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“Remind me of your name, please? I usually pride myself on remembering important details but you’ll have to forgive me. I’m a bit scattered at the moment.”
“Of course. No worries.” She swallowed hard. “I wouldn’t expect you to know who I was. I’m Destiny. One of Hannah’s friends from the forums.”
“Nice to meet you again, Destiny.” I’d take her name as a good omen. “Is whatever you have to tell me an emergency, or can it wait until we have the Lars situation under control?”
I needed to talk to Hugo immediately if not sooner.
“I’m not sure.” She took a few tentative steps into the green room and wrung her hands. “Last night we were at the bar, and a lot of people were in town to see Hannah on stage today. You too, of course. We were all having a good time. After a couple drinks, the subject changed to Lars. Apparently, the squatch hunters had found Hannah’s story online, and they’ve been watching him. They know where he lives, Bibi. They were coming for him no matter what. I tried to tell you before you went on stage, but Zoe was worried you’d stop the episode if you knew, and she didn’t want to do that to Hannah. She didn’t think they were really hunting him. Some of the hunters seemed cool. They were just curious about him, and how could they not be?” She gave a grim chuckle. “But the others? I think they were trying to impress us, were bragging about what they’d do if they caught him. It’s...not good. The whole dead or alive thing is hopeful at best. I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds, but I thought you should know.”
“Thank you for coming to me with this information.” My heart was in my throat. I had to keep myself composed. “If you hear anything else, be sure to let someone on the production team know.”
I headed to the door. I needed to call Hugo immediately.
“Bibi?” Destiny called after me.
I turned on my heel.
“Hannah really likes Lars.” She swallowed hard again. Something told me she wasn’t used to saying what was on her mind, but I could hardly afford another makeover project at the moment. “Picking this wolf must be devastating for her. He was at the bar too. Talking to some of those hunters.”
My blood ran cold. “The good ones or the bad ones?”
“I’m not sure. Those drinks were pretty strong. I only remembered him because he came up to us and offered to buy a round for the table.”
Interesting. Not only did it seem like Armand had managed to single out Hannah’s friends, but there was a good chance that all this information was clouded by a lot of alcohol. But I’d consider all threats imminent.
“Thanks again for the information. Now if you’ll excuse me.” I pressed my hand over my heart before slipping out of the room and heading straight for my office.
I shut the door and leaned against it, eyes closed. I needed a moment to center myself.
My phone was on my desk. I was relieved to see several messages from Hugo. I didn’t take the time to read them all before I called him.
“Where are you?” I said when he picked up.
“In Green Mountain Village. Still in the van. Figured this was the safest place until I heard from you. If those hunters give us any trouble, my pack will handle it. But so far, so good. Don’t think they realized how close they got to us.”
“I hate this.” I sighed. “How is Lars?”
“He’s upset. Heartbroken that Hannah didn’t pick him. None of us are sure how Armand put together an identity that got past all our safeguards.”
“I’d love to talk to him. Face to face.” I wasn’t sure if Lars had ever used a phone before, even in his human form. “Bring him back here. It’s the safest place for him. Cameras everywhere, twenty-four-hour security, and we’ll be able to keep an eye on everything.”
“Good idea. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“One of Hannah’s friends said Armand was at The Main Street Salon last night,” I said before he hung up. “Buying them drinks and talking to the hunters. Not sure how accurate that information is, but we need to treat all leads with the utmost care. Nothing can happen to Lars on our watch.”
“Agreed. Nothing will happen to any of us during this episode. See you soon.”
That was ominous. I pressed the phone to my chest for a moment while I collected my racing thoughts.
Okay, it was time to be everyone’s fairy dragmother.
My first order of business was to text my shopping team and let them know we would need a full, oversized home setup brought to the stage as soon as possible. We needed to make Lars feel like a guest, not like a prisoner while he was here.
Next, a check-in with Marissa.
“I have Hannah and her friends in one office, and Armand in another. Security’s watching him like a hawk. I swear, nothing came up on his background check, but he kinda gives me the creeps.”
“Same. I think it would be best if we separated Hannah from her friends, too.” I held my hand up when Marissa gasped. “Oversharing is their thing, and we can’t be too careful. Security should be watching them as well. We need to find out how long they plan to spend in Sunset Springs, and we should probably run background checks on all of them.”
