Embraced By Darkness (Riley Jenson Guardian 5)

"Thanks, bitch."

I grinned. "I'm sure Liander will be willing to rock you to sleep."

"I'm sure he won't. I might just puke, the way my stomach is feeling. I'll ring tomorrow if I find anything."

"Good. Night." I'd barely hung up when the phone bleeped to indicate an incoming message. From Blake. He certainly wasn't wasting any time. I forwarded a copy of the entire file to Rhoan, then finished the rest of the chocolate and rose to my feet. The size of the file suggested there was a fair bit of information, and there was no way I was going to scroll through it all on the itty-bitty phone screen. I didn't have a laptop with me, but the hotel had a business center in their main lobby. I grabbed another bar of chocolate from the fridge, then headed over to the next cove.

The lobby was deserted. Though there was a concierge on duty, he was probably in a back room sipping coffee and watching the football replays. I padded across to the business center and swiped my keycard through the slot. The door clicked and I pushed it open. The only light in the room was the pale blue glow coming from the computer monitors, which was fine by me. I could see perfectly well in the dark, and if I turned on the lights, I might attract the attention of the concierge. And yakking about banalities wasn't in my plans at three in the morning.

I moved the mouse to get the screen up and running, then attached the phone to the USB port and opened the file. I'd been right - it was huge, and filled with various comments, photos, a sketch of the man Adrienne had supposedly met on the island, and reports from the various police departments. Obviously, Blake had some very serious contacts if he was able to get hold of these.

I flicked through the files, scanning the information. Not all the women lived in Melbourne - one lived in Ballarat, a regional city in the heart of Victoria, and the other lived in Yarrawonga, a city on the border of Victoria and New South Wales.

And despite what Blake had said, all four women had actually disappeared at different times after their return home. The first victim had disappeared close to eight days after, and the other two at day three and day five. Adrienne had the shortest time gap - she'd vanished straightaway. None of the women had been seen since, and there'd been no credit or banking activity in any of their accounts.

The other women were remarkably similar in looks, too. They were all tall and athletic - the sort that looked as if they could run twenty miles without a drop of sweat marring their makeup - and all three had blonde hair, and either blue or green eyes. Adrienne was the odd one out in that her hair was red and her eyes gray, but it wasn't the classical red of our pack, more a wispy, dark-strawberry blonde.

Which suggested Adrienne's mom wasn't red pack. Once upon a time, that would not have been possible, but just before we'd been kicked out of the pack, our grandfather had overturned the age-old policy that forbid the red pack breeding with anyone other than red pack members - a policy meant to maintain the so-called purity of the pack he and past alphas had prized so much - and had finally allowed the intermingling with other packs and colors. In an effort, of course, to counter the pack's increasingly problematic fertility issues and the declining birthrate. It was a policy Blake had obviously allowed to continue if the pack was now prosperous.

I leaned back in the chair and stared at the screen. Was there something going on here? Or was Blake reading more into the situation than there really was? Okay, the women had seemingly disappeared, but the only thing all four had in common was the fact that they'd spent time on this island. But a lot of single women came through this place, so why would these four be the ones to disappear?

And why would the kidnappers wait rather than doing the deed when the women were on holiday far from family, friends, and their regular schedule?

It made no sense.

I frowned and rechecked the file for dates. One a month for the last three months. Adrienne was again the aberration, disappearing two weeks after the third woman. But that itself meant nothing. People disappeared every day, every hour, the world over, and many of them for reasons other than foul play.

I clicked back to the photos, and again was struck by their similarities. And Adrienne's differences.

I tapped my fingers against the desk, intrigued despite myself. As much as I hated the man, I very much doubted Blake was crying wolf. Not when his own get was involved. Something had to be happening, no matter how unlikely it seemed from reading these files.

I needed to question the parents of the other women, Blake might have questioned one lot already, but he had an emotional investment in this whole mess and probably wouldn't have been listening to the responses with a critical ear. He was a tyrant, not an investigator.

I closed the file and unhooked my phone from the USB port. What next? I scrubbed my hand across my eyes, then looked down at the time. Nearly four. I should try to sleep, but adrenaline was still pumping through my veins and the itch to move, to dance, skittered across my skin. And not human-type dancing, either.

While wolf clubs weren't permitted on the island, they did have twenty-four-hour bars, complete with music - which, at this hour, was little more than an old man at a piano. There probably wasn't going to be many people there right now, but going to the bar was a better option than going back to my villa and drinking alone. At the very least, I could talk to the bartender. He might even recognize the picture Blake had sent me.

I shoved my phone into my pocket, then pushed back my chair and rose. My footsteps echoed as I walked across the empty lobby, but the concierge still didn't come out to greet me. Maybe he was asleep in his little back office.

Soft piano music greeted me as I entered the semi-darkness of the bar, but underneath the tinkling rode the murmur of conversation. I stopped on the top step, allowing my eyes to adjust as I looked around. This particular bar was one of the smaller ones, but it was right on the beach and had one whole wall that could be opened up. On nice nights, patrons could spread out into the sand or stroll through the waves. Tonight that wall was closed - probably because the weathermen were predicting storms - but the floor-to-ceiling windows offered little obstruction to the view. Surprisingly, there were at least a dozen people in here. Most of them were couples who cuddled in the cozy booths that ringed the remaining walls, but there were at least five others who sat by themselves and sipped drinks. Probably staff who'd just finished, I thought, as I clattered down the stairs and walked across to the bar. They had that "over-it-all" expression that workers around the world seemed to get after a long shift.

The bartender wandered down from the other end and gave me a somewhat bored-looking smile - his usual expression, from what I'd seen in my time here on the island. "You're up late, Ms. Jenson."

"Got an emergency phone call from a relative's mother," I said, fudging the truth only a little. "Apparently my cousin hasn't reported in for more than a week, and the mother is panicking."

"Mothers tend to do that," he said. "Would you like a drink?"

"Just a beer, thanks." I waited until he poured the drink, then added, "My cousin apparently met a man here. Mom seems to think if I find that man, I'll find her daughter."

"You didn't know she was here?"

I shook my head, then crossed my arms and leaned casually against his bar. With the low cut of my T-shirt, more than a small amount of breast was now on show. His gaze almost instantly wandered down. I might not want to play with him, but I wasn't above using a few tricks to keep his thoughts on my assets rather than making sense of what I was saying.

"He was a tall, blond man with gray eyes and big ears. His name was Jim. Jimmy Denton, I think."

He frowned, and his gaze rose briefly to mine, "That's me."

I looked him up and down. He was portly and middle-aged, and while he seemed like a nice man, I just couldn't imagine someone as young and as vibrant as Adrienne wanting to dance with someone like this. Though stranger things did happen when the moon lust was upon us. "Ummm, you're neither blond nor big eared."