Twenty thousand dollars to hire him. I didn’t have that kind of cash, at least, not offhand.

I swallowed down my despair and madly wracked my brain to see if I could come up with a solution. It was a hefty fee to keep my secret safe, but if it kept me hidden . . .

“What made you change your mind?” I asked, stalling.

He shrugged. “I finished another job tonight, and I’m not doing anything else at the moment, so I thought I’d help you out.”

My gaze narrowed as I took in his unassuming stance. Help me out. Right. Something told me the Fire Wolf didn’t help anyone from the Shadow Zone unless something was in it for him. After all, his current demeanor was a one-eighty from the man who’d pinned me to a wall only a few hours ago, threatened to dismember me, and made me get all hot and bothered. Thinking about that also reminded me that it had been yet another few hours since Tessa had been taken.

The clock was still ticking, and the truth was, as much as this hunter unnerved me, he would help keep my secret safe from the SF, and he would begin hunting for Tessa immediately. But the money? Yeah, that was still a problem.

“I don’t have twenty thousand offhand.”

“What do you have?”

“I have five thousand that I can transfer to your account right now. I’ll get the other five thousand to you after I figure a few things out.” Yeah, like sell the family jewels. Only problem, we didn’t own any priceless gems.

I nibbled my lip, wondering how I was going to come up with the extra cash. My hard-earned retirement account came to mind. Crap. That was probably the only way.

When I looked up at the Fire Wolf, his gaze was trained on my mouth. He quickly glanced away. “And you’ll also get the remaining ten to me when I find your sister?”

My heart leaped. When I find your sister. As if it were a given that he’d track her down. As though he didn’t have a doubt in the world that he would find the asshat who’d taken her and deliver his fiery justice.

Okay, maybe I’d been watching too many action movies lately, but the thought of the Fire Wolf shredding Star Tattoo Guy to ribbons made me disturbingly happy. Although, technically, I wasn’t really hiring him to kill anyone. I was just hiring him to find Tessa. Still, a girl could dream.

The Fire Wolf leveled me with a weighted stare.

“Deal,” I finally said.

He crossed his arms. “Tell me about the man who took her.”

“He was big, at least six-three with dark hair. He had strong, meaty arms, like a bodybuilder or maybe a werewolf on steroids. His brow was thick, his hands large, and he had this strange tattoo on his neck. I could’ve sworn it was a constellation tattoo, but there were arrows around it too.”

His expression didn’t change, but the energy around him grew. “Describe the tattoo more.”

I closed my eyes, doing my best to picture it again. Dammit, why hadn’t I drawn it on a piece of paper right after Tessa had been abducted when the memory was still fresh?

I pinched my brows together, concentrating. “There was a circle around what looked to be a constellation with spikes toward the middle and triangles on the inside.” I shook my head. “I can’t remember exactly, but it was something like that.”

“And had you ever seen a tattoo like it before?”

“No, never.”

He pushed away from the couch so quickly that I took a step back. Damn. The guy could move as fast as a vamp, yet the Black Underbelly’s bartender had confirmed that he was part werewolf. So what else was he? A hybrid apparently. There were a lot of supernaturals in the community who were of mixed blood. Their powers ranged from next to nothing to off the charts. I had a feeling that the Fire Wolf’s were definitely off the charts.

“Where does your sister live? I’ll need to collect a few of her things.”

I waved toward the bedrooms down the short hall off the living room. “She lives here with me. Her room’s on the left.”

“Show me.”

I led him to her room, my stomach dipping when I turned the light on. Her bedroom was in its typical shape—clothes on the floor, bed unmade, crap everywhere. The curtains were open, our reflections in the window pane.

The Fire Wolf kicked a few things out of the way when he stepped inside, then inhaled. “Did she wear any of these clothes recently?”

I surveyed the heap in the corner and pointed at the shirt on the top. “That blue blouse with the faint stripes. I think she wore that yesterday.”

He collected the garment and sniffed it, then moved to another piece of clothing, and then another. He grabbed items in her room too, mostly clothing, jewelry, and other random objects like her hairbrush and the charging cord for her cell phone.

With each new item, he either smelled it or ran it through his fingers multiple times.

If I didn’t already know that he was a werewolf, or at least partly werewolf, I would think the dude was a little disturbed, but I figured he was memorizing her scent and perhaps picking up magical footprints from the objects she’d used.

After several more long inhales of the shirt she’d most recently worn, he tossed it back in the corner. “She doesn’t smell like you.”

“What does she smell like?”

He frowned as he prowled around the room, touching objects as he went. “Like a witch. I detect the trace of freesia, but your scent is withered almost.”

I gave him a look. “Are you saying I stink?”

His lips quirked up. “I never said that.”

I swallowed the dryness in my throat. I wore a cloaking spell daily to hide the strength of my witch magic, since the richness of a witch’s floral fragrance was an indication of her power, so him saying I smelled withered made me want to smile smugly. Even this badass hunter had no idea about the magic I was hiding. “I didn’t realize you’d noted my scent.”

He faced me again, his huge frame dominating the room as his amber-colored eyes bore into me, a hint of mockery in them. “I had you against a wall in case you forgot.”

My cheeks flushed. I hadn’t forgotten one second of the feeling of his body pressed against mine. “Right. I vaguely recall that.”

He smirked. “You’re blushing.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Are you sure about that?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but he spoke first as he stuffed whatever he was holding into his pocket. “Take me to where she was abducted.”

“So you’re done here?”

“I have what I need.”

“And you’ll give me back the things that you just pocketed after Tessa’s found?”

The corner of his mouth kicked up. “Are you worried I’ll steal them?”

“Hard to say. I’m not really sure if you’re the stealing type or not.”

“You’re right. These things are quite precious. Top of the list for any thief.” He pulled the items from his pocket. He held a small pair of earrings, a thin tank top that could be easily folded, and a hairband. Several strands of Tessa’s long blond hair were snagged on it.

“You’re going to use those things to track her?”

“They’re not trophies if that’s what you’re worried about. Now, take me to where she was abducted.” He stepped closer, his large frame looming over me. In the window’s reflection, I realized just how large he was. My head barely brushed the tops of his shoulders.

“It was behind our magic shop. I need to grab the keys.” I made a hasty retreat to the living room and snatched my purse off the small table by the front door.

The Fire Wolf leveled me with a heavy stare. “Before we go anywhere, I’ll need you to pay me the five thousand.”

Ah, so he hadn’t forgotten his payment after all.

“Not a problem.” I whipped out my phone and pulled up my banking app. “Where do I send the money?”

He gave me his details, but I had a feeling the account he’d quoted me was one of many. Something told me that the Fire Wolf was just as crafty with his finances as he was with his dealings.