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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

logan

F lynn caught up to me as I paced on the front porch, tucking his cell phone into the pocket of pants Olivia must have given him. Every alpha wore clothes different than they’d arrived in or, in Torbin’s case, none.

My text to Sheila hadn’t yet been answered yet, and not knowing what had happened to Emma while we had been under attack troubled me. I stopped at the top of the steps, and Flynn halted also. Olivia’s head swiveled toward us, and she left the battlefield, hurrying our way.

“It was pretty effing ballsy of Acheron to attack us here,” Flynn said, “as you’re giving us news of the emergence.”

“Sensible, though, if you intend to conquer the packs,” I answered, curious what exactly he’d delayed long enough to discuss.

Flynn’s gaze narrowed, and he reeked of suspicion. “ How would he have known? How could he have known?”

I blinked. “What are you implying?”

“That someone tipped him off, else how would he have known? You have a spy in your pack…”

I growled then, flustered by the veiled accusation. “Spies could easily live between our territories, prowling unseen and unscented. You know we cannot trace their smell. Acheron has taught them masking spells. It would have been easy to learn when the alphas of all the clans are gathering.”

He didn’t respond.

Another growl rumbled in my throat. “How else do you explain the disappearing shifters? There must be rogue packs or random sorcerers roving between us.”

His usual grin didn’t reappear. Instead, he nodded. “Perhaps you’re right, or perhaps it’s you who caused all this.”

I took a deep breath and moved to lunge at him.

But Olivia’s hand landed in the crook of my arm. “Logan,” she said, “all the alphas have gone back to their domains, and Flynn is the only one left. I’m sure he’d like to return home and check on things.”

Flynn glanced from Olivia to me, his mouth quirking as though he knew Olivia had been the only reason we weren’t fighting it out right now. “In fact, we’ve had some interesting developments at the den. Have a good day, Logan.” He turned slightly. “Olivia.”

“Goodbye, Flynn,” she said. “Don’t die or anything. ”

He chuckled, climbed into his car, and left without another word.

“Asshole,” I muttered. “He had no right to?—”

“You know the fox clan is distrustful of anybody and everybody. It’s in their nature. Confronting you was the only way Flynn had to gauge your reaction to his suspicion.”

“It’s hard to believe Jasper’s his brother,” I said, dragging my phone out and checking again for a response to my text to Sheila.

Nothing. Dammit.

We made our way back into my study to decide what to do next.

Olivia settled in the chair across from my desk. “Oh, Jasper is as bad as Flynn. Jasper just knows better than to confront you about anything or anyone. You think it wasn’t suspicion that had him slinking into the dining hall to meet Emma before you threw him out on his ass?”

I grunted. “He had something else in mind for Emma.” An image of him making Emma laugh tore through me followed closely by an image of me ripping him limb from limb. He’d gotten off easy when I had tossed him in the driveway. “He chases enough wolf tail around here.”

She grinned. “And he takes the opportunity to ask about what’s going on, same as he does in every other clan. Like I said, he’s wary too. He just goes about getting information in a completely different way than Flynn did with you. ”

I didn’t like the train of conversation, so I asked, “How’s Rachel?”

“She’s going to be fine. She’ll have a follow-up with our healer this evening. In the meantime, she’s hissy and wants to wash everything she eats, thanks to the residual raccoon magic. Right now, she’s in her bed, and Phil’s sitting with her.”

Easy-going Rachel wasn’t one to fight with anybody. She liked sex, and she welcomed Jasper whenever he came around. She’d made a pass at me often enough, and the thought of her being difficult amused me.

A shout outside reminded me that the members of Six-Mile searched the grounds for any remains of the sorcerers.

Nothing but burned bits of grass and leaves marked where they had been.

If they hadn’t died by our hands, they would have in the burning.

Had any of them known today would be their last day?

Acheron was vicious and cruel, and he’d been our enemy for centuries.

The lore surrounding him was extensive, but he was named after a river in Greece.

Supposedly, his mother had him in the river and dragged herself up onto the bank but not before Acheron had drowned.

Then she’d made a deal with the keeper of the underworld.

In exchange for her son’s life, she would make sure he learned dark magic.

That’s what I believed to be true. Not everyone chose that story.

