“Something like what?” I asked about what Jodi said. “Are you in danger?”
“No, of course not.” Reese laughed, but it sounded awkward, accompanied by wringing her hands around the bag’s strap on her shoulder. Her eyes cast downward anytime she tried to look at me.
A frown tugged at my lips. I wanted to see into her eyes since looking into them brought a calmness to my chest I never knew I needed.
All the while, my wolf yelled one word in my mind.
Mate!
“What do you need help with, Reese?” Micah asked, standing behind me.
As the owner of this firm and the man Reese had come to see, I should’ve been okay with him stepping in, hell, even taking the lead on the questions, but it took every ounce of my restraint not to shove my elbow back, directly into his rib cage.
Instead, I tilted my head from one side to the other, cracking my neck.
“There’s something strange going on at Creekview.” Reese’s words were tentative, and I didn’t miss that her eyes remained trained on Micah.
“The nursing home a few miles from here?” He asked.
She nodded. “I’ve volunteered there for a couple of years now. And…” she paused, shifting from one foot to the other again. A nervous habit. “There have been an unusual amount of deaths and disappearances.”
“How many?” I asked before Micah could respond.
She finally lifted her eyes to meet mine. “Five that I’ve counted so far in the past three months.”
“It’s a nursing ho—”
“Have you spoken to anyone else about this?” I asked, cutting Micah off.
She shook her head, eyes planted on something behind me.
“I’ll help you.”
Reese’s eyes grew to saucers, and Micah cleared his throat behind me.
“You’re a private investigator?” She asked.
I nodded, feeling a twinge of guilt at the lie. “I’m trained,” I reassured her.
“Do you have any proof that these deaths are out of the ordinary?”
I shot my cousin a withering look over my shoulder. He lifted his eyebrows as if to suggest that it was me who was the unreasonable one in this situation.
“What kind of proof?” Reese asked Micah.
The urge to hurt my cousin returned.
I stepped closer, consolidating the space between our bodies. Her head tilted back, and I wanted to run a finger down the column of her neck. I bet she would shiver from the touch of my skin against hers.
Mate!
I tightened my hands into fists.
“You know what? Coming here was probably a mistake,” she suddenly said, taking a step back. Then another.
It was challenging, but I didn’t pursue her, only because she looked like a rabbit, trapped by a wolf, ready to bolt at any second.
She was two steps from the front door when a loud buzzing sounded. I stood in place, fighting my instincts not to chase her down.
