Chapter 11 #2
The trip down went smoother than I expected, but I couldn’t speak to the view as I covered my eyes and pretended I was a kitten dangling safely by its scruff in its mother’s mouth. I didn’t look until a series of clicks released me, and my feet hit dirt.
“Give us a minute to put away our supplies, and then we’ll be ready to follow your lead.”
Careful to stick close, I gave myself a buffer away from the others then returned to the same mental picture I had used to, I hope, dampen my connection with Carmichael. I shut my eyes, imagined the spigot, and twisted my wrist to open the tap.
Within seconds, I could tell I was successful. A presence tickled the back of my mind where before there had been nothing but me and my own thoughts. The awareness slotted into place where it had always been, though I had never paid it much attention until now.
A faint buzz stung my thoughts, but I couldn’t tell if it was because I had reconnected to Carmichael or because he felt it and was searching for the source of the disturbance.
“We might not have long,” I warned them. “I can already sense him.”
“Can you tell distance or direction?” Seamus stepped up beside me. “Any small detail will help.”
All my life, I had noticed how Carmichael commanded every room he entered, how the pack faced him as if guided by an instinct telling them where to find their alpha.
They were so attuned to him, I began reflecting on how the clan responded to Rían in those scenarios.
There were similarities, but I couldn’t deny Carmichael was more charismatic.
He charmed people. He drew them in. He wove them in chains before they felt the bite of a lock clasping around their throats.
Rían was a different beast entirely. Literally.
In a world of predators who used their natures for gain, he gave back to his community.
He cared, and his kindness toward others earned him loyal followers.
There was a gentleness to him that contradicted the fierce creature lurking at his core, and the control required to maintain his duality proved his strength.
The reverence shown to Rían by his clan illuminated the stark differences between those led by fear and those guided by hope.
Now I understood that the tug in our guts had been our hindbrains warning us a predator was near and that we were all prey in his eyes. Latching on to that sensation, I isolated the spot where those warning tingles originated and played another round of pretend.
Rather than imagining my faithful spigot, I pictured myself sitting in a chair at the front of a room, waiting for Carmichael to enter.
I allowed myself to experience that sweeping moment of awareness that came from nowhere and everywhere, and I turned my head as if I expected to see him walk in the door.
Would he enter through the left or the right? Which direction did instinct point?
“That way.” I opened my eyes, found myself staring behind Seamus’s shoulder. “He’s that way.”
No one asked if I was sure. They knew as well as I did this was a stab in the dark. It felt right, though.
“You heard the lady.” Seamus issued a series of hand gestures. “We’re radio silent from this point on.”
Distance was harder to calculate. I couldn’t tell how far away Carmichael was from our location, but there was a chance I could get a better handle on it as we grew nearer. I was humbled at the level of trust, at the faith, these men and women had put in me. I refused to let them down.
A drone buzzed overhead, camouflaged so well I wouldn’t have noticed it if not for my keen hearing.
I wasn’t sure who was behind the controller, but I was certain of the people glued to the screen. I recognized the swirling manufacturer’s logo as Liam’s preferred model.
Rían and Sloane and Liam didn’t have to be present to watch over me. Their eyes in the sky did just fine.
Added pressure left me twitchy, so I ignored the noise, and the implications, as best I could.
And I reminded myself it wasn’t only the folks back home who would be watching but Team Two.
Should we find anything of note, it was their job to rush in and defuse the situation.
They couldn’t do that without access to our intel, and a live feed enabled us to make those split-second decisions faster.
No surprise, given we were hunting a wolf, the rocky terrain sloped into a woodland area. That thick cover had given the drones trouble spotting movement from the air. Yet another reason our mission was vital. Until we had boots on the ground, we wouldn’t know for certain what lay in wait for us.
Shadows glossed over us as we crept under the canopy of pines, and Dane cut his eyes to check on me, waiting for me to confirm our direction or alter our course.
Blowing out a slow exhale, I shut my eyes, pictured my seat at the front of the room, and felt the hairs lift on my nape in anticipation.
I blinked away the vision and pointed at a slight right angle.
The others closed in on me, our formation tighter with more cover for enemies to hide within, and we picked our way deeper into the woods.
Every ten minutes, I would readjust, but Carmichael wasn’t moving.
On most days he spent hours holed up in his office on business, so his inactivity wouldn’t have come as a surprise if he were home, but out here? What could have held his attention for so long? Unless our fears were about to be proven right. That I wasn’t the only one hunting through the bond.
Right now, he might very well be directing his followers the same as I was guiding enforcers, using his fixed point as a fulcrum to determine my location and likely the route I would take to him.
“I don’t like this,” I whispered to Dane. “He’s too still.”
“They may have denned up somewhere.” He scanned the horizon. “Hidden Sartori to keep him safe.”
Shifters who spent more time as humans didn’t den as often as the ones more in touch with their animal sides.
Carmichael enjoyed being a wolf, but he savored being a man.
He enjoyed the specific type of power that came when standing on two legs.
He craved things his wolf had no use for, such as money and influence, and he wouldn’t savor a reminder his true strength came from his inner beast.
“Maybe.” I couldn’t shake the sense of wrongness that prevailed when I pictured him on four legs, curled in a tunnel with other warm bodies, his back to a muddy wall. “I just know I don’t like it.”
Not the strongest argument, but I was at a loss as to how to put the feeling into words.
Rustling perked my ears, and I noticed Dane and Seamus had cocked their heads to listen too.
We waited a full minute before Seamus gestured us onward, but the false alarm had put us all on high alert. Enough that when the insects fell silent, and birds fled from the trees with frantic calls to their flocks, we understood we weren’t the only ones stalking these woods any longer.