Chapter 26
Tyler
The whole forty-minute drive home from Marquette—twenty-five with the way I was speeding—I was on cloud nine. I couldn’t stop smiling to myself. It was all I could do not to whip out my phone, call up Emery and cheer at the top of my lungs.
Hudson said yes.
I’d gotten teased ruthlessly with the grin that message had put on my face.
My buddies Blake and Corben loved to give me shit, but they were the only people outside of Hudson and Emery I’d ever deemed worth keeping around.
If we were taking off across the country with no idea if or when we’d be back, they deserved the whole story.
Omitting everything occult, of course. Those two meatheads would get themselves killed within hours of learning the supernatural was real.
The idea of cutting my trip short had been tempting. All I had wanted to do was zip home, grab Hudson and kiss the ever-loving fuck out of him and pull him and Emery into bed to show them both how happy I was.
How happy they made me.
But I had stuck it out. Hudson was still packing, and Emery had his business affairs to sort.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or some dumb shit.
I was still smiling when I passed the faded sign that said Welcome to Felcove Township. My cheeks hurt by the time I pulled into the driveway, gravel crunching under the tires of Emery’s Impala. Then my smile faded as I opened the car door.
Hudson’s truck was gone. Despite the sun having set, there were no lights on inside the house, only the automatic porchlight that clicked on at my approach.
I pulled out my phone to see where the guys were, unlocking the screen to a missed text.
And the whole world seemed to slip out from under my feet.
The Witch
I can’t do this, you guys. What we’ve shared over the past few weeks has been amazing, and you both mean everything to me, but I have a life back in Bay City.
Admitting what we’ve become to each other just made that so real to me, I think.
I’ll be gone by the time I send this, so please don’t try to follow me or change my mind.
You’ll always be in my heart. Both of you.
The Witch left the chat.
“No…” My ears were ringing. Tears burned my eyes. I’d forgotten how to breathe as I fell to my knees right there on the gravel, sharp rocks cutting into my skin. “No, no, no…”
I couldn’t even see my phone screen properly with the way my vision clouded. I sucked in a shaking breath, fumbling as I pulled up Hudson’s number, slamming the device to my ear.
“Pick up, pick up, pick up…”
One ring. Two. Three. “Hey, you’ve got Hudson, leave a message, or I’m not calling you back.”
“God damn it, Hudson!” I smashed the end call button, then called again, only to be sent right back to voicemail. The sob that came out of me morphed into a roar as I chucked my phone down the driveway. The screen shattered, glass splintering in time with my heart.
A long, low howl came from the woods, making my skin prickle. “Em!” Without thinking, I hauled myself to my feet, tears burning my cheeks in the cold air as I bolted toward the sound. “Emery!”
I was breaking apart with every stride. My lungs burned with every breath. The only thing that kept me moving was the endless howls resonating through the forest, calling to me. Perfectly echoing the ache in my chest and pleading for someone to make it stop.
The howls grew louder as my feet crunched over fallen leaves. “Em…” His name came out of me in a broken sob. Labored breaths caught my ears, somewhere in the dark just ahead. “Emery… he’s gone. Hudson’s gone.”
A deep, guttural growl rattled out of the shadows. Golden eyes flashed and then vanished just as quickly. The wolf leapt, clearing eight feet in one bound, and he knocked me off my feet, pinning me to the forest floor and snarling in my face.
“Em, it’s me! It’s Tyler!” I yelled, staring up at him, lost somewhere among my broken heart and the fear of being eaten alive.
Emery’s eyes widened. His growls turned into short, heated breaths, and then a whimper left him that destroyed what remained of me. His entire massive body trembled as he leaned down, nuzzling into my neck.
“I know…” I buried my face in his fur, wrapping my arms around him as I came apart. “I know, Em. I’ve got you. I’m still here. I’m still your Tyler.”
Emery’s body shuddered in my hold. His bones cracked softly beneath his skin as his fur receded, and the moment his bright blue eyes and flaming red beard took shape again, he let out a cry that obliterated me all over again.
“Ty… I can’t… I can’t…” His voice broke with every syllable, tears streaming down his face as he slammed his eyes shut.
