Chapter 5

Logan was too hot. Having him next to me in bed was almost more than I could take. Every morning, I woke wrapped in his arms, feeling a strong need that had not been present for longer than I care to admit. What was I going to do? Could I take what he offered and avoid mating? I didn"t believe that was possible. Should I mate him? I noticed Linda seemed incredibly happy since she had mated with her wolf. That didn"t mean I would have that same happiness if I mated. It also didn"t mean I wouldn"t. I had loved my husband dearly, and it had been a horrible thing when he had died. I"d grieved, and I still grieved when I thought about him.

I was unsure if I could move on, although Logan gave me many reasons to. If I changed, I would live as long as my grandniece, Linda. The way the wolves were invading my family, it was possible some, if not all, of my children might mate one. This made me wonder what it was like to be a wolf and run through the woods at night with the Goddess smiling down on them. Was this something that I might find out? It was beginning to look like it. Usually, I moved out of Logan"s arms immediately, but this time, I spent some time thinking and didn"t move at all.

"I"m getting to you, I can tell," Logan observed.

"Don"t read too much into this. I"m an old woman. That makes it hard to move fast all the time."

He smirked, which annoyed me, but he wasn"t wrong. I hopped out of bed, took my clothes to the bathroom, and dressed. As I came out, I noticed he was half-naked. I was sure he did it on purpose. So, I just walked by as if I didn"t even notice. That should be a blow to his ego. Hurrying down the steps, I headed to the kitchen, where someone was already at work. Harry made the coffee and Belle was cooking. It was a surprise. I didn"t realize Belle could cook. She didn"t seem like the type.

I was so wrong because she had made sausage gravy and homemade biscuits. She also had bacon and hash browns. The hash browns were made the way that I loved them, with onions inside them and cheese on the top. She handed me my plate, and I sat down to eat and noticed that Harry looked to be on her second plate. I took a taste of everything, and it was perfect.

"You are a keeper, Belle. This is a fabulous breakfast," I praised.

It surprised me that no one else was around, and then Logan came in the door with Will and Nicky behind him. Grant entered a few moments later.

"Anyone have any idea what we should do next?" Will asked.

"I haven"t a clue. I hoped we could capture someone else, but the slavers seem to have learned their lesson," Logan admitted.

"I believe we will get some information from those taken," Belle encouraged.

"They all left. How will we do that?" Jagger asked as he and Linda walked in the door.

"The twins are sending me information as we speak. The two old ones were not their captors. If Linda wouldn"t mind, I have a description of the four males who kidnapped them," Belle explained.

"I would be pleased to help," Linda said as she handed the baby to Jagger. Getting them both a cup of coffee, she magically pulled a sketchpad and pencil out of the air. "Are you ready, or do you want to eat first?"

"I"m hungry, and since you have a baby, I"m sure you are hungry, too. We"ll eat quickly and then get started. I feel good about this clue. I think we will find someone." Belle advised.

"Do you recharge your magic with food, too?" Harry asked.

"About half of it, but some comes from the sun and the earth. My magic is closely bound to nature." Belle explained.

"That is so cool. That must be a big help when there"s no food around," Harry observed.

"I"ve heard there are witches who can also do it," Belle said.

"Usually, with witches, we get power from food. Nature rarely does it for them," I replied.

"I have witches in my family, but we rarely talk about magic," Belle declared.

"I"ve heard you have quite the sense of humor," Harry noted.

I knew what Harry meant. Belle was infamous for her pranks, but some of her antics weren"t appreciated. She could be vicious. Sometimes, it even bordered on dangerous, like dropping a beehive on someone. That was what I was thinking when I heard a scream from upstairs. That"s where the prisoners were. I wondered if they had just been pranked. Should they keep the prisoners? Would they be Belle"s target instead of them? Or should they send them to one of the councils where they would be safe.

"Belle, is that something you did?" Harry asked.

She grinned. "Just a few fire ants. They"ll only bite a couple times before they leave."

"We"ll need to interrogate them because Damon and Marissa are coming."

Belle let out a whoop. "Why didn"t you tell me before Harry? That makes me so happy. I"ve not seen Marissa in nearly a year."

"You know how it is when a couple gets kids," Harry commented.

