It was almost midnight by the time Ley arrived in front of their building. The surroundings were quiet and calm as most of the people were asleep. It was the complete opposite inside her. It felt like she's trying to keep a door closed while someone keeps on kicking it from the other side to get out.
It didn't help that she's still feeling the effects of blood loss from earlier today. She barely regained control after that mess with Silas. Her beast had too much fun with its brief exposure since it was asleep most of the time. Ley, on the other hand, had excessive excitement in one day that she just wanted to drop dead on her bed.
Other shifters have a healthy communication with their animal counterparts but she couldn't even establish one with hers. Most of the time, she felt a barrier between the two of them except when it feels strong emotions though it was asleep a lot so she doesn't have a lot of problems with it. The issue now clearly lies whenever it wakes up. Ley, herself, couldn't go for long periods of time without shifting so she was also unable to resist the pull to transform. However, they both wrestle for control with her animal winning usually so she had to find ways to restrict.
She staggered the whole way through the stairs. She was sweating bullets from the exertion which gave her the feeling that she journeyed a whole kilometer when it was only one flight of stairs. She finally arrived in the 2nd floor and she pushed open the door. She leaned on the wall while trying to wait for her dizziness to pass.
She heard quick footsteps nearing her and she tried to see who it was with the dim lighting on the hallway.
"Ley? Are you alright?" Gale worrily intoned as he took a glance at her disheveled appearance.
"I need the cage, Gale. I've got to get into the cage. I can't control it anymore. I need to shift," she gasped in between breaths.
Gale hurriedly brought her to the room where they keep a large cage for out-of-control shifters. She sluggishly entered the cage as if every step was a struggle, hanging on her control by a hairline. Gale locked the cage once she was safely inside.
"The restriction magic will kick in before I fully shift like always. Just don't let it come out and cause a ruckus like last time," Ley warned breathlessly before surrendering to the pull of the animal inside her.
***
Landon sped through the highway with the coffee shop near Roma's home as his intended destination. He had a feeling that they personally knew the girl he's looking for, not Roma the secretary, but her real identity. He could also be wrong but it's better than sitting around and doing nothing.
He parked in the designated parking space while glancing at the coffee shop in front. He entered the establishment and he was hit by the smell of coffee beans that permeated every corner.
He looked around in the guise of finding a table to sit on. There were only a few customers around that day and one glance was all it took to know that she wasn't there but Landon wasn't deterred at all.
He took a seat, intending to stay for awhile in case she turns up. One of the waiters approached him to give him a menu. It was that same guy who was glaring at him the day he first dropped Ley in front of the coffee shop. He was also the one who was staring at him the moment he walked inside.
"May I take your order?" Tristan, judging by his name tag, flashed all his teeth at him in a semblance of a smile.
"Espresso, please," he replied, not bothering to take part in a petty show of dominance with a human. He leaned back in his chair to get comfortable while waiting for his coffee.
He was trying to come up with any other places that might be connected to his mystery girl when a flurry of activity distracted him from his reverie.
Gasps of surprises from the other customers were heard when he noticed that they were all staring down the tables. Landon also looked down and he saw a brief flash of white darting around the tables while a little child was running after it.
He exerted a bit of his dominance when it was near him so it skidded to a stop and looked at him in contemplation. Being a shifter, the natural wild animals are cautious against them as they innately sense what shifters are. Clearly, this little one staring at him in curiosity must not have gotten the memo.
Tiny snow white fox stared at him with intelligence in its eyes. Landon wondered if it's even allowed in the city to have pets like this.
The kid chasing it caught up and the fox immediately jumped onto the table and settled on his shoulders, digging its claws on his shirt.
Landon glanced at it and the arctic fox nuzzled him in comfort. He was assailed by a familiar scent from it. Wild roses and apples. Is it connected to her? Maybe it's her pet?
Landon was about to touch it in return when it swiped its claws at his incoming hand. He retracted his hand immediately and the fox padded off quickly to the door.
Everyone watched it in fascination when one of the waiters cursed in surprise and hurried off to catch it. Landon felt like he missed something important from that weird situation.
He spent a few hours there but she didn't turn up. Landon sat in his car, contemplating his next move.
His phone rang and he took the call absent-mindedly.
"She's a ghost. She doesn't have any information at all. Some shifters still have some tracks we can trace but she doesn't have any at all. It was as if she doesn't exist." Sebastian reported in disbelief.
Landon's expression darkened at what he heard. "She probably used a cleaner to erase all her information. Did you look into the owner of the building where that coffee shop is?"
There was an awkward pause before Sebastian replied, "It was some human lady named Katarina. We couldn't discover any details about her besides that. Every time we tried digging into her background, we're getting reverse tracked instead."
"She's probably the cleaner. We'll talk more once I get there," he concluded the call.
He wasted a few hours without any result but he wasn't disappointed at all. He reveled in challenges. It was just a matter of time before he found her.
Landon turned on the engine and drove off with a small smile hanging on his lips.