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I pulled back and took Dylan’s face in my hands. His skin was pallid, but his cheeks were flushed from the flight. There was bruising on his forearms, and smear of blood across his chin.What the hell happened?“Breathe with me.” I inhaled deeply through my nose and exhaled out my mouth. Dylan followed the rhythm of my breaths until he stopped hyperventilating.

“There was a truck,” Dylan said. “A big truck, and it ran me and Mom’s car off the road. We hit a tree, and we were okay, but then…then—” He started crying again and roughly wiped the tears from his eyes like he was angry they were falling. “There were these men, and they got out of the truck and they dragged me and Mom out, and then Uncle Sean was there.”

My heart froze in my chest.

“Uncle Sean wanted to take me with him. He said—he said it was because I’m s’posed to be the next alpha. Or something. I don’t know. It was scary. Mom beat up one of the guys, and I bit the other one, and she tackled Sean, and then she told me to fly here and find you.”

“Your mom beat up Sean’s guys?”

“Uh-huh,” Dylan said. “She wanted to make sure I got away. That I could come find you.”

Jesus. I’d known Harley was tough, but that was something else. I pulled Dylan into my arms and hugged him hard. “Your mom’s gonna be okay, Dylan.”

“We’ve gotta save her,” Dylan said in a small, desperate voice. “We’ve got to find her. Uncle Sean was scary. I’m scared, Dad!”

I pulled back and squeezed his shoulders. Anger and fear burned inside of me, making my dragon shiver with energy. My heart was trying to tear out of my chest. I wanted to take the skies immediately and roar loud enough to make the mountains shake.

That’s what Sean would expect.

I had to keep my head on. Stay calm. Move with precision.Find her.

Find her, before Sean did something reckless.

“Did anyone follow you?” I asked Dylan.

He shook his head. “One of the guys was a dragon. He tried to follow me. But he was really big and slow, so I kind of went down into the trees”—he swooped his hand down and zig-zagged it in demonstration—“and I was able to lose him.”

I pulled him into my arms again, overwhelmed with pride. “Good boy,” I said. “Smart as hell. You take after your mom.”

“Now what? What do we do?”

I stood up. Hawk and Striker were standing a few paces away, faces cold with anger that mirrored my own.

“We find Sean,” I said. “And we find Harley.” I squeezed Dylan’s shoulder, then pushed him toward Hawk. “Take him to your place. Feed him. Striker and I will go to the accident site.”

Hawk nodded. “Ace, do you think…?”

He couldn’t say it. I couldn’t say it, either.

How far would Sean go?

What would he do to Harley?

What would he do to hurtme?

I couldn’t wait any longer. I couldn’t continue hoping or praying that he’d come to his senses and become the brother I knew as a child.

This time, he’d gone too far.

This time, I’d have to kill him myself.

“I don’t know,” I answered. “But I’m going to fix this. No matter what it takes.” I met Dylan’s eyes. “We’re going to find your mom. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Dylan nodded. His eyes were flicked with gold, and he was exhausted, but he trusted me.

I walked toward the edge of the lake with Striker at my side. My dragon was ready to take over, to take to the skies, when my phone suddenly began to ring.

I ripped the device from my pocket. Harley’s name was on the lock screen. “Harley!” I said as I answered. “Harley, are you all right?”