Blood thunders in my chest, my wolf snarls and snaps at my threadbare restraint, and the glass in my hand shatters into a thousand tiny shards.
“What the fuck do you mean by missing?” I hiss at my sister.
“I drove her home after she left your place and stayed with her that night. She wanted the details of Lo’s kids—” Sofia stops talking and rolls her eyes when my wolf forces a loud growl up my throat. “—which I didn’t give her, obviously,” she continues.
“I suggested taking a few days and then talking to you again before deciding on what to do. I gave her Katie’s number so she could read the files herself. I’ve spoken to her every day since she left. She’s been really struggling with what she’s learned about where she came from. I called her yesterday, and she didn’t answer. When she still hadn’t called me back hours later, I started to worry. I drove over to check on her, but she wasn’t home. Her sister Pippa arrived around the same time, and she was worried too. Mayamissed lunch with her and hasn’t been answering the phone. Ryan, no one knows where she is for sure, but Pippa told me she had made contact with her biological family.”
“Fuck!” I roar. Rage and fear war for dominance as my wolf howls and snarls. Hair shoots from my arms, and my claws rip into the bed, cutting through the thick rubber and foam beneath like butter. The copper taste of blood fills my mouth as my canines lengthen and sharpen, and I let out a visceral cry. My form is halfway between wolf and human, and he wants blood.
“Get it together,” Sofia snarls, applying her alpha command. And even though it doesn’t work on me the way it would another wolf, it’s enough to interrupt the ferocity of my emotions.
“Katie confirmed Caleb gave Maya the details,” Sofia tells me and I have to put all of my energy into hearing her over the blood rushing in my ears and my wolf howling in rage. “I called Brett Lo, but he didn’t answer. I called the Night Howlers pack house, and they said he’s away but wouldn’t tell me anything else. We need to find her. Focus, Ryan. Focus on the bond. Can you feel her? Can you feel anything?”
I let Sofia’s questions and the command behind them wash over me. My bond with Maya isn’t complete; we haven’t said the words of the claim or marked each other with our bites, but we have gotten to know each other intimately. It has to be enough.
I breathe in for four seconds and hold it before slowly exhaling the way Maya does. Closing my eyes, I focus my mind on my mate, opening myself up to the fragile bond that connects us. It’s distant, but it’s there.
“Southeast. That’s the direction she’s in.”
And then I’m moving—tearing the IV out of my arm and dashing out of the pack hospital. I don’t shift; I can’t trust myself to think rationally in wolf form. I rush to my house and grab clothes, boots, and my car keys. Sofia is beside me at all times, ready to go. Ready to fight with me.
“Maya is my friend. She’s family. And you need me,” she says while crossing her arms in front of her chest and arching a brow. She’s ready to argue with me, but she doesn’t need to. I remember how much worse things would have gone if Sofia hadn’t been there during the omega rescue mission.
“You’re right. I need you. Please help me, Fia.”
Sofia’s mouth drops slightly, and her eyes go wide at how I didn’t fight her or try to convince her to stay behind. She blinks a couple of times before shaking her head and nodding. “Right, okay. Shit, I wasn’t expecting that to be so easy. I’ll mindlink some warriors to follow after us. Don’t mention a word to Luca.”
If this were about anyone else, I wouldn’t be so quick to collude with lying to the pack beta and my best friend. But Sofia has a point. Luca did shoot her with a tranquilizer gun to keep her out of the action the last time.
“I’ll meet you at the cars in two minutes,” I say. Sofia’s eyes glaze over as she sends a mindlink, and then she nods and heads toward where our cars are parked by the pack house.
I run inside again and grab a pair of Maya’s panties from the laundry hamper. I bring them to my nose and inhale her sweet smell before pocketing them and moving again. Having her scentin my nose helps me with knowing what direction to go in. It’s not that I can smell her from here, but it helps me to focus. Finding Maya isn’t a straightforward task. I don’t know where she is. I can’t mindlink her. But our bond pulls me forward, guiding me in the right direction with nothing but my faith in our connection.
Sofia drives, allowing me to close my eyes and focus on the bond and directing her as needed. We’re getting closer. I can feel it. But we’re still too far away. Snapshots of her emotions flash through me. Maya is afraid. She’s hurt and defeated and so alone.
Sickening dread builds in my gut as ideas of what could be happening to her bombard me. But I can’t think like that. It’s not helping.
We have to get there before it’s too late.
Failure is not an option.
Chapter Forty-Two
Maya
My tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth. My eyes feel as if they’re full of sand. And I’m cold. So cold. A deep, penetrating chill seeps into my bones, making my teeth chatter, and my skin pucker with goosebumps. I go to rub my eyes, but I can’t move my hands. Why can’t I move my hands? My breathing comes out in fast pants, shallow and ragged. I squeeze my eyes tighter shut—steeling myself for the possibilities of what I’m about to see—and then force them open.
The space I’m in is dark and dank, the air thick with the scent of mildew and something metallic, like old blood. There are no lights, only the faintest glow filtering in from a single, grimy window set high in the bare cinder block wall. My arms are cuffed behind my back, the cold, heavy metal biting into my wrists with every slight movement. I strain and pull, my muscles screaming in protest, but the restraints won’t budge.
My shifter strength, the raw power I had finally embraced, has completely seeped out of me, leaving me feeling hollow and vulnerable. Have I been drugged? The thought sends a fresh wave of panic through me. Is that why I’m so weak? I try to call on my tiger, to feel the familiar thrum of her presence and the fierceprotectiveness that is as much a part of me as my own heartbeat, but I can’t sense her. It’s as if a thick, suffocating blanket has been thrown over our connection, silencing her completely.
I’m all alone.
I blink rapidly, trying to clear the tears welling in my eyes. Fear coils in my gut, and my heart pounds so hard it feels as if it will break out of my chest. Each thud cuts into the otherwise silent room like the telltale heart. Except instead of guilt, it’s highlighting my own damn stupidity.
What was I thinking? I didn’t even tell anyone where I was going. Panic claws at my throat, threatening my consciousness. No. I can’t fall apart right now. I need to get out of here.
Breathe in for four seconds.
