The significance of his stance wasn’t lost on Graham, who raised his brows and looked at Cormac then Nell with new assessment.
“Get them to close the club a little early,” Cormac suggested. “Easier to look for Shane if the place empties out.”
“You want to tell Shifters and Shifter groupies that they have to go home early?” Graham asked, his voice a grating rumble. “You value your life?”
“If they think Shane might be in trouble, they can help,” Cormac said. “Recruit them to look.”
Nell adjusted her wrap, Cormac making her too warm. “Shane will be so embarrassed.”
“Better embarrassed than dead,” Cormac said. “Did anyone call Eric?”
Brody shook his head. “I didn’t want to bother him if it turned out to be nothing.”
Graham glowered down at them, but he didn’t growl that he was as good as Eric, that they didn’t need the Feline. The fact that Graham didn’t snarl and complain worried Nell. When things mattered, Graham took the chip off his shoulder and got the job done. Which meant that Graham was concerned about Shane too.
“I got this.” Jace, Eric’s full-grown son, pushed past them and wove his way to the sound system. A moment later, he was standing on the small stage, microphone in hand. The music died away, the lights came on, and Shifters and humans looked up from the shadows, blinking.
“Hey,” Jace said.
The Shifters began to growl and mutter, but Jace stared back at them without worry. His stance was as easygoing as his father’s, and his presence started to fill the room. Nell felt it as the Shifters quieted, watching him—the need to notice this man, young as he was, and find out what he wanted them to do.
“I’m looking for Shane.” Jace’s tone said both We’re all friends here and Shut up and listen at the same time. “I want everyone to look at the person beside them and check that it’s not Shane. And then leave—slowly. And if you see Shane on your way out, tell him his mom’s looking for him.”
Soft laughter rippled over the crowd, but they obeyed him.
Jace had them filing out without rushing or snarling. Nowhere did Nell see Shane.
Once the club was empty, and the humans who worked there started closing for the night, Jace returned to Nell. “We can sweep the place for scent now.”
He broke them into several groups—Graham with Misty to check the front, the Lupine bouncer to help Jace check the far reaches of the parking lot. Brody would take the rooms inside the club, and Cormac and Nell would check outside the back door.
“He’s going to be challenging his father for leadership one day,” Graham said as Jace took off to search. He showed his teeth in a cold smile. “I want to be there to watch.”
“I’ll make sure you have a front-row seat,” Nell said. “For now, can we find my son? I hope we do embarrass him. He can work it off for the next twenty years.”
Cormac said nothing as he led her away to start their search. Nell found his silence comforting. No condescending reassurances—no We’ll find him, don’t worry. Cormac knew they wouldn’t have emptied out the club to comb it for scent if everything was fine.
The hall that led to the back door behind the kitchen was full of conflicting odors. The human workers and many Shifters had been this way, and one of the humans had dragged a large amount of garbage out here.
Cormac opened the heavy back door and led the way outside. The frigid air struck Nell, seeming even colder after the overheated club than it had on the snowy mountain.
Plenty of people had come this way as well, including the human with the garbage. The scent trail of bathroom and bar trash blazed brightly to the Dumpster, so brightly that Nell had to turn away from its obvious path and concentrate on the less intense scents.
Cormac crouched down and examined something on the broken asphalt. A feeble light above the back door didn’t help much.
“What is it?” Nell asked.
“Not sure.” Cormac stood up and scanned the now mostly empty parking lot. “I’m going to go bear. I can scent better.”
“Makes sense.”
“Want to join me?”
“No,” Nell said. Her bear wasn’t as sensible as Nell in human form, at least when it came to males. She might find Cormac irresistible and do something stupid like agree to curl up with him for the rest of her life. “I can think better in this form.”
“Suit yourself. But I bet I’d love your bear.”
“Don’t say I’ll be sexy.”
Cormac’s grin widened. “I’ll keep it to myself then.”
He toed off his boots as he spoke, then stripped out of his leather coat and shirt beneath. He didn’t flinch from the January air, but unbuckled his pants and slid them off, letting his underwear follow.
He was breathtaking. Nell didn’t pretend not to look as Cormac straightened to his full height under the yellowish glow of the backdoor light. Shadows played on his tall, naked body, and the light glistened on his unshaved whiskers and dark hair. He was a beautiful man, full of strength.
Cormac stretched his arms above his head, and let his bear take over.
Cormac always wondered how humans could stand seeing the world from only one perspective. Maybe that’s why they had such short lives, and why so many lived those short lives in misery. Wouldn’t hurt humans to be able to see things from an animal’s point of view once in a while.
The power of the bear flowed through him, giving Cormac confidence in strength. He was very aware of Nell standing near him in her slinky dress under the weak light. Aware of the warmth of her, and the scent of a woman who’d found pleasure this night.
The light haloed her, as though the Mother Goddess touched her. His bear didn’t feel the erotic connection to her as he had in human form, but Cormac saw to the heart of her—a strong woman who’d endured much and yet never let it break her.
He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
But if something had truly happened to Shane, Nell would spend the rest of that life grieving. Cormac could not let that happen.
He butted Nell with his head, and she gave his back a stroke. She didn’t hide what was in her eyes, which she tried to do when they were both in human form. She was scared, and she was vulnerable, but she was also determined.
Cormac put his head down to sniff what had puzzled him. At Nell’s feet, the patch of asphalt had long since broken and never been repaired. In the dry gravel, he’d scented a drop of something he couldn’t place.
His bear nostrils widened as he sniffed, and gravel dust went up his nose. He sneezed, but in that moment, he understood the scent.
Tranquilizer.
The tiniest drop, which might have fallen from a hypodermic. A shot from a tranq rifle might be heard, even over the din of the club. But someone coming up to an unsuspecting Shane and sticking a needle into him—that would make no noise. The perpetrator could have done it in the hall, or right here outside the back door.
And then what? Cormac lifted his head and scanned the parking lot. Once that human or Shifter had tranqued Shane, he or she would have to lug Shane’s unconscious body out to a vehicle to get him away. Someone would have seen him do that.
Or would anyone have? If the tranq had only had enough juice to put Shane mostly out, then Shane would stumble around like he was drunk, not unusual at a bar, even if it took a lot to get Shifters drunk. Any observers in the parking lot would assume they were seeing a human or Shifter taking home a blotto Shane.