Chapter Six
Rian moved ahead of him, shoulders tense, head low, every sense stretched too thin. Joshua followed in silence, boots crunching over gravel as they left the main road and cut down a narrow side street that barely deserved the name.
The houses here leaned inward, tired and neglected, paint peeling in long strips, windows clouded with age and neglect. A rusted chain-link fence sagged along one yard, a child’s broken tricycle tipped on its side like it had been abandoned mid-ride.
Rian slowed. Then stopped.
“This,” he said quietly, brows knitting together. “This is it. I think.”
Joshua frowned. “You’re sure?”
Rian inhaled deeply, chest rising, then falling. “Her scent is strongest here. All over this place.” His voice dropped. “Mostly… here.” His thoughts ran faster than he could rein them in.
This? This is our mate’s home?
Gods.
Joshua stepped closer, nostrils flaring once as he took in the air. The place smelled old. Dusty. Lived-in, but barely. Two distinct scents layered over everything, hers, sharp and familiar now, and something younger, lighter.
“No one’s inside,” Joshua said after a moment.
Rian’s gaze flicked to the darkened windows. “She could have gone out. Maybe—”
“Where?” Joshua cut in sharply. “The kid’s not in school...we’ve checked. She doesn’t have a car. This town is small, Ri. If she was still here, we would’ve seen her.”
Rian’s jaw tightened. His hands curled into fists. The agitation rolled off him in waves, wolf pacing beneath his skin, restless and furious. “I don’t fucking know.”
Joshua moved past him toward the front steps.
“What the hell are you doing?” Rian demanded.
Joshua didn’t stop. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m going in. Checking if she left anything...anything that tells us where she went.”
Rian snarled, sharp and instinctive. “You’re not breaking into our mate’s home, Joshua. I don’t know what your problem is but—”
Joshua spun on him, eyes flashing. “My problem?” He shot back.
“MY problem,” Joshua snapped, stepping closer now, voice low and dangerous, “is that if it weren’t for us getting out of that shithole, we never would’ve found her in the first place.”
He stopped, breath hitching, tone shifting...softer, fractured. “We were never meant to find her, Rian. And now that we have, do you know how much shit we could get into for dragging her into our world?”
Silence stretched between them.
Then Rian spoke quietly. “Josh… I know you took it the hardest when the mark showed up. But I never thought you’d reject the gift the gods gave you.”
“I’m not rejecting her,” Joshua snapped.
“Really?” Rian asked. “Then what are you doing? Because from where I’m standing, you sound like you’re not grateful we found her. You sound like she’s a burden you never wanted.” Rian added, voice rough. “She’s supposed to be our everything,”
Joshua went still. For a long moment, he didn’t look at Rian at all. His hand rested on the door handle, fingers flexing once.
“You know that before Zaninsk,” he said quietly, “my life was very different from yours, all of yours.”
He swallowed. “I’ve broken every gift ever handed to me. Every single one.” His voice dropped to a near whisper. “It’s better If I don’t get close to her. I don’t want to break her too.”
Then he twisted the handle and stepped inside.
The moment he crossed the threshold, he froze. The air hit him like a physical blow.
Fuck. This… this was how she lived?
The house was small. Too small. The kind of place patched together by necessity rather than care.
The couch sagged in the middle, fabric worn thin enough to show stuffing.
The floor creaked beneath his boots, boards uneven and scuffed.
A single light flickered weakly above the kitchen, illuminating chipped countertops and mismatched chairs.
Gods above. They had failed her before they’d even met her.
Rian stepped in behind him, one hand lifting automatically to Joshua’s shoulder. Then he looked up. And gasped. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah,” Josh said hoarsely. “I can’t believe she is living like this.”
The place wasn’t filthy...but it was exhausted. Bills stacked neatly on a corner of the counter. A calendar with dates circled in red. A fridge held together with a strip of tape, magnets holding up a child’s drawing...stick figures under a crooked sun.
Rian drifted down the hall, drawn by something he couldn’t name.
But Joshua stayed where he was, eyes snagging on a picture frame laid face-down on the counter. Slowly, he picked it up.
A woman stared back at him, smiling softly, one arm wrapped around Anabelle, the other holding a baby. The photo was old. Years old.
Her mother, he guessed.
He inhaled, smelling faint traces of something sweet...but only their scents lingered. No third presence.
“She doesn’t live here anymore,” he murmured. Or maybe she never had.
“Fuuuck,” Rian’s voice echoed from the bedroom.
Joshua moved fast. “What?”
He skidded to a stop in the doorway.
Clothes were everywhere. Drawers yanked open. Bags gone. The bed stripped bare, sheets missing. A closet standing empty except for a few hangers swinging slightly, like they’d been disturbed not long ago.
They stared at each other.
Rian turned and slammed his fist into the wall, plaster cracking under the force. “She’s gone,” he snarled. “She fucking left.”
Joshua approached slowly, hands open, voice steady. “Calm down, Ri. We’ll find her.”
Rian whirled on him, eyes wild. “How? How will we fucking find her, Josh?”
Joshua went still again, mind racing. Then he nodded once.
“I’ve got a friend,” he said. “He owes me a favour. If anyone can try a locator spell without alerting the High Leaders, it’s him.”
Rian’s breathing hitched.
