“You got here fast,” I said as I unlocked the front doors.
Brock slipped past me and I rolled my eyes. Stupid protective instincts. He walked inside and surveyed the room before turning back to face me.
“We were already in the area.” He shrugged. “What have you got?”
I threw my messenger bag on my desk and started up the coffee pot. “Melody is missing.”
While the coffee brewed, I pulled out one of Melody’s shirts I’d taken from her apartment along with a few feathers and handed them over to Brock.
“The Harpy friend?” He asked.
“Mmmhmm.” I busied myself grabbing three coffee cups from the top cupboard and a bottle of vanilla creamer from the mini fridge. Personally, I liked my coffee black. Like my soul.
Kidding. Well, maybe.
But anyway, shifters didn’t drink coffee for the caffeine kick. They wanted flavor. So I kept vanilla creamer in the fridge those moments when a shapeshifter happened to stop by.
Raising the shirt to his face, Brock inhaled Melody’s scent before passing the items to Caden, who did the same.
I gave Brock a pointed look. One he chose to ignore.
Was this take your teenager to work day or something? I didn’t think Brock of all people needed a reminder that Caden was still a kid but maybe …
“Details?”
I sighed. Maybe this was Brock’s way of bonding with Caden, making him feel included as a part of the Pack.
“She was taken from her apartment. Forced entry, significant damage, and blood galore. She didn’t go willingly.”
He nodded, his cognac eyes downcast and the gears in his head already turning.
“I spoke with all of her neighbors who were home. No one heard or saw anything but based on what I can tell, there was a short window of time—maybe an hour or two—when the complex was virtually empty.”
We were estimating she’d been taken early morning between six and seven A.M.
The elderly couple living below had left early for a doctor’s appointment but said all was quiet when they left. Unfortunately, they both wore hearing aids and both admitted to only putting them in on their way out. I guess the enjoyed the quiet so their information wasn’t all that reliable.
Ryan had been at a gig that night and had crashed with a friend until he’d sobered up enough to head home. One of the residents on Mel’s floor worked the night shift and didn’t get home until eight A.M. The other left for work at five A.M.
I tracked him down by phone and he’d sworn he hadn’t heard anything either and that Melody’s door was firmly closed when he left.
No one else had seen or heard anything that morning, and given that when Ryan came home around nine—and her door had been wide open when he arrived—she had to have been taken before that but after five A.M.
If my guess was right, then Melody had already been missing for five hours. We’d lucked out that Ryan had gotten home early. Under normal circumstances, he would have crashed until noon but for some reason he’d felt the urge to get home.
Call it fate or luck. Either way, I wasn’t complaining.
“Was Declan able to find anything?” he asked.
I shook my head. Declan was a weretiger and cats weren’t known for their tracking abilities. Brock was a lion so his nose wouldn’t be much better but he also didn’t rely strictly on scent for tracking. “He picked up Melody’s scent and a few others, but he said they smelled old. The only new scents he’d picked up on were mine and Ryan’s.”
Brock seemed to mull that over for a moment. “Alright. I’ll have a few of our wolves check it out.” He turned to Caden. “Head back to the Compound and pick up Devin and Delaney and take them down to the complex with you. I’ll give them both a call to expect you.”
Caden nodded.
Hold on a minute. “You’re sending Caden to the crime scene?” Was Brock out of his mind? What if the culprit came back? Caden could get hurt or worse.
Brock gave me an assessing look. “I am.”
“He’s just a kid,” I argued.
Caden visibly stiffened but didn’t say anything. A smart kid. But still just a kid.
“He’s hunter born. He doesn’t have the luxury of being sheltered. He needs experience, especially in tracking, and this is a good way to get some.” Brock folded his arms across his chest.
“The Pack already has a Hunter.” I reminded him. And there was no way in hell I was going to sit by while they forced Caden into a position he was too young for. He was only seventeen, for chrissakes.
A Pack’s Hunter was responsible for doling out Pack justice. They acted as the Pack executioner when an Alpha wasn’t present. Responsible for taking down any shifter stupid enough to go rogue whether they were friend, foe, or family.
The thought of Caden having to kill someone … I shivered at the idea. He’d been through enough in his life as it was. Did Declan know about this? He couldn’t. There was no way he would have a child…
I bit my bottom lip. Brock didn’t do anything without his Alpha’s knowledge. Declan had to know.
Urgh. I would kill him.
“As you’re already aware, our Hunter is indisposed at the moment.”
“Then call him back.” I still didn’t know where the hell James was, but Brock did. Now was as good a time as any to finally call him home.
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
Gold flecks filled his gaze, his lion rising to the surface. “I said, no.”
I leaned back against my desk. “You do realize who you’re speaking to, right?” I didn’t know all the ins
