Chapter 25: We're So Dumb, God Won't Let Us Have Kids

At last, they reached the last house.
The sun had begun to set.
This was the house Caph was most curious about.
He carried the final few grocery bags. 'Did you know there was dog food on their list?'
'There should be,' Ran said and rang the doorbell.
'What kind of werewolves keep dogs?' he asked.
She glared at him.
The door burst open.
A frantic and dishevelled woman appeared, staring at them with wild unseeing eyes. 'What is it?'
Then, she seemed to notice Ran.
'Oh. Beta Ran! You're here. Thank God!'
Ran frowned. 'What's wrong?'
The woman led them inside the wooden house, babbling, 'Liam brough Vicky to the workshop with him on Friday because I was on patrol duty all day but he couldn't find her when it was time to go home.'
'Is Vicky the dog?' Caph whisper-asked.
Ran nodded.
'I mean, she sometimes goes off wandering on her own so he didn't worry too much. She'd come back when she got hungry. But she didn't come home that night. He went back to look for her on Saturday but she wasn't anywhere inside the compound!'
Caph dropped off the grocery bags in her kitchen. All the houses they went to had the same layout.
'So I thought maybe Vicky was sleeping in one of the cars he sold off that day but he got angry and said he wasn't that stupid—there was no way he wouldn't have noticed that—then he stormed off to search for Vicky around town. But he couldn't find her anywhere.'
The woman choked on those few words, her pale brown eyes glistening.
'Her name is Phraya,' Ran whispered to Caph. He nodded discreetly.
Her name and Liam's had been written on top of the final box.
Phraya continued her frantic tale, 'When he went to sleep last night, I went to his workshop and found the list of people Liam sold cars to. When he was left this morning to search the town again, I called them up to check. None of them found Vicky.'
'So Liam was right. Vicky wasn't sleeping in one of the cars that was sold off that day. '
Phraya shook her head, wiping her arm across her face violently. 'No, I'm certain he left her inside one of the cars that he sold. There was one number I called that rang out. It belonged to the scrapyard guy that always came on Friday evenings.'
'It's the weekend, so there's probably no one in the office,' Ran muttered.
'If I'm right, then Vicky could be trapped inside a car. It's been almost 48 hours! Oh, what should I do? That stupid Liam won't believe me, he doesn't want the whole pack thinking it's because we're so dumb that God won't let us have kids but what if I'm right? Then, we'd be killing her by sitting here and doing nothing!' Phraya wailed.
Ran took her hands and knelt at her feet, forcing Phraya to look at her. 'Do you know where this scrapyard is?'
The woman stared at her, eyes flickering wildly as she tried to gather her thoughts. 'Somewhere in Saxton.'
Caph recognised the name.
'The human city that was once Eridanus territory.'
Ran nodded, standing up. 'It's just on the other side of that mountain outside Punggol.' She turned to Phraya. 'I need all the information you have on the scrapyard. The exact address, the name of the owner.'
The woman nodded blankly. 'I-I have the log I took from Liam's workshop.'
She disappeared into one of the bedrooms and returned with a crumpled sheet of paper.
'Don't worry,' Ran reassured her. 'If Vicky is in one of the cars Liam handed over to the scrapyard, we will find her. If not, your husband will find her somewhere in Punggol. The fact that you can't conceive is a medical problem, it has nothing to do with your parental abilities. Kids go missing all the time. Remember Omi's twins at the Full Moon Gathering two years ago?'
Phraya smiled wanly and clutched Ran's hands tightly with her trembling fingers.
'Thank you, Beta Ran!' she exclaimed. 'Please find her.'
The sun had completely set by the time they returned to the truck. Caph switched on the interior light so Ran could read the address on the paper Phraya gave to her.
She sighed and closed the driver's door. 'Caph.'
He could guess what she was going to say.
Her coal black eyes were glowing. The air thrummed with adrenaline. Ran was in her element after all, problem solving, saving the day, finding a lost member of her pack. 'If you need to sleep, you'll have to shift and run home now. I'm taking the truck to find Vicky.'
'Ran.' Caph buckled his seatbelt.
'It's a human city so I can't barge in as a wolf,' she explained as patiently as she could.
He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.
'Ah, I'm too tired to shift and run back. I'm falling asleep right here already...'
Ran stared at him. Wondering if she had misjudged him. If he was serious or still playing around.
Caph didn't hear the engine start immediately so he opened one eye to stare at her.
'What are you doing, Beta Ran? There's a pup to save. Let's go!'