text: Whoever was behind this certainly wasn't getting the rest and relaxation bit of the retreat. Someone had clearly been through their bags and Cooper's weapon was missing. Fortunately, it was in a securely locked case, but that still left them less defended than before.
  
  Paul had been ashen-faced when he'd finally dropped them back at their cabin, lucky number seven, which was feeling decidedly less lucky with rainwater blown in all over the floor and their clothes scattered around. Though his pale and queasy expression could have just as much to do with transporting poor Beck into the barn and wrapping him carefully with a tarp than it did with upsetting the Shepherd.
  
  Cooper and Park had searched Beck's car more thoroughly before leaving it on the road. A box in the back had revealed all sorts of notes on the comings and goings of people at the retreat, photographs and files. The number of employees who would come for five, six months at a time and then disappear. Beck's notes implied they all seemed to be working under fake names, Reggie included.
  
  Drugs? Human Trafficking? Illegal exports? were all possible explanations he'd scribbled across his notes. The ranger had obviously been investigating for longer and more seriously than he'd implied. The fact that a good deal of his findings were stored in the trunk of his car implied that his investigation was not exactly sanctioned.
  
  What they hadn't found was Llcaj's shirt or the scientific journals Monty had said she'd given him. Of course, those might be safely at the station somewhere.
  
  But there was no way for them to check that. In addition to the roads being blocked, the phone lines were down and Wi-Fi was out. They were essentially stranded with a dead body in the barn and at least one very nosy thief who may or may not have killed three people.
  
  A good amount of wind and rain had blown through the open cabin door, leaving a layer of damp on the floor and removing any possible scent of the intruder. Paul had offered to move them into the staff lodging or move another couple into number seven so that Cooper and Park could take over a dry cabin, but they'd refused, not wanting to inconvenience anyone or, worse, put them in harm's way.
  
  "I'm sure no one would have done this if they'd known who you are," Paul had fretted, seeming almost more upset by the break-in than the possible homicide.
  
  "And I'd like it to stay that way," Park had said. "I really don't want to draw any unnecessary attention."
  
  Cooper wasn't sure if that was possible anymore. Clearly at least one person had taken enough of an interest to break in, and depending on how quickly Paul spread the news of Beck's death, it was sure to get out that they were involved in the discovery. They were running out of time.
  
  As they'd completely missed dinner, Paul had come by again himself with a cooler of food while Cooper was showering and scrubbing off all the death, mud, rainwater and plant material that had attached itself and had him looking like the previously unknown missing link between fish and fungus.
  
  Now it was Park's turn to get clean and Cooper flopped onto the bed with a sigh to eat. While working through his second sandwich of thick sourdough, spicy horseradish, tomatoes and cheese, he pulled out a pen and one of the exercise sheets Dr. Joyce had given him. Flipping the sheet over to the blank side, he started to map out the information he knew so far. Listing everyone who might want to sabotage the retreat, break into the mill, retrieve the evidence the ranger had collected, or want Llcaj and/or Kreuger dead. The problem was that hardly ruled out anybody. Not even Kreuger himself. And on top of it all, he didn't see what the map in the desk or that medical supplies bill had to do with a single thing.
  
  The bathroom door opened and Park emerged with a soft cloud of steam, naked and toweling his hair dry. "That might have been the best shower of my life," he said.
  
  "Rude, considering how much shower sex we've had," Cooper said. "But same." He rolled over on the bed, making room for Park to ease himself down with a groan. "Sandwich?" Cooper offered him his remaining half.
  
  "Mmm," Park said, closing his eyes. "In a bit."
  
  Cooper watched him and felt a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. Outside the storm was raging and they were dangerously entangled in an investigation with no hope of backup, but in here, studying Park fight off sleep, Cooper thought there wasn't a single person he'd rather be stranded with. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to Park's shower-warm chest.
  
  Ask him now. It wasn't particularly romantic, no fancy restaurant, champagne or hot air balloon. But that wasn't really them anyway. And he didn't want to make it a big deal. Cooper was already sure of their relationship as it was. Some people wanted to get married, some people didn't. Either way, it wasn't vital to a successful relationship. He could...just float the idea. They could laugh about it. What's the worst that could happen?
  
  He slid his hand slowly but firmly over Park's low belly, where a waistband would be if he were wearing anything. "Hey," he started, and the word barely made it out of his suddenly dry throat in one piece.
  
  Park's hand came down on Cooper's arm, and when Cooper looked up, he saw Park's eyes had reopened and he was studying him, concerned.
  
  "Are you having another episode?" he asked.
  
