply want my jackass of a brother to get the hell off my territory."
Xander's eyes widened. Very few Alphas would dare talk to a councilmember like that, but Cain wasn't afraid of Xander, despite the new power he held. "Don't get your panties in a twist, brother. I'll leave. I'm sick of the human smell anyone. It's all over this place."

"Get out," Cain ground through clenched teeth. The comments on the "human stench" and "half-blood" reek had been constant as they searched the house. Cain had simply growled at the time, knowing that his brother was simply doing it to get a rise out of him, but he had lost his patience.

Xander nodded to his entourage and the warriors exited the living room first, Joseph close behind them. The tracker had Cain's utmost respect. He really cared about Lou. Lying to the High Council was an incredibly high offense, especially concerning the whereabouts of the last purebred female. Joseph had done it without batting an eye, protecting not only Lou but Cain's pack as well. The other male might not know it, but Cain was in his debt.

Cain motioned to Ryland for backup, and they followed Xander's crew to the front door and out onto the front porch, where the four wolves stopped again.

"Joseph, it was good to meet you," Ryland held out his hand to Lou's brother. The other male grasped it firmly with a friendly smile.

"Nice to meet you, too, Ryland," he said, and, if Cain wasn't mistaken, he held onto Ryland's hand a little longer than strictly necessary. A glance at Ryland confirmed it because he got that flirty, playful gleam in his eyes for a moment before their hands fell back down.