door behind them.
“Not really, but those two are so focused on each other right now they won’t even have noticed.” Caleb chuckled. “Is that how I looked when we first met?”
“Oh, you looked as if you had eaten bad seafood.” She waved her hand around her face. “A little green. Not a good advertisement for the hotel restaurant.”
“Funny.” He rolled his eyes, but she was right, meeting his mate had knocked the air out of his lungs and left his knees weak. His mind had emptied of all thought except his mate and how to win her heart.
They left the house behind and followed the road for a short distance until a trail cut past between two houses and wound toward the foothills of the mountain. Caleb stopped walking and stretched his senses out to their limit.
“Was Karros right?” Elise asked. “Is there a way to make your senses stronger and more far-reaching?”
“I suppose. I’ve never thought about it. But I expect you could train them.” He shrugged. “My senses have always worked so well that it never occurred to me to test them.”
“Are your senses the same as your brother’s?” Elise asked.
His brow furrowed. “We never overly compared. Aiden and I have the same senses for sure but that could be because we’re twins. Rift has heightened sight, he can’t necessarily see farther but he can see more clearly, the details are sharper. Ivan probably has the best senses.”
They walked along the trail and Caleb kept his senses stretched to their limit, which was mentally exhausting. As he walked, he tried to push a little farther, to hear more distant sounds, and to sense the presence of any living creature outside his normal limit.
“Of course, it could be that Zara’s senses are just not so well developed.” Elise’s suggestion snapped his attention back to her and he relaxed, allowing himself a moment to recover.
“That’s possible.” He stopped walking and put his hands on his hips. “Or she might have imagined it.”
“Do you think that’s possible?” Elise asked. “Zara seems levelheaded. She doesn’t seem like the kind of person to see monsters where there are none.”
“She’s not. At least from what I’ve learned, she’s not, but we don’t know her that well. She might be our sister, but we don’t know her. Our relationship is new. It takes time to get to know someone. To really know them.”
Elise linked her arm with him and rested her head on his shoulder. “Does it?”
“Mates are different, we have that connection, remember? I think it makes it easier to read a person, to know their heart.” He turned to face her and threaded his arms around her shoulders. “I feel that I know you. That I know the essence of you.”
“The essence of you.” Her eyes misted with tears. “I like that.” She blinked rapidly. “I’m so grateful for you.”
He lowered his head and kissed her lips, tightening his hold on her. This is where he wanted her to be always, in his arms with his lips on hers.
That would make life very awkward, and we’d starve to death, his bear pointed out.
Caleb sighed and broke their kiss. His bear reminded him that they were here to solve the mystery of their sister’s stalker. Kissing would have to wait for later.
“Let’s keep going on this trail.” He pointed upward. “Once we get higher, we should be able to get a view of Zara’s house.”
“Do you think that’s where they would have stood and watched Zara?” Elise asked.
“Yes, it’s beyond the limit of my senses when we were back at the house. I expect it’s beyond Elise’s, too. But someone with binoculars would have been able to watch the house from there.”
“Which means we might be back to looking for a non-supernatural being.” Elise patted his arm. “Impressive.”
“You think so?” He caught hold of her hand when the trail became steep and harder to climb.
“I can manage,” she insisted, although she didn’t pull her hand away from him.
“I know. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to help make your life easier.” They walked on until they reached a small outcrop. Anyone standing there had a good view of the houses below, including Zara’s house.
“Can you sense them in the house?” Elise asked.
Caleb shook his head. “No, they are out of range.”
Elise leaned down and stared at the ground while walking back and forth along the outcrop. “Let’s see if we can find any clues.”
“You’re like a detective,” Caleb told her as she brushed