Chapter 45: Heads and Tails

In his wolf form, Caph followed Nusha's scent to the bus stop. After she left the castle the previous night, she took the last bus out of The Citadel. It wasn't difficult to guess where she was headed.
Caph chose to run straight to New City instead of shifting back and taking the bus.
There was no time to lose.
Nusha had too much of a head start.
She could be anywhere in the large metropolitan city.
'Think!' he commanded himself as he shifted back, ignoring the humans staring at his drenched appearance. Ran had met her ex-pack member at Starbucks before she caught Nusha kissing him. She probably went back there—or at least headed in that direction.
It was the only place in New City that she knew about after all.
Maybe there were traces of her scent left.
Even better if they overlapped with Nusha's.
Once he reached the bus stop where Nusha cornered him, her scent was indistinguishable. There were too many people passing by.
As he passed the tall metal tower that marked the exact centre of New City Central on his way to Starbucks, he saw her, still in her ostentatious neon yellow pants, carrying a bag of groceries.
He was beside her in a flash, hands gripping her shoulders, spinning her around to face him.
Her yellow eyes widened when she saw him, but otherwise, she was entirely calm.
'Where's Ran?'
Nusha pulled out her ear buds and smiled half-heartedly. 'Good morning to you too,' she replied.
Caph growled and shook her. 'Don't pretend you don't know what I want. Where is she? What have you done to her?'
Annoyance flashed through her eyes.
She wrenched herself free of his grip. 'I haven't seen your wayward fiancee since yesterday.' The look in her eyes made a shiver run down his spine. 'If you didn't want her to cheat on you, maybe you should have gone after her yesterday.'
'But you—'
'Are you saying I'm the reason she's missing?' Her eyebrow rose.
Caph gritted his teeth. 'Yes. What have you done to her?'
Suddenly, her eyes were angry, her voice, frustrated. 'I didn't do anything! After you kissed me, she ran off with her tail between her legs. You were with me all of yesterday, what could I have done, huh?'
She had an accomplice, he realised.
This conversation would go nowhere.
He had unwittingly helped her kidnap Ran. He cursed inwardly and stepped back from Nusha, clenching his hands to keep them from shaking. 'Right.' He forced the words out, 'I was hoping you'll know where she could have gone. My father's looking for her.'
Nusha rolled her eyes. 'Maybe she went all the way home. I wouldn't know.'
Caph stared at his childhood friend for a moment.
She shifted her grocery bag from one hand to the other. 'Can I go now?'
Had she always been like this?
'Yeah,' he said absently.
She stalked off, turning back to make sure he wasn't following her.
He hid behind a pillar as soon as she left, peeking out only after she was halfway across the square.
Then, he followed her.
At first, she was careful, turning around every now and then to look for a glimpse of his red head. Caph realised this the second time she turned in the middle of a long street with nowhere to hide.
He ducked into the nearest shop and immediately bought a hat.
Nusha knew him as well as he knew her.
Because of that, he almost lost her.
It was tedious at first and he grew impatient when he realised Nusha was walking in circles to throw him off.
Finally, she approached the majestic-looking hotel she had walked past twice before.
The glass doors opened automatically and closed shut behind her.
Caph watched her cross the white-tiled foyer and step into a silver elevator. She tapped a white card on a dashboard to activate the buttons.
He watched helplessly as she was whisked out of sight.
There were more than twenty levels of rooms in this building.
All of them required card access.
How would he find Ran like this?
Caph wandered around the building, looking for a back entrance to sneak into.
There was one by the building's rubbish collection point—for employees. It too, required card access.
He gritted his teeth and hissed in frustration.
Just then, a man in a khaki suit came out, the creaky door squealing shut behind him. He put a cigarette in his mouth and fumbled in his vest pocket for a lighter.
A shiny nametag gleamed in the sunlight.