Garret’s scent.
“We need to move,” Hardy said, appearing beside him. “Ink and Axle are bringing the trucks around.”
They piled in. Tabitha, still shaky, leaned on Astoria in the backseat. Astoria had one arm around her sister and her jaw clenched so tight Eli could see the muscle working from across the cab.
Nobody spoke on the ride back to Seven Peaks.
They gathered in the lodge’s main room, the big stone fireplace radiating heat nobody needed. Ransom stood by the mantel with his arms crossed, Isabelle beside him on the sofa with Evan asleep against her shoulder. Bo sat in one of the armchairs, his hands folded over his belly, eyes sharp despite the calm posture. The rest of the MC members spread across the room while Tabitha was wrapped in a blanket on the opposite sofa, a mug of tea untouched in her hands. Some color had returned to her face, but her voice was still raw. Astoria sat on the armrest beside her, one hand on her sister’s back. She hadn’t moved more than two feet from Tabitha since they left the bar.
Olivia sat next to Eli at the long dining table, close enough that her knee pressed against his. He could feel the tension radiating off her.
“Start from the beginning,” Ransom said. His voice was even, but his gold-green eyes had a hard edge Eli hadn’t seen before.
Eli walked them through it starting from when the lights went out and the fire started, the confrontation in the hallway, up until Tabitha blinded the attackers. He kept it factual, the way he’d been trained to debrief.
“Were they humans or Lycans?” the Alpha asked.
“One of them was Lycan. Maybe both.” He paused, wondering if he should say anything about the scent. On the ride here, he wondered if he’d imagined it; maybe the smoke from the fire made him hallucinate.
“You know something,” Ransom stated. “What is it? Tell us, especially if you think it can help find out who did this. While I know none of my guys were the target, this still happened on my territory, so I’m responsible.”
Eli supposed he was right, and there really was no denying it. “I thought I picked up a scent. One I recognized.” He met Ransom’s gaze. “Garret McCall.”
The room went still. Beside him, Olivia gasped and gripped his knee.
“So was he the one holding the gun,” Ransom asked. “Or the one holding you back?”
Eli paused. He hadn’t really thought of it. Not the guy with the gun, he’d seen his face. But he couldn’t be 100 percent certain Garret was the one who had him in a chokehold. The scent had only lingered in the air. “I’m not sure.”
Before he could answer, Hardy piped in. “How did your old man track you down, anyway?”
“I don’t know.” And that was the truth. They’d been careful. No digital trail, no calls to anyone outside the property. “But he’s smart and ruthless. He escaped the Arizona Lycan prison and figured out a way to break into Lone Wolf’s offices. Nothing can stop him, once he puts his mind to it. The only reason I don’thave a bullet in my head is because of you guys.” He glanced at the members of the MC. “So, whoever it was that came back to help, thank you. I owe you one.
“What do you mean?” Hardy asked, puzzled.
“The one who jumped the guy with the gun.” Eli frowned. “That was one of you right?”
“We were all out the back,” Hardy replied. “By the time we got outside, the humans were already pouring out. We didn’t go back in through the hallway.”
“I was with Astoria,” Hawk added. “We came out through the kitchen.”
Before Eli could reply, Bo cleared his throat. “Isn’t that strange.”
“What is it,” Ransom asked.
Bo leaned forward. “So, none of our people were in that hallway and it wasn’t the girls. Could it have been a random bar patron? Doubt it. A human wouldn’t be able to overpower the Lycan holding Eli and then vanish into thin air.” He folded his hands together then rested his chin atop them. “So, then who pulled those men off you?”
Eli opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He’d been so focused on the scent, on the fact that Garret had been close enough to breathe, that he hadn’t followed the logic to its end. Someone in that hallway had intervened. Someone fast enough and strong enough to disarm a trained Lycan, and then disappeared before Eli could turn around.
“Bo’s right,” Ransom said. “We’re missing a piece.”
Before anyone could respond, the lodge’s front door opened. Cold mountain air swept through the lobby, and every head in the room turned.
Margaux Featherstone stood in the doorway, her eyes sweeping the room until they found Tabitha. For just a fraction of a second, her composure broke, but she quickly replaced hercool, unaffected mask. Crossing the room in four strides and with her charcoal coat billowing around her, she knelt in front of her daughter.
“You used your power.”
“I had to,” Tabitha rasped.
