Chapter Thirteen #2
Nico followed Mackenzie’s scent, eager to find his boyfriend.
For some reason, Mackenzie had left his car and walked between the trees.
Nico didn’t understand why until he smelled someone else.
It was hard to get a base scent for this person because it was overpowered by the stench of neglect and blood.
A lot of blood.
Nico’s heart raced as he rushed ahead, Saul right behind him.
The man didn’t say anything until they reached a spot where the scent of blood was stronger than ever before.
When Nico saw it spilled on the ground, he freaked out and darted forward, only breathing more easily once he realized that it wasn’t Mackenzie’s blood.
Mackenzie wasn’t the one who’d been wounded and had bled all over the forest ground.
But someone had.
There was only one explanation, only one person it could’ve been. Nico didn’t know how or why, but Silas had found Mackenzie. Who else would be wandering around the forest bleeding? Who else would smell like they hadn’t showered in weeks?
Silas had Mackenzie.
Nico whimpered and turned, ready to follow the scent trail, but something caught him under the armpits. He hissed and tried to bite Saul, but the man didn’t let go, and Nico couldn’t reach him where he was, no matter how hard he tried.
“I know you want to go after him,” Saul said. “But it’s not going to help anyone, least of all Mackenzie. He wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger.”
Nico yowled. Right now, he didn’t care about what Mackenzie wanted. He needed to find him, and that was that.
But Saul didn’t let go. Even when Nico tried to get him to, Saul held him close, relaxing only when Nico stopped resisting.
Saul hesitated for a moment after Nico had stopped before letting go.
“We’ll find him,” he promised. “But you can’t go out there on your own.
Mackenzie would never forgive himself if something happened to you.
Hell, I wouldn’t forgive myself. You won’t be doing this alone, Nico.
We’ll find Mackenzie, but we’ll do it the right way. ”
Nico briefly wondered if he could run away. Probably, if he tried hard enough. Should he try, though?
As desperately as he wanted to go after Mackenzie, he knew that Saul was right. If Silas had Mackenzie, they needed to do this the right way. Otherwise, it would put Mackenzie in even more danger, and that wasn’t something Nico could let happen.
* * * *
SILAS DRAGGED MACKENZIE halfway through the forest, or at least, that was what it felt like. Mackenzie was confused. He had no idea where they were going, and he wasn’t about to ask. He was pretty sure that Silas wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if he was even just annoyed with him.
The man was scary. It wasn’t because he’d visibly lived in the forest for weeks.
It was the blood and the ranting, and the fact that Mackenzie knew who Silas was and what he’d done.
The man was a monster, and Mackenzie wanted to get away, but even though Silas was a skunk shifter, he was strong.
Mackenzie was pretty sure he could catch him if he ran, although that wasn’t going to stop him if he got the opportunity.
He hadn’t for now.
“Humans in the forest,” Silas was saying, sounding disgusted.
“Humans don’t belong here. If it was up to me, you would never have been allowed in here.
A good human is a dead one, that’s what I always told my son.
” Silas snorted. “Although, look at how that went. I knew Jasper wasn’t the right person to follow in my footsteps, but I never had a choice.
That boy has always been too weak. I would’ve given him all the carriers he could want, but what did he do? Choose the only human one around.”
Mackenzie tripped and fell forward, but Silas was still holding onto him. He pulled him back, saving Mackenzie from hurting himself, but shaking him at the same time. “Humans are useless,” Silas said. “Look at you. Can you even walk in a straight line?”
Mackenzie almost snapped that it would be easier if Silas stopped threatening to kill him every fifteen seconds, but instead, he pressed his lips together. Antagonizing the ranting man who had his life in his hands probably wasn’t a good idea.
Mackenzie knew that Nico would have noticed something was wrong by now.
They were supposed to meet, and Mackenzie always called if he was delayed.
He didn’t want Nico to worry in his state, even though Nico teased him for being overprotective.
Maybe he was, but a pregnancy was the right time to be overprotective, wasn’t it?
Anyway, Nico would know that something was wrong already. If Mackenzie knew him, Nico had driven all the way to fox territory to find him. When he realized that Mackenzie wasn’t home and that his car was still there, he’d try to find him.
Mackenzie’s stomach churned. He hoped Nico would do the smart thing and call his father or Jerome. He had to know it would be stupid to try anything on his own, right? He’d want to protect the baby.
Or maybe he’d freak out so badly that he’d do something stupid like coming after Silas on his own.
Mackenzie couldn’t think of that. He had to believe that Nico would be okay and that someone was coming after him to help.
Hopefully, before Silas did something irreparable like killing him.
Mackenzie had no idea where they were in the forest, but he wouldn’t be surprised if they’d left fox territory since they’d been walking a while. He didn’t recognize anything—not that there was anything to recognize. The only things around them were trees, trees, and more trees.
And a cave, apparently. It took them several more minutes to get there, but when they did, Silas pushed Mackenzie forward.
Mackenzie hit the closest stone wall, glad for the support.
He pressed his back against it and watched Silas, but the man wasn’t looking at him.
Instead, he was rummaging in a pile of something on the other side of the cave.
Unfortunately, the cave was so small that even if Mackenzie tried to run, Silas would only have to reach out to be able to grab him.
Mackenzie looked around. There was a bunch of blankets bundled on the ground, surrounded by empty food wrappers.
It was obvious that Silas had been living here, probably for a while.
The cave smelled of dampness and earth, and even with his human nose, Mackenzie could smell the blood.
It made him want to throw up. He doubted Silas would take that nicely, though, and Mackenzie needed to stay alive until Nico and the others found him.
