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There was some sort of war playing out behind Anson’s green eyes when Nari glanced at him.

She wondered if he was still on the fence about helping them find Grimm.

She knew he wanted Ariel back; Grimm was a different story.

She wondered if this was similar to Stockholm syndrome, where a hostage bonded with their captor.

Maybe she was reading too much into the way Anson was expressing his body pain through facial features.

Something seemed up. And she just hoped Anson would be willing to open up to her.

Worried there was something he wasn’t telling her, Nari turned back to analyze his posture for clues. Anson leaned back on the couch, a look of defeat wrinkling his beautiful features.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, almost afraid of the answer. She had a feeling any pain Anson was experiencing was of the emotional sort.

Her question piqued the interest of the seasoned agents in the kitchen.

Though they appeared to be very busy making what smelled like an omelet, Nari was certain Agent Stone had his hound ears eavesdropping in on their conversation.

And Agent Sparks seemed far too interested in the neatly arranged spices on the counter.

Though her peahen ears couldn’t hear better than a human’s, Nari supposed she was listening in as well.

Not that they were difficult to overhear; the kitchen was nearly in the living room.

Deciding to play it safe—for all she knew, she was misinterpreting the whole situation—she crossed the room back to Anson.

“Do you need an ice pack?” She tilted her head, taking him in.

His eyes squinted shut as if in pain, and his mouth twisted into a grimace, but she was almost certain it wasn’t from how his body felt.

She couldn’t put her talon on it, but she had a feeling.

An instinctive drive that told her something else was going on.

And it pained her to see him like this. Was it worry for his sister?

From her understanding of his case, Anson hadn’t seen Ariel in over a year.

“It’s just a cramp,” he uttered through clenched teeth, turning his face away from her.

“Let me get an ice pack. It could?—”

“No,” he said far more forcefully than necessary.

She jumped back in surprise. “I just want to help.” Nari held up her hands in surrender. Whatever Anson was thinking, she knew it wasn’t her fault, yet she felt a tinge of guilt all the same. What if her stunt cost them finding Ariel? Was that why Anson seemed angry with her?

“I don’t need your help. I’m just hungry.” The words sounded hollow, like a lie. It was probably best to leave him be, to let him sort out whatever he was going through.

“I’ll help the other agents in the kitchen.

” She wanted nothing more than to be there for him, to be a shoulder to lean on if needed.

Anson made it clear he wanted to be left alone, that he wanted nothing to do with her.

Nari would give him that space and bury the feelings that were growing for him.

“Is everything okay?” Cass asked when Nari returned to the kitchen.

“Yup, he’s healing up great,” Nari replied with a plastered-on smile. “I think he’s just going to rest for a bit, so I figured I’d come in and help with breakfast.”

Maybe Nari was overthinking the situation.

Maybe Anson was just having a bad day. They were both injured in that crash yesterday.

Though with this being Nari’s first time as the lead agent, she felt responsible for every small change in the air.

She had to get a grip. She was taking things far too personally.

They made a feast, which was good, because the two fury shifters in the room could really pack away the food.

Anson himself ate five times the food Nari did.

At least eating seemed to soften him up.

He no longer looked pissed at Nari, though the trouble clouding his handsome face remained even after he washed the remnants of bacon grease off his fingers.

He mumbled a “thanks” when Cass took his plate to clean as Nari finally presented the envelope of evidence, handing over the receipt first.

Anson’s brow rose when he read over the receipt. “This was found in my house?”

“Yes,” Nari confirmed.

“It was near the couch in the living room,” Agent Stone explained, his voice an even tone.

He sounded almost bored, his face calm as if they were discussing the weather and not trying to track down a psycho scientist. In her brief experience working with the FUC agent, Nari noticed that not much rattled Agent Stone.

“Nice taste in furniture, by the way,” Agent Sparks added with a small smile, lightening the serious tone of the room. Nari assumed that if anyone had equal fashion sense to Anson, it was Agent Sparks.

“Thanks,” Anson mumbled before pointing to the receipt. He looked the opposite of relaxed. He appeared tightly wound, like a spring about to fly across the room as the built-up pressure released. “But I didn’t buy any of this.”

