Chapter 10 Social Howl
SOCIAL HOWL
The next morning dawned with none of us any clearer as to who might be threatening Melody or made the Lincoln sisters disappear.
I was drinking my coffee moodily when Nora glided into the dining room with a serving cart laden with steaming food, her movements as silent as a ghost’s. I perked up at the delicious smells filling the air.
The cart was packed with fluffy scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, toast cut into perfect triangles, and something dark and glistening that I was trying very hard not to examine too closely.
Bo stuck his head over the edge of the table.
“What’s that?” the Husky asked, nose twitching at the mystery dish.
“Black pudding,” Nora said serenely as she proceeded to serve breakfast. “Old family recipe.”
Bo cocked his ears warily. “Whose family?”
Nora’s faint smile suggested some questions were better left unasked. Bo’s ears flattened. He slunk quietly under the table while Nora put the rest of the food on the sideboard and left to get a fresh pot of coffee.
Victoria was working her way through a stack of correspondence with the competence of a woman who had been managing pack politics for decades.
Samuel sat beside me, frowning at a report while absently stirring his cooling coffee.
Pearl had claimed the sunny spot on the windowsill and was grooming herself with studied indifference.
I dug into my breakfast, determined to make the most of this brief moment of peace. It was shattered when Hugh stumbled into the room.
He looked like he’d lost a fight with his own bedsheets.
“Morning,” Hugh mumbled. He dropped into a chair and immediately reached for Samuel’s bacon.
Samuel moved his plate without looking up. “Get your own.”
“But yours is right there.”
“Get. Your. Own.” A low growl underscored my alpha’s voice.
Hugh grumbled and slouched toward the sideboard. I stared.
His shirt was wrinkled, his hair was doing something architectural, and there was toothpaste on his collar.
Something was definitely going on with that werewolf.
Bo peered out from under the table. “He looks terrible.”
Samuel finally raised his head and examined his brother with a frown. “You’re right.”
Bo slowly wagged his tail, his expression brightening. “In fact, he looks just like you did after Abby and you first started performing your conjugal duties.”
Victoria’s eye twitched almost imperceptibly. I had the decency to blush.
“Hey, I never had toothpaste on my collar,” Samuel protested.
Luckily, Bo decided not to pursue that line of conversation.
I was halfway through my eggs when I noticed the Husky fidgeting beside my chair.
“What is it?”
Bo wagged his tail in short, excited bursts. “I have something to report.”
I was instantly wary. Victoria’s hand tightened on her pen. Pearl’s ears twitched. The report wrinkled in Samuel’s grip as he unconsciously flexed his fingers.
Past experience has taught everyone at the Hawthorne mansion that this statement could lead to Bo divulging anything from the state of his digestion to what a squirrel had told him that morning to something he’d done that had gone horribly wrong and was going to cost somebody a lot of money to fix.
“You do?” I finally said.
Bo sat up straight. “You know how I have my canine circle?”
Samuel and I exchanged a glance.
“The social howl thing?” Samuel asked carefully.
“Yes. We had a very productive session last night.” Bo’s chest puffed out.
“Marshmallow heard from Gus, who heard from Rosie—she’s the Jack Russell who lives five doors down from him, very well connected that dog—who heard from the cemetery groundskeeper’s poodle that there’s been weird stuff happening near the old industrial district. ”
Victoria heaved a sigh of relief, as did I.
Marshmallow was the Saint Bernard who lived one street over from my old apartment in East Valley. Gus was the bulldog who lived across the street from him and Rosie was the Jack Russell from five doors down.
So far, none of this sounded like it was going to be expensive.
Pearl’s grooming had paused. The cat swiveled one ear in Bo’s direction.
“Weird stuff,” I repeated, more to indulge the Husky than anything. “Like what?”
“Lights at strange hours. Vehicles at abandoned buildings. That kind of thing.” Bo wagged his tail harder. “Could be something important, right?”
It was vague at best.
“It could be.”
