put a cup of coffee on the desk. He smiled sheepishly at her. "Thanks." He was trying to forget about behaving like some whipped pup in front of her.
"You looked like you could use it. Have you found any leads yet?"
"A couple. Mick is sending the information now."
When he'd snapped out of his premature mourning, he'd realized that if somebody had taken the pup for a ritual, they still had a few days until the next full moon. Anyone who'd taken him to release and steal his power would wait until the time when it would give them the best results. Therians born in their fur were rare enough that you didn't take their power half-assed on any night. There was still a chance this could end well.
Whatever they needed it for, chances were good they'd tried to get werewolf blood through other means first. That was when the idea had come to check the theriantype.com order databases. He'd been emailing with Mick to determine who'd tried to order werewolf blood from their company. If Mick had turned somebody away, they might have started a hunt for someone with strong blood who was vulnerable. Which was where the pup came in.
That left a huge mystery as to how they'd stumbled upon the pup to begin with, but the only thing that mattered right now was finding him and getting him back to the hive and his pack safe and sound.
Cole swiveled in his chair as the fax machine spit out several pieces of paper.
"I still think we should contact Dayne. He could do a spell and help us pinpoint the location." Jane sounded defensive, like she thought he was going to argue with her. He wasn't going to argue with her.
He was finished being stupid and stubborn. Whatever they had to do to get the pup back, they'd do.
"No, you're right. It was a good idea. We need to know which of these suspects could have the pup, and we don't have time to follow every lead, not before the full moon comes." Cole's money was on suspect one, though. The first suspect wasn't a magic user, but a werewolf pack alpha from Alabama.
Close proximity to Georgia. Check. And, being a werewolf, one could see how the pup's power would benefit him. The other suspect was a male magic user who claimed to be a wizard, but had tripped something during the psychological screening. He'd been flagged, but it wasn't obvious why he'd need a wolf pup. Plus he was in Maine.
"Will you get me my cell? It's in my pants in the bedroom where I shifted."
Jane nodded and slipped out of the room to retrieve the phone while Cole looked at the information and photos they'd gathered on the two suspects. He swiveled back to the computer and typed another email to his tech support guy:
Mick, I know I asked you to go back just one month, but that might not be enough. Could you check the past year to be safe and forward me the files of anyone we turned away? I want to see everybody.
Thx.
Jane handed him the phone. "You missed a call."
"Hmmm. I must have had it on vibrate. I'll call back later."
"I think you should call now. It might be that panther or the witch."
Cole was anxious to get on the phone with Dayne. He'd have to reinstate his ordering privileges with the site, and even then he wasn't sure the sorcerer would help him, which was why he wanted to get that phone call over with so he could know if he was getting his hopes up for nothing. But the look in Jane's eyes had him dialing the missed call first.
"Cole?" The panther said in answer.
Even as long as caller ID had been around, it still spooked him when somebody called him by name when they answered their phone.
The werewolf tensed. "Yes? Do you know where my pup is?"
"I do. A vampire hand-delivered me a location. It's in Washington State."
"Tell me." Cole growled. He knew who had his pup, but all he cared about was getting the information.
"They've got Fiona. I'm going. You come get me, and we'll go together."
"Fine." He stabbed the button angrily to end the call, arguing with the panther would only waste time, and if he wanted to lend some extra muscle, so much the better.
"Well?" Jane looked anxious.
"We were wrong. There's no ritual."
"What do you mean?"
"It's Anthony. He'll want a trade. The location of the hive for the