She reached up a trembling hand and rested it on the forearm that held Virgil's life on a thread. Ethan sucked in a breath, but dared not move. "We will help you find her. I will help you. I promise. But you need to let him go. She needs you more than you need to hurt this man, uh, werewolf."

There was a long pause. And it wasn't until Leland released the blue-faced Virgil that Daniela realized she had been holding her breath.

"You have given me your word that you will help me find my Liz," Leland's gravelly voice half growled, half spoke - halfway between the wolf and the man.

Daniela nodded.

Leland nodded his approval in return. "Then you will come with me." He turned to walk away.

But she had more to say, "Hey."

He half turned and half expected her to object to his command, especially considering that only minutes ago he was trying to kill her. To his surprise she instead said, "You may want to put on some clothes first."

With that, he finally smiled.

*********************************************

It didn't take long at all for Leland to get back to being Leland. Once he was dressed, he instructed the three club security wolves to clean up the mess in the hall and in his office. The other two wolves were to take their alpha home, and Leland was going to deal with him later. Leland himself had helped Ethan. It was only right, considering he was the one who shattered the man's femur. He tried to send his Delta home, but the stubborn wolf would have none of it, determined to stick by Daniela's side, his Mate. Leland couldn't blame him; he felt the same way about his own Mate, except that he had no fucking idea of where she was at.

The best lead he had was her best friend, Jenny, whose phone number was scribbled on a sticky note that somehow survived Leland's transformation, the cell phone, however, was not so lucky. Handing the note over to Daniela, he decided having a human Police Officer on his side might be a good idea. "Perhaps you should call this person. She was here last night with my Mate."

She took the note. "Yeah, Jenny." At his quizzical brow raise, she added, "She's the one who reported Liz missing... and told us that you were the one last seen with her."

A soft smirk hinted on his lips as he said, "I don't know if I should be insulted or proud that my Mate has such a loyal friend."

"Proud," Ethan answered. "She was very insistent that we look for her, even though the policy is to wait 48 hours before starting a search. If not for Jenny, we wouldn't even know she's missing."

"I'd know." A dark look crossed over Leland's face.

"How?" Daniela asked.

His eyes burned with rage and desperation as he snarled in response, "Her life has been threatened."

"Threatened?!" Ethan exclaimed. "When? By who?"

Images of a terrified Liz being held by a murderous rogue haunted Leland's mind. Sucking in a large breath, he willed himself to remain on the calmer side. He couldn't afford to lose control again; already too much time had been lost. In a strained voice he answered, "Aston called."

The Lord Delta understood exactly what that meant. "Another one?"

"Another what?" Daniela asked.

Leland nodded.

Daniela snapped, "Another what?"

There was no getting around it, he knew. She was a Detective, trained and honed with strong instincts that made her really good at her job. The fact that she was the Officer investigating the animal attacks around New York was ironic, or maybe fate. Sighing, Leland resigned himself to the inevitable, this human woman would be given privilege knowledge that even only a select few wolves knew about. So, he answered her, "Another body."

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