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Everyone in that town.”
     
    Joe nodded.
     
    “We call it Sleuth. That’s the scientific term for a group of bears. We built it for the kids. People needed to be able to raise their children away from prying eyes. Social Services tends to question parents keeping their teenagers in a cage five days a month.”
     
    Sierra struggled to process all of this.
     
    “What about the charity money?” she asked.
     
    “It was my money.” he replied. “I’ve got quite a bit more of it then the IRS is aware of. I funneled it into the charity, then hired one of the pack as the accountant for Camp Basnight. She takes a very big salary and uses the money to buy things for Sleuth. And then none of it links back to the Governor of Washington.”
     
    Sierra laughed suddenly, remembering.
     
    “A payroll advance for a camp employee with a sick kid.”
     
    “I told you it was an honest answer,” he said with a sly smile. “You don’t give me enough credit.”
     
    “Yeah well, there was an awful lot of omission in that honest answer.”
     
    “What can I say? I’m a politician.”
     
    They both laughed at that. Joe shot her a look of amazement.
     
    “You’re being remarkably calm about this.”
     
    “What can I say? I’m an investigative journalist. I ask questions first and ponder the implications later.”
     
    They had reached the hospital.
     
    “I’ll have a car sent to take you home. I can return the truck to Enterprise.”
     
    “Okay.” Sierra reached for the door handle.
     
    “Wait,” Joe reached for her hand. “You understand you can’t tell anyone about this. They’re good people in Sleuth…mostly. They’re just scared. And they don’t allow outsiders.”
     
    Sierra paused before answering.
     
    “Joe, am I in danger?”
     
    “I’m their Alpha.” he assured her. “They wouldn’t do anything without my say so. And I told them to let you walk away.”
     
    “Okay,” she said, not entirely reassured.
     
    “Sierra,” he said, looking into her eyes, “I promise you, I won’t let anyone hurt you. I will keep you safe.”
     
    He kissed her gently.
     
    “You should go.” he said. “Get that stitched up. I’ll see you soon.”
     
    Sierra kissed him again before climbing out of the truck and walking into the emergency room, hoping they wouldn’t ask her how she’d managed to get scratched by a raccoon.
     
     
     

CHAPTER 5
    The emergency room staff bought the raccoon story without question.
     
    Molly, however, did not.
     
    “But it’s so deep!” she objected. “And how did it scratch you anyway? When did this happen?”
     
    “I told you,” Sierra lied, “when I was out in the woods.”
     
    “Where you say you found nothing.”
     
    “That’s right.”
     
    “Then, why did you get out of the truck to be mauled by raccoons if there was nothing out there?”
     
    “I thought I saw something so I got out to take a look, but I was wrong. There was nothing. And then this raccoon just charged.”
     
    “You’re lying to me, and you’re bad at it. If there was nothing out there, then why didn’t you get home until 10:00 am?
     
    “Because…because…”
     
    An idea seized her.
     
    “Because I met Joe out there.”
     
    “What?”
     
    “There’s no big secret thing. He just goes out there for the quiet. I ran into him and…spent the night with him.”
     
    Molly eyed her suspiciously.
     
    “I still don’t believe you.” she decided.
     
    “He was a birthmark on his inner thigh shaped like an apple.”
     
    Molly looked her in the eye, running her human lie detector on her.
     
    Fortunately for Sierra, she didn’t have to lie about that part. She’d seen it. It was just that circumstances that were a little different. Molly grinned.
     
    “You slut!” she declared with glee. “You have to tell me all about it.”
     
    “No, I don’t.” Sierra headed for her bedroom. What she had to do right now was sleep.
     
    Joe came by the apartment