I blew out a breath. I believed him logically but my heart wasn’t in it. It screamed for my baby, who I’d been apart from for too long. I felt a wave of shame—why did I give into my urges?
“I’m going to find them,” I announced. In a flash, my form shifted into a large buck. Searching would be faster on four legs.
“Is Uncle okay?” Lupa asked her daddy.
“Yes, sweetie,” Len reassured. In a quiet voice, he asked us, “Do you want us to help? I can get the rest of the pack.”
Dax, bless his heart, managed to be calmer than me. “Let’s not panic. You stay here with the twins. Morgan and I will handle it, but if we need help, we’ll come find you.”
“Okay,” Len murmured. His face was full of sympathy—no doubt he understood the awful feeling of being a parent who didn’t know where their child was.
I took off without waiting another moment. Dax was at my heels in his wolf form, padding quickly by my side.
“Don’t worry, Morgan,” he said. “I’m sure everything is fine.”
I wanted to believe him, but for some reason, I couldn’t. I bunched my muscles and sprang faster, continuously scanning the environment for any sign of them. When all I saw was grass, my heart twisted.
Dax’s furry body suddenly cut me off. I planted all four hooves on the ground, breathing heavily.
My mate’s voice came out in a confident growl. “Don’t panic, all right? Just wait for a second. I’ll scent them out.”
I stomped the ground impatiently as he lifted his sensitive nose to the air. If there was a time I was glad to have a wolf for a fated mate, it was now.
Dax’s brow furrowed. “I smell them.”
“Ashe, too?” I demanded.
“Yes.” He turned his head to the horizon. “The scent leads that way.” But before I could spring in that direction, he added, “But there’s another scent mixed in with them.”
“What? Who?”
“It’s unfamiliar, but I recognize it as a deer.”
My heart dropped to the cold pit of my stomach. I didn’t wait for Dax to continue. I ran, pushing my muscles to their limit as I flew over the land. This time he didn’t tell me to wait. He was fast on my heels, his muscular body catching up to me quickly.
“Ashe couldn’t have gotten confused,” Dax wondered out loud as we forged ahead. “Heknowsyou. He wouldn’t confuse you with another deer.”
Anger flared inside me. Ashe and I shared a special bond, one of parent and child, one that wasn’t easily misplaced. “No. He wouldn’t.”
“Besides that, Remington’s scent is here too,” Dax went on in confusion. “He wouldn’t let Ashe out of his sight.”
Even though my heart still ached, that was my sole relief. I trusted Remington and I knew that no matter what was happening, he would protect Ashe with his life. He would keep him safe. He had to.
My chest felt like it was full of tar, and every thick heartbeat sent a ripple of pain through my body. I’d never experienced agony like this. It was beyond any physical pain. The mental anguish of not knowing where my child was killed me.
As we crested a ridge, Dax remarked, “The scent’s getting stronger.”
A flicker of hope filled my muscles with a burst of energy. I kicked off hard from the ridge’s edge, flying through the air as Dax’s paws at up the ground beside me, never lagging behind.
Then, there—on the horizon stood a dark shape.
“I see something!” I called.
But my hope was snuffed out when I realized the figure was moving oddly, as if injured. At the same moment, Dax suddenly sucked in a sharp breath. He sneezed angrily as if scenting a foul odor.
“It’s blood,” he growled. “A lot of it.”
My heart sank.
