Bearly Ever: An Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Arcadia Knights Book 1) Read Free Page B

a full on strain to his work pants, and he had to swallow back his groan.
    “I promise I’ll do everything I can to make this right,” he said, hoping she’d hear the honesty. God, he’d screwed this up royally, but he’d be damned if he let her pay for his mistakes.
    His father was going to kill him.
    “Just tell me everything you know about your sister’s disappearance.”
    In reply, she just rolled on her knees and shoved her cuffed hands toward him. “These go first.”
    It wasn’t her hands he was looking at, however. God, she had curves that made his mouth water, a narrow waist that curved down into an ass that wouldn’t quit. Before when they’d been talking, he hadn’t really looked her body over much.
    Now he couldn’t take his eyes off it.
    “Hey, my face is up here, bozo.”
    He snapped his eyes up, feeling guilty at being caught. She was staring at him quizzically, a stubborn set to her jaw. “Cuffs?” she said, jangling the offending bracelets.
    “Uh yeah. Yeah.” Could he sound like more of a buffoon?
    As meetings went, he’d screwed this one up.
    He opened the rear door carefully, and when she presented her hands he quickly uncuffed her. She rubbed her wrists and glared at him, but at least stayed in her seat. “Now can you tell me everything you know about your sister’s disappearance?”
    Her glare said it all: she didn’t trust him. That thought cut him deeply, hurting far more than he could have imagined. He’d make it up to her, he swore it to himself.
    Finally, she looked away. “I don’t know much. She lived at that address where you found me; I know because I found a picture of the two of us. We haven’t been what you might call close the last few years; she had her life, I had mine. But she left a message on my cell two weeks ago, then didn’t answer any of my calls, so….”
    She shrugged, looking back at Aidan. “That’s all I know. Now what can you do to help?”
    “Let me listen to the message, maybe I can hear something you missed.”
    Ever rolled her eyes but pulled out her phone, finding the recording and pressing play.
    “Sis, it’s me. Listen, I need your help…”
    By the end of it, Aidan wasn’t any closer to being able to help than before. He’d heard nothing in the background; she’d probably been home when the girl had left the message. A home that was now lying in ruins.
    Something obviously didn’t add up.
    “What did she do for a living?”
    “Hair and nails last I checked.”
    “Do you know where she worked last?”
    Ever shook her head. “I don’t have access to detective-style stuff so I can’t track her movements, but she’s always been the responsible one. She’d have a job; I’ve never known her not to have one.”
    A starting point at least. He could check the salons in the area, see if any of them knew the girl. “Where are you staying?”
    Her gaze sharpened. “Oh hell no, buddy, you’re not keeping me on the sidelines.”
    “If something did happen to your sister, you’d be safer…”
    “Fuck safe. If something’s happened to my sister, I want to be there and see it myself.”
    Aidan tried to think. His office kept the records for all shifters moving in and out of the area. If his hunch was right and the sister had gone through official channels, the information might be there. How and when she’d been Changed might be a mystery, but if she was they’d know. He’d also look into the demolition of the house; that was too convenient, too odd.
    If something had indeed happened to a shifter in their community however, Aidan needed to call the Brahm. Best to have all the information first as anything less would only piss his father off. Nothing of any real import had happened in Arcadia for years; humans passed through the town like any other with relative ease, but never settled in.
    Until now.
    “Come on, let’s go see what we can discover about your sister.”

 
     
     

     
     
     
     

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