Page 195 of Reaper

“Loki, send a message with this location to Smoke and Python. Everyone, stay sharp. We don’t know if they are still in the area or not.”

Lark shakes her head as she squats down. “These tracks don’t look fresh, but they were here recently. There’s a bit of fresh snow in them.”

Pride warms my chest. This is the first time I’ve witnessed Lark’s hunting abilities. A fleeting thought crosses my mind, wondering how many animals she’s tracked throughout her lifetime, but I push that thought aside for now. Maybe I’ll ask to tag along the next time she goes hunting.

“Good eyes, Neith.”

Lark’s cheeks, which were already slightly pink from the cold air, deepen at my praise. My fingers itch to pull her into my arms, but I refrain. We need to keep moving.

I give the hand signal to keep walking and we head deeper into the forest.

Ten minutes later, I can see Zac’s house in the distance through the gaps in the trees, and I stop, raising my closed fist to signal the others to do the same. Then, I signal the perimeterteam to fan out. I step behind a tree, keeping out of sight as a precaution and out of the corner of my eye, I notice the others doing the same.

“All clear, house is dark, truck is gone,”Smithy replies and then one by one, the others all give the all clear as well.

“Alright, Ryder, you’re up,”I say and Ryder gives me a chin lift as he walks by me, his footsteps as quiet as they can be with the snow.

Ryder pauses at the tree line, doing a double check of his own before he quickly crosses the backyard up to the backdoor. He crouches and pulls out his lock picking kit before getting to work. From what Loki reported when it was his turn to scout, he didn’t believe Zac had an alarm system because he never saw him setting one when he would leave or return home.

As we wait, it feels like hours tick by instead of seconds or even minutes before Ryder manages to pick the lock. He puts his tools away and slips inside. We continue to wait while he does a quick search of the house, making sure no one’s home.

“Coast is clear. I can’t pick up any signals saying that he has cameras or recording devices and the signals I am getting are from the items in his house.”

I give the signal and we start our way across the yard to the back door.

As I near the back door, I pull out the lined ‘booties’ for lack of a better word from my pocket and then slip them on once I am at the threshold so that my boots don’t leave water or debris on the floors.

I take in the kitchen and can’t help my snarl of disbelief. I would have thought he would have been more of a clean freak from what I’ve overheard from Lark and Khloe. Instead, there are piles of dirty dishes lining the counter and sink. The stove has dirty pots and pans on it and the garbage bin is overflowing.

“Fucking disgusting,” Lark mutters and I nod in agreement.

We make our way through the kitchen and into the living room. Ryder and Razor both look closer at things to verify that Zac doesn’t have any cameras or microphones before placing some of our own so we can keep an eye on Zac. Lark heads straight toward the desk, and I’m relieved when I see she’s already put her gloves on so we don’t leave fingerprints. She carefully leafs through the papers and I turn my attention to the bookcases. My stomach turns when I find several psych books, murder mysteries, firefighter manuals, and a few that seem like they are books about stalkers and arson investigators. Lark finishes looking through his desk and she shakes her head, letting us know she didn’t find anything. Her cheeks heat as her gaze catches on something and a shudder runs through her. I follow her line of sight to the shelves below Zac’s TV, only to find a bunch of porn DVD’s. My lip curls in disgust at some of the titles.

Not finding anything else of importance in the living room, we move through each room methodically, looking for any sort of clue that could connect Zac to being the second stalker. After clearing the downstairs, we head upstairs.

Lark, Loki, and I take the room to the right at the top of the stairs while the others fan out. I bite back a groan when I realize this is Zac’s bedroom.

“Oh, God,” Lark whispers, her voice heavy with unease.

Chapter 72

Reaper

“Oh,God,”Larkwhispers,her voice heavy with unease.

I turn in the direction she’s looking and ice spreads through my veins at seeing a sex doll in the corner with Lark’s face taped to it. My fingers itch to destroy it, but we can’t leave any trace that we’ve been here, except for the cameras.

“Well, that definitely proves he’s obsessed with you,soeur[seur], but not enough to prove he’s your stalker,” Loki says quietly, and we both nod in agreement before getting to work.

I head over to his dresser, not really wanting to do this myself, but I don’t want Lark to see anything in here. I quickly search through the drawers, but other than finding a few more sex toys, there’s nothing there.

“Over here, I think I found something,” Lark tells us, and I put back the items the way they were in the last drawer before closing it and walking over to her.

She’s pushed aside some old coats in his closet and points to a section of the back wall. There’s a small lip which runs vertically that appears to run the entire length of the wall. Is it a door?

“It might be,” Loki replies and I realize I must have said that part aloud. “There’s a keyhole, too. With this being hidden like this, I bet Zac ol’ boy wants to keep something secret.”

“Razor or Ryder, can one of you come into the room to the right of the top of the stairs. We think we found something.”