"about time she got here," someone said.

"where's she been?" one of the younger wolves demanded.

"yeah," another voice called from the back. "isn't this her job?" there were murmurs of agreement.

it was a fair question. "you're right," ari said. "it is my job, and i should have been here two days ago. i was out of town, and nobody told me about steffan until a few hours ago. but i'm here now. he is my friend, and that makes this more than a job to me. i'm hoping we can find him quickly, but i need your help. can someone bring me up-to-date? do you have any idea where he is?"

"if we did, i wouldn't be standing here," the same young wolf snapped.

ari looked at him. "then let's figure out something useful for you to do." she raised her eyes to the larger group. "steffan was doing some private work for the magic council."

"what kind of private work?" a balding man from the back interrupted.

"i don't have all the details," she hedged. "but he was talking with other wolf clans about some joint business. you can ask him after we find him. has he said anything about any problems he'd been having? or somebody who'd made threats? anything you know about his activities over the last couple of weeks might be helpful. i'll be around for a while this evening to hear any ideas you have. if you know or suspect anything, please talk to me or to gilbert." she glanced at the angry young wolf again. "i promise this case has my total attention until steffan is found. i need the rest of you to report even the smallest piece of information."

"are you telling us to back off on the search and let you take over?" the beefy, balding man who'd shouted out a question before was working his way toward the front of the room. his aura was charged with hostility. "somebody's responsible for this insult to our pack, and i ain't going to wait around, hoping to hear something."

"i'm not suggesting that-in fact, the very opposite. we can use everyone. eventually we may need a search party, but for now we need information, a trail to follow. haunt the bars and clubs, talk to anyone and everyone you can. this is an otherworld problem, and i believe there's an otherworlder out there who has the answer."

"just what are you not saying?" the balding man asked, coming to a halt in front of her. "this business stuff sounds fishy to me."

"you'll have to take that up with steffan. my job is to find him, and time's passing as we argue. you want answers? get us a lead."

"back off, fagan," gilbert said, eyeing the man. "she's right. we don't have time for this. let's split up into groups and get it done."

during the general commotion that followed as the wolves organized, gilbert leaned over and whispered in ari's ear. "we need to talk before you go." he turned away to speak with a young wolf tugging on his sleeve, leaving ari staring after him. what the hell was that about? if he knew something, why didn't he just say so?

if she hadn't been so busy the next hour listening mostly to fears and theories rather than hard facts, she might have tracked gilbert down and demanded an explanation. instead, she heard the same story over and over. on the night he disappeared, steffan had been hunting in the hills east of riverdale with a dozen other pack members. around one o'clock in the morning he told them he was going solo for a few hours, and he veered off on a side trail. no one had seen him since.

the story at least gave her a time frame. whatever happened, it was between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m., when he failed to appear for the early morning meeting.

dispensing encouragement with a liberal hand and using her best witch skills to project calm, ari worked on redirecting the wolves' frustrations toward potential avenues of information. as they began to disperse, she finally went in search of gilbert.

she found him waiting near the front door. ari nodded at him as she passed, and he followed her outside. they fell into step, strolling toward her car as if he was merely seeing her on her way.

"ok, what gives?"

"a couple of things. both could be nothing, but you never know. first of all, a heads up. fagan, the guy who was so vocal toward the end, is steffan's biggest opposition for control of the pack. he's always thought he should be leader. i can't say for sure that he'd harm steffan, but i don't trust him, and you shouldn't trust anything he says. he's a sneaky bastard."

"gotcha," ari said. "i'll keep my eyes open around him. what else?"

gilbert hunched his shoulders, looking uneasy. "i don't want to get false rumors started, but i think steffan has gotten into something funky."

"define funky." like national security funky? or was he referring to something else entirely? she wasn't going to reveal the homeland security connection until she heard what gilbert had to say. and maybe not then.

"some kind of trouble. he was keeping secrets, even from me. private calls, and he was meeting someone. at first i thought he had a new girl, but i don't think it's that. he's been short-tempered, really impatient. no woman makes you feel like that, at least not one you keep around. when i asked him what was going on, he blew me off."

