Caelan winked. “Hold onto my clothes?”
“As long as you let me ogle you for a moment.”
His eyes glittered. “Ogle away, flower girl.”
Time was of the essence, so Caelan didn’t linger over his clothing. But he did wiggle his eyebrows and do a slow turn before a flash of light overtook him and a giant wolf stood in his place.
I laughed and ran my fingers through his fur. “Very bitable,” I agreed.
He nipped at me then put his nose to the ground. I watched as he thoroughly examined the area. When he was satisfied, he’d found everything, he shifted again and dressed.
“Whatever vehicle they’re in has an oil leak. That won’t narrow it down much, but it could help.”
His phone rang. Caelan grimaced after looking at the screen. “Thorvin is trying to get a hold of me.”
I looked around at the blanket of white surrounding us. “We’re on foot in rural Michigan. Pretty shortsighted on our part.”
Caelan shook his head. “This isn’t his Keep. I’ve been trying to convince him to stay with his shifters, but he’s been strangely resistant. We have one more place to check, and they’ll have vehicles we can use.”
“How far away is the Keep?”
“A few miles.” He pulled up another picture. I studied it for a bit and nodded.
We joined hands as the world fell away once more.
Wolves converged on us as soon as we popped onto the edge of Ben’s property. Caelan held his hands up. “I’m here to help.” Before anyone could say anything, Caelan said the words that got everyone’s attention. “Your Lord is missing.”
A flash of light and a male, tall and deadly looking stood in the wolf’s place. “Lord Caelan.” He dipped his head before turning his attention to me. “And you must be the Floromancer.”
I winced. “Evie.”
“I am Christian, Ben’s Second.” His skin was a dusky olive tone, and his eyes were a gorgeous, green-dominant hazel. A large scar bisected his left cheek, ending at his lip. It took a lot of damage to disfigure a wolf to the point where their innate healing abilities didn’t override any scarring. Instead of taking away from his allure, it only served to heighten his good looks.
“Ben didn’t show up to the Lord’s meeting,” Caelan said. “We went by his house?—”
A flicker of something in Christian’s eyes. He disapproved of Ben’s residence choice, too. “Someone took him.”
Caelan nodded. “I’m afraid so. We’d like to borrow a vehicle if you’ve one to spare.”
“Of course. We can provide an escort.”
Caelan shook his head. “I’m happy to take a couple of you, but I want to have the element of surprise.”
Christian’s eyes narrowed. “Who do you believe is behind this?”
“I don’t want to say yet. Not until we find them.”
Christian looked like he wanted to argue, but kept his mouth shut. “Very well.” He jerked his head back. “Pax! With me!”
A massive white wolf stepped forward and shifted. I’d never been around this many naked dudes since I accidentally walked into the wrong gym bathroom when I was in college.
Correction. This many hot dudes. I kept my eyes firmly on the collarbone and above and tried not to fidget. Shifters were used to nudity all the time. Floromancers, especially this one, were not. Not that we were prudes about it, usually, but shifter packs had very few women, and I was a woman in my prime.
Caelan stepped closer, almost like he’d seen my internal struggle not to ogle and slid his fingers over my arm. Proprietary and steadying.
Christian’s eyes glimmered with amusement, but he turned. “Follow. The garage is toward the back of the keep. There’s a private road out. Pax and I will lead, if you allow it, Lord. We’ve become familiar with some of the places Lord Ben frequents.”
Caelan inclined his head. “Of course. I’m here to assist only.”
