“Yes,” Marcus answered.
“And they started the search in the greenhouse?”
“Silas went to the greenhouse. I don’t know about the others once we split up.” His large hand wrapped around my arm. “We need to go now, Joanna,” he urged.
I tried to pull away from him, but the bracelet was still dampening my power. “No, this is—”
“Joanna,” Toya demanded. “Now.”
A shiver snaked down my spine. I nodded and held back a sob when my sister pressed her lips to my head.
Marcus pulled me to my feet and helped me toward the door. I heard the click of the lock sliding free and watched as a sliver of light appeared once Marcus turned the handle.
“Marcus,” Toya called out in a hushed tone.
Marcus huffed and pushed the door to make sure Toya’s voice didn’t give us away. The darkness engulfed us… but I wished I could’ve seen the Alpha’s face when she spoke.
“Protect my sister,” she demanded, “for your sake… and your heir’s.”
Chapter Fourteen
Marcus
Icouldn’t feel the grounding earth beneath my paws or the whipping of the wind through my fur. Even the warmth of the Goddess had deserted me. All I had was the weight of Joanna on my back. She held onto my fur, her strong legs wrapped around me as I sprinted further from the mansion.
Silas and the others had made it to the lake’s edge when a phone rang. Latoya’s friend, Heather, fished the phone out of her knee-high boots. It’d been her luna on the other line, and before Heather said a word, the luna’s piercing wail rattled us all.
Her mate was dead.
Silas had snatched the phone from Heather’s shaking hands. He demanded answers. Brody had only been missing for a few minutes.
The alpha of the rogues looked around at his wolves, and their faces revealed everything he didn’t want to admit: It’d been more than a few minutes.
The luna persisted. Brody was dead, and she’d felt the moment he’d taken his last breath.
The rogues began to panic, trying to remember all of Brody’s favorite places at the estate. Where he liked to drink, smoke, fuck. Then they split up and went looking for their brother.
And I went looking for Joanna.
I slowed to a stop when the low roar of traffic echoed from a nearby highway, lowering myself to the ground and allowing Joanna to slide off my back.
She waited until I lifted my head to throw my bloody clothes down at my feet.
I closed my eyes as if I was about to shift. But instead, I listened. I sorted through the sounds of rubber against the pavement, of trees dancing in the wind, of the cicadas singing their nightly melody… until I found it.
A faint flutter. The most beautiful sound I’d ever heard in my entire life.
My gaze shot up to find Joanna’s face. But it was devoid of all emotion.
I turned my back to the hunter and shifted into my human form, the world quieting around me. Stealing a quick glance down at my chest, I released a silent sigh of relief.
“Are they gone?” Joanna asked, as if she could read my mind. It was the first thing she’d said to me since leaving the mansion.
I pulled on my jeans before inching around to face her, afraid—because I knew exactly what she was asking me.
“Silas said you weren’t feeling well… What did you do to make the black veins appear?” Anger now swirled in the depthsof her eyes, so the smile that appeared on her face turned my throat dry. “I’ll tell you what started mine.”
She dishonored the bond?
