I gnawed on the inside of my cheek and turned to Ryker, placing both of my hands on him. They needed to be as far apart as I could get them. Two leaders, two violent and vicious leaders, facing off in the middle of Roman’s hallway with me between them both…that would end badly. Roman wrapped one arm around my waist, holding me close to him.
Cayden stood behind Ryker, running his hands through his hair. He gazed at me with eyes that pleaded for me to stop them because he sure as hell couldn’t. “This isn’t the time for—”
Roman pulled me out of the way again and pushed Ryker. “Get off of my property. This is—What?—the second, third time you showed up without my permission.”
“I don’t need your permission to talk to one of my Lycans.”
“She’s not yours.” Roman growled.
Cayden cleared his throat, yet neither one of them heard it. So, I stepped around them to Cayden to see what this whole fuss was about. Vanessa stood next to him, her eyes wide, hanging off of every single word he said. “She’s what?” she asked, her voice barely audible. A tear rolled down her cheek.
Cayden frowned at me. “Jane is gone and so is Raj—that Lycan from your pack—Isabella.”
“What do you mean that they’re gone?”
“How do you just disappear?” Vanessa cried out, black drops of mascara running down her cheeks.
“They’re gone,” Cayden said again, nodding to Ryker who shoved Roman into the wall. They were moments away from going at it, but I couldn’t care at that moment. The one reason I had become a Lycan was to protect, and now my partner and my mate’s sister were taken. “Ryker said that the rogues took them.”
“The rogues took them?” I asked in disbelief. When Cayden nodded his head, I marched right over to the two men and pushed them both back. “Stop!” I shouted, my jaw clenched. Both of their heads snapped to me, and I gazed at Ryker. “Is it true?”
Roman growled, but I placed a hand on his chest, hoping that it’d calm him enough to get us through this.
“Are they both really taken?” My voice wavered.
“Who’s taken?” Roman asked.
Ryker gave him a long look, then he nodded at me. Despite his overt anger, Ryker seemed calm about the situation—as if something like this had happened before. “Jane and Raj are gone.”
I pressed my lips together, a heap of guilt washing over me. This was my fault. “How do you know that rogues took them?”
“Jane? What was my sist—” Roman asked.
“Their scent was all over Raj’s last known location.”
My heart sunk in my chest. I should’ve been there with him. I should’ve been there. This was my fault. They were gone because of me, because I was afraid of being marked by him or some rogues. If I was there, I could’ve helped him. Now he was… taken.
Roman tensed behind me, suddenly becoming quiet. Vanessa wiped her tears with the back of her hand, her hiccups louder than before. Cayden awkwardly patted her shoulder, trying to calm her down. “Maybe they’re just mates and decided to sneak away,” she cried.
“This is my fault,” I said. “If I would’ve just come back to the Lycans when I started heat like we decided… if I would’ve stayed there and not run away like I did…”
It was written all over Ryker’s face that he thought it was my fault too, but he said, “It’s not your fault.” He sighed deeply through his nose and gazed back at Roman. “It’s his.”
The vein in Roman’s neck pulsed violently, and his eyes turned darker than I had ever seen them. “It’s my fault that my sister got abducted by rogues, okay. Keep telling your dirty little lies to my mate to get her to like you,” he seethed.
Ryker growled. “You tracked his scent. You were the last person at his last known location. You refused to mark your own fucking mate. If you would’ve just done it, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“If you didn’t go behind my back to take my mate away from me, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“If you weren’t so fuck—”
I drown them out. I couldn’t bear to listen to their bickering anymore. Not when this was neither of their faults. It was mine.
~~~
“I can’t believe it.” Vanessa sobbed. Her cheeks were stained with streaks of black mascara. “Why is this happening? Why would they take her?”
I sat in Roman’s chair in his office and rubbed my sweaty palms together. It didn’t make sense. These rogues were after alphas, not ordinary wolves. Roman paced around the room, ordering his warriors to guard the perimeters and to track any scents that they could find. Ryker sat on his phone, talking to someone back at the packhouse and gazing at me every few moments.
