He turned as he pressed a hand over his heart, pausing when he recognized the man coming toward him.“Saul, right?”
Saul nodded.Nico had never talked to him, but he’d seen him around fox territory several times, and Mackenzie had told him about the man.Maybe he knew something.He was a guard.He was supposed to protect the people who lived here—Jerome in particular, but not only.“Have you seen Mackenzie?”Nico asked.
Saul frowned and looked from the car to the house.“I haven’t, no.Has something happened?”
“He was supposed to meet me.He’s not answering his phone, and he’s not here.”
“Have you tried calling his family?Maybe he’s with them.”
“He would answer his phone if he was with them.He also would’ve told me about it.No, I’m sure something’s happened.”He moved away from the car.There was nothing here that he didn’t expect to find, and he didn’t think he’d find out where Mackenzie was by standing here.
If Mackenzie wasn’t in the house, where was he?It would make sense that he’d walked away, so Nico did the same thing.He slowly walked toward the forest, hoping he was choosing the right direction.He could feel Saul coming after him, but thankfully, the man didn’t say anything.He just waited and let Nico do his thing.
“I can’t tell much in this form,” Nico murmured.“I can smell him, but I don’t know where he went.”He reached for his shirt.There was only one way to solve this problem.
He heard Saul say something, but he didn’t stop to ask him to repeat himself.He quickly took off his shirt, then his pants.He dropped all of his clothes by his shoes, then shifted, not caring one bit that Saul had just seen him naked.Who cared about that when Mackenzie was missing?
It was much easier to find Mackenzie’s scent in Nico’s bobcat form.Mackenzie had definitely walked into the forest, and while Nico didn’t know why, it wasn’t unusual.Mackenzie walked to his parents’, his brother’s, and his grandmother’s house regularly, but he’d have told Nico if he was visiting them today.
Nico followed Mackenzie’s scent, eager to find his boyfriend.For some reason, Mackenzie had left his car and walked between the trees.Nico didn’t understand why until he smelled someone else.It was hard to get a base scent for this person because it was overpowered by the stench of neglect and blood.
A lot of blood.
Nico’s heart raced as he rushed ahead, Saul right behind him.The man didn’t say anything until they reached a spot where the scent of blood was stronger than ever before.When Nico saw it spilled on the ground, he freaked out and darted forward, only breathing more easily once he realized that it wasn’t Mackenzie’s blood.Mackenzie wasn’t the one who’d been wounded and had bled all over the forest ground.
But someone had.
There was only one explanation, only one person it could’ve been.Nico didn’t know how or why, but Silas had found Mackenzie.Who else would be wandering around the forest bleeding?Who else would smell like they hadn’t showered in weeks?
Silas had Mackenzie.
Nico whimpered and turned, ready to follow the scent trail, but something caught him under the armpits.He hissed and tried to bite Saul, but the man didn’t let go, and Nico couldn’t reach him where he was, no matter how hard he tried.
“I know you want to go after him,” Saul said.“But it’s not going to help anyone, least of all Mackenzie.He wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger.”
Nico yowled.Right now, he didn’t care about what Mackenzie wanted.He needed to find him, and that was that.
But Saul didn’t let go.Even when Nico tried to get him to, Saul held him close, relaxing only when Nico stopped resisting.
Saul hesitated for a moment after Nico had stopped before letting go.“We’ll find him,” he promised.“But you can’t go out there on your own.Mackenzie would never forgive himself if something happened to you.Hell,Iwouldn’t forgive myself.You won’t be doing this alone, Nico.We’ll find Mackenzie, but we’ll do it the right way.”
Nico briefly wondered if he could run away.Probably, if he tried hard enough.Shouldhe try, though?
As desperately as he wanted to go after Mackenzie, he knew that Saul was right.If Silas had Mackenzie, they needed to do this the right way.Otherwise, it would put Mackenzie in even more danger, and that wasn’t something Nico could let happen.
* * * *
SILAS DRAGGED MACKENZIEhalfway through the forest, or at least, that was what it felt like.Mackenzie was confused.He had no idea where they were going, and he wasn’t about to ask.He was pretty sure that Silas wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if he was even just annoyed with him.
The man was scary.It wasn’t because he’d visibly lived in the forest for weeks.It was the blood and the ranting, and the fact that Mackenzie knew who Silas was and what he’d done.The man was a monster, and Mackenzie wanted to get away, but even though Silas was a skunk shifter, he was strong.Mackenzie was pretty sure he could catch him if he ran, although that wasn’t going to stop him if he got the opportunity.
He hadn’t for now.
“Humans in the forest,” Silas was saying, sounding disgusted.“Humans don’t belong here.If it was up to me, you would never have been allowed in here.A good human is a dead one, that’s what I always told my son.”Silas snorted.“Although, look at how that went.I knew Jasper wasn’t the right person to follow in my footsteps, but I never had a choice.That boy has always been too weak.I would’ve given him all the carriers he could want, but what did he do?Choose the only human one around.”
Mackenzie tripped and fell forward, but Silas was still holding onto him.He pulled him back, saving Mackenzie from hurting himself, but shaking him at the same time.“Humans are useless,” Silas said.“Look at you.Can you even walk in a straight line?”
Mackenzie almost snapped that it would be easier if Silas stopped threatening to kill him every fifteen seconds, but instead, he pressed his lips together.Antagonizing the ranting man who had his life in his hands probably wasn’t a good idea.