"I"ve seen the kids. I drop by to visit them every once in a while. I"ve just not seen the parents," Belle giggled.

I wondered if the parents knew and suspected they didn"t. It made me wonder what kind of influence Belle had on those kids. Harry had told me the young witches were very unruly and wild. Was that before or after Belle started to influence them?

Young witches could have wild magic, which was very dangerous. Harry knew a thing or two about that. Maybe young fae were the same. Obviously, Belle seemed to be worse than Harry. The situation would be hard to handle because Belle appeared to have a mean streak, while Harry was as sweet as possible.

Linda was through eating even though Belle was in the middle of her second plate. "I see you"re done. Let me send you an image of the first guy. Then you"ll have something to do instead of just waiting."

"Wow. I feel like I could reach out and touch him," Linda observed. She immediately began to sketch.

Belle nodded when she was done. "That"s him, alright."

"I know him," Harry and Will said at the same time."

"He worked with the blood druggers," Harry observed.

"Is that even a word?" Belle asked.

"It is to me," Harry declared.

"She"s right. That"s where I saw him, too, Will agreed, and Nicky nodded.

"Do we have a name?" Logan asked.

"Shmidt. But the names don"t mean much. Pictures are far better," Jagger added.

"Here goes the next one." Belle did her magic, and Linda immediately began to sketch.

Once she was done, Linda held up the picture, and Belle nodded.

"I know him too," Harry declared. Will and Nicky both nodded.

"How did all these guys escape?" Belle asked.

"I don"t know. They were supposed to be in the council prison indefinitely," Will said.

Belle sent the last two to Linda. The results were the same. Harry recognized both of them. They were from the blood drug investigation. "All these bad guys have escaped, and no one told us? Something is going on here, and I want to know what it is," Logan admitted.

"I have to agree. Someone on the inside is letting these guys go. The act is being hidden, so we don"t even know. Damon will be here tomorrow. I am sure he will find out what is happening," Will explained.

"I feel bad for Damon. He is the only one doing any work at the council level. All the rest are letting bad guys free and taking kickbacks," Will observed.

"We have clues. They will be hard to follow because all four are well-known criminals who recently escaped from jail and are being sent out to kidnap people."

"Why don"t we try locating Star again? I"ll try this time," Belle volunteered.

They all gathered around. Belle did things differently. The item exploded and then appeared to fall down a rabbit hole. A funnel opened and took all of them away.

This time, they were at an estate of some type. It was huge, like a manor house. Searching would take forever, but Belle knew precisely where she was going. Instead of heading for the main house, she went straight to the barn. There was a stable full of beautiful horses, and someone was taking care of them. As soon as the male saw us, he tried to run. Will and Nicky grabbed him, and the rest followed.

"I know this guy," Harry said.

"From the blood drugs?" Will asked.

"No, he"s a famous horse trainer who briefly worked for Ariel. He had sticky fingers, so she had to get rid of him," Harry explained. "He"s human, but his mother is a witch. I"m not sure how he"s involved, but it"s obvious he is."

"It wasn"t my fault. This is a great job, and they were going to tell the owner that I"d had trouble with some of my past jobs. They kept the woman here, but only for a day or two. I didn"t know anything about it. She"s gone now. You can look and see. It wasn"t my fault," the guy continued to ramble.

"He"s speaking the truth. Bob finally straightened out, and they took advantage of him. They told him nothing except that they needed a place to hide her for a few days. I sense someone stole her from the auctioneer and is trying to keep her. I don"t sense any wicked purposes. He doesn"t want to take her back because he"s afraid she will be captured. You can do what you want, but I would leave Bob alone," Belle advised.

She wasn"t usually generous, but she felt sorry for Bob for some reason. Nothing was to be gained, so they took her advice. Everyone gathered around her, and they were gone. Returning to my house, I was frustrated. The only thing we knew was that Star was alive and well.

"Now what?" Will asked.

"We wait until tomorrow and try a locator spell again. Hopefully, Damon will have some information. Did anyone know some of the people who were captives? Maybe we can contact them and get more information about who is keeping them," Jagger suggested.

"Those that went to Ariel"s might still be there. I"ll go visit and see what I might find out," Harry suggested, and she was gone in a flash.

