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When Isaiah texted that he’d arrive in ten minutes, I ordered coffee for him so it could get to a proper drinking temperature when he got there. The coffee barely landed on the table before Isaiah strode through the door.

I smiled in welcome. He looked pensive and wary. Being an alpha, though, his feelings didn’t stop him from coming to our table.

“Thanks for coming. I had something to ask ya that wasn’t appropriate for a text.”

He nodded his head to Rasmus. “I don’t share women.”

“Neither do I,” Rasmus said, calmly sipping his drink.

My disgust with both of them had me sighing. “Do the two of ya consider me nothing more than bone to fight over? It wasn’t that kind of inappropriate. I simply wanted to see if I could hire ya for some work—or rather I want to hire yer wolf.”

Isaiah grunted at me. “Is this about the missing women?”

“Yes, I need to find them and set them free. I met the spell caster who turned them. Her powers are greater than mine. Ya might know her. She’s a professor who deals in Ancient Earth History and artifacts with power.”

“Sounds like Dr. Zara Bertram. I’ve attended her lectures.”

I nodded. “Only she’s Dr. El Massry now. Her bio said she divorced someone and took back her name. Did ya ever date her?”

Rasmus choked on his coffee and put a hand to his mouth.

Isaiah blinked at me. “Did you read my mind before you asked me?”

“No. You’re an alpha and beautiful. She’s crazy powerful and beautiful too. Power attracts power. I think we can all agree on that.”

“Zara and I were colleagues, but never lovers. I don’t sleep with married women. She kept a string of extra males around, and I’m not a string kind of guy, so I declined her offer.”

I nodded as I sipped my coffee. “Zara is turning women into demon wolves, and she’s using werewolf blood to do it. She’s more powerful than me and even the guardians have told me I can’t stop her. But what I can do is rescue the women she’s using and abusing. I can rescue the wolves she created too—if I can find them.”

“Are you asking me to help you look?”

“I am. We have an unwashed shirt of Lina’s that I hope ya can use to track her. I know she’s one of the recently turned demon wolves. It was Lina I saw in my vision.”

“Human scent does linger in places, but after this much time, it won’t be strong. If we have too much territory to cover, we won’t be able to pick up her former scent. We’d be better off sniffing out the demon wolves.”

“I can pay ya for yer time and probably for a few extra pack members.”

“You can pay me the total and I’ll use it for pack purposes. Some will come along for the adventure and to not be bored for one night.”

“How soon could ya do it?”

Isaiah checked the calendar on his phone. “Tonight works for me. I’ll see how many others I can round up. Half a dozen should do. Where are we searching?”

“We’ll start in the duck park downtown. I don’t know its name. Conn can text it to ya. It leads off into the woods outside of Salem. In my vision, I saw outside spaces that were verdant with natural plant life and trees, not part of the landscaped park. I also saw a building with a basement. The demons told Conn there was an old warehouse near there that was used to store barrels of goods a few centuries ago. It’s not exactly a lead, but more of a hunch I have that we might find the remaining women stashed there.”

“Will the search be dangerous?”

“My team and I will handle the dangerous parts. Yer part is to help me locate the women and the wolves. Once ya find either of them, ya’re free to leave. I would never ask more from someone not trained to fight.”

“Can we say nine then? I know that’s late, but a larger number will show up if we wait until dark.”

“Later is good for me as well,” I said, sighing heavily with the dread I felt just thinking about what came next. “I have a very unpleasant task this afternoon and don’t know how long it’s going to take. I might not be done until nine.”

Isaiah laughed. “I’m both curious and resistant to knowing.”

“It’s a business matter. I’m not at liberty to share the details.”

“Are you ever going to trust me, Aran?” Isaiah asked.