“We know you didn’t,” Nari clarified. “The date on the receipt is after you were in FUC custody, so it definitely wasn’t dropped by you.

Most likely, it was left by whoever planted the EMP.

We just wanted to show it to you and see what your thoughts were on it.

” She rested her hand on his arm to comfort him.

She didn’t want it to feel like they were accusing him of anything.

They weren’t. They hoped he had answers.

If they pieced the information together, maybe it would lead them to Dr. Grimm, Ariel, and any other shifters the man had captive.

A worried expression crept over Anson’s face when he glanced at Nari’s fingers on his arm. Realizing that her touch was unwanted, she removed her hand, feeling a mild tinge of embarrassment flood her cheeks with heat. Nari didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable.

“Is there more?” Anson asked, pointing to the envelope.

Nari nodded and tipped the envelope.

A small, clear zip-top bag filled with mousy-looking fur and another zip-top bag containing a few grains of black dirt spilled out onto the table.

He looked at the zipped bags. He picked each up and opened them, sniffing one and then the other, a blank expression on his face the whole time.

Nari felt he was hiding his true reaction, though.

It felt to her like he was able to connect the dots, but didn’t like the picture it was making, so he tried to push it from his mind.

Nari jumped as he suddenly crumpled the receipt and banged his fist on the table.

“Anson, what is it?” She was scared. Not in am afraid-he-might-hurt-her scared. This was a deep grief. An incredible pain from whatever was troubling him. It had to be something awful.

“Ariel.”

“What about her?” Cass asked, leaning forward in her chair. There wasn’t anything intimidating about the gesture. She was merely interested in what Anson had to say.

“If anyone knew about the house, it was her.” Anson’s eyes became glossy.

“Grimm could have had you followed,” Nari offered. “Any one of his henchmen could have been tailing you and reporting on where you went when you weren’t with Grimm.”

“It’s her fur,” he spat out sourly, holding up the tiny zip-top plastic bag with the few strands of brownish fur inside. “And the dirt smells like it came from her shoes.”

Nair’s mouth hung open. After noticing the look on her face, Anson noted, “Shrews have an excellent sense of smell.”

“Maybe he released her,” Nari said weakly. She didn’t want to get his hopes up, but she also didn’t want him to sink into despair.

“Or maybe he’s turned her and she’s working for him,” Anson concluded.

“Why would she work for him?” It didn’t make sense to Nari. If she were held captive like Anson said, why would Ariel start helping Grimm?

“The same reason I did,” Anson said with a shrug.

“But—” Nari started, but was interrupted.

“You don’t understand. He has a way with people. He’ll warp your mind so that you don’t know up from down or right from wrong. I’ve wanted to tell you everything from the beginning, but I can’t.” Anson winced as he stopped himself from throwing his hands up in frustration.

“Can’t or won’t?” Agent Stone’s voice was sharp, unforgiving even.

Nari wondered if it was a touch of irritation or just the tone he used when interrogating people.

“Can’t. I don’t think you understand how twisted he has my brain.

It brings me physical pain to tell you guys anything.

I don’t know how else to explain it. A part of me is fighting cooperating so hard, and another just wants this to be over.

I—I just don’t know anymore.” Anson hung his head in his hands.

Nari wanted nothing more than to console him, but she had a job to do.

“Well, we can’t get hung up on hypotheticals,” Nari stated firmly. She looked to Agent Stone. “Has the lab been able to tell us anything useful?”

“Actually, yes,” Grayson replied, his brown eyes narrowing on Anson as if hoping to read his mind. “The technicians who analyzed the dirt said that it is mixed with traces of oil. Motor oil. I was hoping Anson might have some idea why.”

“I think I know where he is.” Anson seemed to struggle with the next words that emerged from his mouth.

All three agents waited, giving him the time he needed to finally do the right thing.

He took a large, shaky breath before saying, “At my house, I was able to log into my encrypted server and read the message he sent me. He doesn’t give me exact locations, just clues enough to lead me in his direction. ”

He pointed to his nose, indicating that was how he was able to figure out where Grimm was. It made sense to Nari. Grimm would tell him a general idea of location, and leave dirt behind so Anson would sniff out if he was in the right spot or not.

