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Nayeli was late.

She wasn't ten-minutes-stuck-in-traffic-late. She was really late.

I told myself not to panic. This was Nayeli; she was probably buried in some fantasy book having lost track of time. She could lose hours in her head when she was fixated on something, and I loved that about her. But this? This felt wrong.

A pressure was building in me, and my wolf was pacing anxiously. I needed to find my mate. I knew she was at the library, so I grabbed my keys but paused when I reached the front porch. No. I wasn't going to take the truck.

I shifted the second my feet hit the dirt, bones snapping and reforming. My paws hit the dirt, and I ran full tilt, like hell itself was on my heels. I cut through parking lots and back roads until I was at the library, sniffing the air to catch any whiff of my mate.

I didn't find Nayeli, but I found her car with the door still open, her cell phone in the driver's seat. On the ground, there was a single, small smear of blood. The hairs on my back rose. Something was wrong, something was very wrong.

I caught a strange scent mixed with Nayeli's. A wolf from the Blacktide pack. I let out a vicious howl, but before I could run to Jayce's territory and tear him limb from limb, my human brain got control. I needed to find Nayeli, not kill Jayce.

I didn't have my phone, but I had Nayeli's, and there was only one man whom I trusted. Well, two, but I had a feeling Samson would be just as out of his mind with worry as I was.

I called Joe, talking the second the call connected. "Get Jayce. Meet me at the library. Now."

"Scott? What's going on?" Joe sounded like he had been asleep.

"Something happened to Nayeli. I found her car. Blood on the pavement. Just get Jayce."

"What do you mean something happened to Nayeli?" Joe said sharply. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know, but if you don't get here I'm going to rip someone's fucking throat out with my teeth!"

"Okay, okay. We're coming. Hold on."

He hung up, and I paced back and forth until I heard their cars pulling in, Joe's motorcycle followed by Jayce's SUV screeching across the pavement.

Jayce had seconds to tell me why his wolf was the only scent I could pick up near my missing wife's car before I attacked.

I didn't give a damn what sort of war I started.

I'd burn the Blacktide pack to the ground if I had to.

Jayce stalked out of his vehicle with a huge, hulking man behind him. His Beta, I assumed. Joe was there too, jogging to catch up before Jayce got in my face. "What the hell is going on?"

I pointed at the other man. "Tell me why his wolf was the only scent around my wife's car."

Jayce looked between me and Joe. "What are you talking about?"

"Her car is right here. I can smell it, Jayce. He was there."

"All Joe told me was that Nayeli was gone, and you needed me to meet you here. I came to help, not to be accused. My wolves wouldn't lay a hand on her."

I snarled. "Well, one did. I can smell it on the pavement. Blood and wolf." I glared at him. "Unless you're telling me one of your wolves is missing too?"

Jayce walked to Nayeli's car and inhaled deeply, frowning. He looked to his Beta, who sniffed and nodded. The Alpha looked troubled. "It's one of my younger wolves. His name is Aaron. Nayeli could wreck him with one hand tied behind her back, I think. It's absurd to think he would hurt her."

I wasn't convinced, but Joe stepped up before I could lose my cool. "Enough. The longer you two have this pissing contest, the longer she's missing. We'll spread out and follow the scents. Let's go."

We fanned out into the woods behind the library, me ahead of the others, nose to the air. The trees were dense, shadows thick between them, and it was eerily quiet. No crickets, no cicadas. Just the sound of the twigs beneath our feet.

Then I smelled it. Blood, fresh, but not my mate's.

"Over here!"

Jayce, his Beta, and Joe jogged over to where I stood, crouched beside an old pine. The ground looked like it had been gouged and dug up, and there, covered in the loose soil, was an unconscious wolf, blood dripping from his nose.

I knew who it was instantly. "Aaron," Jayce growled. The Beta knelt and checked the other wolf for injuries. He found a nasty cut on the man's head, but nothing else.

Aaron groaned when Jayce shook him awake, and there was a profound sense of relief on his face when he saw his leader. "Alpha..."

I didn't have time for that shit. "Talk," I snapped, kneeling down next to Jayce, "Where is she?"

The Beta looked at me like he just noticed me, and then glanced at his Alpha again. "She...she's dangerous."

Joe scoffed, and I snarled. Jayce put a hand on his wolf’s shoulder. "What did you see, Aaron?"

"She was acting strange." He sat up and touched his head gingerly. "Twitchy. When she got to her car, I thought she was having a seizure, but when I touched her—" he shuddered, terrified, "Something burst out of her and knocked me out. It dragged me into the woods, and that's all I remember."

I snarled again, and Jayce looked at me. "You don't believe him?"

"No. It doesn't tell me shit. Where is my wife!?"

"Scott," Joe rumbled. "I think the kid is telling the truth. We're all in the dark here."

"I think she went deeper into the woods," Aaron coughed. "Heading east."

East. East. What the hell was east of here? I was searching my brain when Jayce leaned closer to Aaron and stiffened.

"Scott, can you smell that on him? It's like ozone and something else I can't place..."

I leaned in and inhaled deeply. I stilled. "Star anise."

Aaron was confused. "What?"

Jayce looked at me sharply. "You're sure?"

"I know what the hell star anise smells like. That's the scent of my wife's magic."

"Shit," Joe murmured. "I thought you two figured out that...thing between you already?"

"We did," I said, standing. I finally realized what was east, and my blood ran cold. Not out of fear, but because of what that place could do to my wife. "But something tells me it's not over. Come on. We've got to get to Saltfang territory."