Page 2 of Wolf Unseen

Wolves loved to chase. The pair of them licked their lips at the sight of me, a slender female all alone in a dark alleyway.

“Look what we have here, Thad. A pretty little girly.”

I almost snorted. Any shifter with half a nose would know I wasn’t human. Sure, my wolf was a lazy bitch who almost never bothered showing herself, but I still smelled like a shifter.

Thad grinned, showing me a set of stained yellow fangs.

“Ooh, Grandma, what big teeth you have!” I gasped in mock horror.

“Grandma?” The first wolf frowned in confusion.

“Got a big dick too, little girl,” Thad added as his friend finally got my reference. What an idiot. The wolf mafia must have very low recruitment standards.

I pictured the ad: Meatheads needed for grunt work. Got a working brain cell? Apply today!

“You’re not my type, dude,” I said regretfully. “I’m not into rodent shifters.”

Both wolves growled, unhappy at being dissed by a female. They rushed toward me just as Felix’s SUV swung into the parking lot.

My fist connected with the first wolf’s jaw, knocking him sideways into his friend’s path. The pair of them tripped over each other and tumbled to the floor with a volley of curses and angry growls.

Before they could go full fur and tear my throat out, I dove into the passenger seat of Felix’s jeep.

“Go!” Behind us, the two meatheads were mid-shift.

“Never a dull moment with you, cupcake,” Felix grumbled, stepping hard on the gas. The truck’s tires squealed as we drove away from the gym, leaving the wolves behind.

Once we hit the main road snaking through downtown Grand Oaks, I relaxed. Shifters could run fast, but they weren’t stupid enough to try chasing a moving vehicle through predominantly human areas where bars and restaurants remained open for business.

“Sorry I was late,” he apologized eventually.

“Gaming?”

“No actually. I got a hit on Lorna.”

I spun around in my seat, the dumb-as-bricks wolf shifters forgotten. “And?”

Felix took the exit for our much shittier neighborhood.

“A security camera picked her up at a rest stop on the mountain pass near where the full moon parties take place.”

“When?”

“The day after the August full moon party.”

“That doesn’t tell us anything. She was still replying to my messages then.”

“Yeah, but I got a blurry image of the male with her,” he told me. “I’m using a program to enhance it, but it’s gonna take time.”

Finally, something positive after weeks of searching for a literal needle in a haystack.

“That’s good, right? If we can identify who she was with when she disappeared, we have a lead!”

“It’s a starting point,” Felix agreed cautiously.

“You think all this is a waste of time, don’t you?”

“Not a waste of time, no. But I can’t help thinking she’s just lost her phone or is too busy screwing some shifter to message you.”