"Oh, it"s lunchtime. Ariel has incredible food. Harry is hoping to get a good meal," Will explained. "Ariel also knows things. Harry might actually get a hint from her. They aren"t always clear, but they"re always right."

"Since it"s lunchtime, we should just eat. There"s little we can do. Maybe Harry will bring something back," Jagger suggested.

"Since we are all tired, I suggest we order out. A place in town has delicious fish and chips," I said.

"Sounds good, and since you"ve been cooking a lot, the council will pay," Logan said.

"It"s delivery, which is a new thing for this restaurant. They"ve seen some of the other places getting a lot of orders, and now they"re doing it too," I explained.

Will wrote down everyone"s order and handed it to me to call in. Thirty minutes later, a huge order came. The food was excellent. The guys got out some beer, and I drank one with mine. We all ate until we were full. Leaning back in our seats, we thought about our day. Tomorrow, Damon and Marissa would arrive. Hopefully, things would get better.

"Anyone have any suggestions on how to track down whoever has my daughter?" I asked.

"I got a picture of him in my mind. Since we have Linda here, maybe we should get her to make a sketch," Belle suggested.

"Why didn"t you say so before?" I asked.

"No one said anything. We"ll get one now and figure out who he is," Belle replied.

When Linda was done, she had a picture of a nice-looking guy.

"Anyone know him?" I asked. Everyone shook their heads.

"I"ll send the picture in and see if anything pops up," Logan suggested. Scanning it on his phone, he sent it right away. "It will take a while before we get anything," he added.

"I really thought we would find her by now," I admitted.

"Everyone hoped we would. At least we know Star is all right," Will offered.

"Something came back on the guy, but I don"t understand it. It is top secret. It will not give me any information. We will have to wait for Damon before we know anything," Logan explained.

"He may be undercover," Will suggested.

"He might also be an informant," Jagger said.

"There"s no point guessing because we"ll know tomorrow," Logan offered.

"Anyone want to play cards?" Will asked.

"Poker?" Nicky suggested.

They all sat around playing cards. I was excited because I was very good at it. It was small stakes, but I had a pile of coins in front of me and was enjoying the game greatly when Harry popped in.

"Is there a seat for me at the table?" Harry asked.

"You have any news?" Logan wondered.

"Yes, Ariel said to talk to Tyne."

"Tyne Wolf?" He asked.

"Is there another one? That"s such an unusual name. I"ve never heard of anyone else having it," Harry replied.

"Will he even talk to me?" Logan asked.

"Tyne will talk to anyone for a little while. He is a busy man. You may have trouble getting in touch with him. Moe usually screens his calls," Harry admitted.

"So, how am I supposed to reach him?"

"Just tell Moe that Ariel said to call. That always gets their attention."

Logan pulled out his phone and messed around a bit. I assumed he was getting the number. Then he put in a call. I heard someone answering even though I couldn"t understand anything they said.

"Is this Wolf Investigations?" Logan asked.

"It sure as shooting is. This is Moe speaking. What can I help you with?"

"Ariel suggested I call Tyne. My name is Logan. I"m a warden working a missing persons case."

"Are you working on the case about Star, the witch that may be a red wolf?"

"Yes, that"s the case."

"I"ll get ahold of Tyne, but I think he will want to come in person in the morning."

"He"s welcome to," Logan responded, but Moe was already gone.

It occurred to me that they had been waiting for an invitation. I"m sure they realized that my sister Pearl had died in a way similar to their aunt Daisy. Even though I didn"t believe this case was connected, I wouldn"t mind if Tyne looked around to see what he could find. He might even be able to help find my daughter.

The following day, everyone was cooking, making coffee, or setting the table. I was sure we would have four guests. Everyone agreed that Moe would not be left behind.

The food smelled so good that my mouth watered. There was a little bit of everything. Harry used my big coffee pot. There would be enough for the whole day. Will made a stack of pancakes and divided them among several plates. Nicky fixed sausage, bacon, and eggs. Belle set the table, and while Grant hadn"t done anything, he stayed out of everyone"s way.

