Carter was right. We found the cave, further down the mountain than we'd anticipated, closer to civilization. Inside, three empty cages. The cages were large enough to house a big dog—barely big enough to hold a human. It made my blood boil to think of the terrified people who'd been forced into the cages, scared, unable to move, fearing for their lives. And they'd be right to be afraid.

We'd dragged the cages back to the SUV and dropped them off at the lab. One thing I'd noticed in each of the cages was a considerable amount of red dust in the bottom, which I guessed was transference from the captives’ clothing.

"We found the cave. Clearly, they're not where the auctions are held." I leaned back in my chair, frowning at my monitor. I'd logged the details of our find on Wolf’s Hill and, while we were making progress, it wasn't fast enough. I was worried something bad was about to happen. Another abduction maybe? And I still wasn't one hundred percent sure they were linked. Was I grasping at straws, wanting everything tied up in a neat little bow?

"Definitely not. That place could barely fit the three cages, let alone a group of assholes bidding on humans. The cave has to be the holding place for the wolves after they've purchased their humans."

"Which still leaves us with the question of where the auctions are being held. And are they related at all to the murders of our four half-transformed victims?"

"The red dust could help. My guess is red brick dust. The lab will confirm." Carter's chair squeaked as he leaned back, linking his hands behind his head. He gazed up at the ceiling, deep in thought.

I tried to drag my eyes away, I really did, but it was hopeless. He was a magnet—every time I was within his orbit I was drawn to him. My mind drifted back to the conversation on the side of the mountain, where he'd declared his love for me. What did it mean? What was love? I'd been lacking in that particular emotion my whole life, had never had anyone tell me they loved me before, and to be honest, I had no clue what to do.

Did I love Carter? I wasn’t sure. I sure liked him a lot. I enjoyed spending time with him. I missed him when he wasn't around. My body came alive whenever he touched me. And his kisses blew my mind. Was that love?

My comms unit buzzing startled me out of my thoughts and I quickly answered. It was the lab.

"The red dust in the cages is brick dust, but it's old. From handmade bricks that were common about a hundred years ago," the tech told me, not bothering with niceties.

"Okay."

"But, on a hunch, I tested our four victims’ clothing and found traces of the same dust."

"So what you're saying is that wherever those bricks are, all four of our victims have been there as well? Most likely held or killed there."

"Affirmative. I'm running the results through the database to see if we can narrow down what buildings were built in Redmeadows with those bricks. I'll send it through when it's done."

"Thank you." I glanced up at Carter who was looking at me with one brow arched. "You heard? They found the same dust that was in the cages on our victims’ clothing. The auctions and our murders are related."

"What are you thinking? That the victims were abducted, auctioned off and whoever bought them killed them? In a weird, bizarre way?"

"Sounds plausible."

"We need to find out more about these auctions. Why don't we have more missing person reports? There were three cages in that cave, indicating the wolves could purchase a maximum of three humans for their hunting games. That tells me more people would have to be auctioned off to cater to the vampires and anyone else. Miller said even humans were buying humans."

"Let's go talk to Miller again. He's still in the cells."

* * *

I told you all I know." Miller strode back and forth, agitated. He ran his fingers around the glowing collar secured around his neck. I'd allowed him to shift at the last full moon, but he'd been restrained in a silver-barred cell, couldn't run, couldn't hunt or eat fresh meat. Once the change was over, his collar was put back on. His wolf was suffering because of it.

"You've been to at least one of these auctions?" Carter asked, voice like steel.

"Not to buy. Just to help transport," Miller protested. As if that made a difference.

"How many humans were up for auction?"

"I don't know, man, I couldn't really see. I was out back with the transport!" He ran his fingers through his tangled hair, wincing when they snagged.

"You would have taken a look though," I interjected. "A sneaky peek at what was on offer. Your curiosity would have gotten the better of you. How many did you see?" He eyeballed me, angry that I had him pegged. Of course he watched the auctions; morbid curiosity demanded he do so.

"Do I have to use my powers on you?" I held up a hand, ready to levitate him and bang his head against the ceiling if I had to.

"No! No!" Lowering his head, he muttered under his breath, "Yeah, I might have seen more than I should have a time or two. But I didn't, you know, count them."

