The Independent Girl’s Guide to Mating with a Werewolf (Mate Hunted #3)

Chapter 1

one

JADE

My forearms pressed against the cold countertop as I leaned over the stone, staring the receptionist down.

The hospital’s lobby made an attempt to look comfortable, but it still smelled like a hospital. That removed any sense of peace a person might have inside the building. Or at least any sense of peace I might’ve had. Hospitals and I didn’t exactly have a good track record.

The receptionist was a severe-looking woman around my age—30. I’d had enough experience with her to be confident she was just as bitchy as she looked. Which was definitely judgmental of me, but I was past caring.

Months past caring, actually. Just as long as one of my best friends had supposedly been in the hospital for.

Supposedly, because no one had let me see her so I could verify that she was actually there and alive. I hadn’t heard from her since she disappeared. No one had.

I let out a harsh breath, fighting to keep my temper in check.

Losing my shit had yet to get me anywhere in Moon Ridge.

“Look, Cynthia,” I said flatly.

I’d been shooting for polite, but that clearly didn’t work out.

Oh well.

“We’re both tired of playing this game. You know you have information about my friend. I know you have information about my friend. Obviously, there’s some weird shit going on in this town. I don’t care what it is. Just tell me where Stella is, and I’ll get out of your hair for good.”

Cynthia finally looked up from her computer, her expression irritated. “As I’ve told you before, Miss Hoover, patient information is private. Without your friend’s permission, I can neither confirm nor deny her presence or anything else.”

Frustration had me clenching my jaw as I forced a smile onto my face.

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

I was about to become her worst nightmare.

“I completely understand. However, considering the circumstances, I’m sure you won’t be surprised or annoyed when I spend my entire weekend in your waiting room, checking back for an update every thirty minutes.”

Cynthia’s lips pressed together.

“While I wait, I’ll be emailing and calling every person in your town’s council, as well. Surely, someone in Moon Ridge will be willing and able to find my friend. Thanks for your help.”

I strode over to the waiting room and took the seat directly across from Cynthia’s. My gaze met hers, and I hoped she could see the steel in it.

I wasn’t going anywhere.

I’d spent the last few days making a list of every email address and phone number for every public figure in Moon Ridge. There weren’t a ton, but if I bugged enough of them, someone would have to make something happen.

Theoretically.

I pulled my laptop out of my backpack—it was black leather, in an attempt to look more professional than I felt—and opened it up on my lap.

Pulling up the list, I called the first number.

Then the second.

And the third.

Cynthia’s lips pressed tighter together with every phone call I made.

No one I talked to sounded excited to help me, unsurprisingly. When I promised to follow up with an email, and immediately did so, they were even less thrilled.

I didn’t care.

Stella was missing, for fuck’s sake, and nothing else had worked. Our friends Abby and Maya seemed to know something despite their constant denial, but I’d given up on trying to get information out of them a few days earlier.

They were currently at the top of my shit list, but that was a problem for after I knew that Stella was safe.

I was going to find out what happened to her, no matter what it took.

I was halfway through the list, and the day, when Cynthia’s phone rang. I didn’t hear what she said at first. She was the main receptionist, so her phone rang a lot.

When I felt her eyes on me, I looked up and found her glaring.

She definitely had my attention then.

“I’ll handle it,” she finally said. “Sorry, Alpha.”

Alpha?

No.

Holy hell, no.

This couldn’t be a werewolf thing. Abby had detailed too many werewolf romance books for me not to know that the alpha thing was important to them.

But they weren’t real.

Werewolves weren’t real.

They couldn’t be real.

…could they?

Something weird was obviously going on in Moon Ridge.

And yeah, the town being full of werewolves was something of an urban legend at the university I taught biology at.

But werewolves?

Come on.

What scientific evidence was there that they existed? Where was the proof? If they were real, wouldn’t someone have figured it out and splashed it all over social media in an attempt to make a bunch of money in views or ads or whatever?

Cynthia ended her phone call. I watched closely as she searched something on her computer, then dialed a number she’d apparently found online.

Her voice was low, but the waiting room was small enough that I could hear everything she said.

“Hi, Nico. This is Cynthia over at Moon Ridge Regional. We have a miss Jade Hoover searching for her friend Stella who she believes went missing a few months ago. Without permission from her or a direct relative, I can’t share any information about anyone’s current healthcare situation, as I’m sure you can understand.

