Page 153 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

Isensed something was wrong before we could even cross back over into our territory, and by the time we got to second ring patrol, I was certain of it.

The patrol wasn’t out. The scents of Archer, Jacob, and Danny were there, but they were faint. They hadn’t run this section of the ring in a while. Maybe an hour. Could be more.

Something’s wrong, Clay said through the pack bond, causing the others to slow, catching on to what my and Clay’s noses already had.

Where’s the patrol? Jared asked, as though one of us might have an answer. We didn’t.

Hurry, I growled through the bond. We have to get back now.

Clay and I led our small group back to camp.

Me just ahead of Clay, and Clay just ahead of Vivian and Jared with the others behind them.

It was a study in fucking patience to keep myself from taking off ahead of them all.

I could. My legs were ready, willing to push me faster, and I had to tamper them down.

Unable to leave anyone behind or without sufficient backup.

I hear them, Clay spoke in my mind and I realized I could hear them, too.

As we blew past the first ring and onto the edges of camp, I could hear the sounds of people talking.

There was no screaming. No growls or burning buildings.

But in my gut, I could feel that something wasn’t right.

There was a heaviness in the atmosphere, and it pressed down on me, filling me with dread and making my pulse flutter and spurt.

As we cleared the trees and burst back into camp, my hackles high and body on full alert, we found Layla standing amid a half-naked group of shifters near a slow burning fire in the pit.

As soon as her eyes locked on to me, she shoved through the others in her path to get to us. I shifted back, shivering despite the warmth in the early evening air at the loss of my fur.

Her eyes roved over my dirt and blood streaked skin for an instant before lifting back to my face as the others entered camp and shifted back, too, all of them coming to flank me.

“I’m so sorry,” Layla said, her chin quivering in a way that made my heart leap into my throat.

“What happened?” Jared demanded while Clay’s piercing gaze roamed over the rest of camp, searching for attackers. For something, anything amiss.

“They just didn’t come back,” she said in a watery voice, holding back tears with a faraway look in her eyes.

Vivian shouldered past me and grabbed onto Layla’s shoulders, giving her a little shake to get her to snap out of it. “Who?” she demanded. “Who didn’t come back?”

“The search party,” she said, finding her strength and shucking off Vivian’s hands as she lifted her chin and pushed her long dark hair back from her face.

“They were supposed to be back an hour ago, but they haven’t returned.

I sent a small scout party as far as the third ring, but they just got back. ”

One of what I presumed was the small scout party of four stepped up behind Allie. A guy named Dillon. “There was no sign of them,” he confirmed. But near the outer edge of the third ring near Glenwood we, uh, we think we picked up the scent of some foreign shifters.”

“Fuck,” Clay groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Who was it?”

Dillon filled us in on the names. There had been six of them.

We were down another six shifters.

My stomach turned sour, and I hunched as it twisted, seeing stars.

“Someone bring me Sam,” I hissed before spinning on my heel and taking off toward our cabin.

Distantly, I registered them calling after me, but I needed to get away. I needed…

Oh shit.

I forced myself not to hunch any more as I took the stairs two at a time and blew through the front door, making for the main floor bathroom at a near-sprint.

The instant I crossed the threshold, I kicked the door closed and fell to my knees, spewing bile into the toilet until there was nothing left.

Until the hot tears staining my eyes from retching turned to fat droplets of pure fury, fear, and frustration.

Devin motherfucking Wright. This was my fault after all. All of it was.

I should’ve known. I’d had too many years of peace.

Too many years of good things. Now it wouldn’t be only me who paid for my happiness, it would be my pack, too.

Just like Mom. Just like Dad. Just like Vivian and Layla.

Clay and Jared. No one close to me was safe from the havoc my life wreaked on others.

The door creaked as it opened, and I glanced up from the porcelain goddess to see Jared quietly pushing himself inside.

“You don’t want to see this,” I groaned, heat crawling up my neck as I closed the toilet lid and flushed, sagging against the vanity. “I just need a minute.”

He sat next to me, closing the door behind him and pulling me into his arms. My chest tightened at the immediate sense of comfort and fresh tears spilled onto my cheeks. “I’ve got you,” he said in a low whisper, tugging a towel down from the rod to wrap around my naked, shuddering body.

I clutched on to him, allowing myself just a moment to feel all the pent up emotions roiling within.