Bo grinned and swept the floor with his tail, almost tripping Hugh on his return from the sideboard.
Pearl’s eyes had shrunk to slits.
“Your social howl appears to be ideal for reconnaissance, mutt,” the cat observed like she was passing a kidney stone. “Not bad for a group of canines.”
Samuel almost dropped his fork. Victoria stared, a little stunned.
Bo’s entire back end wiggled with the force of his tail. He looked at me brightly.
“Did you hear that? She said my social circle is the bomb!”
Pearl sneered. “I never said that, fleabag. And don’t let it go to your head. Your breath still smells like you’ve been eating garbage.”
“That was one time,” Bo huffed, hurt. “And it was very good garbage.”
Victoria looked between Pearl and Bo. The cat and dog not actively trying to murder each other this morning qualified as a heartwarming display of friendship by Hawthorne standards.
“It’s nice to see the two getting along again,” she observed.
Pearl and Bo traded a look.
“We have a truce,” Bo said carefully.
“A fragile truce,” Pearl amended.
Bo nodded. “Very fragile.”
Pearl sniffed. “Could collapse at any moment.”
Victoria and I both hid a smile. It was clear they were trying to defend their mutual decision to end their territorial war.
A munching noise distracted everyone.
Hugh had returned to the table with a plate piled high enough to feed a small army and was shoveling food into his mouth like somebody who hadn’t eaten in days rather than hours.
I grimaced. Yeah, he and Beatrice were definitely having sex.
“So,” Hugh said through a mouthful of eggs, “I’ve got a second date with Beatrice tonight.”
Victoria’s teacup froze halfway to her lips. Her eyes shrank to slits. “I heard what happened on your first date.”
Samuel’s shoulders immediately knotted. “Why, what happened on their first date?”
I felt a trace of sympathy for my alpha. Not having siblings had its perks.
On the other hand, I had an Ellie.
“Nothing happened,” Hugh protested. “There was just a small incident with a candle and a cupcake. It was very minor. Beatrice handled it beautifully.”
“You set the coffee shop on fire, didn’t you?” Samuel stated flatly.
“It was a tiny fire. Barely a fire.” Hugh laughed nervously. “More of a spirited flame.”
“Oh God,” Samuel muttered.
“Don’t worry, I already agreed to pay for the damages,” Hugh said hastily.
Nora materialized at his elbow. “Master Hugh, please tell me you’re not going out in public like that.” Her gaze was fixed on his clothes with a stoic expression that nonetheless radiated silent, professional despair.
“It’s not that bad.”
Nora pretended not to hear him. “Perhaps a light pressing of your shirt. And some attention to your collar. I don’t know if you’re aware, but you appear to have brushed your teeth on your clothing.”
Hugh looked at his collar and swore.
Victoria set down her teacup with a decisive click. “Nora, please ensure my son looks presentable before his date tonight. I won’t have him embarrassing the family name.”
“Mother—” Hugh groaned.
“The Luptons are a respected family, Hugh. Beatrice deserves better than a walking laundry disaster.”
Even Samuel looked surprised at Victoria’s change of tune.
I made a face. “What happened to ‘That girl is permanently glued to her phone and has an abnormal fondness for taffeta’?”
Victoria had the grace to look embarrassed.
“Danielle and I had a talk yesterday,” she admitted in clipped tones. “We came to the conclusion that it was best to let the children do what they wanted.”
I looked at the child in question. From what I could see, all he wanted to do was jump Beatrice’s bones. Then again, I wasn’t one to talk.
“The toothpaste, Hugh,” Victoria urged.
Hugh deflated and allowed Nora to shepherd him out of the dining room to get cleaned up.
I finished my coffee and pushed back from the table.
“I’m going to visit Mrs. Chen today,” I told Samuel.
He stared. “Any particular reason?”
I hesitated. “I think she might be able to help with our investigation.”
Samuel frowned faintly before nodding. “I have a meeting in town this morning. Let’s catch up later.”