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15

T here was an army waiting for us at the airport when we landed in Washington the next afternoon.

Gabe had chartered a private plane for us to come back from Montana once the storm had lifted and the roads cleared. All of the faculty and half of the extra shifters he sent to patrol returned with us. The rest stayed with Remy and Rhodes in Montana.

Remy promised he would be back in Blackwater within forty-eight hours, but I was already feeling the separation. My wolf paced inside me, a caged animal with shot nerves.

I knew exactly how she felt.

The two hour flight had been hell to sit through. I couldn’t keep from fidgeting, anxiety growing with every minute that pulled me further away from Remy.

By the time the plane landed, I was a mess. Larkin actually moved to put a seat between us after I kicked her in the leg for the fifth time from crossing and uncrossing my legs. Katy was sitting across from me, but she hadn’t really spoken except when the plane was about to take off.

In a quiet, reserved, and very un-Katylike manner, she had apologized to the pack for her foolish actions before taking a window seat and staring out of it for the next few hours.

If leaving Remy was hell on me, I knew it was killing her to leave Maren.

But I couldn’t bring myself to try and cheer her up. When I looked at her, I saw the gun being pointed at Remy’s head. I saw the man shoot himself, blood spraying across the white snow. My stomach cramped thinking of all the potentially catastrophic what-ifs.

I touched the pendant around my neck as I got off the plane and headed down the stairs to the tarmac. The crescent moon and star symbol that represented the Holts and our pack was my anchor to Remy right now.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I wanted to shift. I knew that it was highly unlikely our mate bond would connect over hundreds of miles, but I needed to try.

A fleet of black SUVs waited for us several yards away with a veritable horde of men gathered around the vehicles. Gabe stood at the front of the group of men flanking him, black aviator shades hiding his eyes from the setting sunlight.

We moved towards him as a unit. When we were a few feet away, Katy dropped her backpack onto the tarmac and took off running, launching herself into her dad’s arms with a sob.

He caught her easily, hugging her tightly against him and whispering something in her ear that had her nodding. He set her down, and she moved back a few steps as we closed the remaining distance.

Surprisingly, Gabe stepped forward and pulled me into a hug. I hugged him back, tears threatening as an onslaught of emotions swept through me.

“Shh,” he murmured. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”

I stepped back from him and looked over to see Larkin was hugging her dad. He finished hugging her, but kept an arm around her shoulders to keep her close.

Gabe sighed softly as he looked at the pack. “Welcome home, everyone.”

The pack murmured back a subdued greeting.

Gabe gestured to the SUVs. “We’ll be taking all of you home. Once you’ve arrived, settle in. We’re working on having the school ready to accept you as students in a few days. Faculty has already been briefed, but we know you’ll all need a few days to adjust.”

He took a deep breath, and I could feel his eyes studying every single one of us behind his sunglasses.

“I know this has been a hard few days,” he said gently, reaching over and taking Katy’s hand in his. “I promise we’re working to get to the bottom of it. We’ve set up some new rules we’ll need you to follow. Your parents will discuss them with you when you get home.”

He jerked his head to the right and I noticed Michael, one of his betas and one of the first people to welcome me to the pack. Michael gave me a warm smile.

“Michael has your car assignments. All your luggage will be delivered to your homes once it’s been removed from the plane. Welcome home.”

I went to move towards the line forming in front of Michael, but Gabe reached out and snagged my wrist.

“You’re coming with us, Skye,” he told me. “I promised Remy and your mom I’d bring you home.”

I lifted my head to catch Larkin’s eyes. She smiled at me as she followed her father to a car.

“Thanks,” I told Gabe as I turned back to him.

He guided us to the first SUV, nodding to the three men waiting by it. Two got into the front seats, the third climbing into the last row of seating. I bit my lip when I saw the flash of a holstered gun at his side.

Katy moved and got into the last row of seating with him, leaving Gabe and I in the middle. As soon as the doors shut, the SUV took off out of the airport terminal.

I had my phone out before we cleared the gates.

SKYE: We landed. Everyone is safe. Your dad met us. I’m in a car with him and Katy.

I bit my lower lip and hesitated for a second.

SKYE: Stay safe. I love you.

I held my phone in my hands for a few minutes, waiting— praying —for a reply, but nothing came. Odds were he was up on the mountain with zero cell service.

Reluctantly I hit the button to put my phone in sleep mode and dropped it onto my lap. When I looked up and around, Gabe’s eyes were on me.

He reached across the empty seat between us and covered my hand with his. “Thank you. Remy and Katy both told us how you helped find her and take down those men. You saved both of their lives, Skye. That’s a debt I can’t repay.”

My brow furrowed. “You don’t owe me anything.” I glanced back at Katy, who was watching us with a wary expression.

“They’re family,” I told Gabe, turning back to him. “ My family.” Saving them wasn’t just an option for me. It was the only decision I would ever make.

He smiled widely at me, the grin a slightly weathered version of the ones Remy frequently tossed my way.

My hands fisted as my heart pulsed heavily in my chest. Damn, I missed him.

Gabe pointed a finger at me. “You’re still one of my favorite kids. Maybe my most favorite.”

It was an ongoing joke in the Holt family that Gabe frequently changed his favorite child depending on the day or what the kid did. Usually it was whichever child caused the least amount of trouble that day.