  "Episo—" Cooper squawked, dismayed. "No! I'm not—"
  
  But Park had already flipped him over onto his back and was peering at his pupils. "You're breathing so fast." He paused, and Cooper realized one sneaky hand was lightly pinching his wrist. "And your pulse is out of control. That's it." Park sounded furious. "That's three times today you've gone funny for no reason."
  
  "Gone funny? Are you going to offer me smelling salts?"
  
  "I'm going to get Mutya. She can take another look. If she says we need to get you to a hospital, I'll figure something out. Hiking into town might be the best bet."
  
  "Oliver," Cooper protested, pushing him off. "I'm fine, for fuck's sake. I was just...umm..."
  
  Park peered down at him patiently, and Cooper felt his face heating. "Just feeling cuddly and, you know—" he coughed "—err, amorous."
  
  Park raised an eyebrow.
  
  "And not because I'm sick, either," Cooper added hastily.
  
  Park stared at him for a long, serious moment, then looked toward the window, out at the storm, with a slight sigh. "I'm trying not to be controlling or...overbearing," he said. "But I'm worried about you. Ever since the river you've been a bit... Well, I've been worried." He tried to smile and it came out a bit crooked. "Can't it be my turn to worry about you sometimes?"
  
  "Sometimes?" Cooper muttered. He sat up, pulling his legs out from under Park's and took his hand. "Oliver, look at me." He took a deep breath. Asked himself if he wanted to have this conversation now. He knew if he asked Park to trust him and drop it, he would. He knew it. But was that what he really truly wanted?
  
  "Something happened when I was in that river. Well, no, nothing happened-happened, I just kind of had a moment. A moment when I thought Jacob Symer was attacking me again."
  
  Cooper couldn't look Park in the eye. He honestly wondered if asking him to get married would have been the easier conversation to have. "I mean, I know that's not possible. But the moment I felt Vanessa's teeth on me, it was like I was back in that alley. I kept kicking her and kicking her and then I just shut down. It was too much."
  
  He shook his head and focused on Park's thumb moving in slow circles on the back of his hand. "I didn't feel like myself after, you saw that, but I don't think it was just shock. Vanessa suggested... I might be carrying some more effects from that, uh, attack, than just this." He gestured vaguely toward the scars on his stomach. "You know."
  
  He felt oddly reluctant to say PTSD to Park. Felt a nonsensical guilt. Not because he thought he should be better than that. The opposite. Park had lived through a difficult childhood, loss, his own traumas and countless attacks himself. What right did Cooper have to complain about this one bad thing? Logically he knew that's not how it worked. But since when did guilt ever care about logic?
  
  "Anyway." Cooper laughed awkwardly. "I think that's why I've been sort of...unsettled since then. Emotionally, I mean. So please let's not go hailing off into the night in search of a hospital."
  
  Park was quiet for so long that Cooper finally felt compelled to check he wasn't doing something quintessentially Parkish like self-flagellating for not realizing and helping sooner, or worse, feeling responsible for something another wolf had done. But when he looked up Park was just nodding seriously, clearly thinking, as if Cooper had presented him with any other clue on a case he needed to puzzle out.
  
  "All right." Park picked Cooper's hand up and kissed it. "Thank you for telling me. I want to help, if that's okay. Is there anything I do that makes it worse?"
  
  "No," Cooper protested. "I don't—I don't know really." He hesitated. "I think I'm going to give therapy another try. You know, real therapy and not informal chats with murder suspects while using a false identity. Seems like the literal least I can do."
  
  "I think that's great," Park said earnestly. "Do you want help? I can make some calls about who's good. My cousin used to work with—"
  
  Cooper leaned forward and kissed him mid-sentence. "Did anyone ever tell you how sweet you are?" he said when he pulled back a bit.
  
  Park blushed and looked at him through lowered lashes. "I'm not sweet."
  
  Cooper kissed him lightly again. More of a brush of his lips against Park's. "The sweetest," he murmured, meaning it.
  
  He felt Park's hand slide around his waist, and Cooper shuffled forward into Park's lap. He nibbled lightly along Park's jaw to his ear while his fingers trailed lightly over Park's collarbone.
  
  There was a knock on the door. They both stared at it, shocked. Cooper was ready to assume it was the wind until it sounded again.
  
  "Hello in there!" a man's voice called.
  
  Park stood making a gesture toward Cooper to stay behind him. He wrapped his towel around his waist, covering the bare beginnings of his erection as best as possible, and opened the door.
  
