JAKE
I triedmy dad’s phone three more times on the way over.
No answer.
Elliot drove with me in the passenger seat and Sasha and Syl in the back.
“Maybe he’s got it on silent,” Sasha said, but her voice lacked conviction. It was a possibility, but I clearly wasn’t the only one with the feeling that something wasn’t right.
Elliot tapped the steering wheel every time we stopped at traffic lights, impatient in a way I’d rarely seen him. Syl fidgeted in the seat behind him, unable to sit still. Only Sasha seemed relatively calm.
“That’s his car,” I said, sitting forward and pointing at the blue Ford Focus parked on the drive of his house.
Elliot parked on the road behind it and turned off the engine. “It’s no use asking you to stay here, is it?”
“Nope.” I was already opening the car door and hauling myself out of it.
“Shit,” Elliot cursed, and a second later the familiar scent of pack hit me. “He’s had visitors.”
Not Xen, thank fuck, but that didn’t mean he was okay.
My leg had improved a bit on the drive over here, my limp not as pronounced as I hurried after Elliot toward the front door.
Sasha and Syl kept guard behind us as I banged on the door. “Dad?” I yelled when no one answered. “You in there?” Like most shifter houses, Dad’s had enhanced soundproofing, so just because we couldn’t hear anything didn’t necessarily mean anything was wrong.
“You have a key?” Elliot grit out.
“No, but I know where the spare is.” Finding Dad’s key safe, I put in the code and retrieved the key, brandishing it like a prize. The second I got the front door open, I knew he wasn’t inside.
Nobody was.
We went in anyway, Elliot first. He came to an abrupt stop at the living room doorway. “Fuck,” he whispered, moving out of the way so I could see.
The once-pristine sofa now lay on its side, five deep tears visible. The lamp lay in pieces against the wall, broken glass littered the floor, and the curtains were holding onto the rail by sheer will alone.
At least there was no blood.
That was the one thought going round and round in my head.
My dad was gone, obviously taken against his will, but there was no fucking blood.
“Motherfuckers,” Sasha hissed, peering over my shoulder. “Your pack mates did this?”
“We don’t know what Xen told them,” Elliot said, and he had a point, but I didn’t give a fuck right now.
“Where would they have taken him?” I turned to Elliot, praying he had some idea because I had nothing. “The pack house would be too obvious, right?”
“You’d think, but I’m not sure we can rule it out. Ultimately Xen has authority over all his pack. He doesn’t know that no longer includes you and possibly Max, so he may assume that the pack house is safe enough.” He shrugged. “One way to find out.”
“Let’s go.”
Sasha and Syl blocked my path as I turned around to head for the car. “Is that wise?” She glanced at Syl. “We can’t enter your territory without permission, not without causing more trouble. And I don’t think you should go there alone.”
“Then what do you suggest,” I snapped. “Just leave him wherever the fuck he is?”
“No,” she said, getting in my space. “I’m suggesting you come back with us, and we put together a better fucking plan than you two rushing off with no idea what’s waiting for you.”
Elliot sighed. “She’s right.”
