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handed the small plain silver box to Owen.
    Cutler kept talking. “It’ll be a big funeral. Ed was well-liked. Had a good reputation in these parts. Plus, being killed in the line of duty, police forces from all over the country will send representatives to attend. A couple from Canada too, last I heard. They’re holding it out in Casper because no place else has a facility big enough.
    “After, of course, there’s the private memorial service. Weres honoring their own.” He looked at the box meaningfully. “Along with the other Alphas, I’ll present his widow with a token of our mourning. Remorse expressed in blood and tears.
    “Anyway,” he continued, inhaling sharply and looking Owen in the eye. “I wanted to thank you for watching over Ryan while I’ve been away. And to get you to promise to come to the pack run. Also, to ask if you could run this into town for me tomorrow. Have it engraved.”
    He paused and Owen gave him a moment. The silence between them wasn’t entirely uncomfortable.
    “My pack would be stronger with a male like you,” Cutler said eventually. “But I have to tell you straight out, if you’re as much a natural leader as I suspect you are I won’t extend an invitation for you to stay permanently.”
    Owen felt his mouth thin but he held back on commenting. He’d felt this moment coming since his arrival.
    Cutler continued, “This is a good place to live and I’d like to think you could use us as a benchmark for any other pack you think of joining. A good place to raise pups.
    “Weres need one thing above all else—an established hierarchy. We’ve got that here and I won’t let anyone mess that up.”
    “Like the hierarchy in Pinebridge has been shaken.”
    “Yeah. Something like that,” Cutler agreed. He pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger then continued talking. “Anyway, run with us because you need to and so you can remember what it’s like to be part of a pack.”
    “Okay,” Owen answered with a nod. “But if your pack needs a run to reaffirm their bonds, won’t I kind of stick out?”
    “Not this week. Nath’s brought in a couple of guys as consultants for his ecotourism business and they’ll be running with us too. Fina suggested to him over the winter that he look at expanding his offerings. These guys apparently work for other tour companies in the warmer months. Ones not run by weres. They do things like rafting, wagon rides, horseback riding, mountain biking. Nath says if he likes what they’ve got to offer he might hire one or two of them as guides.”
    “Fina’s father was a genius when it came to business. Sounds like she inherited her father’s talent.”
    “That she did. Oh and if you’re going to hang around for a while, try not to piss my dispatcher off again.” Cutler grinned wryly. “When she gets mad she takes it out on the rest of the station.”
    “She started it,” Owen growled and wondered why he felt the need to justify himself.
    “Never figured she didn’t. But things are running tense in my department since Ed’s murder. It’s worse in Pinebridge.”
    “Is that why they asked you to help?”
    “Huh. Perceptive bastard, aren’t you?”
    “Never said I wasn’t.” Owen shook his head curtly. He slipped the silver box into his shirt pocket and laid his hand over it like he was protecting it. “If the deputies in Pinebridge were incompetent or not trained to handle a murder investigation, I figured you might have mentioned it.”
    “They’re neither. They’re just too close to it. Hell, their dispatcher’s taken a medical leave of absence. He’s got the worst case of survivor guilt I’ve ever seen. They’re all hurting. It’s a credit to their second-in-command that he’s keeping them involved without making them shoulder the responsibility of taking the lead in the investigation.” Cutler headed for the door and Owen followed.
    “It’s too bad you’re so strong.” Cutler held the door