Something in his voice makes my stomach twist, and I feel Rowen’s apprehension. I trot back to him.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
Sage hesitates. “Just come home. We’ll—”
“No. Tell me.”
Sage exhales. “Grant’s missing.”
Rowen’s shock is instant, snapping against me like a rubber band. “What?”
“Orem took him through the portal when they vanished. Willow saw the whole thing.”
The world goes very still.
My breath stutters. Grant, gone? The man is a force to be reckoned with; it’s hard to believe he’s missing.
“You’re just now telling me?” Rowen snaps, his voice rising.
Sage steps forward. “Don’t do that. Don’t let the guilt in. You were exactly where you needed to be, and we all know that.”
Rowen heaves a harsh breath, staring through the trees like he’s torn between me and returning to his pack.
Sage puts a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find him, Ro. Kaine’s already following a lead, and we’re planning a trip to the city. That’s what I came to tell you. William is staying to help us too. There’s only four of them left, and I think…” He shakes his head. “He needs this just as much as we do.”
Rowen doesn’t answer. “How many vamps survived?”
“Three that we know of. And Orem. We killed so many. Their coven is weak now.”
Rowen’s eyes shine wet in the weak sunlight. I press closer. He looks down at me, then sinks to his knees. I crawl into his lap, rubbing my face against his neck.
“He’s gone,” Rowen chokes. “Fuck. Grant’s gone.”
Something cracks open in my chest, grief spilling through the tether, and my body reacts before my mind can, back arching and arms twisting in an unnatural direction. Rowen and Sage step back. I shudder as my bones reshape, fur disappears into skin, and teeth become dull. For a long, miserable minute, I think I’m going to break apart—but then I’m human again, gasping, naked, and shaking in the cold.
I shake my limbs out. “Okay. That is…sofreaking weird.”
Rowen and Sage both laugh, then Rowen tosses me the bag of spare clothes. “Welcome back.”
I turn away from Sage as I pull the pants on, my skin flushed red. “And the whole nudity thing? Yeah, that’s gonna take some getting used to too.”
He smirks. “You didn’t seem to mind when I was naked.”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because I like your ass. I don’t need everyone else seeing mine.”
He smirks. “I wouldn’t worry. It’s a cute ass.”
“Rowen!”
“What? Facts are facts.”
Despite everything—the grief, the exhaustion—I laugh. The sound feels fragile, but familiar. It’s so good to be me again.
Once my shirt is on, Rowen closes the distance and catches my face with both hands, thumbs brushing the corners of my mouth. His eyes dance between mine before he kisses me. Hard. I melt into it, tasting salt. I don’t know if it’s from his tears or mine. Grief hits me out of nowhere, knocking the air from my lungs. I bury my face against his neck and sob—not just for Grant, but for everything.