  "Sorry, excuse us, but it's brutal out here." Terradas and De Luca bustled right into the cabin past Park, both in heavy-duty raincoats with their hoods up. "Oh," De Luca said, eyeing Park in his towel and Cooper still kneeling in bed. He grinned slowly. "We didn't mean to interrupt anything."
  
  "You didn't," Cooper said, standing and joining Park by the door, and felt Park's arm immediately fall around his waist. "Is there something wrong?"
  
  "Wrong? No," De Luca said smoothly. "We were on our way back to the lodge and saw your lights on." He gave Park a careful look again, though this one felt less sexual appraisal and more like he was sizing up a horse he wanted to bet on. "We haven't formally met," he added holding out his hand. "Daniel De Luca. My mate, Victor Terradas." Park shook both their hands, introducing himself as Andrew Preston. "I'm not familiar with that name. Small family?"
  
  Cooper tensed. De Luca had asked it with genuine, friendly curiosity. The same genuine, friendly curiosity he'd had at lunch when he'd asked Cooper the exact same question. If he had to choose whether De Luca had truly forgotten or whether he was setting up a trap, Cooper had a nice bit of cheese in that cooler he was happy to lend him.
  
  "Large, actually. But they're all up north. Canada, mostly," Park said, thank god.
  
  "But you live in DC now," De Luca said.
  
  Park acknowledged that with a shrug, refusing to volunteer additional information.
  
  De Luca just smiled widely again. "Isn't it wonderful, the interesting people we've been meeting at this place? Such fun. We were heading for a dip in the hot tub when we saw your lights on. Something about a blustery storm outside that just makes me want to sink into some hot water. I insist you join us."
  
  "I'm sorry," Park said. "But we've had a really long day."
  
  Behind De Luca, Terradas's eyes widened in shock and the quiet man seemed to become even more intent on Park. "Yes," De Luca just said solemnly. "Paul told us about you two getting lost in the rain and that poor, poor human ranger. He said you were the ones who found him, driven off the road."
  
  Well, then. That certainly answered the question of how quickly word would spread. The answer was even faster than Cooper had anticipated. Considering Paul's reluctance to move the body onto lodge property, Cooper had assumed he didn't want anyone to know. Instead he had gone straight to De Luca with the news. Cooper filed that fact carefully away.
  
  "So dreadful," De Luca was saying. "The sort of thing to give you nightmares. Which is all the more reason you must come relax with us." His tone didn't leave room for refusal.
  
  Still Park began to refuse. "I don't—"
  
  "Actually, babe, a soak with some jets sounds really great right now," Cooper said. "Should we meet you up there in fifteen minutes?"
  
  De Luca grinned again. "Perfect. You'd do well to listen to your mate, Andrew. He seems to know how to have a good time."
  
  "Yes, he certainly keeps me on my toes," Park said mildly. Cooper plastered a large smile on his own face.
  
  After they'd left, Park turned to him. "One man's fun is another man's intensely risky, harebrained, foolhardy—" He cut himself off. "De Luca is dangerous for reasons completely outside this investigation, suspicious of us and clearly after something."
  
  "Which is exactly why we go along with his little fact-finding mission. De Luca is also a man not accustomed to people defying him. So when you tell him no, he's just going to become more suspicious. You're too similar to see it."
  
  Park looked offended. "I'm nothing like him."
  
  "In the sense that he's a man used to being feared and pandered to, yes, you are. When was the last time you agreed to something you didn't want to do for no other reason than to appease someone else?"
  
  "Ten seconds ago. Maybe you missed it. It was when you called me babe and told me we were going hot-tubbing with the territorial De Luca pack's two most dangerous lieutenants."
  
  "If this is you agreeing, we've got a lot of work to do," Cooper murmured. "Come on. You said yourself, it's a little too big a coincidence that they showed up this weekend. We need to find out why they're here and what they know."
  
  Park bit at the scar on his lip. "Okay, you're right. But do me a favor: let me take the lead in there."
  
  "When do I ever try to take over the lead?"
  
  "I'm going to let Dr. Joyce deal with that blatant denial problem you've got," Park said, and Cooper huffed. "These aren't just any wolves, Cooper. The De Luca family isn't as established as mine, but they rose to power quickly because they're tough. Celia De Luca has a reputation for being fair. So fair that she'll watch you drown because it would be an unfair advantage to help anyone outside her own pack. These aren't people you want to piss off."
  
  "Why, Mr. Preston," Cooper said. "What on earth do you think is going to happen in this hot tub?"
  
  "I think you're going to keep me on my toes," Park said resignedly.
  
  "Maybe. But later I promise I'll let you keep me on mine." Cooper winked.