She giggled weakly and rolled to her side. “I hate being sick.”

I glanced around at her room at all the signs of a young girl outgrowing her childhood staring back at me. Dolls stuffed in a box near the closet, and a mixture of her past and present in the form of jewelry, stuffed animals, nail polish, and a poster of a boy band. Someone had hung up her small wand on a nail by the window, and it glittered in the sunlight like nothing I’d ever seen. In those particles of light, I thought I could hear a little girl’s dreams and laughter. I was beginning to see the young woman she would soon become and finally understood Lexi’s sorrow of watching someone she loved fade away.

“How’s Misha?” she asked. “I haven’t seen her in a long time.”

I brushed a wisp of hair away from her face. “She’s fine, baby. You go back to sleep.”

After kissing her cheek, I stepped over Denver, who was sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed in the midst of a nap. I strolled down the hall and glanced in some of the rooms. Lynn hadn’t returned home from her client meeting but had called to check on Maizy and see if they wanted her to bring something for dinner. Austin didn’t like the idea of Lynn being out alone, so he called her client and asked the woman to keep Lynn there until William showed up to drive her home.

I turned the corner on the left, just past the game room, down another hallway. The rooms on the right must have overlooked the front of the house. Lexi had told me that when they first moved in, she wanted the room with the balcony. But when the mosquitoes had found their way inside, she switched to a room in the other hall.

So many rooms for a growing pack. All doors were closed with the exception of one. When I flipped on the light, I realized it must have been Wheeler’s room. His wallet was still on his desk, open and showing his fake human identification.

Something just didn’t feel right.

I smoothed my finger over his laptop and then opened one of the drawers. The tips of my fingers touched a cloth case and I recognized the feel of a pair of reading glasses.

“Hey, what are you doing in here?” Lexi asked in a sleepy voice. “I passed by and saw the light on in the hall.”

I quickly shut the drawer and gave her a dazzling smile. “The door was open. I was being my nosy self, snooping like you know I love to do.”

“Well, Wheeler will kill you if he finds out you were in here. He doesn’t like anyone in his space.”

I assessed his meager living quarters. So humble and dreary. A black chair and dark wood flooring just made the room appear drab and depressing. “What could he possibly have to hide in here?” I asked. “Sex toys?”