“Maeve!” It was Caleb.
Relief and dread hit at the same time as I opened the door.
Caleb stood there breathing hard, eyes sharp with urgency. Wolves moved behind him in the yard, their bodies tense as they watched the trees.
“My pack arrived first,” he said quickly. “They wanted to make sure the cottage was secure. I hope they didn’t alarm you.”
“Only mildly.” I stepped past him onto the porch and froze. I glanced at Keegan, who looked like he was smiling under all his fur.
I watched as wolves filled the clearing, and it wasn’t just Caleb’s.
There were dozens, and they moved through the shadows and settled into a wide circle around the cottage, keeping a careful distance from us.
“They’re guarding it,” I said, but I think I was hoping for confirmation.
“Guarding you,” Caleb corrected me.
“I didn’t ask for that.”
But then I spotted my dad. He stood near the edge of the yard in his bulldog form. He was solid, but quiet in the moonlight. When he turned toward me, something in his eyes made my stomach drop.
Caleb hadn’t brought the pack just to protect me.
Something worse had happened.
And my father already knew it. He crossed the grass toward me with slow, deliberate steps.
Something in the set of his shoulders made my stomach drop before he even shifted.
The change came halfway across the yard. Fur pulled back. Bones stretched. The familiar shape of my father stepped forward from the night as if he’d been carved out of it.
“Maeve,” he said calmly.
It was too calm.
He pulled me into a hug before I could think, and for one fragile second, I let myself fall into his embrace.
But when he pulled back, his hands settled on my shoulders, and his eyes searched mine.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
I frowned and shook my head. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
He didn’t look convinced, and his hands stayed where they were, and that was when I saw it. There was a massive strain sitting quietly behind his eyes.
My gaze slipped past him to Keegan. He’d shifted back into himself and stood a few paces away, barefoot in the cold dew of the grass. Caleb lingered beside him, speaking lowly, and the wolves had gone completely still.
Karvey dropped from the roof and stood silently with his wings tucked close.
The whole yard felt like it was waiting for something that I couldn’t give them.
Until it hit me.
“The Priestess took her.” The words left my mouth before I could make sense of them, but I just knew. I could feel it, and the thought tore out of me.
“She kidnapped her, didn’t she?” I said again when my dad didn’t answer.
“No, Maeve.” My father shook his head slowly. “Believe it or not, she left on her own.”
