Chapter 42
Reid
I watch as Riley climbs into the car with her mom.
I’ve been out here all night, making sure she’s safe.
But I don’t let her see me, nor do I get too close for her to scent me.
I want her to have this time with her mom, and her mom is too sweet not to invite me.
So instead, I head back to the house to catch a few hours of sleep.
Thankfully, it’s blissfully quiet when I enter the house.
I make my way to my room and kick off my shoes before collapsing on the bed.
It still smells like Riley, so I take a deep lungful and carry her scent with me into sleep.
Reid.
My alpha’s voice in my head was not exactly how I planned on waking up, but I’m quick to respond. Yes, Alpha.
Is Riley with you?
I sit up, instantly awake. No, she’s at breakfast. Why?
Now that I’m fully awake, I can feel his panic; it makes my own start to grow.
He doesn’t send anything for a moment, and I throw on clothes.
I’m just about to reach out to Zane, but before I can there’s an explosion of Alpha’s wrath through the pack link.
The force of it nearly drives me to my knees.
I reach out through our bond. Riley. There’s nothing on the other side, and fear like I have never known pours through every fiber of my being. Riley!
When Alpha speaks again, he speaks to the entire pack. I’ve got four dead enforcers, and my mate and daughter are gone. He sends the address for the restaurant.
Joe immediately jumps in and starts shouting orders to the enforcers; I ignore it. I can feel the confusion and panic from our pack as I race towards the door. Zane, what’s going on?
He responds instantly. I don’t know. Get there now.
I resist the urge to shift and race to my car and throw it in reverse as soon as it turns on.
I roar out of the driveway. I reach out again, forcing power through our bond.
Riley! There’s nothing on the other end but static.
I curse and slam my fist against the steering wheel.
I race across town, uncaring about speed, stop lights, or anything else.
My tires squeal as I drive into the parking lot and shove the gear into park.
I’m out the door and running towards the entrance before the car’s even fully stopped.
I run past two cars with our downed pack mates and push aside the sorrow of those losses; I’ll have to process them at a later date.
I throw open the door to the restaurant, slamming it into the wall and nearly tearing it off its hinges.
Two things hit me instantly when I enter the restaurant—my mate’s scent and the wrath of my alpha.
It nearly brings me to my knees, but I push forward.
It feels like walking through quicksand.
I walk over to where he and Joe stand beside a table.
The scent of my mate hits me the strongest here, and I know this is where she was.
The door crashes into the wall once again, and Zane enters, bringing with him another blast of alpha power.
“What happened?” His voice is guttural, his wolf fully in charge.
Alpha turns towards us, and I can see and feel the wrath coming off him. “You in control?” he grunts out.
I nod, not trusting my voice right now. My wolf is roaring his rage inside me, but I have him locked down...for now. “What happened?” It’s hard to form the words around my canines.
“Something in the coffee; that’s all we’ve determined so far. Whatever it is, it cut off their connection to the pack and to us. I didn’t feel it.” His words are barely audible. “Do you have anything from Riley?” His words are almost desperate, and I clench my jaw.
“No.”
“Alpha,” Travis, one of our trackers, rushes inside.
Alpha Blackwood turns to him. “Find me a trail.” Travis nods and leaves immediately.
“Slate’s enroute,” Zane says before turning to me. “Anything from Riley?”
“No.”
I let my wolf come to the surface. My sense of smell and sight increase, and I start making my way around the room. I reach out periodically to Riley but get nothing every time. Quint shows up next. “I came as soon as I heard. What happened?”
I nod at the table. “Sat there. Something in the coffee.” I haven’t touched it yet. I know Slate’s nose is better than mine, and we’re waiting for that. I don’t want to contaminate it with my scent.
Quint puts his hand on my shoulder, more serious than he normally is. “We’ll find them.”
More pack members come and go, but I don’t talk to anyone. I shove the door open and head outside. A truck parks, and Slate climbs out and makes his way right to me. “Hey, Man. What happened?”
I fill him in on what we know, which is next to nothing. He looks behind me to the restaurant. “Alpha?”
