Page 24 of Property of Crypt Keeper

“That’s what she said.”

“How did you end up at her house?” I asked her, trying my best to sound friendly and nonchalant.

Zara shrugged. “I woke up there after the people came and got me from school. She told me my mom asked her to babysit, but she didn’t know when they would be back. I miss my mom.”

My heart broke for her. I understood that feeling. My mom had left me with my dad when I was around her age.

“That wasn’t your dad’s sister that brought you to the clubhouse?”

“My dad had a sister?” she asked me.

Shock hit me. “Um, I guess so?”

She blinked up at me. “Oh.”

What the fuck was going on?

“Did your mom or dad ever talk to you about what would happen as you got older?” I asked her, trying to feel out what she knew.

“Like what?” she asked as I poured the first pancake on the now sizzling pan. “Can you make Mickey Mouse ones?”

“Uhh, well, I’ll try,” I winced inwardly. I did the best I could, but honestly, they looked more like a dick and balls than Mickey Mouse. Thankfully, she didn’t notice.

We finished making the pancakes, and I made the rest before I set the plates on the table.

Zara ate like she didn’t trust the food would still be there if she took her time.

Small hands wrapped tightly around the fork, shoulders hunched over her plate like someone might take it from her if she blinked wrong. Eggs, microwave sausage links—nothing fancy—but she tore through it like she’d gone days without anything real.

She’d eaten at Mako’s the first night. But who knew what she’d been through in the time leading up to that?

I leaned back in the chair across from her, arms folded, watching without making it obvious.

The house was quiet. Too quiet for me.

Dalton and Ryian were out of town with Anson for a couple of weeks on a vacation to Europe. That left the place empty except for me.

And now… her.

Zara.

A five-year-old who had shown up at our doorstep like something out of a story that should’ve stayed buried. I was letting her stay in my nephew’s room, but I knew I had to figure something out before they got back. I was hoping Hack would get some answers for me and that wouldn’t be an issue.

She didn’t move like a kid.

Didn’t breathe like one either.

Every now and then, her head tilted slightly like she was listening to something deeper than sound. Her eyes flicked to the door, then the window, then back to her plate. Her nostrils flared a bit.

Tracking.

Scenting.

My jaw tightened. Yeah… I knew that instinct.

“Slow down,” I told her.

She froze. Not startled. Assessing.