“It hurts to breathe!” He wailed, balling his fists in my shirt. “Why… Why would he…”
“We’re gonna figure it out, Em.” I took his face in both hands, sucking my lower lip between my teeth as I nodded. “We’re gonna figure this out together, okay? If that means hunting him to the ends of the fucking earth, then so be it. And if that means it’s just you and me…”
Emery’s bottom lip trembled as he stared down at me, eyes sparkling with tears. He lowered his head, dropping his forehead to mine with a sniffle. “I love you, Ty.”
My breath hitched. My eyes grew wide in the dark, searching his face. “You do?”
With another sob and the ghost of a smile, he nodded quickly. “Yeah.”
“You… love me?” Warmth blossomed over the shards of ice cutting into my soul. My brain definitely wasn’t firing at full capacity, like I was existing in some awful dream state and the horrors chasing me had chosen to give me a small reprieve.
“Yeah, dumbass.” He leaned down, meeting my lips in a soft, tender kiss that tasted of salt. “I love you.”
And then—because all semblance of sanity had left me due to the whiplash of Hudson taking off and Emery giving me his fucking heart—my eyes narrowed. “And you thought now was a good time to tell me?!” I gave him a shove to his bare chest that did nothing to move him off me.
Em gave me a wet laugh and a shrug. “I just…” He screwed his eyes shut again, more tears leaking onto his cheeks. “If he’s really gone… if it is just you and me…”
My eyes swam again, and I yanked him down into my arms, burying my face in his neck. “I love you too, puppy dog.”
After a moment of lying there on the forest floor, just holding him and letting it all out together, he muttered, “What do we do, Ty?”
I stared up into the darkening sky. Stars sparkled through the swaying treetops above, twinkling with the tears still in my eyes. “When he came back… when he said he didn’t want to talk and that he still planned to leave, I promised myself I would respect his boundaries.”
Emery shifted upright, bracing himself on the ground to look me in the eye. “So we just let him go?”
“Fuck, no.” Slowly, I shook my head, setting my jaw. “After that weak-ass goodbye? He’s got some explaining to do.”
Em nodded once, then froze. His brows shot up as he turned his head toward the house. “You hear that?”
“No?” I followed his stare, straining my ears. “What is it?”
“I think… it’s a cat.” He pushed up off me, walking quickly toward the Garland property. “Ty…” He broke into a run, bounding through the trees at a pace I couldn’t follow.
“Em, wait!” I shouted after him, scrambling to my feet as he vanished into the shadows. “What’s the big deal about a cat?!”
“It’s Hissy!” he bellowed back to me.
I came to a dead stop, my mind catching up to him in ways my feet couldn’t. “What?” I bolted toward the house, my heart hammering against my ribs. When I broke through the treeline, I could make out Emery’s shadow on the porch, sitting in the old rocking chair.
His eyes drifted up to mine, echoing the prickle of fear in my chest at the sight of Hudson’s cat curled in his arms. “Hudson wouldn’t—”
“Not a chance in hell,” I said breathlessly as I braced myself on the porch railing, panting. I whipped out my phone, rereading the message that was sent. “Whoever sent this… it wasn’t him, Em, but…”
“It’s someone who knows about us,” he growled, standing with Sir Hissalot cradled in his arms. “The back door was open…” He sniffed the air, turning toward the porch furniture.
“I smell Hudson… Gage too, and…” Stepping inside for a moment, he set the cat down on the floor, then came back outside, dropping to his knees and sniffing the floorboards.
“Barbecue sauce… mixed with nightshade and hemlock.”
“Wh-What are those?” I asked in a hushed whisper, my gut twisting at the way Emery’s face contorted, turning red as his hands balled into fists.
“Someone mixed a nasty potion…” He was seething, breath coming out in short, furious bursts as he stepped to the edge of the balcony, scanning the dark horizon. “...and knocked Hudson out.”
My body reacted to match his rage, teeth gritting and fingers curling. “The only people who know about us are my father and his inner circle.”
“And Gage and Malik,” Emery growled, sniffing the air.
“Along with any wolves Vera and Harrison might’ve told.
” He turned back to me, grabbing my shoulders.
“We didn’t pack the herbs and potions in my car yet.
They should still be in the altar room. Grab anything that might be useful—all the wolfsbane you can find. ”
“What are you gonna do?”
“Scout,” he said sharply before grabbing the back of my head, crushing his lips to mine. He pulled back, taking my face in both hands. “We’re gonna find him, and we’re gonna rip apart anyone who gets in our way, understand?”
