Page 27 of Property of Crypt Keeper

Direct.

Focused.

Like she understood.

“Also,” Hack added, “as we already know, her parents didn’t just die. They were hit. Clean. Professional. Whoever did it got inside before anything went wrong.”

Targeted.

Not random. Exactly why no definitive evidence was reported to be found surrounding their deaths.

“Not about them?” I questioned.

“That’s what I think,” Hack agreed. “It was about her.”

Or what she came from.

“Dig deeper,” I told him. “Old Rougarou lines. Anything on females.”

Hack went quiet.

“That’s not a thing,” he said.

“I know,” I admitted, but I was unable to ignore what my wolf was sensing. There weren’t many of us. Hell—there were barely any. But female? I felt crazy even thinking it.

“Do you know of others in the area?” Hack asked.

“A few,” I finally drawled. “Not many.”

“Any of them capable of—this?”

I didn’t answer. Because I didn’t know. Female Rougarous were unheard of. Yet my guts were screaming at me that this kid wasn’t just a wolf shifter.

“Alright,” he muttered. “I’ll see what I can find.”

I ended the call. Didn’t need anything else. But I didn’t go back inside right away.

The phone was still in my hand, Hack’s words echoing, but something else was louder now.

That burn.

Low in my back, just beneath the skin. Not pain—not exactly. More like heat pressed into bone. A mark that didn’t belong there yesterday.

I exhaled slowly and scrolled through my contacts. There was only one person I trusted to ask this kind of question without it turning into a damn interrogation.

The line rang twice.

“Dallas?” my father answered, voice rough with age and sleep. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” I replied, though it came out tighter than I meant it to. “I need to ask you something.”

A pause. That was all it took for him to hear it.

“What happened?”

I glanced back through the window at the small girl finishing the last of the food. She glanced at my plate, then toward me before she reached over and took my plate. I almost laughed.

“Ever heard of… marks showing up after…” I stopped, jaw tightening. “After being with someone?”