“Really?”
“Really.”
“And how,” Violet inquires, “is Lucas?”
I tilt my head back and laugh at the branches of the tree I have stopped under. The leaves shift green and gold over my face. “I’m working on him.”
“How close is he to cracking?”
“Who knows? He’s very stubborn.”
“Men, right?” Violet rolls her eyes.
I climb over a log, enjoying the peace of the forest. “And they call us exhausting.” I snicker, and we both laugh. “How is your mother? Is she still planning to come to Moonvale?”
The air on the other end of the call changes. Violet’s smile thins at the edges. She glances off camera for a second, then she’s back.
“She’s coming. Two days. We’re sending escorts for her.”
“Escorts?” I repeat. “Why does she need escorts? Is everything okay?”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out before continuing. “There’s been a run of hybrid disappearances,” she explains.“One of my mother’s closest friends, Lissa, has been missing for three weeks.”
I stare at Violet. “Are you sure she’s not traveling? Your mother and her friends do like to take trips.”
“No, Sienna, she’s gone. Mom went to her place two days ago. There was a half-eaten meal on the table. Her belongings were all there. It’s like she walked out of the apartment in the middle of lunch and…vanished.”
“Oh, Violet…” I murmur.
My friend shakes her head. “She’s not the first one, Sienna. I looked into it. There have been nine hybrids who have gone missing in the past year. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more I don’t know about.”
“Has anything turned up? Any sign of them, any pattern, any suspect?”
“No. That’s the part I can’t let go of. Nine people, and no body, no ransom demand, not even a rumor. It’s clean. Whoever is doing this is good at it.”
My wolf has lifted her head inside me, ears pricked forward.
“Are you sure those are recent disappearances?” I ask slowly.
Violet’s brow furrows. “What do you mean?”
“Hybrid wolves were illegal for a long time because of their magical powers. They went into hiding. If people were disappearing then, who would have reported it? Who would have noticed? What if this has been happening for a while but we’re only finding out now because hybrids have come back into the open?”
“Goddess,” she breathes. “I never thought about it like that.” Violet is silent for several seconds, rubbing her face. When she drops her hand, she looks tired. “It took a lot of effort to convince my mother to come here where I can keep an eye on her. Darius is in the process of registering all hybrids, but after what wasdone to them, do we really think they want to reveal themselves so openly?”
She has a point.
“There may be no way of knowing how many have actually been taken.” I sigh. “I’ll talk to Lucas. He has an investigative network that stretches into every pack in the region. If anyone can find a pattern in the noise, it’s his people. I will get him to loop in Darius and run it jointly.”
Violet gives me a small smile. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” I tell her. “There’s going to be a lot of paperwork for this. He’ll be supporting our pack as part of the merger. The work never ends.” Even as I keep my tone lighthearted, I know how worried my friend is. “We’ll get to the bottom of this, Violet. Don’t worry.”
“Stay where you are while we figure this out.”
I laugh, a little thinly. “I am in the safest pack in the territory, Violet. I could not be more surrounded by teeth if I tried.”
“Still.”