My fingers curled in his chest hair. “You come right back to me, okay? Don’t you dare try anything on your own.”
“Then you find something in that altar room to keep yourself safe, got it?” Emery said with a hitch in his voice as he pulled me into his arms. “I’m not losing you to get him back. You’re both mine. No compromises.”
Leaning back, I searched his eyes for a moment, chewing my cheek. “Bite me.”
“What?” He jerked back with a furrowed brow.
“Turn me into a werewolf, Em.” I rolled up the sleeve of my hoodie, baring my forearm. “Then I can fight with you.”
“There’s no time, Tyler.” Emery took a step back, shaking his head. “Even if you got through the change, the blood moon is rising tonight—a full moon. You’d be out of control.”
“Fuck.” I fisted my hands in my hair, pacing to the doorwall. “Fine, I’ll make some wolfsbane grenades or something, just go find him and get back here!”
With a nod, he vanished into the night. I blew out a breath, then jogged across the parlor and the kitchen, out through the sunroom to where Hudson’s grimoire sat on its altar.
I glanced around the room, then stepped toward the spellbook, running my fingers over the inverted trigram on the cover, remembering the way that same symbol adorned Hudson’s chest. “Be really nice if you old, dead fucks could help a guy out right now.”
Heaving a sigh, knowing Hudson’s ancestors couldn’t respond even if they wanted to, I crouched down, rifling through the boxes filled with ingredients.
I found the wolfsbane quickly, packed in several small boxes of its own and wrapped tight in sandwich bags to keep it from bothering Em.
In another box, I happened upon several bottles labeled Focus Draught and pocketed those, because clearly both Emery and I needed some of that right now.
I found potions for bursts of strength, and several to treat wounds, then grabbed a small brown leather satchel, stuffing everything inside.
When I’d gone through all the boxes, I leaned back against the altar, clutching Hudson’s pendant beneath my shirt.
“We’re gonna find you, baby boy. We’re gonna bring you home, I swear it. ”
There was no way I was coming out of this completely intact.
I might not even make it out with my life.
Tears pricked at my eyes again, my lids still sore and slightly chapped from that fake breakup message.
“It doesn’t matter,” I whispered, squeezing the pendant tight and hoping that somehow he could hear me.
“I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to you, Hudson.
I love you, and I’ll save you no matter what it costs me. ”
The pendant grew warm in my hand. Warmer than my body heat should’ve made it.
Suddenly, the floorboards shook beneath my feet.
Dust cascaded through the air, and the sound of stone scraping against stone filled my ears from beyond the musty cloud.
“What the—fuck?” I sputtered, coughing as the dust coated my face.
You… promised.
A loud clatter made me jump back as the shelf on the far wall fell to the floor. The stone wall behind it had parted, leaving a gaping hole where the shelf had stood. “Uh… Emery?!” I shouted over my shoulder, taking a cautious step toward the opening. “You back yet?!”
When no reply came, I peered over the fallen shelf, spotting a steep stone staircase that led under the house. Torches flared to life at my approach, beckoning me. With a nervous swallow and a tight breath, I braced my hands on the damp walls, carefully making my way down.
Yes, in every horror movie I’d ever seen, I embodied the guy that was first to die. I was desperate. My witch in woe needed me.
Several more torches lit as I reached the bottom step, revealing a dark stone space three times the size of the altar room behind me.
The whole place smelled of iron. A weathered, rotting desk sat against the far wall with several timeworn tomes resting on its surface.
Shelves stood beside it, racked with dust-coated bottles.
And on the adjoining wall, a towering stone statue stretched from floor to ceiling, causing me to suck air through my teeth.
Human in shape and boasting elongated limbs that ended with deadly claws, the figure’s face was frozen in a vicious snarl. Razor-sharp teeth protruded from its open mouth, and in my memory, I could see those murderous eyes filled with hellfire.
“The ravager…” I breathed, taking a step closer. I reached out my hand, carefully touching its arm, finding it colder than the walls along the staircase. Its teeth looked as if they were as sharp as the day the statue was carved.
You made… an oath.
A fog clouded my mind as my finger traced the stone curve of its fang, running all the way down to the point. Something was calling to me, practically singing to me.
You promised him, Tyler.
I couldn’t stop myself.
Bring… him… home.