I’d hardly slept in weeks. And even though I was forcing down food on the regular and I knew my wolf was strong and swift, I felt empty inside.

Hollow and frail. Like a strong breeze might blow me away.

“What do we do?” I croaked, trying unsuccessfully to stop the deluge of tears as I allowed the warmth of his body to seep into my icy bones.

“We do what we always do,” Jared said in a soft, reassuring voice, squeezing me tighter. “We figure it out. One step at a time. Clay’s already gone to town—”

I stiffened.

“With a large amount of backup,” he added and some of the new tension eased.

“To pick up a burner phone. It’s supposed to rain overnight tonight and that’ll make it hard for anyone to find or track them in case Devin gets cocky enough to attack us on our own turf.

He’ll go with a crew to plant the phone beneath the bleachers like you said and come straight back. ”

There were still two days until Saturday. Forty-eight hours. Why did it feel more like a decade to have to wait.

As the fluttering behind my ribcage quieted, I was finally able to take a full breath and rid the dark edges from my vision and the dizziness from my head.

“You’re doing so amazing, you know that?” Jared said, surprising me.

No I fucking wasn’t.

I’d gotten, what? Ten wolf shifters captured. I’d killed an innocent witch. I’d gotten Sal’s butcher shop burned to the ground and Jared’s Jeep smashed almost beyond repair now.

Which reminded me, we still needed to get that towed back to the garage. Ugh.

“I don’t mean what you’re doing or what’s happened,” he said, pressing a soft kiss to the knot between my brows. “I mean in here.”

He tapped my forehead.

“You haven’t had any real panic attacks. I can feel your anxiety every day, but you keep pushing through. You keep putting on a brave face. You’ve come so far. I’m proud of you.”

Well, that’s just fucking rude. Now I want to cry again. “Why’d you have to go and say that?” I croaked. “Love you, too.”

I nuzzled back into him for a moment before remembering my last order to them before I gave in to my anxiety. Shit. We really didn’t have time for this. I straightened, coming out of Jared’s arms and letting the towel fall to pool around my waist.

“Where’s Sam? We need to find out what she knows. She might be able to tell us where Devin is keeping the others. We could get them back. We could—”

Jared’s amber eyes darkened, and he bowed his head, his hair shadowing his expression from view.

“Jare?”

“She’s gone, Allie. She must’ve figured it out. I don’t know how, but…”

“No.” I stood up, my knees weak but waking with a new flood of adrenaline. “No, she can’t be gone. She was our best chance of finding them. Where did she go? When? What direction?”

I wrenched open the door and stalked down the hall. “We can still catch her. We have to catch her.”

“She’s gone,” Jared called behind me, rushing to catch up, his footfalls echoing in the empty cabin. “Allie, wait.”

His hand closed around my elbow, jerking me to a stop. “Layla was keeping an eye on her shared cabin all day, but she managed to slip out the window during the commotion when they realized the search party hadn’t come back.”

A chill rattled down my spine. If that was true, then she’d been gone for hours already. We’d never catch up to her.

“She’s gone back to him, isn’t she?” I asked, though it was obvious that was exactly what she’d done.

And I was the idiot who let it happen.

I tipped my head back in a quiet roar of frustration, kicking the nearest object to me to get out the pent up rage that felt near bursting inside of me. “Dammit!” I shouted as the hall table smashed against the opposite wall, sending wooden legs and a glass bowl shattering in every direction.

“I should have listened to you. We should have chained her up and questioned her as soon as we found out what she was doing.”

Jared’s lips pressed into a thin line. He wasn’t disagreeing with me. Why should he? It was the truth. I let this happen.

“I’m going to kill her,” I growled. “I’m going to find her, and I’m going to fucking destroy her. Right after I tear Devin’s goddamned head off.”

“I know,” Jared said calmly. “I know you will. And we’ll help you do it.”

Less than fifteen minutes stood between now and noon. The last two days had been the hardest so far. Vivian was beside herself with worry and stress. The other pack members were on high alert. We only patrolled the first ring now, keeping the remaining wolves we had as close as we could.

We moved the meat from the pub and closed it temporarily.

The quarry had also been shut down and a human security service that cost us so much money I didn’t even want to look at our account balance was watching over both venues.

Not even Devin was stupid enough to risk exposure to mortals and bring the wrath of the Arcane Council down on him.