When we’re all on the same page, we follow after her scent, and the moment we’re out of sight, we shift.
In wolf form with our senses heightened, we move quickly and with no hesitation.
The forest swallows us up again, but this time there’s no calm in it. There’s no space to think for too long or to question where I stand with Naia. There’s only the desperate need to find her, and the agonizing pull of something going wrong.
I drop low as we reach a shallow valley where I catch a burst of her scent, and I follow the trail forward.
She came this way,I say, through our link, already pushing forward.
The others follow without question, and we spread slightly, covering more ground but staying close enough to move as one. The deeper we go, the stronger her scent gets, along with something else.
I stop abruptly, and Zeke nearly runs into me.What?
Here. I bow my head, smelling the disturbed earth. The loose dirt moves with my fanning breaths.
Multiple scents are overlapping here, and the fur along my flank stands on end immediately.
They found her.
Hunter’s eyes darken.Rogues?
Yeah.
Dominic scans the area.There are more of them this time.
My pulse thrums, and I hate what that means.Keep moving.
We push on, faster this time, following the trail as it cuts deeper into the woods. Branches snap underfoot and leaves scatter as we move, and every other scent fades into obscurity.
Everything in me narrows to one thing. I have to find her now, before anything happens to her.
When we hit a bigger clearing, a faint hum hits my senses, and I skid to a stop again. Catching that vaguely familiar energy, I recognize it at once.
Do you feel that?Hunter asks.
Yeah.
The magic signature isn’t like Naia’s. Instead of wild and unstable, this has the level of control of someone used to wielding it. Someone well practiced.
My stomach drops.
There are more magic users,Zeke mutters.
It’s worse than I thought.
The moment I draw closer in the grassy space, I feel the aftermath and the clash of scents left behind. First, I pick upon Naia’s panicked edge, then a handful of wolves and whoever controlled that magic.
My stomach twists into knots while I move forward, scanning the ground, the trees, the air…Anything I can.
The earth is broken and scuffed, painting a painful picture of the struggle that obviously happened, and it feels that much worse to see.
She fought,Dominic says quietly.
I can see that, I snap, feeling as it sours in my gut to think about.
Regardless of when it happened, I can still feel the lingering energies and the break where everything related to Naia drops off. It’s like her scent has been smothered.
They took her, I tell them, sure of it now.
