During her lunch break, Sienna ate her cheese sandwich before heading to the library.She didn’t know his surname, which didn’t help, but she had eavesdropped on his conversation with his friend.The town of Middlemarch in New Zealand was the logical starting place.
She keyed in a search and studied the results with trepidation.Middlemarch appeared to be a small farming community.She tried adding “Liam” to her search terms, then “leopard shifter,” but came up empty.
Frustrated, she tried “Scott Middlemarch New Zealand” instead—maybe she could find information about Liam’s friend that would lead her to him.The third result made her stomach drop.
A local newspaper photo showed a handsome man with wavy black hair—Scott—with his arm around a pretty blonde woman.The caption read: “Local farmer Scott Baxter announces engagement to Wellington teacher Harley Evans-Wilson.”
Sienna studied the screen, guilt crystallizing into something sharper.If Scott had someone he loved, what about Liam?They’d been close—Liam could easily have someone waiting for him, worrying, planning a future together.She’d been so focused on her family’s desperation, she’d never truly considered his life before the gathering.The thought that she might’ve destroyed not just his autonomy, but his happiness, settled like a stone in her chest.
On her way back to work, the streets appeared noticeably empty and lacked their usual bustle.The coffee shop, with its usual enticing coffee and pastry scents, had closed early.The locals she encountered wore grim expressions.A mother with two young children hustled them past the playground, keeping her kids close.
A tall, bulky man rounded the corner and deliberately slammed into her elbow with force.Seconds later, she struck the ground with a shocked shout.Pain shredded her knee.The man didn’t stop, didn’t look back, didn’t say sorry.
Sienna muttered under her breath and rose.Her right knee stung, a trickle of blood sliding down her shin.She froze as the weight of a stare had her head snapping to her left.The man who’d knocked her down stood watching, gaze narrowed with predatory interest.Another man stood beside him, speaking quietly while also observing her.
The way they catalogued her every movement—the clinical detachment in their gazes—made her skin crawl.This wasn’t random intimidation.They were studying her.
She limped past them, fighting the urge to look back.The pair’s quiet laughter followed her, but beneath it, she caught fragments of their conversation: “…definitely responds like…” and “…should report back…”
Whatever they were looking for, she had a sinking feeling they’d tested her, and that did not bode well.
“What happened to you?”Molly asked, her gaze drawn to Sienna’s knee.Like most employees, Molly was a feline shifter, and she’d smelled blood.
“A man knocked me over in the street.He came around a corner and plowed into me.”
Molly’s eyes narrowed.“A stranger?”
“Yes.”
Molly bit back a curse, which was unusual for her.“They’re causing trouble around town, hassling the local women, especially the younger, prettier ones.They got cut off at the pub last night.”
That made Sienna wonder because if the hunters had been searching for shifters last night, they couldn’t have also been getting tossed from the pub.“How many hunt—I mean, visitors—are in town?”
“Three booked into the local hotel.Word is they told everyone there could be more coming.”
More!“How long are they staying?”
“At least a month.”Molly lowered her voice.“The mayor doesn’t know who is backing them.Clean up your knee before you start work again.”
“Okay,” Sienna said.
The mayor kept his finger on the pulse, and nothing escaped his notice.He had allowed Molly to hire her, despite the protests from the senior advisers on his team.If he knew nothing, the person responsible had been careful to remain in the shadows.
Filing and the phone engrossed her for the afternoon.At five, when she exited the side door of the council offices, she found Liam waiting for her.
“You didn’t have to walk me home.”
“Tamsin was worried.”Liam took her arm.“Things aren’t normal at present.The visitors are stirring up trouble.”
“So I heard.Did Papa and the boys get away okay?”
“They left late morning and none too soon,” Liam said, his tone grim.“The visitors are going house to house to ask if anyone has seen the black cat of Bodmin Moor.I saw Tony, and he told me.”
“Crap,” she said in an understatement.“Molly, the office manager, told me they’re staying at least a month.The mayor doesn’t know much and is worried.”
“If they’re staying a month, someone with deep pockets is financing them.It can’t be cheap to employ people for the search.”
“There are three men at the hotel.”