The mayor’s office called and asked me to handle it, and I believe you know someone who could update her. ”

Nico?

As in, Abby’s boyfriend?

What the actual fuck?

I knew she knew something.

He couldn’t be related to Stella, though. She had no idea who he was when they met, and she would’ve mentioned any kind of familial connection.

So why had Cynthia called Nico?

Maybe there was a different Nico in Moon Ridge, and he was Stella’s cousin or something?

That seemed like too big of a coincidence, but it would be significantly simpler than Abby’s boyfriend being involved in Stella going missing.

“Thanks,” Cynthia said.

And hung up the phone again.

I watched closely as the receptionist went back to work. She seemed to think that single phone call would be enough to solve the problem.

Which was me.

I was the problem.

Hi.

I gave it a minute before I returned to my list, typing the number for the next Moon Ridge government official into my phone.

If Stella’s supposed cousin was going to call and get me into her supposed hospital room, great. But I wasn’t going to hold my breath until—

My phone rang right before I could hit the button to call the number.

Abby’s contact picture covered my screen. She’d been laughing hysterically with Stella and Emmy on Emmy’s purple couch. All of us had been a little past tipsy at the girls’ night, and we’d somehow ended up taking contact pictures.

None of the pictures had turned out well, but they were all fun memories, so we all used them.

I missed those times fiercely. With Abby moving to Moon Ridge to live with Nico and Stella going missing, I’d been alone a lot.

Maya was still living near the university, but she was avoiding me, and I was pissed at her for keeping something about the disappearance from me.

Besides that, she was the biggest loner in our friend group.

She just didn’t seem to need much socialization to meet her quota, which was fine. We all understood.

Emmy and Zoe had always been closer to each other than to the rest of us. They’d known each other before any of us got our teaching jobs, so that wasn’t surprising. Abby, Stella, and I had been better friends with each other than them, so it had balanced out.

Now, everything was out of whack. And had been for too long.

Zoe and Emmy had been concerned about Stella’s absence at first, but their worry had faded. I hadn’t really talked to them in a month or so. It had frustrated me endlessly that no one was as involved in finding Stella as I was.

I stared down at the picture of my friends.

If Abby was calling me now, the Nico that Cynthia talked to was obviously Abby’s Nico.

Which meant Abby was involved in Stella’s disappearance somehow.

Which was just… shitty.

On so many levels.

I ignored the pit in my gut that felt like a physical punch, and answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jade.” Abby’s voice was more upbeat than usual. She’d been like that since she got with Nico, but this was forced. “What are you up to?”

If she wanted to dance around the subject first, I’d dance.

A little.

“Still trying to get into the hospital to see Stella. What about you?”

“Nico and I drove to a city nearby to try a new restaurant for lunch. It was gorgeous, and the food was amazing,” Abby said. “Anyway…”

“Anyway what?” I pressed.

Abby let out a soft breath. “There’s really no good way to put this, so I’m just going to jump in. Remember that time I told you I met a werewolf, and you thought I was on drugs?”

“It was the only logical conclusion.”

“Right. I’m not disagreeing with that. But it was true. Moon Ridge is full of werewolves. Nico is one. That’s why he has the same name as the wolf you met. And you were right—he’s not a wolfdog, he’s an actual wolf.”

I blinked.

And blinked again.

What she was saying was insane. Literally insane. But if it could somehow explain the way Stella had vanished, I couldn’t shut it down completely.

It wasn’t like the idea hadn’t crossed my mind.

Abby wasn’t the kind of person who’d get high enough to legitimately believe werewolves were real. And she wouldn’t lie about getting high if she had.

But how was it possible?

And how could it make sense?

“Are you still there?” Abby checked.

“Yeah, I’m still here.” I closed my eyes.

Then my computer.

When I opened my eyes again, I put the laptop back in my bag.

No amount of research was going to tell me what had happened to Stella. It seemed like there was a good chance Abby was the only one who could do that.

“Do you think I’m on drugs again?” she checked.

“Only a little.”

“Well, that’s progress.” The cheer in her voice seemed a little less forced. “Stella is a werewolf too. Her history is more complicated than mine, but she was a wolf for a long time before I met Nico and became one too.”

I closed my eyes again.

And squeezed them shut.