Page 20 of Wolf's Midlife Baby

“Selene’s,” he corrected. Kyle waited to continue until someone had passed them on the sidewalk. “And yes, I think it’s a virtual hotbed. I also think it’s a quick way to get caught. We have no idea what these people are really like, Holly. They probably look just like you and me on the outside, but I wouldn’t trust them. For all I know, they eat people like us for breakfast.”

Maybe people like you. Two days was too long to be playing dumb, especially to someone like Kyle. He had no idea she was only there to keep an eye on him and try to deter him from this article. So far, she felt like she was doing a good job of it. He thought she was really in on it, ready to share her byline with the great Kyle Freeman. The problem is that it meant she had to spend an awful lot of time with him. “Even if you find them, how will you get proof of who they are?”

“What they are,” he corrected. “They’re definitely not human.”

She suppressed her bear and her anger at that response. “Anyway,” she continued through gritted teeth, “how are you going to get proof? You can’t just walk up to someone and ask them to, you know…”

“Change before my very eyes?” He turned to her, taking her by the arms. “Holly, all I have to do is find out who and where they are and then track down their routine. I’ll worry about the proof afterwards. Video, probably.”

“No one will believe that’s real, considering how easy it is to manipulate video these days with AI,” she pointed out. “Just think about all those viral clips that go around.”

He let out an impatient sigh. “Fine. Then I’ll just capture one. Whatever it takes, Holly.”

A shiver of dread rippled through her, and her bear recoiled at Kyle’s words. Capture? That was exactly what every shifter she knew feared the most. Humans had a tendency to trap anything they didn’t understand, as long as they didn’t kill it first. It wasn’t likely that a singular journalist could actually achieve this, but the very idea of it filled her with apprehension.

“The locals know something,” Kyle reasoned as he stopped and opened the door to a little place called First Light Café. “Eventually, we’re going to talk to the right one.”

“Good morning!” a woman behind the counter called. “Have a seat anywhere, and I’ll come get your order in a minute.”

It was a cozy place, and Holly was happy to sink into a padded chair. Plenty of indirect light came in through the front windows, giving the café a comfortable glow. She picked up the menu on the table and glanced it over, pleased and surprised that everything looked so healthy. “Oh, look. A loaded breakfast potato. That sounds so good.”

“Uh-huh.” Kyle had a menu as well, but he was furtively looking over the top of it at the other patrons. He looked like he belonged on some cheesy spy show and needed only a trench coat and a fedora to complete the scene.

“All right, folks. Sorry, that took me a minute. I was just finishing up a batch of pumpkin walnut muffins. What can I get for you?” The woman who’d greeted them took a pen from behind her ear and held it expectantly over her ordering pad, watching them with soft brown eyes.

“Well, Tiffany,” Kyle said after he’d glanced at her nametag, “I think I’ll take the avocado toast.”

Tiffany sighed. “That normally comes on sprouted bread, as it says on the menu, but we keep getting shorted by our supplier. I do have twelve-grain or whole wheat.”

“Twelve-grain is fine,” he said hurriedly, not really caring about the food at all, “and an unsweetened tea.”

“And for you, dear?” Tiffany turned to Holly.

She was a shifter. Holly could tell right away, but the longer Tiffany stood there at their table, Holly knew for sure. An animal lived inside her, but it wasn’t dangerously lurking as Kyle imagined. “The loaded breakfast potato sounds good. And you mentioned the pumpkin muffins, so I think I’ll have one of those, too.”

“Is it all right if that comes out about five minutes after your potato? I’ve just about got them done.”

A warm, fresh, homemade pumpkin muffin. Holly would wait hours for that. “Sure. And some coffee.”

“Great choices. Can I get you guys anything else?”

Holly shook her head, but Kyle had other ideas. “Actually, yes, although nothing that’s on the menu. I was wondering if there have been any strange occurrences in the area.”

A strand of Tiffany’s dark blonde hair had fallen loose from her bun, and she tucked it behind her ear. “Strange occurrences? I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Oh, you know, anything a bit…different. The kind of news that traditional outlets wouldn’t publish. We’re reporters specializing in the paranormal,” Kyle explained, raising his eyebrows and cocking his head as though that should enchant this woman into telling him everything he wanted to know.

“Paranormal investigators? You mean, like, ghost hunting?” Tiffany asked. “I don’t think I know anything about that.”

“No, not just ghosts.” Kyle was trying to get her to come around and say it instead of throwing it out there himself. “Anything that’s not about regular humans, if you know what I mean. The kind of stories all the locals know but no one else talks about.”

“I think I do,” Tiffany said with a smile. “We have tons of stories around here about Sasquatch.”

Kyle shook his head. “No, not Bigfoot.”

“He prefers to be called Sasquatch,” Tiffany replied. “It’s more respectful. He’s got quite the following around here, and I even know someone who’s quite an expert in the field.”

Holly clenched her teeth, holding back a laugh.

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