Page 51 of Wolf's Forbidden Curse

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I said. “Is there anyone besides yourself and Daphne who has a key to the apartment?”

“Daphne?”

“I mean Katrina. Sorry. Daphne’s—uh—her middle name. Anyway, about the keys.”

Al shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. There’s an extra set of keys in the bar, in my desk drawer, but that should be the only other copy.” He re-wound the video and watched it again. “That figure looks sort of like a woman, don’t you think? There’s some hair poking out from under her hood.”

“Maybe. Katrina is small enough that it wouldn’t require two grown men to carry her down the stairs. Were there any creeps at the bar recently? Anyone who was giving her a hard time or bothering her?”

“Besides you?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. I wasn’t in the mood for jokes.

“No,” he said when I didn’t even crack a smile at his quip. “I didn’t see anyone acting shady, and she didn’t mention any patrons making her uncomfortable. Did she say anything to you tonight?”

“Not that would lead me to think she was in danger. I never would’ve left if I thought something like this might happen.” I drew in a deep breath and wracked my brain to try and come up with an explanation. Was it possible she had told someone else about being a werewolf? Someone who wouldn’t have been as understanding as me?

“Al—what did you know about Katrina?”

“Not much, why? You think she might be involved with some bad people? I always figured she was running from something, but I never guessed it was anything this bad.”

Could this be about her parents?

“And you’re sure this is the only footage? Does anyone else have cameras up in the neighborhood?”

“Not sure,” he said. “Seeing as Solara Bay is so safe, I’d be surprised, but I can ask around.”

“Do it.”

“Now?”

“Yes, now,” I scolded him. “She needs our help. If we don’t find her soon, they could kill her!”

This seemed to snap Al to attention. He shut his computer and went for the door. “You’re right. Fuck decorum. I’m going. You coming?”

At first, I was going to refuse. I thought it was best that someone stay at the apartment in case anyone returned—Daphne or her captors. But then I saw the look of fear in Al’s eye, and I could tell he was asking because he probably didn’t want to go knocking on doors alone. He was an older guy, fit but not particularly strong.

I didn’t blame him for being freaked out. The only reason I wasn’t more scared was that I knew I could take care of myself if need be.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that, I thought as I followed him out. But I won’t hesitate to turn if they’ve hurt her in any way.

We went house to house, but I hung back and let Al do most of the talking. These were his neighbors, after all, and I was feeling antsy enough just being there when, under different circumstances, I would’ve been running full-speed in wolf form, tracking down the woman I could no longer deny I was in love with.

I hated standing around and waiting for more information to come my way. It was tortuous, and I couldn’t seem to stop my mind from running through all the various ways these kidnappers might be hurting Daphne. In an attempt to keep myself from going crazy, I tried to catch her scent a handful of times as I followed Al down the street, one house or business at a time, but there was nothing left of her in the air. This scared me more than what I saw on the camera footage because it meant they had definitely put her in a car and driven away—probably as fast as they could.

They could be nearing the state border at this point. Or maybe they’d gone to the airport and were already on their way out of the country.

Stop it. Don’t go there.

I needed to stay calm, alert, if I was going to be able to help her.

The first two doors Al knocked on heeded no answer, but at the third stop, someone opened the door. On the other side was an older man wearing a robe over his flannel pajamas. He looked exhausted, but he smiled when he saw Al.

“Oh, hey,” he said. “I thought you were my grandson. He’s visiting me this summer, and he goes out late with his friends every night. Half the time, he forgets his key.”

“Ah, I see. I was wondering why you answered the door so quickly. Look, I’m sorry to bother you at this hour,” said Al. “But a friend of ours has gone missing. I don’t know if you met Katrina. She’s the woman I recently hired to work at Smart Choice.”

He frowned. “I can’t say I have. She’s missing?”

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