Sami was the first through the door when we reached the bar. She seemed excited at the prospect of meeting new people. Marissa was the first one she ran into on the other side of the threshold and the snark was flying fast and furious within seconds.
“Who are you?” Marissa had a small pocket mirror in her hand and was studying her face. The missing eyebrow from the day before hadn’t magically grown back but Marissa had clearly used a pencil to fill it in. The outcome was even more ridiculous than having one missing eyebrow.
“Who are you?” Sami shot back, attitude on full display. She really was her mother’s daughter.
“This is my co-worker,” I said. “She won’t hurt you.”
Sami made a derisive noise. “Like she could hurt me.”
I glanced at Zoe, who held out her hands as if to say, “she is what she is.”
“Marissa, where is Rooster?” I asked. “I need to talk to him.”
“He’s in the back with Whistler.” Marissa sat taller in her chair when the door opened behind us. I didn’t need to glance over my shoulder to know that Jasmine and her crew had arrived. “Seriously, who are these people?”
Rooster appeared from the back hallway before I could answer. “That’s exactly what I was going to ask,” he said, glancing between faces. “Let me guess, something big happened last night and you didn’t bother to call. Why am I not surprised?”
His reaction reminded me of a disappointed parent and had me smiling. “We didn’t realize how serious things were last night,” I replied. “Now ... it’s different.”
“We?” Rooster frowned. “I think we should have a talk, Scout. In fact ...” He trailed off when the door opened a third time and Gunner and Aric entered. “Well, I’ll be.”
“Daddy!” Sami immediately went to her father and threw her arms around his neck, causing Zoe to roll her eyes. “I missed you so much.”
Aric patted her back, seemingly confused. “Did something happen?” His gaze immediately landed on the new shifters. “Did somebody hurt you?”
“Nobody hurt her,” Zoe replied. “She’s fine.”
Aric focused his gaze on his wife. “Did anybody hurt you?”
“Nobody was hurt,” I reassured him. “We found footprints at the house on the hill. We followed them into the woods and found ... new friends. Apparently, they’ve been having trouble with the vampires, too. We’re hopeful that we can come to a compromise and share information.”
Aric didn’t look convinced. “If nobody hurt Sami, why is she so upset?”
“She got bear crap on her shoe,” Zoe replied. “She’s fine.”
Sami solemnly shook her head. “My life is over, Daddy. I can’t ever wear these shoes again.”
I found the girl’s tone wheedling but Aric was clearly amused.
“I guess that means you need new shoes.” Aric’s smile was so wide it threatened to engulf his entire face. “That’s kind of interesting. You were just asking for new shoes two weeks ago and your mother shot you down because she said these shoes were brand new and barely worn.”
“It’s not my fault.” Sami appeared to be a master at playing her father. “She made me go into the woods.”
Zoe jabbed a finger in Sami’s direction. “Knock that off. Your father is far too smart to fall for that con.”
Sami jutted out her lower lip. “I’m not running a con. And no, he isn’t.”
Rather than be offended, Aric’s smile only grew. “She’s right. I’m not. She can have new shoes.”
“Whatever.” Zoe was likely picking her battles because she let it go. “Our new friends said they couldn’t tell us what they were doing in the woods because it was pack business. Sami showed them what she could do but they didn’t change their tune. I figure it’s now up to you guys to change their minds.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Jasmine said. “I know Gunner from a long time ago. He’s technically not pack, but he’s not an enemy either. I didn’t realize he was part of your group.”
“I believe I mentioned that,” I said.
“You didn’t say his name,” Jasmine shot back. “You were purposely vague.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Rooster interjected, taking control of the conversation. “What matters is the information you have to share. I’m still in the dark as to exactly what’s going on so why don’t we both share information and see where we get.”
Jasmine nodded stiffly. “That’s fair.”
“We’ll go first,” Rooster said, his gaze landing on me. “Tell us what happened last night.”
I launched into the tale, leaving nothing out. I glossed over some of the things I considered private, including the fact that Rafael was a vampire who could walk in the sun. I’d yet to grill Zoe on that development and didn’t feel it should be open to public consumption. When I was finished, I turned to Jasmine. “Your turn.”
She nodded and dragged a hand through her long hair. “Female shifters are going missing. A lot of them. We’re down twenty from our pack alone.”
Zoe stirred. “Twenty?” She slid her gaze to Aric. “How can that be?”
“I don’t know,” he said, “but we got the same information from our meeting with pack leadership. The females are either being killed or taken. They don’t know which.”
“That doesn’t explain what you were doing in the woods,” I said to Jasmine. “Were you taken? Did you escape?”
Jasmine shook her head. “Word has been spreading fast. We don’t know what is happening to our females. We’re afraid, and we decided to take things into our own hands. We thought we would be safer serving as each other’s backup and hiding away from the action until things calmed down. Apparently, that’s not going to be an option going forward.”
“You were at the bluff house,” I pointed out. “You must’ve had a reason for going up there.”
“We heard stories about vampires,” Creole marked, speaking for the first time. She seemed shy and reserved, although
