her hand across the dirt and uncovered a bottle cap.
“I don’t think my skills are going to help us solve this.” She examined the bottle cap. “This has been here for a few months at least.”
“I can’t see anything.” He inhaled deeply. “And nothing smells different. Zara is right, there are so many scents here, though, it would be impossible to pick one out.”
Caleb straightened up and stared farther up the trail. The foothills stretched up toward the mountain. Someone with a powerful telescope could stand on any part of the mountain and spy on Zara in her house below.
“We’re not going to find anything here, are we?” Elise asked.
“No. I hoped we might. About the only thing we have done is expanded our list of suspects to include every non-shifter along with any shifter. Until we figure out why someone might spy on Zara, we’re not going to figure out the who.”
“Let’s go back to the house. I should check up on Karros. He looked as if he’d been hit by a bus.” Her expression brightened, a smile chasing away her fears.
“It’s a good thing I like the guy,” Caleb told her. “If he’d acted like an idiot over us being together, I’d have been forced to go into big-brother mode and warn him he’d better not ever hurt my little sister.”
“I get the feeling your little sister can take care of herself. But I don’t think you need to worry at all. Karros is the sweetest guy, and he is smitten by Zara. They’re going to be just fine.”
As long as they could find and neutralize the threat against Zara before whoever was watching her could carry out their plan.
Chapter Twenty-Three – Elise
They headed back to the house, their search for any clues futile. Caleb was right, they needed to figure out why someone might be watching Zara before they could figure out who.
“When we get back, why don’t you talk to Zara alone, while I talk to Karros,” Elise suggested as they neared the house.
Caleb stopped walking and glanced at her. “I assume there’s something specific you want me to ask her. Although, she said she has no other information that would help.”
“What if we’re blowing this all out of proportion?” Elise lowered her voice, fully aware that Zara was also a shifter with heightened senses. After the discussion on how far a shifter could push their senses, she didn’t want to risk this conversation being overheard. The last thing she needed was to offend the woman who was both sister to her mate and mate to her brother. “What if Zara has a...” She ran her hand through her hair and looked around.
“Just say it, Elise. We’re floundering here so any ideas are better than no ideas.” Caleb brushed her hair back from her face. “You won’t offend me. You might look at this from a different perspective.”
“A non-shifter perspective.” She chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment.
“Please, tell me,” Caleb urged.
“Okay. Karros was in love with Flora. I mean really in love with her.”
Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “But now he has Zara.”
“Relax, that’s not the point.” She placed her hand on his upper arm. “Compare his behavior to Tisserand’s.”
Caleb’s nostrils flared. “Tisserand was a controlling jerk who wanted his own way.”
“But if you put the two together.” She entwined her fingers.
“I don’t understand.” Caleb knitted his brows together.
“That’s because I’m not explaining it very well.” She blew the air out of her cheeks and looked down at her feet. “So I’m just going to say it even though you might...”
“Elise.” He looked her straight in the eyes. “Say it.”
“Okay. Your sister might have had a boyfriend. And since she’s a shifter, the relationship might not have been serious for her...but it might have been for him. He might have fallen in love with Zara and when she didn’t reciprocate his feelings, he might not have taken it well.” Elise shrugged. “Is that possible?”
“Absolutely.” Caleb rubbed his hand over his chin. “We saw firsthand what can happen when things didn’t work out your way when we dealt with Tisserand.”
“The thing is, Zara might not want to admit it in front of Karros.”
“He’d understand. More than most people, he’d understand since it’s so similar to his own relationship with Flora.” Caleb continued toward the house. “But you’re right, let’s split them up and I’ll ask Zara.”
“I wonder if Aiden has any news from Oscar.” They were nearly at the house. She couldn’t wait to talk to