Chapter Thirty-Nine
Once he mind-linked his twin brother, he did the same to his Alpha.
He needed all hands on deck to search for their mate.
He then allowed his wolf to take control, sniffing the area.
Freya’s scent was strong near the entrance of the building but faded near the corner.
His wolf also smelled blood, her blood, and he growled loudly at the thought of his mate getting hurt.
Her scent disappeared in the parking lot behind the building, where a lone cap lay fallen among the bushes.
Ciaran allowed his wolf to sniff it, but the scent was unknown.
The rotten smell was also more intense, and he couldn’t understand if the person using it was indeed a rogue whose suppressant was wearing off, or if the rogue was nearby, working with the first male.
Freya wouldn’t have left the building voluntarily, all on her own. She knew what was at stake, and he had no doubts it was much more than a simple abduction.
“Ciaran!” cried Tanya behind him, and his wolf turned his head. “The cameras!”
The wolf howled painfully before allowing Ciaran to assume control. He was naked, but his cousin gave him some pants, and he returned to the gym at a fast pace.
Tanya had closed the venue for the day, the disgruntled customers being promised a free month of fees to compensate.
Tanya sat on Freya’s chair and pulled the camera footage, rewinding it.
Together, they saw Freya picking up a call, smiling to whomever she was talking to, and then leaving her post. There was no hesitation in her steps, no fear in her movements.
She knew what she was getting into and whom she was meeting.
“Ciaran!”
Declan burst into the gym, his gaze deadly. Right behind him was the Alpha and a man he didn’t recognize at all. Older than any of them, with short, graying hair and a square face that told them he’d spent the larger part of his life in fights. The gray eyes were unforgiving, hard as steel.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Mind your tongue, pup, before I snap your neck,” he growled and Ciaran felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
“This is Brock Ravenclaw. He’s brother to Mace Ravenclaw, the High King’s Beta.”
The name didn’t ring a bell, but if he was sent by the High King, that meant something was out of the ordinary.
“Behave. He’s one of the best hunters in the world.”
“Hunter of what?”
“Rogues.”
“Show it again,” he ordered roughly. Tanya obeyed, rewinding the camera until Freya picked up the phone.
“What camera is this?”
“Cam one. Why?”
“And outside?”
“Cam six. Again, why?”
“Change it. I want to see to whom she is speaking with.”
Tanya divided the screen in half. In one half, Freya kept talking on the phone, smiling, and on the other, the man with the cap was talking about, his foot kicking impatiently. He had something in his hand that made Brock stop the image and increase it in size. He had a small device in his hand.
“He’s using it to disguise his voice,” he said abruptly. Ciaran closed his eyes. With whom did Freya think she was talking to? Declan? Evelyn?
“Can you zoom in on the guy’s wrist?” asked Declan, suddenly. Brock obeyed and they saw a small tattoo appear, something like a circle bleeding.
“Your mate was taken by the New Blood Moon Clan,” he said gloomily.
“Who?”
“You heard me the first time, pup. The High King will need to know about this.”
“Who the hell are those guys?”
Brock leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“After the death of their Alpha, the Blood Moon clan scattered, and many joined the High King’s ranks.
Those that really wanted to learn to live in a pack were integrated and live normal lives.
But there were those that were biding their time, waiting for the first opportunity to strike.
The High King killed a lot of those wolves who thought laws didn’t apply to them.
Unfortunately, some escaped. And those are the ones I’m hunting.
They reunited under a new banner. They call themselves the “New Blood Moon Clan” and their symbol is a black moon, presumably a dark moon, a new moon, bleeding. ”
“What’s that got to do with Freya?” asked Connor, abruptly.
“She was the true mate of their former leader. My guess is the new Alpha wants to solidify his claim to Lewis’s lands by mating with his former mate.”
“She’s already mated,” said Declan ferociously. “To us.”
“All he needs is a puppet to show,” he said impatiently. “Whatever happens afterward, I don’t know. Besides, you haven’t made your mating public. The High King only found out after your mating, and he wasn’t exactly pleased, by the way.”
“So, you’re saying that whoever took her didn’t know she was already mated?”
“Or didn’t care. Either is viable.” Brock looked outside, his eyes carefully scanning the small square and the parking lot.
“That bookstore has a view of the parking lot, do you know the owner? Can we access their cameras?”
“It’s a bookstore, not a bank. I’m not even sure they have cameras...”
As it turned out, they did, and the girl behind the register was one of them, to their great relief. She allowed them to see their recordings, and her eyes almost bulged out of her sockets when she saw the guy with the cap talking on the phone.
“This guy was here last week. I recognize the cap; it pretends to be one of the high school’s.”
“Why pretend?”
“The high school’s are blue, that’s red. The letters are the same, but nowadays they are white, and those are yellowish.”
“It’s fake, then? Where could he have gotten it?”
She shrugged.
“No idea. It may be an older model, I remember in my days they were green and white. They used to sell quite a few when the year starts and they celebrate another year in school. Scarves, hats, football equipment ... you name it. But I have no idea, honestly.”
Declan looked at Ciaran, livid. The same thought passed through their minds. There was only one person they knew that worked at the university and could have accessed their stock of older equipment.