The Wolf Witch

5

My father stopped breathing for a second and met my eyes. He looked like a little boy in those seconds. Like a terrified little boy, and the sight of him shocked me all over again.

"She doesn't know better. She's not like you, Isabella. She's very sensitive," he whispered. "And what if the rumors are true?"

"They're not." They couldn't be.

"But what if they are?" he said, raising his voice. He rubbed his face for a second and took in a deep breath. "I hired a private investigator to find her. The best in the country. He told me he couldn't, but that he knew someone who could find anything at all." Goddamn it. I should have known. "When he told me your name, I thought he was kidding me."

"Was it Ronnie from the Agency?" Everybody knew Ronnie and his Agency.

My father nodded. "Yes, it was."

The fucking asshole. I'd told him my real name in confidence. If I'd known he'd tell my own father about me—and I'm a hundred percent sure he already knew who Travis was because Ronnie's job was to know things—I would have never told him.

But that's a lie.

The sight of my father, so broken, so scared... I never thought I'd say this, but I was glad he'd found me, no matter that that feeling flushed all those five years down the fucking drain.

Then came the words I dreaded the most.

"You need to find her, Isabella. You need to find your sister before it's too late. Your mother and I are losing our minds. We don't know what to do, how else to look for her."

I stood up and went to the window as if that was going to make me escape the situation somehow. Even though my back was turned to him, in my mind's eye I still saw my father's wide eyes and the desperation in them. It was like meeting him for the first time, or at least a part of him I'd never known before. Even my wolf was now curious. She didn't give a rat's ass about people, but this sure seemed to interest her.

"I work with animals, " I whispered, my breath fogging the glass. It's when I realized that I was burning up, and it wasn't even warm in the apartment. "I wouldn't know how to..." My voice trailed off.

It was the truth. I wasn't a private investigator. I found animals because it was easy. I'd get a request for a job, go to the address and smell the missing pet's scent. Animals had a much heavier smell than people, and my wolf was always a hundred percent into it, so it was easy for me to track. I always found the animals—whether alive or dead.

But people were a different story.

"I brought you something," my father said and stood up to come to me. He handed me a shirt. "It's Vivi's. She had this on the entire day before she disappeared. You can still smell her."

Pursing my lips, I took the shirt. I couldn't allow myself to breathe through my nose just yet. Too much had happened already.

"She was last seen in a tavern in Prairieville, the same night she disappeared. Here's the address," he said and put a folded piece of paper in my hand. "Do you think you can pick up her scent with this shirt?"

A lump formed in my throat. "Yes," I breathed.

He wrapped one arm around me and rested his head on my shoulder for just a split second. I couldn't remember the last time we'd hugged. When he let go of me, I felt a thousand pounds lighter.

"So Ronnie was right," he said then. "He said you had the best nose in the country."

"He's exaggerating it," I whispered.