Chapter 2
Rowan heard what Sharp said, but she didn’t want to believe him.
The pressure in her head built to almost unimaginable levels.
She had to get out of this house and away from all these people.
There was no way she could deal with listening to more talk about how sad it was that Thario was dead.
She didn’t want to believe he was gone. He couldn’t have died.
She stood and rushed to the back door, flinging it open. Warm air hit her face, and she kept going, ignoring the calls from Shine to come back.
The air seemed too thin in the heat, and her head swam. She closed her eyes as she opened her mouth to drink in the air. Thario was a good friend. He'd saved her, like so many others. They'd connected and become friends.
She yanked her phone from her pocket, staring at the screen. She didn’t want to believe Thario was gone. Someone had to have murdered him.
The door opened behind her, and she turned, seeing Nichole with red-rimmed eyes looking about as terrible as Rowan felt.
“I can’t believe it,” Nichole said through her tears.
They clung to each other and were joined by the other women.
There were ten of them there. The rest of the people who knew Thario were either out of town or busy with life.
Sharp hadn’t told them why he was calling them all together, just that they needed to come over. The others would be here if they knew.
Asher stood apart from them, shaking her head. "I can't believe it until I see him. There is no…" She had her phone out, staring at it. Her eyebrows bunched together as if she was thinking hard.
“I know I don’t want to believe it, either,” Elowen said.
Asher held up one hand, like she was begging for them to wait. Rowan took a step closer, her breath catching.
“What is it?” Rowan asked.
Asher glanced up from her phone, her eyes wide. “I got an email.”
“From?” Nichole asked.
Asher gave a short shake of her head. “It’s a code he told me about. It’s sometimes used in searches when the person doing the in-depth investigations is in trouble.”
“Is it from Thario?” Rowan asked.
Asher nodded and then glanced back at her phone. “It was sent just a few hours ago. I don’t know anyone who would send me this code other than Thario. It has to be him.”
“What is the email address?” Rowan asked.
"Just numbers. It looks like it was set up hastily. I've never received anything from this email address. But they sent the code and some other numbers."
The door opened, and Griz stuck his head out. “Hey, we’re going to—” His eyes narrowed, and he stepped outside. “What’s going on?”
Asher had been afraid of Griz when she first met him. He was intimidating, but now she knew he was soft as a marshmallow and sweet as one, too. She held out her phone, knowing he would take her seriously.
“I got this note in my email. It’s a code Thario told me about that is used when someone looking for a person in danger finds themselves in danger. Then there are those numbers after the code.”
Griz frowned as he stared at the phone. “Those are coordinates. It’s not too far from here.” Griz blew out a breath, his frustration evident. “Do you think this was from Thario?”
Asher shrugged. “I don’t know. But if we don’t look, we won’t know.”
Griz’s frown deepened, and he shook his head. “There's no way you all are going with us. I’ll take three other guys and head to those coordinates.”
“Keep us updated,” Nichole called after him.
The door opened again, and the rest of the men and women stepped outside.
“Asher got an email,” Griz said as he stopped in front of Sharp.
Sharp narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“Show him the email.”
Asher’s phone was passed around, and the guys spoke in hushed tones.
Danika moved to hug Nichole, and the other women hugged each other. They were all crying, and she was still teary-eyed, but feeling more hopeful now. Could Thario really be alive?
Rowan didn’t want to get her hopes up too high, but it was difficult not to expect something good from this. Maybe Thario was okay. But who had died in that fire if it wasn’t Thario?