“Excuse me, I’m standing right here. I can hear you,” I protested. “I’m doing the best I can, okay? I want to find him, too.”
“And we weren’t letting him go out alone,” Camille chimed in and Raina nodded in firm agreement.
“Everyone, can we focus?” Ori’s sharp voice cut through the mutterings of their companions. “We are going to work together to find Landon. Beyond that, I don’t care if you never speak to each other again. Now, Anjeli.” They looked at the woman. “You said you had an idea of where it might be?”
She nodded. “Possibly. My cousin had an accident as a child and the area sounds similar. It’s far off the beaten path, to the northwest quite a way. We’ll have to hurry to get there before the snow starts again.” The up and down look she gave the four of us wasn’t a kind one. She knew we would slow her down. Was she a shifter, too? Would they make better time without us? But then, what happened if she was wrong?
“Shouldn’t we be concerned about what we’ll find there?” Raina asked as the group resumed walking. “Alex said someone was chasing Landon. What if they’re still there?”
“We will deal with it,” Jean said shortly. He picked up the pace, along with Anjeli and the man. Ori kept pace with us, falling into step beside me.
“Did you have to tell them about that part?” they asked quietly. “Did you tell themeverything?”
That caught Donovan’s attention, from the way his shoulders tensed, but he kept his eyes on the trail like he hadn’t heard. Neither of us liked keeping the information from Raina and Camille, but he understood why I didn’t say anything.
“They’re my best friends and they’re following me into a potentially dangerous situation. I had to tell them something,” I whispered back.
“I appreciate that they want to be by your side, but you shouldn’t have brought them. Any of them.” Their eyes shot to Donovan and while there wasn’t quite the same level of vitriol I’d seen in the other three, Ori’s distrust shone through. Even with my assurances and Donovan’s promise, they were still wary of Donovan simply because he was a detective.
I wasn’t going to argue, though. Now wasn’t the time. “Well, they’re here, so let’s just focus on finding Landon right now, okay?”
“Fine, but once we get close, they need to leave. You, as well.”
The last I’d seen of Landon, he’d still been a coyote. His fur had hopefully been enough to protect him against the cold, so he would have been smart to stay that way. Not to mention, if the thing that hunted him lingered, that meant he hadn’t been able to change back at all. Either way, I hadn’t told my friends about that part and it wasn’t a discussion I wanted to have in the middle of the woods as the tailing edge of yesterday’s snowstorm threatened.
“Agreed. Now, can we please just focus on actually finding him?”
Ori gave the others one last look, then nodded and sped up to join their friends. The group wasn’t quite leaving us behind, but we’d have to speedwalk to keep up.
“What was that about?” Donovan asked as soon as Ori was out of earshot.
“Ori is pissed that the girls are with us. They were worried I’d told Raina and Camille the full truth. I told them I didn’t, but…” I shrugged helplessly. “Plus, they still don’t trust you.”
“Honestly, after everything I’ve been learning and the way Ori is acting, the feeling is kind of mutual.”
I couldn’t tell if he actually meant it or not, but now wasn’t the time to figure it out.
The further we walked, the more difficult the way became. Landon must have been exhausted by the time he hit the ledge after running this deep into the woods. How long had that thing been chasing him?
“Here,” Jean said suddenly from ahead of us. He’d veered off to the left and stood looking at something on the ground. The other group hadn’t gotten too far ahead of us and it only took a moment to join them, peering down at what he’d found.
I knew absolutely nothing about hunting and tracking, but even I couldn’t miss the obvious signs of something large passing through. Branches hung off bushes, torn and trampled by something large as it pushed through. From the corner of my eye, I glimpsed Anjeli lifting her head and sniffing at the air. Could she smell Landon, even as a human?
“We can take it from here,” Jean said. He didn’t even look at the four of us, as though we were beneath his notice.
“We’re not leaving until we find him.” Donovan’s tone brooked no argument, eyes narrowed as he waited for one, anyway.
“Guys,” I cut in quickly. “We’ll go with you until we find the ledge, so I can show you where he went. After that, we’ll head back. Okay?”
Jean glanced at Ori with a slight deference I hadn’t expected, and Donovan’s words echoed in my mind. Who, exactly, was Ori Castellos?
“Agreed,” Ori said.
“Very well,” Anjeli agreed before Jean and the other man could protest. She clearly didn’t like us, but at least someone in their group could be the voice of reason. Without waiting for her companions, she set off into the trees, following the trail of destruction and leaving them with no choice but to follow her.
“Let’s just hurry,” I said and followed after them. My friends had questions, and I owed them answers, but not now. Thankfully, they trusted me enough to simply follow my lead for now, but once we got back home, all bets were off.
“Hey, Alex?” Raina asked after we’d trudged about a mile through the underbrush. “You said someone was chasing this kid, right? Are you sure it wasn’t something?”
