The Wild Moon by Riley Storm

Chapter Twenty-Three

“You,” I said, shocked back into my chair.

“Me,” he agreed.

To stall for time, I turned and picked up the water that had been sitting patiently on the counter, waiting to be drained. I made up for lost time by putting half of it back in one go. I then promptly coughed as some of it made it into my lungs.

Off to a really good start. Really badass of you. Coughing on water. Some tough shifter chick you are.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked as he sat down anyway, correctly deciding I wasn’t going to invite him. Not anytime soon, at least.

“Aaron Greiss,” he said as if that answered everything, instead of leaving me with more questions.

“How did you know Thomas?” I asked, switching gears.

Aaron smiled, giving me another full glimpse of those teeth that I’d swear were implants if everything else about him wasn’t also stupidly perfect. He was just a genetically gifted individual.

“You mean your father?” he said.

I stared, too astonished to realize I might be in a world of danger in addition to being hopelessly outclassed in the knowledge department. Not that it made Greiss a supergenius or anything. I was just that bad at the moment.

“How did you know that?” I asked, then clamped my mouth shut. “It’s probably too late to deny that we’re related, isn’t it?”

Aaron nodded. “A little. But it wouldn’t have done you any good anyway.”

“Why?” I was getting tired of asking all the questions, but I was so hilariously unprepared right now it didn’t matter. I was still getting answers. Maybe some of them would actually be helpful.

“Your father talked about you all the time,” Aaron said. “I think he liked to brag.”

“Oh,” I said, stomach twisting itself into uncomfortable knots.

This was the same Dad who I’d run away from without giving him the chance to explain the truth after twenty-one years of raising me and doing things like this.

“You knew him well, then?” I asked, struggling to compose myself.

“He was an explorer,” Aaron said. “Like myself. We have worked together in the past on different projects. Most recently, we were looking for something together.”

I nodded. This much I knew. My father hadn’t been shy about telling me what he was after.

“Shuldar,” I said quietly. The ancient, lost shifter city. From a time when we had been a species united in one pack. Ruling the PNW from our homeland. A time of godly worship and obedience.

Supposedly.

“Yes, Shuldar,” Aaron said. “Your father was insistent that an ancient civilization had formed a true city out here.”

I bit my lip, trying to keep my face neutral. That effectively confirmed my father hadn’t told Aaron about shifters. Not that I’d expected him to, but there were humans who were invited into our world every so often. It was rare but not unheard of.

What would you have told him if you found the city, I wonder?

“It’s nonsense, of course,” Aaron continued. “No evidence of any city out there has ever been found. The Mayans, Incas, and Aztec are all south, very south, or extremely south of here. No Indigenous tribes ever formed actual cities, as we would think of them.”

“Yeah,” I said quietly, my mind elsewhere. “Tell me, Aaron. Why were you at the fights last night?”

He shrugged. “Heard you were in town. Wanted to see why.”

I considered my response. Aaron seemed genuine. I was having a hard time finding any sort of lie or maliciousness to his responses. It felt like he meant everything he said. Of course, he could just be an excellent liar. It’s not like I had an excessive amount of experience at successfully figuring out when I was being lied to.

So, I would have to go out on a limb and either trust him or thank him for coming and move on. Which would provide me with precisely zero answers. Beyond that, he and my dad had apparently worked together.

Not enough.

“My father is missing,” I said, deciding to lay my cards on the table.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron said tightly, a troubled look creasing his beautiful face.

I decided I didn’t like it when he wasn’t happy. A face that beautiful deserved to smile. My brain started to wander, thinking up different ways I could make him grin. Fun ways. Intimate ways.

I chugged more water, surprised to see that it had been refilled. This waitress was a star.

My mind momentarily distracted from creating a porno with Aaron, I focused back on the real issue at hand. Which most definitely was not my lack of a sex life. Though that seemed like it was becoming more of an issue the closer we got to the next Wild Moon. I couldn’t recall having ever been this perma-horny before.

It would get me in trouble if I didn’t do something about it, but I simply didn’t have the time to care. I had to worry about Johnathan and his psycho father tracking me down, not to mention find my father. Oh, and I needed to keep paying the bills while I was at it. Sex just wasn’t on the priority list.

“What do you want from me?” Aaron asked.

“I want you to help me find Shuldar,” I said without a clue in the world as to why. But as I said it, it felt right. I needed to go there. Don’t ask me why. I hadn’t gotten that far, but as soon as Aaron had brought it up, I’d felt a pull to the northeast. To the mountains where Shuldar was supposedly hidden, lost to the centuries.

“It’s pointless,” Aaron said, rolling his shoulders to settle the shirt back into place. “We’ve searched for it for years and came up with nothing. That’s not likely to change now. It’s a wild goose chase, Dani.”

My name sounded like chocolate on a rainy day coming from his mouth, but I couldn’t let my body get distracted by his sinfully delicious everything. Not right now, at least.

“I need to find it,” I said, leveling my gaze at him.

“I don’t work for free,” Aaron said. “Your father had a benefactor that paid me.”

“Shit,” I muttered. Lars must have been the one putting up the funds. There was no one else. Unless my father had more shady connections that I didn’t know about, which seemed a lot more feasible now than it had twenty-four hours ago.

“Money upfront,” Aaron added quietly. “I’ve been stiffed too many times.”

“How much?” I heard myself ask.

He named a figure.

I choked again, this time on air. “You’re nuts! That would take me weeks to amass. At least!”

Aaron shrugged, tugging the suit tight against his shoulders as he did. I tried not to stare.

“Will the same benefactor–he never would mention who it was–bankroll you?” Aaron suggested. “Or maybe your father or mother left you some money?”

I shook my head. “They disappeared without a trace. Both of them, and I’ve been throwing my money at trying to find them.”

Aaron was silent for a moment. “Don’t beat yourself up over that,” he said quietly, reaching sideways to rest a hand on my forearm.

I nearly threw myself at him. His touch was cold but enticing at the same time. I wanted more, but something told me I shouldn’t. He was dangerous. Tempting, but a man to be wary around.

“There’s nothing wrong with what you’ve been doing,” Aaron told me, slowly withdrawing his arm, not without a bit of sadness on my part. “From what I know of your father, it’s not like him to up and disappear.”

“It’s not like either of them,” I said. “Something happened, and I don’t know what.”

So, why did I feel pulled to find Shuldar? Why was that suddenly so important to me? Did I think my parents would be found there? Had my parents decided to run away to the lost city? Without telling anyone?

Each question I posed to myself felt wrong. What was at Shuldar was for me? I felt it, not in my mind where my wolf lay or my Soulbond, but somewhere else. Somewhere…deeper.

I had to get there. No matter what.

“I need to find Shuldar,” I repeated.

Aaron nodded. “You have my price. I prefer precious metals, gold, or gemstones.”

“That doesn’t sound shady at all.” I gave him a flat look.

“Coming from the woman rigging an underground fight club,” Aaron said calmly.

I frowned. He had a point. I wasn’t precisely on the up and up either, so it would be a bit hypocritical of me to judge his method of payment now, wouldn’t it? Fine.

“What guarantee do I have that you can lead me there?” I asked.

“You don’t,” Aaron replied, downing a drink I hadn’t even noticed him order. “Just like your father didn’t.”

“Perfect,” I muttered.

“You have my number,” Aaron said, rising from his chair and heading for the door. “Call me when you have the money.”

“Yeah,” I said, watching as he left.

Once he was gone, I sighed. “Now, where the hell am I going to get that kind of money?”