He answered immediately. “Sorcha?”
“James? Is Doreen with you? She was supposed to meet me twenty minutes ago, but she didn’t show up. Daniel said she picked up Jake about an hour ago, so I thought maybe they were with you.”
The dread that had been building crystallized into something sharp and terrible. James’s bear surged beneath his skin, suddenly alert and agitated.We have to find her!
“After she collected Jake and Bash, she was driving straight back to the cabins to see you, right?” James replied. “I’ll drive the route now.”
He ended the call and threw the truck into gear, tires spinning before catching on the snow-packed street. His heart pounded so loudly he could barely hear the engine’s roar as he drove toward the cabins.
The snow thickened with every mile, visibility dropping until the world beyond his windshield became nothing but swirling white. James hunched forward, squinting against the glare, as he scanned the roads for any sign of her.
His bear paced restlessly inside him, pushing against the boundaries of his control, demanding action.
I’m going as fast as I can,James told his bear.If we crash, we’ll be of no use to her.
His bear knew he was right. But he was past logical thought. Replaced by a primal need to find their mate. Now.
“Come on, come on,” James muttered, straining to see the road ahead. He’d been out in hundreds of storms, but never with this kind of fear dragging at him, stretching his nerves taut as wire.
Then he felt it…a sudden, sharp tug deep in his gut, like someone had hooked a fishing line into his very core and pulled.The mate bond. James gasped, momentarily startled by the intensity of it.
His bear roared to life inside him.She’s close!
“I’m coming,” James whispered into the storm, following that invisible pull even when the road disappeared completely beneath the snow. He didn’t need a map. Didn’t need landmarks. The bond tugged at him with a clarity more powerful than sight.
As he got closer to the cabins, that tug grew stronger, pulling him not toward the main road but off to the side, toward the old logging trail he’d told Doreen about when they were out on one of the dog training sessions.
Why had she taken that route?
Panic and fear took hold of him for a moment, but he pushed those emotions down. They were of no use to him now.
Of no use to his mate!
He turned onto the logging trail, trusting his instincts. Then, he rounded a bend, and his stomach dropped.
Doreen’s SUV sat half-buried in a snowbank. James slowed his truck to a stop just behind her abandoned vehicle. He was out before the engine died, heart hammering against his ribs as he surveyed the scene.
The SUV was empty, and any tracks they might have left were long buried in the snow. James’s breath left him in a harsh, frozen rush. The storm had eaten every trace of them.
But it could not dim the mate bond!
He didn’t hesitate, instantly shifting into his bear.
Where the man had stood, a massive bear took his place, breath steaming in great clouds as he tested the air. But instead of his mate’s scent, a strange, acrid edge threaded into the air.
It was faint but unmistakable. Smoke. Fresh. Not the smoke from the fires at the cabins. No, this was lighter, thinner. A fire started with small sticks. A survival fire.
The bear roared into the wind; the sound echoed through the forest like thunder. Then he surged forward, sprinting toward the smell of fire with single-minded determination. Snow that would have hindered a man barely slowed the bear. His powerful limbs cut through drifts that would have stopped a human in their tracks.
The source was close. Barely twenty feet from the car, but as he approached, his bear slowed, confused.
The smell of the smoke was coming from a small cave. But his mate was not there. No, his shifter senses were telling him she was out there in the wilderness.
He approached the cave slowly, and then he heard it, the shrill sound of a whistle. Jake. His bear huffed. Yes, Jake and Bash were inside the cave. He drew closer.
They were safe. They were warm.
But his mate was not.
