7. Caleb
7
Caleb
Jorge is panicked, his pheromones spiking around him irregularly, and poor Miles looks like he’s mentally writing his will, convinced that Mathew, Derrick or Timothy will kill him before the night is over.
No matter how I explain to them that this is what Vera does, that she’s good at disappearing into the crowd, it doesn’t calm them down at all. I guess it makes sense that they don’t, but it does make the situation more stressful for me, dealing with their pheromones and anxious questions on top of tracking Vera.
Luckily, Vera turned the sound on her phone on tonight, so we found her bag fairly easily. She left it somewhere where a bag doesn’t seem too out of place and that’s easy to get back to, just like I taught her. She’d dropped her bag into a large flower pot that’s surrounded by benches, full of young people enjoying their night out. One more bag among all the other bags from constantly changing groups of people doesn’t stand out too much.
Well, there were groups of young people hanging out there, until we showed up and Jorge and Miles scared them off with their foul moods.
From what I found in her bag, she took her toolkit and her pheromone suppressants with her, probably sprayed some on too. Her phone and wallet were still in her bag.
This means that she didn’t think she was in any immediate danger, or she would have at least taken her phone with her, so we can track her through that or she could call for backup. But, since she took all her tools and not just some, she also doesn’t know what to expect, so she probably didn’t see anything specific that made her curious.
All good signs, for Vera and for me.
Possibly not for the other two…
“What should I tell Timothy? I can’t keep this from him any longer.” Miles’ voice is full of tension and his pheromones flare with frustration.
I think for a moment. “Tell him that Vera snuck away. Tell him that I’m with you and that we don’t have our eyes on her but that we will soon. Make sure he knows it’s because she snuck away and that we don’t think she’s in any danger. Also, he can’t tell the others until they’re back from the mission. I don’t want them to get worried.”
“You want to tell them that she’s not in any danger?!” Jorge’s voice squeaks incredulously at the end. “We don’t know that she isn’t .”
I turn to him, trying to get him to calm down, but with Vera missing and him already being on edge from Mathew and Riley being away on a mission, I don’t know if I can without resorting to my Alpha powers and I don’t want to have to do that unless I really have to.
“She didn’t think she would be in any danger when she left or she would have taken you with her or otherwise have told you about it. That’s all we can go on right now.”
He shakes his head but I put my finger to my lips, shushing him as Miles makes a very uncomfortable call to Timothy. I reach into my pocket and take out a couple of earpieces, holding them out to Jorge. “So we can stay in touch more easily, in case we get split up.” He doesn’t seem to want to but accepts one.
When Miles looks like he’s about to pass out and finally hangs up, I give him one too. “Grabbed these on my way out the door. Thought they might come in handy.”
Easier than dealing with phones, and hands-free contact is convenient when your hands are otherwise occupied, by —for example— banging heads together. Though, I should probably not say that aloud right now, the other two are much too on edge to joke like that.
“Any news from Timothy?” I lengthen the strap on Vera’s bag and sling it around my shoulder.
“Just to keep him updated if she comes back or if we encounter more trouble. They didn’t take everyone with them on the mission, so we can call backup from the house if we need to.” Miles is still pale, looking worried.
I’ll have to make sure that he won’t get in trouble when we get back. It’s not his fault that this happened. This is just how Vera is.
Even I can’t keep my eyes on her all the time and I’m the one who taught her how to slip away…
“Okay. Let’s see if we can find her. I don’t think she’s coming back here any time soon if she hasn’t returned yet.” I look to Jorge. “Where were you standing when she disappeared?”
He swallows, pointing to some restaurants to our left. “We were walking there.”
I create a mental line from there, past where she dropped her bag off, and follow the trail further. “That means she probably went in the direction of those buildings. Let’s start there.”
I open a map on my phone to orient myself better and the direction she probably went in is mostly towards the back of the stores and restaurants, some storage and residential buildings. Nothing too interesting.
Jorge and Miles follow me quietly and I take some deep breaths, focusing my attention on finding Vera and not give into my instinct to first protect Jorge before I do anything else. He’s so distressed that it’s setting off all my protective instincts.
I understand that we can’t choose who we scent match with, but I think Jorge would have been much happier if the rest of us were a little less… If we lived less on the edge of life and the edge of the law. It’s not like he’s new to this world, he’s lived in it for years and years. But every time he’s confronted with the more violent and dangerous side of things, he doesn’t deal well with it.
As we step onto the side street, everything becomes much quieter and I stop, taking in our surroundings and catching a sliver of Vera’s scent. She was here, she left her mark, though she made sure it wasn’t too strong.
“Caleb.” Miles’ voice is hard, dark, making me turn to him. He points to the back of a car where a small heart symbol sticker is stuck to the corner of the back window.
My heart sinks and Jorge lets out a pained sound when he too notices what Miles spotted. The Hearts are in this area.
That doesn’t mean that Vera is going after them for sure, but with our shitty luck, that’s exactly what she’s doing.
“Let’s keep moving.” My heart races and I make my way to the other end of the building.
The street that goes between the high buildings is full of cars and trashcans and other things, easy to hide behind, but it also reeks, so following Vera’s pheromones won’t be easy.
“How are we going to find her?” Jorge stops next to me, looking around with a wild gaze.
“Smell the air. Ignore the stench of the trash cans, try finding Vera’s pheromones. She left us a trail to follow. It won’t stay for long, but if we keep moving, we’ll be able to follow it before it disappears.”
He pulls a face, but seems to try, before shaking his head. “I’ll just trust that you can find it.”
“That’s fine too. You keep an eye on our surroundings.”
“That, I can do.” He covers his nose and mouth with his arm. “What was she doing coming here?”
“I have no idea, but I suspect we’ll find out once we get to her.” I glance at Miles, who’s now fully focused on his job, protecting us. I won’t have to explain much to him, Derrick has trained him well enough for that.
We follow the scent trail for three more blocks before Jorge grabs my arm, stopping me, his body full of tension. “This scent… I smelled it too when Vera disappeared.”
I take slow and long breaths, filtering out Vera’s pheromones —which are as familiar to me as my own— until I notice a different sweet scent, burnt caramel.
The protective rumble in my chest is instinctual.
A pack member!
Vera found a new pack member, and they’re in trouble.
No wonder Vera went after them. Another pack member…
Now we know what we’re looking for, I want to follow the trail even faster, but the tension in Miles’ voice stops me dead in my tracks.
“Wait! There are multiple Hearts’ buildings in that direction…” He shows me a map on his phone. “That can’t be a coincidence.”
“No. I suspect it isn’t.” I slip my knife from my belt and from the corner of my eyes, I notice how serious Jorge is as he grabs his gun.
We’ll be facing the Hearts again.
And we’re not any more prepared than we were last time.
Fuck.
Slower, but more deliberate, we follow Vera’s trail, constantly aware of our surroundings, constantly looking around.
My pheromones are slipping out, spiky, on edge. I’m normally pretty good at staying calm, but knowing that Vera might get in trouble with the Hearts is making me lose any calm I might have had. I have no idea what we’re going to find. If she’s still doing well or if they might have caught her.
Or…
Even worse…
If she might be in trouble…
If she got hurt because of them, they’re going to pay for that dearly.
Vera is mine and if they touch even a hair on her head, they’re dead .
I don’t care who or what, I’ll kill anyone who hurts her.
Anyone.