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Adrian wiped water off his face, regretting his lack of forethought to grab a ball cap. He paid no attention to weather overseas. They just got wet on missions.
He’d finished covering his part of an area which was fifteen miles from Hickory in a suburb where two women had been snatched. Rain drizzled and threatened to dump more soon. Human law enforcement hadn’t gotten involved because this had been a shifter incident. Families of the female shifters could only do so much. They wouldn’t want to draw attention to their pack or clan if they were living quietly off the grid.
All he had to do was find a way to track the kidnappers and figure out who he had to save for the Gallize.
Plus find Jaz and acquire evidence that would convince the Guardian of her innocence.
Piece of cake, right?
The only part of that he felt compelled to do immediately was find Jaz, the one thing he had no intel on.
He paused at a scent that matched the shirt he’d been given for one woman. Where was Red when he could use some help?
His wolf spoke up unexpectedly in his mind. Find mate.
Adrian intended to find Jaz, but would it be before she killed Reinhold? He waited until he could reply to Red without losing his temper at his wolf not really offering anything of use. If you help me, we can hunt for the golden wolf soon.
Red withdrew.
Maybe Adrian should consider that a win as opposed to the shouting that normally ensued.
Vic came jogging over. “Got nothing. What about you?”
Adrian held up the shirt. “Think I’m standing where this one got taken.” He stood only thirty feet from the road where the woman might have been walking home. From what he’d found with broken branches and a male wolf shifter scent, she’d been dragged into the woods and probably tranquilized.
Vic dropped down and closed his eyes, inhaling. He muttered, “Terrified.”
“What?” Adrian searched the ground.
“Nothing.” Vic jumped up and dusted his knees. “Just saying she had to be scared.”
Understood. But this gave Adrian an idea. “We’ve found nothing more than confirmation a wolf shifter took this one. I know where a recent shifter kidnapping happened not far from here. We should check it out.”
“Was it on our list?”
“No. I doubt anyone has called it in.” Adrian wouldn’t explain that the family had asked him to find Jaz. “I just heard about it myself. I think the wolf pack didn’t raise an alarm because they don’t want to draw attention to themselves.”
“That makes sense,” Vic admitted.
Adrian’s gut was pushing him to check out the place Daisy went missing while this close. He might be straying from his mission for the Guardian, but his team had scoured the locations they’d been given.
He could justify this side trip. He’d feel as if he were doing something for Jaz.
Hawk flew down and banked to the right, then soared back up.
Vic waved. “I’m guessing Hawk didn’t find anything either or he’d have stopped and shifted.
Adrian could speak mind-to-mind with any Gallize shifter while they were in animal form, but none of them could communicate with Hawk telepathically in any form. He wasn’t Gallize.
By the time Adrian reached where they’d parked the truck Vic and Hawk had ridden in, Hawk had shifted and dressed. Everyone loaded up with Vic following Adrian.
It took seventeen minutes to reach Daisy’s kidnap point.
Adrian kept checking his watch. He had no idea when he’d find Jaz, but every second ticked away, tearing him up with the wait.
Adrian recalled Jaz’s description of the location along the highway where she’d intended to meet up with Daisy. When he passed the spot, he pulled off on the side of the road where two vehicles could park.
He hurried to Vic and Hawk’s truck, telling them, “Let me do a quick look at a place we passed. Shouldn’t take me long to determine if this sheds any useful information.”
“I’ll turn around to watch. Call us if you go out of sight and something comes up.”
“Copy that.”
Scooting across the empty road took no effort with so little traffic moving through this area. Even so, the woods were thin. A parked vehicle would stand out. That’s why he hadn’t wanted to park close to the spot.
He stepped off the road on the other side and started tracking. Lots of scents from people and animals, but then he’d go through a stretch with only a few scents. He’d walked six or seven hundred yards when he recognized a faint smell.
Dropping down on his knees he inhaled deeply.
Red’s voice piped up. Walk into woods.
Adrian stilled. He didn’t say a word, but turned toward the woods. As he moved forward, the scent became stronger until he found a spot where he detected a female shifter had been.
Wolf shifter.
What confirmed this location for him was when he and Red recognized the scent they were both hunting.
Red said, Mate. Not here.
Agreeing that Jaz had once been here, Adrian tracked the scent back to where her smell covered a small area.
His hair stood.
The other smell, a male wolf shifter, mixed with hers in a violent mash.
Blood had dried on surrounding weeds and saplings.
That had to be Kaiser’s blood. Adrian’s pulse raced at a realization. Kaiser’s scent matched the one Adrian had found at the last location. Kaiser had not just been trying to drag Daisy off for himself. He’d committed this crime before.
He’d been kidnapping female shifters.
Backing away from the property, Adrian kept watching, because the last person he wanted to face right now was Tanza.
No way did he want to answer her questions when she would not believe his answers.
When he reached the trucks, he told Vic, “I have a lead. Give me a minute to call a resource and I’ll tell you if it’s any good or not.”
“Do it.”
Adrian called Scarlett. When she answered, he hit her with what she could do. “I need information. I found something that will possibly take care of what the Guardian wants and help me track down evidence to help Jaz.”
“What do you need?”
“Can you access traffic cams and pull up phone records like yesterday?”
“Yes. Give me specifics.”
Adrian had a tiny hesitation at exposing Kaiser, but the Leonard he knew had always been black and white about doing the right thing. He’d once told Adrian, “We’re all shifters, but we aren’t all good or all bad. I will protect the innocent no matter who threatens them.”
Decision made. Adrian gave Scarlett everything she needed to get busy.
