Chapter Twenty-four
KIT
We didn’t speak much as Errol sped up the mountain. Rain pounded the roof of the car, making it impossible to stretch my senses outside, to discern if a heart beat in an achingly familiar pattern nearby.
I used the drive to repeatedly tell myself truths. Lucas was a capable man. He wouldn’t be in danger because of the storm. He would be tucked up safe somewhere, maybe even in Callum and Aster’s cabin. Each minute that passed was one closer to finding him.
It was a herculean effort to keep my mind away from other thoughts. Like that the storm had come in so quickly, maybe Lucas didn’t have time to find shelter. He wasn’t used to the island like we were. He wasn’t as strong and quick.
The light in Callum’s window appeared from nowhere. He had a generator up here that would have kicked in as soon as the power cut. Before the car had fully stopped, I hurled myself out into the rain and ran to the cabin. I hauled the front door open.
Disappointment settled over me like a heavy blanket. Only two heads swivelled towards me. One bearded and concerned, the other freckled and delighted.
‘Kit.’ Aster twisted on the sofa. ‘Have you come for snuggles?’
I frowned at him, then registered the cold slap of fear.
Guilt, as crushing as my anxiety for Lucas, swept over me.
Not once, while huddling with Bonnie during a storm, had it occurred to me that Callum would be just as scared. But it should have done. Callum had lost his family in the same way she had.
Bonnie had asked for help. I should have known Callum never would. If there was ever an opportunity for him to put others above himself, he’d take it. He’d leave us to comfort his sister, while he hid in his cabin alone.
I was so damn glad he had Aster now.
The need to find Lucas clawed at me, but I quickly stripped out of my coats and secondary scarf. I kicked off my boots, then rushed over to the sofa and hugged Callum on the side not currently occupied by his boyfriend.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I whispered into his warm neck, my cheek brushing his beard.
Rustling and thumps announced the arrival of Louisa and Errol. It seemed they had the same harsh revelation as me as soon as they stepped into the cabin. Seconds later, more arms joined mine around Callum, with more whispered apologies.
‘You didn’t know storms do this to me,’ Callum murmured.
His heartbeat was fast, as though the bodies pressed around him and the music playing from Aster’s laptop and the generator humming outside weren’t enough to shut out a single drop of rain that hit the roof and walls of the cabin. He flinched at a clap of thunder.
‘You didn’t come here for storm-induced-snuggles?’ Aster piped up from where he’d been caught up in the tangle of limbs around Callum.
We eased back. I sat on the arm of the sofa, my shins pressing into Callum’s side. Errol stood and rounded the back, his hands landing on Callum’s shoulders. Louisa settled at his feet, leaning her head on his knees.
I glanced at Aster. There was no way of explaining why we’d come here that wouldn’t upset him. ‘Lucas is missing.’
‘What?’ Aster reeled back from where he’d been pressed to Callum’s side, his eyes wide with fear. ‘Where the fuck is he?’ He looked at Callum. ‘Find him,’ he demanded.
Aster seemed to realise what he’d asked immediately after the words tripped out of his mouth. He burst into tears, his hands slamming into his face.
‘It’s either leave my best friend out in the cold and rain where he could have been eaten by a lizard or bitch-slapped by a dolphin, or ask my boyfriend to locate him during a storm he’s terrified of.
’ His voice was muffled by his hands, but he was in a room full of werewolves.
We caught every word. ‘I didn’t bring Lucas to Doughnut so that he’d force me to choose between the two people I love most in the world. ’
Callum frowned as he gently pulled Aster’s hands away from his face. ‘Of course you don’t have to choose.’ He rubbed his thumbs across Aster’s cheeks, catching his tears. ‘I’ll find him.’
The answer wouldn’t have been different if I’d asked, but I was glad Aster had been the one to request this of Callum.
He’d known Lucas the longest, had been his best friend for most of his life.
Callum would always do what was asked of him, but it had to be easier to do it for his boyfriend rather than for member of his pack who was disproportionately anxious about his lost housemate.
Because Lucas was alright, wherever he was. He had to be.
Please.
Callum took a deep breath, and we crowded around him again. Errol bent to press his forehead into Callum’s hair as Aster plastered himself to his chest. Louisa wrapped her arms around his legs and I lowered my head to his shoulder.
Long moments passed. Callum tensed and the fear flowing from him deepened. I pressed close and squeezed my eyes shut against the tears threatening to spill over.
This had to work. It had to. It had to.
Callum’s thick brows were lowered when he took another breath and opened his eyes. We moved back as one, and I couldn’t tell if the look on his face was because of the storm or what he’d discovered.
‘He’s in the northern part of the island. I think he’s sleeping?’
‘You think?’ The wild panic that had been sparking off Aster since I’d told him why we were here spiked.
Callum gripped the back of Aster’s neck. ‘He’s alive. He’s in a goat hut.’ His forehead creased. ‘But something’s wrong. His heartbeat is elevated and his breathing is harsh.’
I rushed over to my discarded coats before Callum finished speaking. I pulled the damp fabric over my arms, zipped it tight around my front.
‘We’re coming with you.’ Louisa tugged on her boots beside me.
I looked between her and Errol, his bulk made even more impressive by thick layers.
‘Thank you,’ I whispered.
Aster had used the space we’d vacated to sit sideways across Callum’s lap. My packmate’s head was buried in his shoulder.
‘We’re not coming,’ Aster said, his voice strained. ‘My magic is pretty ungovernable, and Callum can’t go out in that.’
It was a mark of his love for his boyfriend that Aster didn’t ask it of him. It was a mark of the trust he put in me, Louisa, and Errol that he would leave us to find his best friend.
‘Please bring Lucas here,’ Aster pleaded. ‘I need to know he’s okay.’
I nodded, then hauled the door open. The wind rushed in, followed by drenching rain.
We’d be able to carry on in the car for some of the way. As the terrain grew wilder, we’d have to abandon it and go on foot.
Cold sunk into my bones as we ran to the four-by-four. My fears had been confirmed. Lucas had found shelter, but something was wrong. He needed us to find him.
Louisa didn’t climb into the passenger seat beside Errol. Instead, she joined me in the back as the engine rumbled and Errol shot off into the mountains.
She didn’t say a word. She sat beside me and held my hand as I tried to keep the whirling storm inside me contained.
I stared out of the window and willed the moment we’d find Lucas closer.
He had to be okay. Maybe injured or scared, but essentially fine.
We’d find him and take care of him, and everything would be okay. It had to be.
Louisa’s grip on my hand was firm. Neither she or Errol commented on the tears soaking into the thick fabric of my outer scarf.