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“When’s the last time you went on a run?” I asked.

Cole blinked. “Not since that day I acted like a douche.”

“Go,” I said, waving to the back of the house that faced the forest.

“No. I don’t want to leave you here by yourself.”

“Zayde’s outside, I’ll be safe. You need to let off some steam. I promise, I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, and I could almost see his wolf in his eyes, desperate to get out and run around.

“I’m sure.”

For a few seconds, he looked like he was going to argue, but his inner need won out, and he turned toward the back door.

“I’ll only be gone thirty minutes,” he called over his shoulder. “I promise.”

“See you soon,” I called, and a moment later, the back door shut behind him.

Truly alone in the house, I tried to keep my mind off Ashton. I hadn’t swept or dusted since he’d been taken, so I busied myself with that. I also hadn’t emptied the dishwasher from the last load I’d run. I spent the next twenty minutes doing little chores around the house until my phone buzzed.

Zayde: Incoming. They’re cool, though. All good.

I frowned down at the text until I heard a knock on the door. Taking Zayde’s message to heart, I opened the door and found a woman roughly my own age with a boy I recognized.

“Braylen?” I said, staring at him.

“Hello, there,” the woman said. She held a large container under her arm. “I’m Lily, Braylen’s mom.”

“Hey, Ms. Carlisle,” Braylen said, his eyes downcast.

“Oh, uh, come in. Come in,” I said, stepping back.

Stepping inside, Braylen kept glancing at me, and I thought I could see him becoming more and more uncomfortable with every second.

“We stopped by yesterday, but no one was home,” Lily said, holding out the covered dish. “It’s baked ziti. You can reheat it. Three hundred for thirty to forty minutes.”

Taking the dish, I smiled politely. “Thank you. What’s this for?”

She blushed. “It’s the South. We bring food when things are bad.” Her smile faltered. “I’m very sorry about your son being taken.”

I’d forgotten that Braylen’s family were part of the pack. They’d probably been at the meeting where Cole had announced that Ash was kidnapped. Suddenly, the look on Braylen’s face made more sense.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Carlisle,” he said, and I could hear the misery in his voice.

“We…we shouldn’t have let him go with that guy.

” He stared at me with pleading eyes, and for a moment, he was no longer a teenager but a small boy asking for forgiveness.

“If we’d known, we wouldn’t have let him go. We thought he knew the guy and?—”

“Braylen,” I said gently, cutting off his rambling. “You couldn’t have known. I don’t blame you. If you’d tried to interfere, then maybe more people would be dead. It’s truly okay.”

He licked his lips nervously but nodded. “All right. Yeah. Okay.”

Lily gave me a grateful smile and patted his arm. “He wanted to apologize in person, even when I told him it probably wasn’t necessary.”

“I appreciate it, Braylen,” I said, trying to catch his eye, but he was still staring down at his feet.

“I brought the food because I know if I was in your situation, the last thing I’d be doing would be taking care of myself. Not having to cook a meal would be one less thing to worry about,” Lily said.

“What’s all this?”

I turned as Cole came in through the back door, a faint sheen of sweat on his head.

“Oh,” Lily said, chirping the word in a surprised gasp. “Alpha Garrett, we just?—”

“Call me Cole,” he said, smiling more broadly as he closed the door behind him. He nodded to the boy. “Braylen. Good to see you again.”

“Yeah,” Braylen said. “Uh, you too.”

“Well,” Lily said, trying to get her bearings again after the surprising arrival of their soon-to-be pack alpha. “We stopped by to bring Avery some food and give her our sympathies.”

“I think I can speak for Avery and myself when I say thank you for your concern.” He looked at the container in my hand. “You didn’t need to do all that, though.”

“It was the least we could do,” Lily said.

“After everything you’ve done for us and what you’ve gone through.

” She looked from Cole back to me. “A lot of the pack moms feel for you. A bunch of us have wanted to stop by and bring you some food. You don’t know how much what happened to you has touched all of us.

