I want to take each tear from her and carry her burdens, but her sister is missing, and as much as I want to, nothing will stop her tears until her sister is back home, safe.
“We’ll find her. Felix is with James, Jackson, and the entire Pack are going to help us,” I say as I rub her feet.
That gets me a choked sob from Willow, and her hand pushes me away from her feet. I come to stand, stark naked and not touching the love of my life.
We get dressed in silence, and this time, it’s not too heavy. We’ll figure this out, and we’ll save Layla. I take her head in both my hands and kiss her forehead. She’s too emotional to think rationally. I’m sure that’s why Jackson sent us up here instead of keeping us huddled around the coffee table with everyone else. She’s a loose cannon, and no one hates that more than Willow.
She doesn’t have to fight things alone anymore. She doesn’t have to figure everything out for everyone. This time and every time after this, she has more than willing people who want to help her. She has us.
We go downstairs, and I can hear the discussion, taking this investigation back to its roots. Walking into the living room with Willow right behind me, I see the whiteboard has moved to be propped up against the fireplace mantel in front of the tv with the words “Where’s Milo?” written over it.
That’s the million-dollar question that we’ve been wondering since this whole arrangement started. If we find Milo, we find Layla. I can admit, it wasn’t my complete focus, and that is one of my regrets right now. Willow is hurt, and Layla is missing. If I would’ve got my head out of la-la land sooner, we wouldn’t be huddled around our table, trying to find any clues of where the hell Layla is. We have no phone trackers, no calls, no ideas about where Layla could be.
“Maybe we can plan something? Like make Milo think we want to hear his side of things. Get him out of hiding?” Willow mutters as she stares at the board.
“How would we reach him, though?” Luxe asks.
“I still have his old number, though he never answers. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t listen to voicemails?”
“That’s about all we got. It’s worth giving it a try,” Jackson says.
“Any updates with Felix?” Dylan asks.
“He texted the address of where they are at and are searching the building now,” Jackson says with a sigh. “I know Felix can handle himself, but, Dylan, could you just?—”
“I’ll join them in search, just in case. Someone should be with James until we can fully trust he had nothing to do with this,” Dylan says, dropping a kiss on Flora’s head before storming out of the house.
A ding sounds in the quiet room. All our heads shoot to Willow’s phone, where a text from an unknown number pops up on her screen. She slowly exhales as she opens the text, and her shoulders tensing back up under my hand.
Public Place. Come alone.
“Absolutely not,” I quip.
“Tell him the grocery store in ten minutes,” Jackson directs her, and my eyes shoot to him. Is he serious right now?
“Okay,” Willow murmurs as she drafts a reply.
“No, you can’t go alone. What if?—”
“She won’t. We’ll be there. We need a place that is constantly busy with tons of scents to mask us being there. You, Willow, me, and Leo will go to the grocery store. Ryder, River, Luxe, and Flora will hold down the fort here in case this is a misdirection,” Jackson decides. “Let’s move. There’s no time to waste.”
He doesn’t let me argue, and while Layla is a priority to me, so is Willow’s safety. Is our only option to use her as bait?
We walk out the door and to my car. The clouds graying and the wind cutting my ears. I don’t like this at all.
“Willow, are you going to be okay?” I ask, holding her hand over the car console. She remains quiet, no sight of a smile when I turn on her favorite song. We’re back to the Willow before our shower. I can’t blame her or even be upset with her cloudy mood, but I can’t help but try to make her smile as we drive.
“Let’s go,” she mumbles once we park at the store. She pulls away from me and gets out of the car.
I’m sure she was holding my hand more for my sake than hers. She needs a moment to breathe, and I can’t tell if I am making things worse or better. I sigh as I jump out of the car to catch up with her. I hate the way she watches over her shoulder, and I hate the way her arms wrap around her stomach to protect herself.
She should be carefree. She should be running aimlessly through the aisles without a care in this world because I should be strong enough and reliable enough to protect her. My chest aches. Goddess, my chest hurts, and my head spins at the thought, and here I am, completely useless.
I see Jackson and Leo get out of their cars, too. They will spread out around the store, since we didn’t set a specific spot in the store to meet, so we’ll be spaced out but close enough to Willow for when Milo shows up.
“Eddie, go,” she snaps, but then frowns and crashes into me as she turns around to apologize.
“I don’t want to be separated,” I talk quickly to prevent the apology from leaving her lips.
