The males tighten their hold, fingers digging into my flesh. One yanks my head back by my hair, exposing my throat. The vulnerable position sends panic coursing through me. Too similar to the position they’d forced Sophie into before crushing her windpipe.
Sophie. Had any of it been true?
One of the males pulls out a syringe filled with clear liquid, and I go feral. I kick, bite, scream, but there are just too many of them. Then, I feel a prick on my skin.
“Don’t worry,” Stuart says, “We’ll take good care of you.”
“What did you—” My tongue feels thick, words slurring as the world tilts sideways.
Stuart’s face swims above me, his features blurring. “Just something to make the journey easier.”
My knees buckle. My hand goes to my pocket, fingers closing around Charly and Rocky one last time. As the darkness rushes up to meet me, I pull them out and let them fall into the grass.
Then everything goes black.
39
Archer
The cabin door slams open, and Lily stands there, chest heaving, face drained of colour.
I’m on my feet in an instant. Elias drops his book, and Silas goes rigid on the couch. Darius, who’s been standing at the kitchen counter staring at nothing for days, goes to her immediately.
“Blue is gone,” Lily gasps. “I overheard Pam talking to Maren. She said Blue left with some alpha from the pack she ran away from. Over an hour ago.”
The information lands, and my wolf surges forward, clawing at my insides, demanding I punch through the nearest wall and run south until I find her. But I’ve spent ten years being the one who holds it together when everything goes to shit, and that muscle kicks in even when the rest of me is screaming.
Elias is already off the couch and heading for the door. “Which direction? How long ago exactly? Who was—”
“Stop. We need to know what happened before we go charging into the woods blind.”
“Fuck that. She’s been gone for an hour—”
“And if we run after her with no information, we’re useless to her. Sit down, Elias.”
He doesn’t sit. His eyes are wild, pupils blown wide with fear. His scent has gone dark, turned bitter and sharp.
Silas hasn’t moved from the couch, but his hands are gripping the armrest hard enough that I hear the wood splintering beneath his fingers. His jaw is locked tight, eyes black, and I can see the shift rippling under his skin. He’s holding it back by a thread.
And Darius, standing beside Lily, his face blank—not angry, not panicked. Blank. Like someone reached inside him and turned everything off. His scent is flat and dead. I’ve never seen him like this. Not even the night of the coup.
“Lily,” I growl. “Where is Pam?”
“Her cottage.”
“Stay here, Elias. I mean it. If you go near Pam right now, someone’s going to do something we can’t undo. Let me and Darius handle it.”
Elias opens his mouth to argue, and I cut him off with a look that I hope communicates exactly how much I am not fucking around right now. He shuts his mouth.
Blue is gone. Every second I spend here is a second she’s getting farther away, and I hate this. I hate being the one who has to be smart when everything in me wants to be fast.
Pam opens her cottage door before I knock. She’s been expecting this. Her arms are crossed over her chest. Her chin is up.
She doesn’t smell like guilt. She smells like satisfaction.
“You know why we’re here,” I say.
“I assume it’s about Blue.” Her voice is steady. Not remorseful. She looks me in the eye and doesn’t flinch, and I realize with a sick lurch that this isn’t a female who made a stupid mistake.