He and Mallory accepted me into their family as Remy’s mate with zero prompting. I wasn’t just Remy’s girlfriend or Katy’s friend, but they made me feel like family.

We were family.

I smiled at him announcing me the new favorite, but I couldn’t miss the way Katy’s breath caught behind us.

Judging by the way Gabe’s mouth tightened, he didn’t miss it either.

“I’m sorry,” Katy whispered, sniffling.

I turned, stunned to see her in tears behind us. She blinked once and they fell down her pale cheeks, shattering soundlessly on her pale skin.

The shifter next to her slid further to the side, clearly not sure what to do with an emotional, crying teenage girl. His eyes darted from her to her father until he finally settled for looking out the window, his body stiff and rigid.

Gabe reached a hand out and hooked it around the back of her neck, forcing her to meet his eyes. “Look at me, Katherine.”

Her brown eyes met his slowly, a ragged sob catching in her throat. “I’m so sorry, Dad. I messed up.”

“Yes, you did,” he replied, not unkindly. “And trust me, your mother and I have a nice, long conversation planned for this evening to discuss what happened. But for now, you’re safe. You’re all safe, and that’s what matters.”

“Maren isn’t safe.” She closed her eyes, breaking down and resting her head on the top of our row of seats.

Gabe shifted, pressing his lips to the top of her hair. “I promise we’re doing everything to find her, sweetheart. No one is forgetting Maren just because we closed the school.”

“But why ?” Katy half-demanded, half-begged. “Why are girls going missing? Don’t you know anything?”

“Nothing definitive,” Gabe replied softly, stroking her hair. His gaze caught mine, and I looked away.

Cassian had let a few details slip when he kidnapped me. Enough that we knew my old pack had something to do with the missing women, but it wasn’t much to go on. I had only told Gabe and Remy, and Gabe asked me to keep what I knew quiet while he and a few people he trusted looked into it.

“We have to find them. Dad, I can’t... I can’t stand this. They could be doing anything —”

“You can’t think like that,” he cut her off firmly. “You’ll go crazy imagining all the worst case scenarios, Kit-Kat. You need to stay positive and focused—that’s what Maren needs from you. That’s what we all need from you.”

With a sniffle, Katy lifted her head and gave him a nod. “Okay.”

Her eyes cut to me, and she snorted. “Are you sick of me apologizing yet?”

A small smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. “Are you sick of acting like a brat yet?”

She choked on a laugh. “Yeah. I think so.”

“Then we’re good,” I replied softly, reaching over to wipe the last tear from her cheek.

I jumped as my phone chimed in my lap. In my rush to turn the damn thing on, I almost dropped it.

I exhaled hard, relief making me lightheaded when I saw who it was from.

REMY: Good. Call you tonight. I love you.

“He’s okay?” Gabe asked.

I looked up, blinking back a sudden rush of tears that threatened and cleared my throat. “He’s good. He said he would call later.”

Gabe nodded thoughtfully. “He’ll be back soon.”

“Not soon enough,” I muttered, unable to catch the words before I said them.

Gabe chuckled beside me. “I know how you feel.”

If anyone would know, it would be Gabe. He and Mallory had probably experienced the same issues when they were separated for too long.

Everything in me felt pulled tight, like a rubber band about to snap under the strain. My nerves were frayed and raw, my wolf was frustrated, and I wasn’t much better. Even now I couldn’t stop picking at the hem of my shirt or bouncing my knee.

“Is it always going to be like this?”

His mouth flattened. “Honestly? To a degree, yes. But you and Remy... There’s something different about you two.”

That caught my attention, and clearly Katy’s too.

“What do you mean?” she asked, leaning forward between us.

Gabe looked at each of us. “You two bonded a lot faster, and younger, than most. There hasn’t been a couple your age that bonded in... a long time. I don’t even know how long. Plus the bond between you two is strong. Maybe the strongest I’ve seen in a long time.”

Katy looked at me. “You guys act a lot like my parents.”

“But Mal and I have been bonded for years. The wolf link Skye and Remy have? It’s like everything is on steroids with these two. It takes most bonded pairs years to be able to communicate verbally through that connection.”

“Years?” I repeated. The first night we bonded, that night in the woods, I heard Remy’s voice in my head as clear as could be.

Gabe nodded. “It usually starts slow; picking up on the other’s feelings or emotions. Like an impression. Then basic words. Sentences come later. It’s like a toddler learning to talk. It’s a process.”

“Whoa,” Katy murmured, shooting me a knowing stare. “You guys are geniuses.”

“Ha ha,” I deadpanned, rolling my eyes.

Gabe gave me a once over. “Even your healing is faster than most shifters. That fall you took last year should have killed you.”

My stomach dipped dangerously as I remembered how close I had come to dying.

“Something in you kept fighting.” Gabe shrugged. “Probably the same thing that kept Remy in wolf form by your side for weeks. It definitely helped you heal faster.”

“So, we’re not normal,” I said slowly. Because of course. Nothing in my life was ever normal.

“Normal is relative,” Gabe replied with a fleeting smile. “We don’t know that much about true bonded mates. They’re getting rarer and rarer as the population dwindles.”

Normal might be relative, but God, I could use some normal.