Page 81 of Remington’s Mate

For a few seconds, he could feel nothing but a numb disbelief.

Then his owl said, Think.

Were they really gone?

His leopard said, Feel.

Remy closed his eyes and reached inside him.

He and Colt had always known what the other was feeling; they’d always known when the other was in trouble. And a lot of times, they even knew where the other one was when they were in trouble.

He couldn’t let himself be paralyzed by fear. He had to open his heart.

As soon as he did, he felt his bond with Colt, right there in the center of his chest. And a new bond—the one with Jaeda.

They were still alive. Trapped, maybe, but alive. And he was the only one who could find them.

Remy remembered the story of his dad tracing his mom through the spirit world by following their bond. Remy couldn’t see the fucking spirit world, but his bond to his brother was inside him. And so was his bond to Jaeda.

He could find them anytime, anywhere.

Remy got to his feet and headed for the ruined building. Let Brandon and the rest of the crew handle the bad guys. He had his own job to do, and he was the only one who could do it.

Chapter 32

Remy only encountered one guard on his way to the building. He didn’t even stop, just ran right at him and took him down with a throat punch. He took precious seconds to strip off the guy’s pants and put them on, so he wouldn’t be crawling through jagged rubble naked.

Behind him, he could hear shouts and gunfire. Go cavalry. He stuck the guard’s handgun in the back of his pants, just in case.

Then he hunted for a way inside. He had a feeling time was running out.

Coughing and choking, Jaeda pushed herself off the concrete floor. She had a few bruises from flying debris; blood trickled from a dozen cuts.

It was completely dark. She heard movement, and someone else coughing as well.

“Colt? Fernandez?”

“I’m here,” Colt said. “Fernandez is down, but he’s breathing. Let me see if I can get his flashlight.”

She heard him moving rubble, and then a light came on. “Three cheers for indestructible military-grade equipment.” He set the flashlight on the floor.

Jaeda guessed having some light was better than being in the dark, but the downside was that it showed how much fucking trouble they were in.

The doorway was completely blocked, with debris spilling into the room. Some of it had landed on Fernandez; his legs were partially covered. Colt was applying a ripped piece of cloth to a cut on his head.

She saw then why Colt wasn’t holding the flashlight as well—his left arm was hanging limply. She crawled over and ran her hands over it. Colt hissed through his teeth.

“It’s broken,” she said.

“No shit.”

“I have to set it before it starts to heal wrong.”

The upside of shifter healing was that it was crazy fast, compared to humans. The downside was that if the bones or tissues were badly damaged, they had to be stitched or put back in place quickly, or they’d heal out of place.

“How bad is Fernandez?” she asked. If he was really badly hurt, they might have to treat him first.

“The cut’s not too bad—you know how scalp wound bleed. Possibly a concussion. Don’t know about the legs yet. He seems stable, though.”