Chapter 34 #2
Outside of Maeve, I don’t even know her parents’ names. We’ve only talked a little about her parents, and I’ve never asked. She’s mentioned her grandfather before, but she didn’t remember anything about him. What kind of mate am I to not have learned more about her family?
I snap the book shut. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything. I just want to find Morgan.”
“We will,” Jarod says halfheartedly.
I wave my hand at everyone as I stand. “Go eat. Enjoy the moon and your heats.”
“Not everyone here has a mate,” Eryn mumbles, their cheeks burning.
“Well, enjoy getting off regardless.”
Cat snorts as I leave everyone and head straight for the basement. I’m frustrated and angry and fuck. In pain. My mate is suffering, and I’m just sitting here, trying to figure out where in the hell all the omegas are being kept.
All of this could have been different if I had trusted myself.
I get to the bottom of the basement steps and go still. Do I really want to talk to this fucker again? I know he’s not going to crack. At this point, I should either throw him in the damn lake or send him on his way.
“Gonna go beat him up again?”
I turn around and look up at Leo. He has bright red hair and a burly chest that barely fits in his lumberjack button-down.
I never would have thought he’d be a good fit for Cat, but I was wrong.
I’ve never seen someone understand her so much the way he does.
It’s the same with Jenny and Bran too. The four of them just click.
“No,” I sigh. I go back up the steps and slump against the wall. “I’m going out tonight.”
He immediately stiffens. “You shouldn’t go alone.”
“I should go alone. I can’t be here tonight. I told Jarod you should chain me up, but I’ve broken them before.” Even thinking about our first full moon makes my chest ache.
Leo’s bushy brows shoot up. “Cat said you were something else, but I didn’t really get it until now. What if the chains are silver?”
I chuckle, thinking back to my first full moon here. “Doesn’t matter when it comes to Morgan. I would walk through fire for her.”
“Would you keep living for her?” he asks softly.
I recoil at that. “What do you mean?”
Leo swallows hard. “If the worst happens.”
“Don’t even fucking say that, Leo,” I snarl.
“You need to hear it, though. If the worst happens, you need to keep going. She would want you to.”
I’m at his throat within a moment, but Leo is unbothered by it. I shove him back and he just gives me a pitying look. I suck in a breath, feeling the edges of panic.
“Nice thing about being a beta is I’m really unbothered by tempers running hot.
And I’m also someone that will always tell you the truth, even if it’s hard.
We’re all here to help you find Morgan, but we’re also here to rescue these other omegas.
If we find them, and Morgan is already gone, you need to be prepared to lead us to save the others. ”
“I didn’t sign up to lead,” I whisper. “I don’t want this. I want my mate. I want my mate, and then I want for us to disappear and lead a peaceful life together. I didn’t sign up for this.”
“No, but you were born for it.”
I shake my head, but he clasps his hand on my shoulder, giving me a gentle shake.
“If you go out tonight and aren’t back by sunrise, we’ll send a search party.
But don’t do anything stupid. If you die, this rescue party falls apart.
My very lovely mate and one of the other alpha wolves are already having silent dick measuring contests.
If Cat could piss to mark her territory, I think she would. ”
I stifle a laugh despite the despair I feel when thinking about what could possibly lie ahead. For now, I know Morgan is still alive. I know I can still rescue her.
That’s what has to keep me going.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” I say. “Lie and tell everyone I’m in my room.”
Leo chuckles. “I won’t be doing that.”
I look back at him and hold his gaze for a moment, but then smile. “I used to really dislike you.”
“Well. I felt the same way about you.”
“Are you two going to kiss?” Cat’s voice echoes from across the room and I roll my eyes as Leo lets out a deep belly laugh. She points at me, her eyes narrow. “I heard all that. Be safe.”
“Is there no fucking privacy in this house?” I mumble.
I hear a series of nopes from different rooms. I crack my neck and decide yeah, it’s time to get out of here.
If the creatures come after me, I know how to take them down.
Fighting as many as I have in the last month has helped me figure out how they move.
And with the full moon pressing down on me, I’d like to tear them apart.
“Maybe you should rest,” Cat says. “Considering you haven’t slept in two days.”
“Has it been only two days?” I ask as I head toward the back door. “Let’s make it three.”
I’m outside before she can protest. I know she’s worried, but I just can’t be here tonight.
Snow has covered the garden, and as I shift into a werewolf, I’m all the more grateful for my fur.
The weather turned so fast over the last week, and it concerns me that it’ll only get more brutal.
I don’t feel the biting cold as I take off past the arch, the stone wall, and dive straight into the forest.
Morgan. I center her in my mind, focusing on the warmth I still feel in my chest. I know she’s out here, and she can’t be that far. She just can’t be. They’re in these mountains, but where?
I catch a faint scent and stop at the crest of a slope. I lift my nose toward the sky and huff deeper, shaking away the fresh snow that’s sticking to my fur.
The scent hits me again and I whip around, spotting movement.
I would know that scent anywhere.
“Morgan.”
Voices echo through the forest, but they don’t belong to Morgan.
“You bitch! I knew you would betray us. You were going to them—”
“Let me go!”
My body is already moving and I dart down the slope, weaving between the trees. The closer I get, the more wrong it all becomes.
Morgan’s scent is in the air, but the two figures ahead don’t belong to her. But they’re carrying my mate’s scent.
One screams, and I recognize the other.
Verena.
My werewolf acts as I launch myself straight for her body, slamming her into the ground and rolling her off the other figure.
I feel the weight of magic shove against me, but it’s too late.
Her screams drown in her own blood as I crush her windpipe, crunching her neck between my jaws.
I tear into her viciously, ripping her apart until she’s unrecognizable and the snow around her is drenched red.
She’s dead. I rise up, turning to face the other figure.
Cassandra.
“You.” I snarl as she darts to the left, but she’s not escaping me.
“Wait! Wait—”
I slam the witch against the ground, closing my claws around her throat as she squeezes out her words.
“I know where she is. I know where she is. I want to help. Let me help.”
She’s sobbing as I bare my teeth in her face.
“I swear,” she cries. “I swear, Sylvan. I know where Morgan is. I was coming to the house, but Verena caught me. I’ve been trying to find my way here, but they’ve kept me trapped for helping an omega. I was going to help you. I swear.”
“I smell my mate on you,” I growl. “And I smell blood.”
“It’s not hers,” she says quickly. “I brought her a potion to help her heat so she doesn’t die tonight. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want any of this. But he’s going to kill her. Gideon is going to kill all of us.”
“Who?” I demand.
Tears shine in her eyes, and she’s telling the truth. I can scent her fear. “Maeve’s mate. Morgan’s grandfather. He’s a Shadow Seer.”