Skins & Needles (COMPLETE)

Hunting Party

Nathan

"I'll have you know, you still smell," Ryanne said when we arrived at the location we agreed to meet. She brought her friend, Doran, who stood next to her with a neutral expression.

"That's fine," I said with a shrug. "I don't have to smell me."

"Whatever," she snapped, but her expression quickly shifted to one of worry. "How... how is she?"

"She's alive," I told her, and glanced down at my phone, "but no new updates."

"I can't believe she's one of you."

"Of us," I corrected. "We're all shifters when it comes down to it."

Ryanne looked speechless for a moment, before she slowly nodded.

"You're right."

"We gonna hunt this fucker or not?" Doran said suddenly, and my eyes snapped to his. He was my age, maybe a little older, with dark green eyes and a mop of curly blonde hair. There was no denying he was hot as the eighth circle of hell, but I tried to ignore this fact, as were from different shifter circles for one, and with my luck, he was probably dating Ryanne.

"I have the scent," I said after a moment, and pulled a plastic bag with a blood soaked rag from my jacket. "I don't think he's left the city."

"He literally just murdered someone," Ryanne said, "or tried anyway. You don't think he'd hightail it out of here?"

"I think he'd stay to see the job through," I replied, and pulled open the bag. The smell of copper wafted out, mixed with the unique scent of Charlotte's father. I held it up, and Ryanne and Doran leaned forward to get a better whiff.

"Should we split up, or try and stick together?" Doran wondered, and I shrugged.

"I've never done this with anyone outside my pack before. Split up for now, and once we catch a lead, meet up to cover the right direction?"

"Sounds good to me," Ryanne agreed.

"You need to take this with you? I'm not sure how comparable your sense of smell is to wolf shifters. No offense."

"We should be fine," Doran said. "But I'll let you know. Give me your phone."

I raised an eyebrow but handed my cell over anyway, and watched as he typed his own number in with a message, and hit send.

"There," he said, handing it back. "Let's get going."

"Right." And we broke off in three different directions. We all started near Charlotte's apartment, but not close enough that if he was watching he would notice. His scent lingered around her block for a while, confusing the path in the way a rabbit ran back on its own trail to confuse a fox. I strolled around in ever-growing circles for a while, as did the others based on their own scent patterns, until at last, I found a trail that led away.

"Hey," a voice said behind me, and I turned to see Doran walking toward me.

"Oh, hey," I said, and ran a hand through my hair. "You find it too?"

"Yeah, a couple minutes ago," he replied, and stopped a few feet in front of me. "Ryanne should be here soon. I messaged her the spot."

"Great," I nodded. "If we can track him to a more exact location, we can get Arsen in on this."

"Can't believe Char got involved in all this," he said, and I remembered he had been tattooed by her before. Like most of us.

"Arsen says she figured it out herself," I told him, leaning back against an old, brick building. "Knowing her, he's telling the truth."