Page 9 of Night Owl Books

“Thank you,” he said. “We appreciate you doing all of this for us. I was just telling everyone about you finding the phone and how we both checked the woods but didn’t find any indication he’d followed her in.” He looked over at me. “Anything to add?”

Nodding, I said, “Does anyone want mustard for their corndog?”

Arwyn laughed again. She wasn’t laughing at me. I knew what that looked like, how it felt. She honestly just seemed happy, which made me happy.

“Yes, please,” she said.

I rose and went back to the refrigerator. I was almost positive I had seen a yellow bottle in the door. I came back a minute later, squeezing lines of mustard down all the corndogs, even those still on the plate.

After I returned the bottle to the refrigerator, I sat again, this time with my own corndog, and asked, “Did you make sure McKenna didn’t stay in her apartment?”

Nick paused mid-chew. Shaking his head, he swallowed quickly. “No. Why would I tell her she needed to leave? The guy didn’t have her wallet. He doesn’t know her address.”

Alarmed, I rose to my feet again. “We need to go check on her. When I was patrolling the neighborhood last night, I saw her in the window of her apartment house. She lives quite close. If I found her—and I don’t have a wolf’s nose—aren’t we worried he could too?”

Brow furrowed, Nick looked at Arthur and then back at me. “I walked her to her door—which should muddle her scent—accompanied her in, and made sure her lights stayed off until all her blinds were closed.” Tilting his head, he asked, “You saw her through the window of a darkened apartment?”

Nodding, I took a bite of the corndog and sat back down. I turned to Declan. “Can you see through darkened windows?”

He thought about it a moment. “Yes, but I’d need to be close. If I’m across the street and looking up, would I see a face in a dark apartment window? Absolutely. Would I see it from down the block?” He shook his head. “Doubtful.”

“Let me make sure.” Nick stood, put his corndog stick on the plate, and pulled out his phone, swiping through screens. When the woman answered her phone, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Arthur nodded at me. “Good thought. Did you notice anything else?”

I thought a moment. “I flew over the neighborhood last night. There are surprisingly few pickup trucks. The few I found had cold engines and smelled of human, not wolf. I may not have your noses, but I could identify all of you tonight so I think I would have scented a wolf. Granted, garages exist.” With a shrug, I continued, “I also went through my forest earlier this evening. I didn’t pick up on anything out of the ordinary.”

Nick walked back, pocketing his phone. “McKenna’s staying with her mom.” He looked at me. “Did you find anything else in the ditch besides her phone?”

I shook my head.

Declan’s brows were furrowed as he glared at the floor. Arwyn rubbed his knee. He looked at Nick over Arwyn’s head. “You’re sure you scented wolf?”

Nick nodded. “It was faint—barely there—but I caught it on McKenna. I didn’t scent anything on the road, but she was carrying a scent that wasn’t human, one I’m pretty sure was wolf.”

“Are there dog shifters?” I asked. “Maybe he’s a Huskey or a Malamute.”

Declan turned his hard glare on me, but after a moment it softened. “No. There are no dog shifters.” Relaxing back into the sofa, he continued, “Wolves are not dogs, but we are genetically close, so I’m following the logic.”

Had I just offended him? I was sitting cross-legged, so I rolled forward onto my knees, took a corndog, and handed it to him as a peace offering. “Sorry.” Then I rolled back down to my spot, leaning against a bookcase.

“No offense taken,” Declan said.

“Well, some offense was taken,” Arwyn murmured.

“Yes, but I was given meat, so all is forgotten,” he replied before taking a big bite.

“Can you call the pack together?” Arthur asked. “Then we could have Nick try to identify him.”

“Wait,” Arwyn said. “Can we narrow it down for him? Do we have anything the truck guy touched?”

“Did you show them the video?” I asked Nick.

He nodded. “While you were in back.”

“From that,” I said, “it doesn’t look like he touched anything other than his truck. McKenna never said he touched her. Right?”

Nick shook his head, “No. He didn’t touch her.”

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