Reynard leanedin and kissed me one last time, his hands cupping my face as if he was committing every detail to memory and reluctant to let go. I clung to him, wishing that we could spend more time together. Actually, I wished that Carissa had never turned up in my backseat with this horrible news.
Hang on a minute. Reynard had his hand on the doorknob and Carissa already had one of the back doors open. "Wait," I said firmly. "Hold up. Why are you leaving?"
I glanced at Carissa in the rearview mirror. She squinted her eyes at me, trying to figure me out.
Reynard said, "What do you mean?"
"I just think that one, if we're going to date, and two, if I'm going to be intimately involved with the lives of the paranormal creatures, maybe I should ride along. See what this is like."
As Carissa said, "No!" Reynard's face lit up. He clearly loved the idea.
He said, "Yesssss. You'd be perfect."
Carissa leaned up and poked her head between us. Her short black hair was fluffed out, a lot like an annoyed cat’s. She looked at the both of us as if we had lost our minds. "Are you insane? You're squishy!" She swung her head toward Reynard. "I thought you wanted her as a woman, not pâté!"
Well, that wasn’t a pleasant thought. Despite that, I shrugged. "Maybe, but if I'm going to help these people come out, then I need to see how it really is. Up close and personal."
Reynard fist-pumped the air. "Yes!" How did he manage to be so cute and sexy?
Ugh, I had it bad.
Carissa sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you."
I grinned at them. "Come on, let's go and save the shifters."
Reynard took his hand off of the doorknob and Carissa shut her door. "Where to?" I asked.
"We don't know exactly where any of them are."
"Then to Roma's," Rey said. "We'll try a locator spell on them. I presume you brought personal effects?"
Carissa rolled her eyes in my rearview as I looked around and began to back out of the parking spot. "Of course, I did. How many hunts have I been on, old fox?"
He snorted. “Kitten, it never hurts to double-check.”
Obviously, a history there, and I made a mental note to ask later. We traveled in silence, my mind spinning. I felt like all I could contribute was being werewolf bait if they wanted a snack, and uneasy just being in the same vicinity as the danger, but it had been my idea. What if one of those things got to me? I didn't want to think about it. Soon, Reynard began chatting with Carissa, and they talked about which of the wolves was kidnapped, and who was searching. It turned out fated mates were a real thing in wolf culture, and two females had been taken by enemies of their mates.
"Is this normal practice?" I asked a little weakly. "A day in the life?"
"No," Reynard said quickly. "It's been much worse since the virus. We're all very hopeful for a cure."
Carissa scoffed. "Yeah, right. As if they can manufacture one fast. Have you paid any attention to how long it takes them to make new drugs?"
I quieted my mind and looked ahead. We were about to save some shifters. In the end, maybe that would be enough.
And who knew, maybe this would be the start of something new and exciting. Maybe I could even make a difference in this upside-down world.
Only time would tell.
We arrived at the company offices of the place Andromeda worked for, Repupair’s, which, while empty at the moment, was now quickly becoming headquarters, and ran inside. Carissa pulled out a map and spread it on the big conference table. "Okay, where did you find them last?"
Carissa pulled out a scrap of paper from her pocket. "They were headed north, towards the mountains."
"That's where we'll start," Reynard said, pointing to a spot on the map.
Carissa handed him a necklace. "It'll be easier to find the two kidnapped females, I believe."
"I agree," Reynard said as the necklace circled over the northern part of the map. It hovered for a few seconds.