"it may be related to his work for the magic council. a few days ago he implied his meetings for them were pretty shaky." maybe she should have pushed steffan for answers-as if that would have worked. frankly, she didn't know anyone who responded well to nagging, but this would be a whole lot easier if he had talked to them that night in the park.

"maybe you're right." gilbert sounded doubtful. "do you know what he was doing? why the need for secrecy?"

ari hesitated. she'd like to confide in gilbert, but she didn't know enough about him to cross him off the suspect list. maybe the reason he'd told her about fagan's ambitions was to conceal his own. still, steffan had trusted him enough to make him second-in-command.

she compromised. "i know he was involved in high level negotiations with several out-of-state wolf clans. it's all hush-hush, but i'll try to find out more, if it looks like we need it." she changed the subject. "have any strangers been hanging around? anyone suspicious?" a sudden thought occurred to her. "how about an elderly man with white hair and a cane?"

"no, no one. i would have noticed. who's the old man?"

"probably not important. just someone i talked to at the airport."

gilbert frowned at her. ari didn't wait for him to come up with further questions. she opened the lexus's door and got in, saying she'd be in touch. even if gilbert hadn't been a suspect, she wasn't going to share anything about jones unless his credentials were verified. just because the negotiations were legit didn't mean jones was, or the rest of his story, except what the council president had confirmed. she didn't want everyone running off in the wrong direction.

ari steered through thinning traffic as she entered the olde town district. her lashes were drooping but her stomach churned with the lack of progress. steffan had been missing almost forty-eight hours. if he'd been kidnapped, why no ransom demand? what did his captors want? she refused to consider there might be no captors. that would mean his dead body was lying out there somewhere.

ari closed her apartment door, kicked off her shoes, and walked straight toward the shower. she could almost feel the hot water pulsing against her skin, when the ring of her cell phone stopped her. caller id confirmed it was andreas. she hesitated for an instant before hitting connect, suddenly nervous about how this would go.

"i miss you," he said.

ari's tired shoulders relaxed. "me, too." she walked over and plopped on the couch. "i'm sorry i left without talking to you, but-"

"arianna, i understand," he interrupted. "have you located steffan?"

"no. and worst of all, i'm not sure where to start. i spent the evening with his wolf pack, and they haven't a clue what happened to him. they didn't even know what he'd been doing the past few weeks, but i met the strangest man on the plane who did." she hesitated, remembering the council president's concerns about the airways. andreas had spent a mint two months ago on the "secure" units they were using, but nothing was foolproof. still, why would anyone be listening to her? she told him everything: jones, homeland security, the wolf coalition, her meeting with the magic council president, and the frustration of steffan's wolves.

"you have been busy. when you first mentioned jones, i thought his story had to be phony," andreas said when she finished. "it seemed odd that homeland security would have an interest in riverdale, since there is nothing strategic there. but a worldwide werewolf organization is a brilliant idea. a breakdown in those negotiations explains steffan's behavior at the park."

"yeah, i know. fantastic as it seems, steffan might be caught up in some national security plot. i'm not sure where jones fits."

"let us hope the magic council can answer that question. if not, perhaps lt. foster. you know he'd try." andreas chuckled. "he can be so persistent that homeland security might give him the answers in order to make him go away."

"yep, he's a bulldog, but i don't want to call him unless i have to. he wouldn't stop with just bugging homeland. he'd get involved. and the council wants to keep this quiet. they'd be pissed if i brought in the human police force."

"what if you need help to rescue steffan? more than lilith can provide. i cannot be there, and lt foster would do whatever he could. use him, if you need backup."

considering ryan's attitude toward andreas, the vampire's words showed how worried he was for her and steffan. it made her feel better and more guilty at the same time. here she'd been going on about her own problems and hadn't even asked about his. "i will, but i hope it doesn't come to that. this is an otherworld thing." she took a deep breath. "sorry to whine like this. i need sleep and a fresh start in the morning. tell me what's happening on your end."