He wouldn’t let Silas win. Mackenzie might be human, and he might not be able to defend himself from a shifter, but he would survive this.
He had too much to lose, and too many people would be hurt if something happened to him.
He was going to live and meet his child.
He’d have a long life with Nico, and he’d be happy.
He wouldn’t consider any alternative.
* * * *
NICO WAS PACING IN front of Mackenzie’s house when Jerome arrived. He wasn’t alone. Nico wasn’t surprised to see that his father was with him, but he was surprised that he’d gotten here so quickly. It should have taken more time.
“What are you doing here?” he asked as he threw himself into his father’s arms.
His father hugged him hard. “Jerome called me. He said something’s happened to Mackenzie.”
“I think Silas has him.”
And he wanted to go after the asshole. Maybe he should’ve bitten Saul when he’d tried stopping him.
It had taken a lot of guts for the human to do that. Nico had been in his bobcat form, yet Saul hadn’t hesitated. He’d grabbed him and had held onto him until he was sure that Nico wouldn’t do something stupid. Once this mess was over, Nico would have to thank him.
Or scream at him, depending on how things went.
But he couldn’t think like that. He couldn’t think that it was too late. It couldn’t be.
“I don’t know if it’s Silas because I could barely smell anything, but I agree that something is going on,” Saul said. “Nico and I found a lot of blood.”
“That matches with it being Silas,” Jerome said.
“I’ve heard he was wounded, so I think it does. At the very least, we should act as if it is.”
Jerome nodded. “I knew that man wasn’t gone.”
Nico had known, too, but unfortunately, it hadn’t helped. Silas had still managed to get his hands on Mackenzie.
“Saul, I want you to grab as many guards as you can find,” Jerome said. “Find us in the forest. They can follow our scent trail.” He turned toward Nico’s father. “What do you say we go out there and finally put an end to this?”
Nico’s father nodded and gently pushed away Nico. “Let’s do this.”
“I’m coming with you,” Nico said in what he hoped was an uncompromising tone. They were not going to leave him behind. He’d just shift and follow.
Nico’s father looked at him. He was clearly hesitant, but he knew Nico. Nico might be an obedient son, especially when it came to his future role as an alpha, but not in this situation. If they left without him, he’d find his way to Mackenzie anyway.
“Telling you to stay here isn’t going to work, is it?” Nico’s father asked.
“It’s not.”
“All right. You can come with us, as long as you obey our orders. We’re both alphas, and you’re not.
More importantly, you’re my son, and I won’t let anything happen to you.
We’ll do everything we can to find your boyfriend, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re the most important person here. I’m sure your boyfriend agrees.”
Nico was sure that he did. Mackenzie would be pissed when he saw Nico there, but Nico didn’t care.
He couldn’t afford to. “I promise I’ll be careful and stay behind you,” Nico said.
“I’m not stupid. I don’t want anything to happen to me or the baby.
I just can’t stay here and wait for you to bring Mackenzie back, not when something could have happened to him. ”
Nico’s father squeezed Nico’s shoulder. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
Nico prayed he was right.
He and his father both shifted. Jerome remained in his human form and followed behind them, his phone to his ear as he made calls. He was also carrying their clothes, just in case they needed them.
Nico didn’t pay much attention to his surroundings, trusting his father to keep him safe.
His focus was entirely on getting to Mackenzie.
He had to be okay. Nico wouldn’t accept being left alone to raise this child.
If Mackenzie wasn’t here anymore, Nico would resurrect him just to yell at him for getting himself killed.
Nico could smell Mackenzie in the air. He wanted to rush forward, but he’d made a promise, and he knew that if he didn’t keep it, his father would make sure he couldn’t go anywhere.
Besides, he hadn’t been lying when he’d said he didn’t want anything to happen to himself or the baby he carried.
He needed to be here, but he couldn’t afford to put himself in danger.
That meant he had to stay behind his father, no matter how hard it was and how much he yearned to move faster.
“We’re leaving fox territory,” Jerome eventually said. When Nico turned to look at him, he wasn’t surprised to see the man’s expression was grim. Silas had been in his territory, and he’d grabbed someone Jerome cared about. Jerome wouldn’t let this go.
No one in the forest would.
Nico knew this was the day that Silas would die.
Jerome and Nico’s father wouldn’t allow the man to live after all of this.
This was their one chance to ensure that Silas never hurt anyone ever again, and Nico’s father wouldn’t waste it.
Nico was glad. He’d never wanted someone to die as much as he wanted Silas to.
Mackenzie’s scent became stronger as they moved.
It was mixed with what Nico assumed was Silas’s scent.
Not that he could smell much under the heavy stench of blood and pus.
It smelled like Silas’s wound was already getting infected.
Silas had been staying in the woods, so that wasn’t a surprise.
Nico just wished the infection had killed him before he could get his hands on Mackenzie.
Nico’s father suddenly stopped, and Nico did the same instinctively.
He glanced ahead, frowning when he saw the entrance of a cave.
He tried moving around his father, but just like earlier, someone grabbed him.
It was gentler this time, probably because Nico wasn’t running ahead.
When he turned toward Jerome, the fox alpha shook his head and let go.
“You’re not going in there,” he said.
Nico didn’t have to look at his father to know he agreed. Nico wouldn’t be getting anywhere near that cave, even though he knew Mackenzie was inside.
He wanted to scream and go anyway, but he didn’t. Mackenzie would want him to keep the baby safe, even if it meant sacrificing him. Nico prayed it wouldn’t come to that. He couldn’t raise this baby alone. Mackenzie was supposed to be with him through all of this.
And he would be as soon as Nico’s father and Jerome rescued him.