Harry left with Belle to flash our guests to the house. While Harry was an honorary member of the white wolf family, Belle was one of them. They made it back so quickly I was amazed. I"d never worked on my flashing skills, but now I wanted to. A talent like that would open up my world. Pearl had done it. I should have spent more time with my sister and shared her ideas about trying new things. Regardless of how she died, I knew she enjoyed her life and did what she wanted to, regardless of what anyone, including me, said.

"This is my mate, Tyne, and my name is Moe. Our friends here are Damon and Marissa."

"I"m pleased to meet all of you. My name is Lou. My daughter is the one missing. Do you know Logan?" I pointed to him and then to my niece and her mate. "Or Jagger and his mate Linda over there?"

"It looks like breakfast is ready. Why don"t we eat before we get started?" Harry suggested, and Will seconded the motion.

Everyone sat down and began to pass the food around. There was a lot. I wasn"t surprised there were some leftovers. I put it in the refrigerator. Harry would need them before too long, and possibly Belle, who also seemed to have a good appetite. As soon as Will finished, she began doing dishes, and her mate, Nicky, joined her.

"We"d like to ask you a few questions about your daughter," Damon explained.

I answered the usual questions about when and where she was born, who her father was, and what kind of power she might have that made her worthwhile as a witch.

"I was hoping to get a feel for why they might take her. The only reason I see is that she might be a red wolf. While she is a good witch, there are a lot of good witches in this town. Her age is a good age for being changed. She"s young enough that her body will not have stress over the change and old enough that she is hopefully wise and will not have a mental breakdown. Since she will revert to an earlier age, they have no reason to choose a younger female." A kindness entered his eyes. "I"m just trying to explain why she was probably targeted over you or her children. That doesn"t mean they might not eventually target everyone in your family like they did the white wolves," Damon explained. "I"m aware you have some prisoners that were taken when they attempted to abduct you. Where are they, and who is taking care of them?"

"They are upstairs in one of the bedrooms. Belle volunteered to deal with them," I replied.

"Belle did? Are you sure they are alright?" Damon asked.

"That"s not nice. I wouldn"t do anything extreme to them," Belle replied.

"We may have different definitions of extreme," Damon offered.

In a flash, they were downstairs, sitting in chairs. I had to admit that neither looked like they"d been mistreated.

"Can we leave now?" The old man asked, but they both looked at Belle.

"This is Damon. He has come to ask you some questions. You will answer them truthfully and not try to hide anything. Do you understand?" She asked.

"Yes, Ma"am," the old guy said.

He was an extremely polite criminal. I wondered if Belle scared him. Everyone who knew her well held her in great regard. The old woman didn"t say a word. I didn"t know how old she was; I based my conclusion on her appearance. Maybe they had just had hard lives.

Those who were standing sat down. Everyone wanted to hear the answers to the questions that Damon would ask.

"Who do you work for?"

"I don"t know because he told us to call him boss."

"What does he look like?"

"I don"t know because he was wearing a mask. I know he was about six feet tall and not quite as broad as you. He had some muscles, but not as many as you. The hair I could see was a deep blue-black. The mask partially blocked his eyes, so I can"t say what color they were. His voice was hoarse and hard to understand. He repeated himself often when he was giving instructions."

"How many others worked for him that you are aware of?" Damon asked.

"There were a dozen or more. All except the woman with me were men. I think she was the only human working with us. Most were wolves, but there was one that I think was a vampire." The old guy was trying to be helpful because he wanted to go anywhere away from Belle.

"Was there anything else you saw or heard that would help us?"

"There was a sound in the background. It wasn"t always there. Sometimes, I heard some kind of bird. The closest I can say is it sounded like a goose. Will you send us somewhere else now?"

"I want to ask the female some questions, and then you can go," Damon replied. Turning to the woman, he asked, "Do you have anything to add?"

"I went outside once. We"re not supposed to for any reason, but I like to see the sky. It was cold. I can"t say if it was seasonal or always cold. The sky was blue, or at least it was that day."

"Is there anything else?"

They both shook their heads, and Damon nodded to Harry. I wondered if they would like the council prison better than they liked it here. If they did, it made me wonder what Belle had done to them that they wanted to leave so badly. It didn"t matter. They both disappeared, but Harry stayed behind. Sending people or objects away showed that she was a powerful witch. I"d heard she was and had seen some signs of strength, but this was more than expected. I"d also heard she had a familiar but didn"t bring him. I couldn"t remember what he was, but it was an unusual creature.