I can’t imagine how stressed you must be. ”

It was touching. I’d never expected this type of response.

The whole situation had an insular quality to it, like Cole and I were going through this chaos alone.

Even with the few friends we had helping us, I’d begun to feel like the whole world was against us.

Now, I saw that wasn’t true. Knowing that the entire pack was with us, that we had their emotional support, gave me a much-needed sense of comfort.

“That means a lot,” I said, choking back the emotion that threatened to spill over.

“Anytime you need anything, let me know,” Lily said, and we quickly exchanged numbers. “We’ll let you guys be,” she said, nudging Braylen toward the door. “I’m sure you’re both mentally exhausted.”

“Thank you again,” I said, lifting the casserole dish. “This will be great for lunch or dinner.”

Braylen gave me another awkward smile, then glanced at Cole. “Uh, I told Avery, but I wanted to tell you, too. I’m really sorry about what happened. I wish I’d done more to help.”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Cole said. “Don’t worry about any of that, okay?” Cole winked at him.

Braylen smiled, and it was genuine this time. “Yeah.”

I choked up as I watched them walk out. Seeing a mother with her son only made me more desperate to have Ash back again.

Cole touched my arm, drawing my attention away from my thoughts of my son. “Trent called me. He wants me to discuss some of the stuff Scotty told us about. You want to head out and meet up with him?”

The last thing I wanted to do was be cooped up in a house any longer. I’d literally done nothing but hide away inside four walls since Ashton was taken.

“Actually, I want to go to the store. We need some stuff at your house, and I’d also like to stock the pantry and freezer here with stuff for when Ashton gets home.” And he would be home soon, dammit .

Cole glanced outside. “Sure, that sounds like a good way to get your mind off things. I’m sure Zayde can take you. He needs to stay nearby anyway in case Kyle calls.”

I let out a little sigh of relief. Part of me had been worried Cole would be too scared to let me out of his sight. Apparently, Langston and his friends had impressed Cole enough that he trusted them with my life now.

“Anything special you’d like?” I asked, grabbing my purse.

He smirked. “I would never turn down mint chocolate chip ice cream.”

Chuckling, I jammed my fist onto my hip. “You freaking shifters. You can eat like ten-year-old boys and still have six-pack abs. How on earth is that fair?”

Cole shrugged. “Sorry. Not my call.”

“Whatever. Okay, Mint chocolate chip. Got it.”

Cole left a few minutes later, and I got into the car with Zayde. He tucked his laptop away and started the car.

“Where to?” Zayde asked. “I saw your little hamlet has a bakery and a butcher shop. It’s like I was transported back to the 1950s down here.”

“Just the grocery store,” I said.

A t the store, Zayde walked along beside me, perusing the shelves as I grabbed items.

“Get yourself a snack or something,” I said. “My treat.”

He grinned at me, winking and pointing a finger. “I always knew I liked you for a reason.”

He hurried away, returning a few seconds later with a big tub of hummus, a sleeve of fancy crackers, and a box of oatmeal cream pies. I eyed the box of pies and wrinkled my nose.

“What? You don’t like those?” he asked.

“No, it’s not that. I love the things. It’s something I said to Cole right before he left. How often do you work out, Zayde?”

“Not as much as I should. Maybe once or twice a week,” he said with a look of nonchalance.

I glanced at his lean, muscular arms and torso and rolled my eyes. “Unbelievable.”

My phone buzzed. Thinking it was Cole, I slipped it out and checked the screen. Bile crept up my throat.

“It’s him,” I croaked.

“Crap, hang on,” Zayde said, tossing his items in the cart and stripping his backpack off.

By the fourth ring, he’d already shoved the cable into the phone and was on his knees, opening his laptop. I answered the call as he shoved the other end of the cord into his computer.

I wanted to swallow, but my mouth was too dry. With a hoarse voice, I said, “This is Avery.”

“Hello, my dear. How are we today?” Kyle’s oily voice crooned.