“Losing his—” We both hear Alpha yell from inside. “That,” I say flatly.
“We’ll find Riley,” Slate says, dropping a hand on my shoulder.
I don’t respond, and he makes his way inside.
I plan on keeping close to him. If anybody can scent a lead, it will be him.
I’ve scented the area where both Riley’s and her mom’s scent both abruptly end.
I’ve made the same assumption everyone else has made.
They were put inside a vehicle. I already checked for cameras.
Of course, there are none. This place is too old and probably opposed to that kind of technology.
I heard Alpha order several pack members to check surrounding buildings and see if anybody has security cameras.
One of the police officers that’s a friend of our pack shows up next.
Alpha is always leery to reach out to local authorities, but they have more power than we do.
They can pull traffic cams, neighborhood cams, and more.
The nice thing about this particular officer is that he’ll keep our case quiet and mostly let us deal with it ourselves.
Alpha comes out of the building to talk to him, but I stay out of the way.
Slate comes out of the building next, and I walk his way.
I don’t get too close but let him do his thing.
Frustration and anger burn through me, and I try to keep calm.
Riley. The emptiness at the other end of our bond makes my skin crawl; it’s not right.
Where are you, Riley? I stride for my car, pulling my keys from my pocket.
I slide into the front seat and start it up.
Just before I pull out of the parking lot somebody knocks on the passenger window.
I brake briefly, and the door opens. Slate slides into the passenger seat. “What?” I manage to grunt out.
“I’m going with. Drive.”
I don’t need to be told twice, but I don’t make any progress.
Zane steps in front of my car, halting me.
I wait for him to tell me I can’t leave, but he doesn’t.
He simply climbs in the backseat. Quint appears out of nowhere and jumps in the back next to Zane.
Only then can I finally get moving. I don’t even know where I’m going, but I have to do something.
“Do you have a plan?” Zane barks out from the backseat as I turn out onto the street.
Not really. My mind whirls a million miles an hour.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the Skinwalkers took her.
The reason they targeted our pack in the first place was because their master had a thing for Zane and Riley’s mom.
She didn’t accept him and met her mate soon after that.
He’s been planning his revenge ever since.
I try to push past the panic in my mind and think clearly.
I try to attack the problem rationally. They’ve got two wolves, unconscious probably.
They need to get them wherever they’re going to hold them.
The highway would be the fastest way out of the area, but they’re not going to do that because that’s where we’d look first. They’ll stay off main roads where they can be spotted, and they won’t want to be stopped by policemen.
I do an abrupt U-turn, and the guys grunt in response.
“What’s the plan, Reid?” Zane barks out again. I want to ignore him, but I know he’s just as worried. His mom and sister are missing.
I tell him exactly what I deduced in my mind. “The highway is the fastest way out of town, but they won’t want to be tracked. They’re going to want to go fast. Back roads. Get to where they’re going without any interference.”
“Downtown,” Quint says, following my train of thought.
“What kind of car?” Zane asks, following my line of thinking.
“Van,” I throw out. “Two shifters? They’ll need to make sure they have lots of room.” I drive, not knowing where I’m going, but I can’t just sit around and do nothing.
Reid! Get back here! Everybody in the car flinches, and I know I’m not the only one that heard those words from Alpha. I’ve never disobeyed a direct order before, but I’m about to.
I can’t just stand around while Riley is out there, who knows where…maybe hurt...or worse. The agony those words bring nearly make me pull the car over so I can throw up, but I push forward.
Alpha is silent a moment. The moment you find something, you tell me.
I will.
There’s nothing more from him, and I figure he’s back at it. We get back at it too. “We’ll find her,” Quint says reassuringly.
“We won’t stop until we do,” Zane echoes.
I nod but don’t say anything. Riley, I push again.
It feels like there’s a brick wall between us, and it terrifies me.
I know she’s still alive, but that’s it.
I’m coming, Baby, I push to her, even though she can’t hear me.
I won’t rest until you’re safe and back in my arms. I make the pledge both to her and to myself, and my wolf echoes my sentiments.
We won’t rest until we find her, my wolf echoes.
.