“He said he was moving his base of operations to an old car mechanic’s shop.” Anson exhaled sharply as if giving up the information both pained and relieved him.

“We’ll look for an abandoned car repair shop within fifty miles of the pet store the supplies were purchased from,” Agent Sparks proposed, lighting up with excitement from their first lead in months.

“It’s probably a trap,” Grayson said with a grimace. “Why leave this at your house after you were captured if not to trap agents?”

“If it is a trap, Grimm may be on-site to make sure it goes his way. It could give us the means to finally get him.” Nari was determined to catch her prey.

She was laser-focused on the evil doctor.

After seeing all the pain he had caused Anson, it was his time to pay for his heinous crimes.

At the very least, busting up one more Grimm lab would free some victims and allow them to round up another henchman or two.

“But what if he isn’t there?” Agent Sparks asked, brushing a red curl from her face. “What if it’s just one more dead end? This guy has gotten away so many times…”

“I agree,” Anson said, surprising the group. “And that’s why I think it’s a better idea to lure Grimm here. Create our own trap.”

“How?” Nari asked. “Last time you were out and about, he sent henchmen after you.”

“And look how well that worked,” Anson said, a triumphant glint in his eye as his plan took form.

“If there’s one thing I know about Grimm, it’s that he doesn’t give a lot of chances.

We got away from three of his goons, and that’s one plus two too many.

Grimm will be pissed, and he personifies ‘if you want something done, you better do it yourself.’”

Nari’s excitement picked up as she saw the logic in his idea. “We give him a treat he can’t pass up. We just need Agents Stone and Sparks to leak our location while we prepare a trap here.”

“What?!” Agent Stone appeared offended by the idea. His brown eyes widened at the suggestion. It probably tarnished his honor in some way. Agent Stone would never leak out the safehouse of an agent or a person under their protection.

“Come on, Gray, loosen up.” Cass playfully poked him in the ribs with her elbow. “We’ll make sure it’s known far and wide that it was a ruse, so no FUC could possibly think you’d make such a mistake.”

“But Grimm’s folks won’t know any better,” Nari agreed. “You go back to Anson’s house like you’re doing another sweep for evidence. You talk about seeing him in the cabin. Gripe about the drive, that sort of thing, giving details about how to get there.”

“Maybe even drop in some mention about how injured and vulnerable I am, to sweeten the deal,” Anson added. “Grimm won’t be able to resist.”

“That’s assuming he’s got someone watching the place,” Grayson replied, still seeming grumpy about the idea.

“He will,” Anson said assuredly. “Assuming the EMP took out any listening devices he might have planted in my house, then undoubtedly he would have put a spy in there to report back. I know, because it’s mainly what he used me for.

As a shrew, a smaller shifter, I could get close to people and listen without them noticing. ”

The look on Agent Stone’s face said he thought this plan was anything but desirable. His lips formed a thin line of displeasure. “We need to run this by Director Cooper first. We’ll also need backup in the area for Nari. Things could go sideways quick.”

Agent Sparks rolled her eyes with a chuckle. “Of course we’ll clear it with Alyce. What do you think this is? The Wild West?”

Agent Stone didn’t appear any less troubled or worried about the plan, though he nodded just the same. He rose from the chair, sliding his cell phone out of his pocket. “Let me make a phone call. I’ll be back.”

Nari gulped. They were really going to do this. As much as she wanted to finally capture Grimm, she had to consider what would happen if they failed. What if Anson got hurt again? He was already healing and vulnerable.

When Grayson returned, it was with a wide smile across his face. “It’s settled. We’ll head back to Anson’s house today while a troop of agents head out to the area to serve as backup.”

Nari looked to Anson. He met her eyes with a strength and determination she’d not seen from him before. This was it, and he knew it. It might be their last chance to capture Grimm.

She just hoped that her plan didn’t doom Ariel, and that, at the end, Anson was alive to see his sister again.