Page 17 of Starting a New Life

I laughed. “Who doesn’t?”

Most shifters disliked cities. Too loud, too crowded, too grey.

No safe spaces to shift aside from one’s apartment, where one couldn’t really run free.

There was a reason most shifters lived in small towns, off-grid communities, or even all alone, isolated from everyone else, surrounded by nature. It was in our blood.

City life wasn’t.

“I can’t wait to go on a run.”

I let out a laugh. “There’ll be plenty of running for you to do once you’re back. We’re currently going through our territory with a fine-tooth comb to find the thief.”

We’d already checked the abandoned buildings in town.

Not that there were many. Four, to be exact, and all had still been as blissfully empty as they’d been for years. “What about the intruders?”

I shrugged, but my wolf let out a fierce snarl. “They’re intruding.”

There’d been three attempts to get deeper into our territory since Rhett had left for Vancouver. Another failure of mine. I should have put a stop to it.

Catch, my wolf snarled. He fucking hated that I never chased after them once they’d crossed the border. You hate it too.

Yeah, I did.

“Okay. Anyway. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

I nodded again, placing my feet on top of my cedarwood desk and leaning back in my leather office chair. “I can’t wait.”

Rhett chuckled, then hung up, leaving me all alone with too many thoughts and emotions.

I put my feet back on the ground and leaned in, scanning the list of missing items.

They drew a pretty clear picture, a daunting one. A story about someone desperate, trying to survive in freezing temperatures. Food, cooking supplies, clothes. Everything that’d been stolen were bare necessities, not luxury items. Whoever was out there had to be starving. Freezing.

Which made me think it couldn’t be a pack member. None of my pack members were homeless. And even if they were, they could always move into our packhouse.

But even if it wasn’t a member of this pack, it had to be a paranormal. No human would know to hide their scent. So… why didn’t they come to me as was customary? Why hide out there? Why not ask for help?

It’s not like I’d ever let anyone starve or freeze to death—and it was more than obvious that someone was desperately trying to survive on their own.

My wolf scoffed, not impressed by my burst of compassion. He was seeing things in black and white, angered by the utter disrespect, while I was seeing shades of grey.

There was a knock on the door, and I was grateful for the distraction, though my gratefulness quickly turned sour upon seeing who was poking their head in.

Paul, his bright red hair sticking up in every direction as if he’d been raking his hands through it as much as I was doing over this damn case.

“Alpha Grayson,” he greeted, slightly tilting his head to the side, baring his throat in the process.

“Hey, Paul,” I said, trying to give him a smile, though I didn’t feel like smiling at all. I felt like screaming. Ranting. Running out into the woods to turn over every fucking fallen tree until I’d found whoever was hiding. And someone was. The longer I looked at the list, the more certain I grew.

“Can I sit?” he asked, nodding to the empty chair across from me.

“Sure.”

He was nervous. His eyes all big, body tense.

“There’s been a new development regarding the thief,” he said, giving me a tight smile. “It appears the thefts might have been going on for far longer than we initially thought.”