His teeth flashed as he grinned. “That’s a technical term.”
“Clearly,” I muttered as I grimaced. His lack of understanding wasn’t making me feel any better about magic or witches or whatever.
“Anyway,” he said, his mood changing, “Elias and Damien didn’t want to wait to figure out the best times of the year, and they sure as shit didn’t wait for volunteers.”
“So, they started kidnapping people.” My jaw clenched as I scowled.
He nodded grimly. “Yeah. And that didn’t give them the results they wanted. They picked off lone females. Females who weren’t strong enough to withstand being a wolf for a week, let alone a month. The older the person, the harder it is to retrain them to merge with their wolf. They’ve spent too much time as a human. It literally breaks their mind, and they either die or become a vegetable mid-shift. It isn’t pretty.”
“They started taking younger people,” I whispered, realization slipped over me like an oily blanket until I shivered.
He dipped his head in affirmation. “Your school gave them the perfect place to pick off girls. By the time we realized what they were doing, they had already managed to take a few.”
“Maren, Kit, and Jayla.” Just saying their names made me flinch. Norwood and Long Mesa were friends, so I highly doubted they were being treated like royalty.
“Yeah.” He swallowed and heaved a long sigh.
“Can we get them back?” I demanded, my voice hardening.
He smiled at me. “I sure as hell hope so.”
2
Remy
I braced my hands against the railing on the back deck, focusing on the sounds of the wind whispering through the trees, rustling the full branches heavy with new spring leaves. So much life thriving in front of me as the morning sun warmed the yard and deck.
So much death in the house behind me.
I scrubbed a hand over my jaw, feeling the prickle of stubble, but shaving hadn’t been a priority. Fielding phone calls from betas from most of the midwest and Canadian packs had taken its toll. Every time I learned another Alpha had died, the hole I was standing in got a little bit deeper and a little bit darker. Thank God for Michael, who had stepped in a few minutes ago to give me a break.
How the fuck was I supposed to have answers for thousands of shifters when I was still wrapping my head around what had happened myself? Or, better fucking yet, when half of my damn soul had been torn away from me.
My wolf rippled under my skin, pressing for answers I didn’t have.
He wanted Skye.
We both needed Skye.
I swallowed the urge to kick the deck railing. Breaking shit wouldn’t fix the epic fuckup of my life right now or help me find Skye.
I needed a plan for my pack and my girl.
The back door slid open and closed a second later.
I lifted my head and turned to see Katy step up next to me.
“We’ll find her,” she said softly, firmly. A breeze ruffled her red hair. “We’ll find them all.”
Skye.
My eyes slid shut, the agony that gripped me every second since I lost her fresh and raw. I almost reached into my pocket for the broken necklace that I carried.
Finding that in the rubble had almost killed me.
Had it really been a little more than twenty-four hours since Skye was still in bed with me? I would have given anything to turn the clock back to that moment. If I closed my eyes, I could still smell the citrus scent of the shampoo she used. It clung to her and our sheets, the scent forever embedded in my brain.
Walking by the bowl of fruit Mom kept in the kitchen on my way out here had nearly sent my wolf and I into a tailspin.
I inhaled deeply through my nose, filling my senses with pine and woods and sunshine. Anything to cauterize the gaping hole in my chest.
If Katy felt a fraction of the pain and panic that constantly clawed at me, eating me alive, since Maren went missing, I was amazed she was talking to me.
“I was an asshole,” I muttered, turning away from the rail and leaning my back against it. “I’m sorry, Katy.”
I owed her a million apologies. I had done what I thought was best for the pack, and part of me still knew that keeping her out of the search for Maren had been the best move for us all. Especially since the first chance she got, she almost was kidnapped by