However, I’d only ever seen the sorcerer at a distance. He preferred to work from the shadows and to send the unsuspecting to do his dirty work. He never fought honorably.

My phone chimed.

Sheila: She’s not answering.

Me: She’s not answering or she can’t?

Sheila: It shows the message’s been read, but she hasn’t responded.

My groan brought Olivia out of the chair across from me and to her feet. Her hands clenched. “What is it?”

“Emma isn’t responding to Sheila, and she’s not sure why.”

“You should have gotten her number when she was here.”

“Cell phones weren’t big on my mind,” I grumbled.

“No, it’s obvious that there’s not much else on your mind except Emma when she’s within a hundred yards. If you had her number, then you could know if she’s just pissed at you or if she’s in trouble.”

“Pissed at me?”

“She probably feels like you’re checking up on her,” Olivia said. “She’s not into being controlled, Logan. She’s going to have to buy in to the idea of the prophecy and everything else.

Emma was a prickly, difficult woman. Didn’t she understand I was trying to keep her safe? She should just let me keep her safe .

“What do you want me to do about it? Any of it?” I asked.

“I’m not foolish enough to think there’s anything you can do. Have you given any thought to explaining you’d like to bed her? Might be better for the pack if you satisfied your curiosity and got on with her training.”

“I’m more interested in convincing her she needs to stay here.

” My chair creaked as I stood, unconvinced having sex with her would cleanse her from my to-do list. “I’m not going to sit here making small talk while I’m concerned about her.

I’m headed into Willow Creek to check on Emma.

If everything’s okay with her, how do you feel about making your supply run tonight? ”

Her eyes widened, but she frowned. “A couple of the stores are open twenty-four hours, so it would probably work.”

“Pull the truck around so we can head into town. I don’t want to others to know what we’re doing, so tell them we’re making a site visit.”

“Strange time for a site visit,” Olivia countered. “It’ll be dark out by the time we get to Willow Creek.”

“Then tell them we’re making a site visit to check on the shifters in our pack. Some of them stay in town during the week, and after our attack, we should check on them.”

She nodded, keeping her expression guarded as she spoke softly. “We should check on them. That’ll make more sense to the others.”

The admission sledged me in the gut. Of course, we should check on the members of our pack—our family— in town. As much as Emma was foremost in my mind, we’d been invaded, and my responsibility was to my people.

M y cell rang while I was seated in the passenger seat.

Olivia glanced at me as though I’d done something unforgivable. “Who the hell is that?”

“Phil,” I answered, surprised to see his number. Maybe something had happened to Rachel. I accepted the call and put the phone to my ear. “Yeah?”

“She’s gone,” he gasped.

“Who’s gone?”

“Rachel,” he said. “She got a crazy look in her eye and busted out of here, saying something about Acheron. We can’t find her.”

Shit. Shit. What had that mage asshole done to her?

To Phil, I said, “Keep looking, and we’ll back as soon as we can.”

After I ended the call, Olivia asked, “What is it?”

“Dammit! Acheron fucked with Rachel’s head, and she’s left,” I growled, “so he could finish the job, probably.” Tension snapped through me, my hands clenched, and my stomach twisted.

Olivia pulled onto the shoulder. “What do you want to do?”

I didn’t have an answer.

As the alpha, I had a responsibility to care for my pack, and Rachel was a member of my pack. Six-Mile had been my duty for a long time, but saving the multimorph was the way to take care of them in the long run.

My skin flushed, and my fists pumped the dashboard. “Fuck!”

Rachel needed to be found, but I needed to see Emma now!

As though she heard me, Olivia mashed down on the accelerator, and the truck launched forward. Neither of us spoke.

In silence, we pulled to a stop at Willow Creek Veterinary Clinic.

The sunset had come and gone, and the neon sign in the parking lot flickered Specializing in all animals.

Emma could strap that sign to her ass, and it would be just as true as it had been for the years she’d been in business. Specializing in all animals…

Nobody was there. No cars were parked in front, but when I hopped out, I smelled them.

A band of shifters had come… and… Marcus.

Marcus had been here. Fuck. Jasper had been here too.

Death and shifter magic danced in the air, and I sprinted around the building.

The wrought-iron gate wasn’t closed. Something bad had happened here.

The smells were only a couple of hours old.