“How many?” I asked before I could stop myself.
Cooper’s gaze flicked to me, sharp but not unkind. “At least three. Possibly more. The information’s incomplete.”
“Who called it in?” Gino asked.
“Someone who lives near where the disappearances happened.” Cooper’s mouth flattened. “They sounded nervous. Claimed they didn’t want trouble. Just wanted someone to look into it.”
That set my hackles up. Anonymous tips couldn’t be trusted completely, but still, a lead was a lead.
“I want this handled discreetly,” Cooper continued. “Keep this incident to yourselves for now. We don’t need panic, especially not with the dog show incident still lingering in people’s minds.”
My wolf stirred at that, restless and alert.
“And you want us,” I said quietly.
“Yes.” Cooper nodded. “You and Gino will lead a small team. Scout first. Track if you can. Interview the caller. Get eyes on the area and report back before escalating.”
Gino inclined his head. “Understood.”
I swallowed, adrenaline buzzing under my skin. Excitement and dread twisted together until I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.
Cooper leaned back again, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I’ve been in touch with our allied packs. Silvercrest. Thornebane.”
“They’ve reported similar disappearances,” Cooper went on. “Packless shifters have disappeared from places people don’t look too closely anymore.”
My stomach sank.
“So this isn’t isolated,” I said.
“No,” Cooper replied. “And I don’t like coincidences.”
Neither did I.
“You think it’s connected to the anti-shifter group?” Gino asked.
Cooper’s mouth tightened. “I don’t know. Not yet. But after the dog show, I’m not ruling anything out. Groups like that don’t just vanish. They go quiet. They adapt.”
My pulse thudded in my ears.
I remembered Chris coming home bloodied and exhausted but unbroken. Remembered the way he’d talked about what they found in that isolated cabin where Jaime had been held.
Not just hatred, scrawled and impulsive, but deliberate anti-shifter propaganda. There were lists too, with locations, dates, and names crossed out like completed tasks.
Communication logs that referenced “handlers” and “cells,” supplies that had been stockpiled and catalogued. It hadn’t been the work of a single fanatic.
It had looked organized, coordinated, and planned.Predators, my wolf whispered. A different kind than us.
I leaned forward, hands braced on my knees. “We’ll find them.”
Cooper studied me for a long moment.
“I know you will,” he said finally. “That’s why I called you in.”
“You’re one of the best trackers I’ve seen,” Cooper continued. “You read terrain like it’s breathing. And you understand what it means to live without pack protection.”
Something warm sparked in my chest at that.
“Yes, sir,” I said, my voice rougher than I meant it to be.