"What do you know, Damon?" Logan asked.

"Straight to the point. That will save time. The guy who has Star is undercover for the council. I don"t know why he broke cover to remove her from the cells, but it is clear that he did. I"m sure he will return her when he feels it is safe," Damon explained.

"How sure are you?" I asked.

"I"m positive he will return her. I"m just not sure if he will mate her first or not. Red wolves have the same ability to draw men to them that white wolves have," Damon observed.

"Do you believe he will give her a choice?" Linda asked.

"Everyone who knows him says that he is a good guy. That is all I know of Star"s current situation. As far as the slave ring is concerned, we found several other places they were storing people. I believe the guy organizing the auction took over from somebody who was previously just running slaves. Maybe he killed him, or maybe the guy ran, but for whatever reason, he left behind all the places he was storing people. No one gave them food, water, or other necessities in some places. We must find all these holding areas so we can free the people that were left behind. That was one of the things the undercover guy was supposed to do," Damon mentioned.

"The undercover guy? What"s his name?" Will demanded.

"They wouldn"t tell me. The council refused to give me access to any information. A source gave me the information I got, and he refused to give me a name," Damon insisted.

"Why all the secrecy?" Will asked.

"It"s the council. They keep everything secret," Damon admitted.

"Isn"t this supposed to be the new, better council?" Jagger asked.

"Yes, and they are in some ways, but in other ways, they still rely on the way they followed years ago. I think it has to do with finding the red wolves, and I believe they will try to exploit it," Damon observed.

"Is it possible he was sent in just to get Star?" I asked.

"It is possible, but I don"t believe he is following their directions anymore. I could tell that they have no idea where he is." Damon declared.

"I"m not sure I find that comforting," I admitted.

"If anyone can find him, Tyne can, but it will take him a little while because he has no background–not even a name to go by," Damon mentioned.

"She"s already been gone for so long. I worry about her, and so do her children." Lou offered.

"There are children. Is she mated?" Tyne asked.

"No, witches do not always mate. We rarely prevent pregnancy because children are a blessing. We leave it in the hands of the Goddess. All my children have the same father, but he never had any interest in mating, and eventually, he left for greener pastures," I explained.

"Sounds like a poor father," Logan commented.

No one else said anything, but it was clear they all thought the same. I didn"t explain anything else. The awkward and uncomfortable silence left me speechless.

"What about those Chiefs?" Harry said. She tended to be more human regarding the sports she followed.

Thankfully, everyone had something to say. Sadly, most of it had nothing to do with the case. All I wanted to do was find my daughter. These were the best people to help, but we needed a clue.

"Harry, could you use the likeness Linda sketched to find the guy the council sent in?" I asked.

"I"ve never tried that before. I have used pictures, but the person claimed those pictures." Shrugging, she added, "It couldn"t hurt to try."

Belle was jumping up and down.

"Do you have something to suggest, Belle?" Logan asked.

Everyone looked worried. It seemed that asking Belle for her opinion was a bad idea. Of course, she caught the expressions on the others" faces and shot an angry look back at them.

"I was just going to say that I believe it will work because it has been done before." After she spoke, it looked like she might stick her tongue out at the others and stomp off, but she didn"t.

" Let's do it then!" I suggested.

We all circled around Harry and Belle. I added what energy I could. I hoped it would help even though I had not flashed any significant distance or left my town. There had never been a need, but that was going to change. If I was honest, I could see that my whole life was about to change.

Reaching our location, I didn"t know what to make of it. We were outside an average house, and no one seemed to be around. I looked at Logan, and my heart skipped a beat. Why did he have to be so damn good-looking and appealing in so many ways?

He was looking back at me. I could see desire in his eyes, but I would ignore it, at least for a little bit longer.

"Let"s knock on the door and see what happens," Harry suggested.

Why the hell not? It sounded good to me, so I followed right behind her. She did a lot of this and was a powerful witch, so I felt safe. Especially since I was a pretty powerful witch, too.

Knock knock. The sound on the door echoed, but no one seemed home. I knew we weren"t gonna leave it at that. Harry knocked again louder and harder. Again, there was no sound of anyone coming to the door.