AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t think so. There was nothing I could find about her that would indicate that.”
My mouth twitched. “People do strange things when they think they’re in love.”
Eli’s brows twitched together, and he looked like he had something to say. He shook it off. “Don’t judge her yet,” he said instead, mirroring what I’d said of Cyn a few minutes before.
Fair play,I thought, hiding my smile with my burger. “I’ll wait and see.”
Satisfied with that, Eli continued. “Have you looked up the other businesses you found in the building?”
“No, not yet. The Project Night Moon kind of grabbed my attention, you know?”
“Understandable,” Eli agreed, nodding. “It might be worth looking into, though. It seems strange that the government would only hold one floor of a building — how would they stop an overly friendly employee from down the hall from wandering over to introduce themselves?”
“That’s true.” You could always count on people to be curious. “Most of the other files I found just seemed like… normal business stuff, you know? Office supplies, billing… They all had business names on them.”
“We can work with that,” Eli said, polishing off his burger.
I did the same, pulling my napkin away. Thankfully, my nose had stopped bleeding, so I trashed the tissue and sat on the floor, grabbing my laptop. Once I logged in, I opened the browser and handed my computer over to Eli. “Here. You can start with this one. I’ll weed through the others.”
I passed him the first file — Evergreen Financial Associates.
With two people working, we managed to get through the other businesses in a decent amount of time. Eli was able to confirm they were ‘real’ businesses that ransomething, but they were all on a single webpage, like a group.
“They’re all offering services targeting low-income people,” Eli said, grimacing. “Even if they don’t say so explicitly, they have programs specifically to entice those people. They even advertise government assistance.”
I snorted. “The irony,” I replied, dry. “That makes sense, given those who’ve been reported missing. They’d still need to have at least one shifter on staff, though, or they might accidentally pick up humans, too.”
“Maybe they didn’t care,” Eli suggested, looking at me. “What if they tried to turn humans into shifters, too?”
I blanched, my blood running cold. I hadn’t considered that possibility. “Nothing I’ve read so far indicates that,” I replied, trailing off as I glanced over the large stack of untouched files.
“Did you get everything that was there?”
“No.” I scowled. “I’m one person. I took as much as I could without getting caught. It’s still private property — hell, it might even be government property, at this rate.”
Eli wrinkled his nose. “You have a point,” he murmured, “but I think we should go back. They might have been using these other businesses as a front to filter out potential ‘subjects,’ and if that’s the case, we need more information.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You know, Eli, you are the last person I would expect to suggest a B&E.”
“A what?”
I laughed a little harder. “A break and enter.” I shook my head. “Don’t worry, I’ll show you how it’s done.”
18
ELI
The ‘Murder Building’
Outskirts of Austin, Texas
Iris hadn’t been impressed by the idea of bringing my guards along with us, even if they were in a separate vehicle. The only thing that seemed to convince her was the idea of two extra bodies – they’d be useful in helping us move anything we discovered from the building back outside. It’d be far easier than Iris attempting to do it alone. Secretly, I suspected she liked the idea of being able to boss them around, but I didn’t know her well enough to voice that. The last thing I needed was for this to blow up in my face before we got anywhere.
I had informed the guards that we were assisting Remus as he looked for details in the disappearance of Ashley Sanders – and that wasn’t entirely a lie. We were also looking for other things. Ashley Sanders was still my primary goal, but… I wanted to look through those ‘businesses.’ I hadn’t been joking when I’d suggested that those fake companies might have been used to lure wolves from other states and packs.
Besides, I didn’t want any additional people tangled up in this that didn’t have to be. I still barely knew Iris, and even though everything she’d revealed to me thus far had been convincing, it was different when it was more than just my hide on the line. I wasn’t the alpha of the Longbow Pack, not yet, but it was stillmypack. I still felt strongly about the wolves and perhaps even closer to Clay and Jaxon. They were with me frequently. They listened to me and given how many other members of the pack looked at me like I was still a pup, it meant a lot.
I didn’t want them getting grabbed if someone from this ‘Project Night Moon’ discovered what we were up to. Even if this project was nothing, I didn’t want them to get in trouble with my father. I didn’t care what he thought of me, but it was different for them. Nic Archer was a formidable alpha, and I didn’t want to pitch them against their alpha if I could help it.