Choking back my disgust, I remembered the plan and did my best to play along.

“Honestly, Kyle? I’ve been better.”

“What’s the matter, sweetheart? Anything I can do to help?”

The concern in his voice did nothing to quell my unease.

“Cole’s been a little, uh, difficult. That’s all,” I said.

Zayde gave me a thumbs-up.

“Finally realizing what a loser he is, huh?” Kyle said. “I knew that would happen sooner or later. Speaking of Cole, do you know anything about the little field trip he and his friends took to North Crest yesterday?”

“A field trip?” I asked, inflecting my voice with confusion. “No. He went there? I—” I thought of something good to lay it on thick and went with it “—I told him not to do that. I said you were too strong and dangerous to go against.”

Kyle breathed deeply on the other end of the line before speaking again. “Ah, my girl, you do understand me, don’t you. God, I can’t wait to show you how good I can be to you.”

Ignoring that disgusting remark, I went on.

“It’s not surprising, really. The last few days, he keeps making these remarks about how it’s my fault that Ashton got taken.

He’s being a real asshole. He’s got it in his head that you’re hurting him, but I know you’d never do that.

Not in a million years.” My heart was pounding in my ears, my palms slick with sweat.

“And that’s the truth,” Kyle said eagerly. “Not one hair has been hurt on his head. He’s being treated like a prince. Which he should be, since his mother is my queen.”

Zayde had some sort of transcription software showing Kyle’s end of the conversation scrolling across the bottom of his screen while he worked in a separate window. When that popped up, he looked up at me, lips pursed in a grimace, and he mouthed what the fuck?

“I’ve felt like a prisoner with Cole. It’s getting bad. I’m starting to get scared of him,” I said, trying to draw out the conversation so Zayde could do what he needed.

“We need to get you out of there,” Kyle said in a low, breathy voice.

My gorge rose at the back of my throat as I imagined him jerking off while talking to me.

I swallowed, choking the bile down. “How would you do that? Cole’s got people watching me twenty-four-seven.”

“Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head about that.

After the stunt he pulled yesterday, I’ll have him out of the way soon enough.

Then, I’ll bring you here. I’ll make you the happiest woman alive.

Vacations, jewelry, clothes, cars, mind-blowing sex—whatever your heart desires.

We need to get that asshole out of the way first.”

Hearing him talk about hurting Cole made my knees go weak with fear. My stomach grew watery. He wasn’t lying or bragging now. No, he meant it, and that terrified me.

“Uh, could I… could I speak to Ashton? I haven’t heard his voice in a long time. I miss him, and?—”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kyle said. “It sounds like you’ve made a decision on my offer, but we need to deal with Cole first. Soon. Soon, we’ll all be together. One happy family.”

Before I could say more, Kyle ended the call. Tears spilled down my cheeks, and I felt dirty. I needed to shower, to somehow wash my brain of the things Kyle had said, the things I’d said. Before I could stop myself, I slid to the floor next to Zayde.

A woman pushed her cart by us. “Uh, are you two all right?”

I nodded and wiped my eyes. “Yeah. Fine. Thanks.”

“Okay, then.” She moved along but kept glancing back at us.

“Tell me you got what you needed,” I said.

Zayde smiled. “I managed to access the IP address on his phone. It’s encrypted, but give me a few hours, and I’ll be in it in no time.

” He tapped my phone. “I went ahead and installed some software to your phone to prevent Kyle or his little hacker bitch from tracing your phone. It’s what I was busy with all night.

It should be ironclad. If I had to guess, she was on the line with him, trying to find your location.

She’ll be pissed,” he added, looking smug. “Serves her right.”

“Good,” I said. “I need to let Cole know what happened.”

Zayde helped me back to my feet. “You did damn good right there, girl. I’m proud of you. You really missed your calling. Writing’s great, but you shoulda been an actress.”

Zayde pushed the cart to the registers and paid while I texted Cole. Hopefully, with Zayde gaining access to Kyle’s phone, all this was one step closer to being over.