Page 2 of Coyote Underground (Monsters of New York #9)

Home Alone

A na Sofia

I pretend I don’t hear Diego’s admonishment of Lorenzo.

It’s less embarrassing that way. Lorenzo hasn’t ever tried to hide his interest in me, but it’s weird to know he’s talked to his Alpha about it.

Or maybe Diego just picked up on it himself.

I don’t know, and I don’t want to. It’s just another lie I tell myself where Pack Reyes is concerned.

I can’t focus on the idea that Lorenzo is interested in me, because it’s distracting.

I have a job to do, and right now, that has to be my priority.

All I want is to get in there and do my job, cleaning up the crime scene so humans don’t see the kind of mess shifters make when they attack each other.

“It’s all yours. Sorry for the delay,” Diego says, interrupting my thoughts a few minutes later. I try to hide my reaction to him being nice, but it startles me.

“You have your process, I guess,” I respond, knowing I should be more polite, but unable to force it.

The look he gives me says he respects my stance.

As soon as they are out of the way, I enter the apartment with my supplies.

The place is a mess, even more now that the investigators and trackers have spent the day tracking through the blood and already trashed apartment.

Three hours later, I pack up my supplies and collapse in the van that will take me back to headquarters. Once there, I can shower and head home, after putting my supplies away and filing my report.

I had no idea there would be so much paperwork involved in cleaning, but it’s a nice way to decompress after some of the things I see. Reports and cleaning myself up takes another hour, then I finally get to hit the subway to head home.

I turn my key in the lock, pushing my apartment door open to a dark, empty home. “Val?” I call into the darkness as I fumble for the switch. Light fills the small room, and I know she’s not here. Fuck. She never turns the lights out before I get home.

Pulling out my cell, I call her again. I can hear her phone ringing, she must be here. Maybe she’s asleep. Relief washes over me as I dash across the tiny living space to the bedrooms. I throw open her door, and my heart sinks.

Valerie isn’t a neat freak by any means. She’s a typical teenage girl, who drops her clothes wherever she takes them off. That makes it hard to tell if there’s been a struggle here. Except for her sheets being ripped and her phone lying on the floor. Those are pretty good indicators.

I hang up my phone and instantly dial Agent Scott again. It’s late, and I know he’ll be pissed about me calling, but this is my baby sister we’re talking about. With the string of disappearances, I can’t help but think it’s connected.

“This had better be important,” he growls when he answers.

“Sir, my sister’s been kidnapped. I need help. Can you send trackers to check this out?” I ask, desperation gripping my heart.

“Ana Sofia, we don’t have the manpower to send trackers out every time a teenage girl misses curfew.

I’m sure she’s fine. She probably just took off because she got upset about something.

Give her a day or so to calm down and come home.

It’ll be okay.” He disconnects the call before I can say another word.

I drop to the floor in the doorway of my sister’s room, tears overflowing my eyes. What am I gonna do now? The government agency that’s supposed to help with this exact situation just brushed me off. It’s more hurtful that it was my own boss who did it.

I know he’s been struggling with these kidnappings. The President wants this case solved, and from what I’ve heard, there aren’t many leads. So, I get why Agent Scott isn’t being the most helpful. That doesn’t make it any easier to deal with, though.

My emotions get the better of me, and I cry myself to sleep where I’m sitting, just outside Val’s open door.

Sometime in the night, I must have gotten cold, because when I wake, I’m in my shifted form.

As a coyote, I’m curled up with my tail tucked over my nose for warmth.

I stretch, shifting back into my human form as I stand up.

My legs are stiff and my back hurts from sleeping on the floor.

It takes a moment to remember why I slept there in the first place.

Valerie. I have to find her. Maybe Agent Scott is right and she’ll come home.

But she has school today, and when eight o’clock comes and goes with no sign of her, I start to worry again.

Especially when the school calls to find out why she’s not there.

After explaining to the truancy officer that she wasn’t here when I got home, and I haven’t been able to get in touch with her, I decide I have to start searching. I promise to let the school know as soon as I find her.

Where should I start? Ringing pulls my attention back to Val’s room. Her phone. Of course!

I dart in and grab it off the floor, careful not to touch anything else in the room. If I somehow manage to convince Agent Scott to send help after all, they’ll need to search her space for clues, and I don’t want to mess any of that up.

I answer her phone, but whoever was calling has already disconnected. Taking a look at her notifications, I discover she has nearly fifty texts and almost that many missed calls since around three-thirty yesterday. Not to mention the texts and missed calls from me that started earlier in the day.

I feel guilty invading her privacy, but I have to find her.

We can work through the trust issue once I know she’s safe.

I skim the texts, then check her call logs.

