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“I…” Honestly, that was a damn good question. I shrugged. “I don’t know, Bella. That’s just the way some people do things, so some other people do it, too.” When she looked up at me with a little scowl on her face, I couldn’t help but chuckle weakly. “Yeah, I know. That’s a really bad reason. You’ll find people do things just because other people do it that way.”
She snorted, her gaze returning back to her wolf. She hugged him closer. “I want Mama,” she said, almost a whisper.
Whatever warmth I’d felt earlier had been sucked straight out of me. I set the box down and crawled around the table, wrapping my arms around Bella to pull her against my chest. “I know,” I said softly, pressing my face against her hair. She said nothing else as I hugged her closer. “We’re still looking for her.”
At least that much is true…
An idea struck me. “Do you have anyone else you want to see, Bella? Maybe an auntie or an uncle?”
Bella said nothing. Eventually, she sniffed and nodded her head. Hope sprang up in my chest like a crocus in the snow. “Yeah? Who do you want to see, peanut?”
Maybe if she has an aunt or uncle, that can help us find the Crescent Moon Pack and the rest of her family.
She sniffed again. “Papa,” she whimpered, sounding mournful.
As quickly as a ray of optimism had shone through, it disappeared again. The flower withered, buried under a fresh blanket of snow. I just nodded and squeezed her a little closer.
“We’re looking,” I whispered, rubbing her back. “I promise, Bella. We’ll find them for you.”
No matter what, I won’t let you spend the rest of your life wondering what happened to them.
24
ELI
Locke Family House
Austin, Texas
Remus met me at the Locke family home an hour or so later. Hannah’s parents let us in, looking quite morose as they guided us to their kitchen table. While I wasn’t particularly fond of their daughter, seeing the pair of them so somber was…intense.
“Thank you for taking this seriously,” Paul said, looking from me to Remus. “I realize Hannah can be…an intense young woman sometimes, but this is really unlike her.”
Remus nodded. “Of course.”
Ann fluttered around the kitchen, leaning over to offer each of us a fresh cup of coffee. Even though I tried to politely decline, she set it in front of me, clearly not all there. I couldn’t blame her.
“She was supposed to meet us for brunch,” Ann said, sitting down to fiddle with her own mug. “Every once in a while, she has other plans, but she always lets us know first. And she picks up when I call her.”
“What was the last time you spoke to Hannah?” I asked, taking a sip of the coffee. I had to fight not to wince — it was almostblindinglysweet, but I didn’t want to offend Ann.
“Yesterday afternoon,” she said, giving herself a little shake. “She had a hair appointment and she told me she was trying something new. I had expected her to call or at least send me a photo after to show it off, but nothing.”
Paul shrugged and shook his head, sipping at his coffee absently. “At first, I just told my wife she probably ended up going out with some of her friends after. She has a very active social life, but…” He shook his head. “She’s always been good about keeping her plans with us.” He paused, looking at his mate. “As I said, her phone keeps going straight to voicemail now.”
Ann looked up sharply after a moment. “I kept calling around after I called you, Remus. The woman working at the salon told me that Hannah never showed up for her appointment, and she didn’t call ahead to cancel, either. She’s a longtime customer, so they even contacted her to see if she was coming in a bit later, but…nothing. It’s like she justvanished.”
Paul’s expression turned dark, like storm clouds rolling in over the horizon. “It’s probably those same people that took the Sanders girl,” he grumbled, looking at Remus. “I thought you were being a bit alarmist when you said it seemed someone was going around and attempting to kidnap shifters, but…” He shook his head, clearly regretting his doubt.
“We’ll look into it,” I promised, taking another sip of my oversweet coffee. Ann didn’t even seem to notice. She was staring somewhere into the middle distance.
“I just can’t believe this is happening. You know, I had sort of thought that maybe Ashley had run off for some boy, even though Sunny swore up and down she wouldn’t. Even Hannah didn’t seem convinced that Ashley would do that. I just didn’t believe it. It just didn’t seem real that someone would grab someone from our pack. And now…”
Wait, what?
I tipped my head. “Do Ashley and Hannah know each other?”
Paul wrinkled his nose, but Ann nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yes. Catherine and I have been friends for a long time. We were in garden club together. Hannah is a few years older than Ashley, but they were on the track team together when they were both in high school before Hannah graduated. The cheer squad was quite close, of course.”
