Except then he couldn’t keep her safe. Heat roared through him. What was he going to do?
Taryn’s nostrils flared. “There’s the Alpha I want. I’m your match, Caidrik. She’s not.”
Not true. “Nadia’s kindness is her strength,” he murmured, having seen it over and over. “She’s fierce with family.” He grinned, remembering how she’d defended Emily when she thought her sister was being mistreated. “You’re wrong about her.”
“Maybe.” Taryn shrugged. “But if you’re rejecting me for sure, I’m going to align with Luca, then. Whoever partners up with me will win this thing. You should know that.”
“Huh. Good luck, then.” Caidrik turned and strode through the trees, heading down the lonely mountain.
By the time he reached the bottom of the chipped trail, his forearms burned and his ribs ached where claws had raked him. The wolves had been real. Rabid. Fast. One had caught him across the shoulder before he snapped its neck. Another had torn shallow lines down his side. The wounds were already knitting, but the sting lingered, deep and ugly.
A SUV slid around the bend, tires fishtailing before it skidded to a stop. Snow sprayed up in a dirty arc. Solomon jumped out, hair askew, coat half buttoned.
“I didn’t think you were coming to pick us up,” Caidrik muttered. “You said we had to make it back on our own.”
“Yes. Well.” Solomon glanced from Caidrik to Taryn and visibly recalibrated. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“You didn’t.” Caidrik yanked open the passenger door and nodded at Taryn. “Get in.”
She huffed but pulled her sweater back over her chest, taking her time with it. “Hey, Solomon,” she said brightly as she climbed in. “We killed the rabid wolves living in the cave.”
Solomon swallowed. “Good. I hope neither of you were bitten.”
“No,” Caidrik said. “How’d they get rabies?”
“There was an outbreak earlier this summer,” Solomon said. “A wild pack caught it.”
Caidrik paused, hand on the roof of the rig. “You’re not just inventing dangerous shit for me to do, are you? To help the pack?”
“No,” Solomon said quickly. “This one was outlined in the grimoire. Something dangerous. Isolated. Testing judgment.” He wouldn’t meet Caidrik’s gaze.
Caidrik felt it immediately. That drop in the gut. The sharp pull of instinct. “What’s the matter?”
“Something happened with Nadia and Luca during their challenge,” Solomon said.
Caidrik’s heart slammed once. Hard. “Is she hurt?”
“No,” Solomon said. Too fast. “They’re not hurt. They’re gone.”
“Gone?” Taryn echoed from the seat.
The world quieted around him as he stilled. “What do you mean, gone?” Caidrik demanded. “You had enforcers on them.”
“Yes. I did.” Solomon’s voice shook. “The scouts closest to them were taken out.”
“Dead?” Caidrik asked, his mind now spinning. Where was Nadia?
Solomon shivered. “Close enough. They’ll survive.”
“Not if she’s hurt,” Caidrik said quietly. His hands curled into fists. “Where were they when they disappeared?”
Solomon swallowed loud enough to be heard over the hissing wind. “Bombay Mountain. They were tracking toward Sweet Cliff. I think they made it to the abandoned mine.”
Caidrik turned and eyed the darkening forest. “Take Taryn back to town, and make sure there are four enforcers on her all night. I’m going for Nadia.”
“The remaining enforcers are forming a search party,” Solomon said, breath frosting the air as the Jeep idled, puffing smoke into the sky.
“I’m not waiting for a search party,” Caidrik said. He’d be much faster in wolf form. “Were the remaining enforcers able to track her?” It’d help if he had a clue which way she’d been taken.
