Page 197 of Secret Shifters Next Door

He nodded. “Looks like. No one died or disappeared this time.”

“Thank Christ.” I sighed. “What happened exactly?”

“According to my brother, the guys who were attacked said the hunters seemed nervous and a little scared. They hesitated, which is the only reason they’re still alive.”

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my thighs. “And they’re sure they were hunters?”

“Yeah. Said they called them shifters.” Steff tilted his head. “Among other things. It wasn’t some random crime. They were targeted.”

Tate leaned on my desk. “Sounds like new recruits. Gun shy, maybe?”

I agreed. “That’s exactly what it is. The hunters are adding members. I bet they’re pulling them in so fast that they don’t have time to train them properly. Their leader must be getting desperate.” The news didn’t sit well with me. I’d been so worked up and consumed with Celina that the search for the leader of the hunters had faded to the background. “I’ll get back on the case.”

“Whoa,” Blayne said. “You have enough to deal with right now.”

“He’s right,” Steff added. “Why don’t we contract for some help?”

“What are we going to tell them?” I asked. “Hey, we’re trying to find a secret billionaire cult leader who is trying to kill off a magical race of shapeshifters?”

Blayne grimaced. “Okay, not exactly what I’d lead with, but we could figure something out.”

Tate swept his hand through the air, silencing all conversation. “You need to focus on your mate. You’ll be no good to anyone if you’re in pain all the time and unable to concentrate. Trust me, it’s not going to get any better from here on out.”

Steff nodded. “It’s pretty miserable. Tate and I were probably only a few steps away from going feral. We don’t want that foryou. We can help. There’s no real need for you to leave town on another research trip. We’re stronger when we stick together.”

I didn’t like sitting still with so much going on. It made me feel useless, but I had to agree. I’d seen how bad things got with Steff and Tate. The thought of being all the way out in Oklahoma or Missouri or something made my skin crawl. I nodded and acquiesced. “Okay, I’ll stay. I’m still gonna do online research, but I’m going to stay close. Fair enough?”

The guys nodded. With that settled, we worked through what information we did have. We talked about the paperwork we found at Ryland’s house. There’d been doctored documents, phone records, and even pictures showing us all in various stages of one crime or another. The quality had been unbelievable and must have cost thousands to make. If Ryland had been able to get that stuff to the cops, all four of us would have been in jail. As impressive as the documents and photos were, they didn’t help us figure out who the leader was.

Even with everything we found out at his house and what Ryland had said that night in the warehouse, plus what I tried to discover during the two weeks I was away, we had nothing. It made no sense.

“Something is off about all this,” Steff said. “No man is an island. This guy is out there. We know it. Why can’t we dig up a single damned thing?”

Blayne stood and paced the room. “We know he has a thing about shifters—dragon shifters in particular. We know that because of what Ryland said. The leader’s wife ran off with a dragon shifter. That’s what set this all in motion. All we know is she’s dead, but we still don’t know how she died.” Blayne paused for a second before continuing, “If we can figure out who she was, we have a doorway to the leader. He can keep himself hidden with his money and power. She’s dead and gone. It’s a lot harder to cover your tracks when you aren’t alive anymore.Find her name? We walk the trail back to the husband, Mister Douchebag.”

“Okay, that’s the best lead we have. I knew of the clan that got slaughtered in Texas.” Tate stopped speaking and grimaced before going on. “It was bad. Every dragon shifter in the country knows about it. I’ll see if I can make contact with anyone down there who may have met the wife when they dealt with that clan. Though”—he held up a finger and looked at me—“we’ve been working on the assumption that the woman and her billionaire psycho husband were from Texas or around that area. Why? Why have we assumed that?”

I stared at him for several seconds as what he said clicked into place in my mind. “Shit. You’re right. All my research has been in Texas or within a two-hour drive of Texas. They could be from anywhere, though. Damn it. I’ll need to start over from the beginning with our possible suspects.”

“I’ll make some calls, see what I can find out. I think that’s as far as we can go right now. Right?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I guess we can all go work on whatever else we have. We still have a business to run, so let’s leave Tate to it.”

Blayne and I left, and Steff stayed behind to see if he could help Tate. I looked at Blayne. “Want a coffee or something?”

He nodded, and we went into the break room. I started the coffee machine. As we waited, Blayne gave me a knowing smile. “How’s it going with Celina?”

I groaned. “Had dinner with her last night.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“It was fine. Great, actually. Then my wolf and my hormones decided to run absolutely fucking wild. I started getting these mental images, and one thing led to another, so I had to get out of there. It was getting obvious I was excited to be around her.”

Blayne looked at me blankly before realization dawned on him. “You popped wood? During dinner? That’s not a huge deal.”

I rolled my eyes. “Bro, I looked like I had a flashlight in my pants. It was embarrassing, and Celina seems pretty demure. I didn’t want to see what she’d do if she noticed.”

Blayne laughed so hard that I thought he was going to fall over. “Hey, man, I get it. Celina’s a hot little thing.”

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