“Come on,” Joshua added. “Let’s regroup. Update the others and find out if they caught that demon.”
He cast one last look around the room, the quiet proof of a life uprooted in fear.
“We’re not losing her,” he said quietly.
???
The hostel room felt smaller now. Not because of the peeling wallpaper or the low ceiling...but because the weight of what they hadn’t solved yet pressed in from every side.
Dominik sat on the edge of the bed, forearms braced on his thighs, gaze fixed on the floor. Cameron leaned against the window frame, one boot propped on the wall, fingers unconsciously tracing patterns of heat and stone across the glass. The air carried tension like static before a storm.
The door opened. Rian stepped in first, shoulders tight, jaw clenched so hard a muscle ticked beneath his cheek. Joshua followed, shutting the door behind them with deliberate care.
Dominik looked up instantly. “Well?”
Rian didn’t answer right away. He crossed the room and dropped into the chair opposite the bed, dragging both hands through his hair.
“She’s gone,” he said flatly.
Cameron straightened. “Gone how?”
“Packed,” Joshua replied. “Fast. She didn’t just step out, she... left.”
Dominik swore under his breath. His demon stirred, restless, unhappy with the distance.
“The demon?” Rian asked. “Did you find him?”
Cameron let out a humourless laugh. “No.”
Dominik continued, voice steady. “We tracked his signature west, like the weave detected. Ended up at an abandoned building, an old manufacturing site on the edge of the next town.”
Joshua’s head snapped up. “And?”
“And nothing,” Dominik growled. “No heat. No fresh presence. Just echoes.”
Rian pushed off the chair. “Echoes how old?”
“Hours,” Cameron said. “Maybe longer. Whatever he was doing there, he finished and left.”
Dominik’s eyes darkened. “But he left something behind.”
Joshua stilled. “Sigils?”
“Yeah,” Cameron said. “Carved into the walls. Some painted, some burned in deep enough to scar the concrete.”
Rian swore softly. “What kind?”
Dominik exhaled. “Not standard demonic wards. Not summoning circles either. They were… layered. Like someone experimenting. Testing.”
“That’s what I thought as well,” Cameron said. “They weren’t defensive. They were directional.”
Silence dropped heavy over the room.
“So he’s moving with intent,” Joshua said slowly. “Not just feeding. Not just hiding.”
“And he knows how to mask himself,” Rian added. “Which means this isn’t some rogue demon acting on instinct.”
Dominik rubbed a hand over his mouth. “Which means we’re behind.”
“Yeah,” Joshua said bluntly.
Another beat.
“And now,” Cameron said, “we’ll need to request another tracking update.”
“It will flag us for another delay,” Joshua muttered.
“Yes...It will.” Cameron added.
Dominik closed his eyes briefly. “Fucking Hell.”
Rian leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “If we request it now, the questions start coming. About why we lost him. About why we doubled back. About why our movement pattern makes no sense.”
“And about why you two were in a residential area instead of following the demon’s trail,” Cameron said.
Dominik opened his eyes, sharp. “Which brings us right back to her.”
Joshua nodded once. “Not exactly.”
All three of them turned to look at him.
“I might have another option,” Joshua said carefully.
Rian’s head snapped up. “What kind of option?”
“I told you earlier...I have a friend who owes me a favour. He’s… discreet.” Joshua paused. “If he can attempt a locator on Anabelle without alerting the Council, he might be able to piggyback the same weave to scan for the demon.”
Dominik studied him. “You trust him?”
Joshua hesitated...just for a fraction of a second. “As much as I trust anyone outside this room.”
Cameron frowned. “That kind of spell isn’t small.”
“No,” Joshua agreed. “And it won’t be clean. But if we’re careful, it might not trigger any oversights.”
Rian exhaled hard. “It’s risky.”
“Everything is risky right now,” Dominik said flatly.
He stood, pacing once before stopping in front of Joshua. “If this friend of yours does this...and I mean if...what does he need?”
Joshua met his gaze. “Time. And something of hers.”
Rian stiffened. “We didn’t take anything.”
“I did,” Joshua said quietly.
Three pairs of eyes locked on him again.
“The photo,” he clarified. “From her kitchen. I put it back, but I touched it. Long enough.”
Rian swallowed. “That’ll be enough?”
“For a caster?” Joshua said. “Yes.”
Cameron’s brows lifted slightly. “Wait. He’s a caster?”
Joshua nodded. “He is.”
Dominik let out a slow breath. “That complicates things.”
“Or simplifies them,” Joshua countered. “If he can sense her without tripping wards, that buys us time to sort this out before we have to report back.”
Rian’s wolf stirred, hopeful and frantic all at once. “And if we find her?”
Joshua’s voice softened. “Then we know she’s safe.”
“And the demon?” Cameron pressed.
“If the weave catches his trail too,” Joshua said, “we won’t need to request anything from the Council.”
Dominik considered this, jaw working.
“Alright,” he said finally. “You call your friend. See what he can do.”
Rian leaned back, tension coiling tight in his chest. “And if it doesn’t work?”
Dominik’s gaze hardened. “Then we have to request another weave. Though I’m honestly hoping it won’t come to that. This case is becoming a bigger headache than I anticipated.”
Silence settled again.
Then, Dominik straightened. “No more mistakes.”
Joshua nodded. “Agreed.”