There’s nothing to indicate any plans to meet up with her friends, and no indication of where she went.

Nothing at all like what some parents of teens deal with.

Could she have deleted messages? Sure. Do I think she did? Not at all.

I get a couple of numbers from her phone, then text her friends to see if they’ve seen her. I don’t expect they have, since the last few texts are from people I’m contacting, asking why she’s not at school.

My chest tightens, my heart racing, as sweat slides down my spine.

I don’t know where to turn or how to find her.

I could call Pack Reyes, but I don’t think they’d actually help me.

I shake my head, pushing that thought away.

I can’t ask for their help after the way I’ve been bitching about them getting in my way.

That alone would be enough reason for them to refuse me.

I push that urge away, deciding it’s a bad idea.

Ana Sofia: Ally, this is Ana Sofia, Val’s sister. Please tell me you know where she is. She wasn’t here when I got home last night, and I’m worried.

The response is quicker than I expect it to be, and not helpful at all.

Ally: Sorry, I’ve been trying to get her since yesterday afternoon with no luck. Haven’t heard from her since she went off campus for lunch.

My heart drops at her answer. I realize I’d been hoping Val was upset with me for something and just decided to skip school and hide out somewhere. No such luck.

Ana Sofia: Do you know if she was meeting someone?

Ally: Not that I know of. She needed to go to the public library to check out a book for one of her college classes. Val said she’d be back by the end of lunch. But she didn’t come back.

Ally’s response scares me. If Val went to the library, why were her sheets shredded? And why didn’t the school call to let me know she missed afternoon classes? Fuck. How am I going to figure this out?

I thank Ally for talking to me and promise to keep her updated as I search for Val.

I’m at my wit’s end trying to figure out what to do next.

I could call Agent Scott again, but after his reaction last night, I don’t think he’ll be much help.

It’s not like I can call the human cops, either.

They wouldn’t know how to search for a shifter, especially a coyote shifter.

At least Val is a Beta, so I don’t have to worry as much about her.

She won’t go into heat and get trapped by men claiming her while she’s vulnerable.

That doesn’t mean she can’t be assaulted, beaten, or sold for whatever purpose someone wants.

But me being an Omega is one of the reasons I love living in New York City.

The SRA (Shifter Relations Association) has special dormitories for Omegas who are unattached and go into heat, so they can safely ride it out without being forced into a claim by pushy Alphas.

It’s not that I want to be single, I just haven’t found the right pack yet. And I refuse to give in to those urges when my little sister needs me. Once I know she’s safe, and honestly, probably when she’s out of school and living on her own, I’ll worry about finding a pack.

For now, I have to focus on finding Val. I know she didn’t just run away. Her room is more destroyed than usual, there have to be clues in it to help me find her. But I don’t know how to search for them. I’m not an investigator.

I decide to check out the library lead Ally gave me. Maybe if I have something to go on, I’ll be able to convince Agent Scott to give me some help.

Heading to the library gives me a sense of purpose. I may not get the answers I want, but I can’t just sit around and hope she comes home. I know something is wrong. She wouldn’t just take off like this.

A short subway ride later, I’m standing at the librarian’s desk, waiting for someone to help me. Half an hour passes before a small, elderly lady walks over. “I’m Mrs. Rogers. How can I help you?”

“I’m looking for my sister. Her friend said she came here yesterday at lunch to get a book. Would you mind looking at this picture? Maybe you saw her?” I ask hopefully.

“I don’t need to look at that. You’re talking about Valerie. That sweet girl was here yesterday, getting a copy of War and Peace for her college English class. I can tell you’re her sister because the two of you look alike. She also talks about you a lot, dear,” the woman tells me.

“Did you notice anything off about her behavior? Did she look scared or worried?” I ask, not wanting to upset this sweet woman, but desperate to find my sister.

Mrs. Rogers shakes her head. “She was her usual cheery self. There was a moment when I thought someone was following her, though. I called her over to the desk to pick up her book and let her know.”

“What did they look like? The people or person following her?” I ask.

“It was a young man with a dark hoodie. I couldn’t see his face.

But he had barbed wire tattoos running across his hands.

I don’t judge people, because anyone can be a book lover, but something seemed out of place with him being here.

She thanked me and headed out. I’m pretty sure he followed her, though. ”

After thanking Mrs. Rogers for her time, I leave the library.

That’s more than I had to go on before, but a young man with a dark hoodie and tattoos isn’t enough to start a manhunt.

I pull out Val’s phone and open her banking app.

Maybe she stopped for something to eat or coffee on her way back to school.

I wonder if there’s a way to track her movements with her cell phone data. I don’t really have anyone I can ask about that. When her banking app is a bust, I head back home.