"Guess. More than five? More than ten?"

"I dunno, around ten, I guess." He slid onto his chair, defeated.

"And how often are the auctions held?"

"Look, I don't know, okay? I was just the grunt. Took what was paid for, transported it to the cave and kept watch." I ground my teeth at the way he dismissed human life so casually. They weren't its, they were people.

"How often did you do that? Just the once? A couple of times? A dozen times?" Carter persisted.

"Probably every couple of months." Miller's head was low, voice sullen.

Carter and I looked at each other. So someone was snatching people off the streets, holding them until they'd accumulated enough to hold an auction. Ten people every two months, give or take. That was a lot of people unaccounted for.

"The homeless?" I suggested, ignoring Miller who now appeared to be quietly sobbing.

"Could be. Someone who wouldn't be missed," Carter agreed, pushing to his feet.

I followed him to the door. "But our four victims—they don't fit that profile. They were reported missing or would have been if they hadn't turned up dead first."

"What do we know for sure?" Carter prompted. I stopped outside Miller's cell, waiting while Carter locked up behind us.

"Our victims were part of the auction," I replied.

"Were they?" Carter argued. "We know they were held at the same place the auction victims were."

"You're right. It doesn't mean they were put up for auction, but what it is telling us is that it was most likely the same people who were snatching people for the auctions that took them. So...a private buyer?"

Carter nodded. "That seems more likely. Their bodies looked like they'd undergone some fucked up medical experimentation. Someone who has the capability to do that most likely has the dollars to have their subjects acquired for them. Our victims may even have been targeted on purpose. Maybe they needed them fit and healthy, a homeless person or drug addict wouldn't be suitable."

"But we don't have anything more to go on," I muttered, following Carter back to the elevator. "The phone we found gave us the coordinates but nothing else. Miller gave us the name Brooks as the guy who texts them with the info for the auctions, but we've got no lead on him. The sketch Miller gave us hasn't turned up any hits."

"We've got the bricks. The lab is running them through the database right now. With any luck, we'll have a list of buildings that still exist that were built with them."

"And Crimson Mist. All four of our victims visited the nightclub days before they were killed. Nate Wilder isn't responsible, but it looks like someone is trying to frame him."

"Right. So we go back and interview all the staff. Every last one. And then we go visit recently fired staff. Anyone with a grudge. Wilder's a damn fool for running." Carter cursed. "This would be so much easier if we could talk to him. He probably has a running list of enemies. It'd save us valuable time."

"I know," I said. I hadn't told Carter about Nate kissing me. I had the feeling my laid back, easygoing wolf partner would not be pleased to learn of Nate's advances.

"How are we going to do this? We're on day shift. Most of the people we want to talk to will be at the club after our shift is over."

"Cleaners and admin staff are most likely around during the day. We'll start with them. Augustine and Darabi can swing by tonight and talk to everyone else. The manager, the guy with the multicolored mane of hair, what's his name? He seemed cooperative."

"Xavier Elizondo," I replied. And while he did seem agreeable when we searched the club, who's to say he wasn't the one who planted the phone in Nate's desk? He certainly had the opportunity. There was no attempt to hide the phone. It was just thrown in the drawer, which made me think that whoever had put it there was in a hurry, that they weren't supposed to be there and feared discovery. Maybe it was a member of staff, maybe a patron. And if it was a patron we were screwed. Unless! A thought hit me.

"Nate's IT lab." I grasped Carter's arm, voice urgent.

"What about it?"

"He has facial recognition software and all the footage from the club, all saved on his servers. What if we asked him to cross reference the footage from the night each of our victims was there and see if we can create a list of people who were there on all four nights."

"Might be a big list, his club is popular." But the look on his face told me he didn't hate the idea. "Trouble is, Nate is on the run."

"We don't need him. His IT guy, Ethan, can do it. I'm going to call him. Can't hurt to ask."

The lift opened at our floor and I rushed to my desk, eager to call Ethan.

"Don't forget he's vamp, he'll most likely be asleep." Carter vetoed his desk for the coffee machine.

"I'll leave a message. He'll help us if he wants to get his boss off the hook."