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CHAPTER THREE

H e’d vanished into thin air.

My head spun. How was that possible? There had been no rustle of retreating footsteps, no blur of movement, nor even a flicker of shadow to prove he’d been there at all.

Just... emptiness.

The otherworldly floral scent had already begun to disperse.

Almost like I’d imagined it.

My heart thudded against my ribs, and I took a step, damn near tripping over Ryker’s huge wolfish form. He leaned forward, steadying me, and growled, deep and threatening.

I scanned the area, desperate to find some trace. A bent twig. A footprint. Anything.

But the earth was undisturbed, and not even the mulch had shifted.

What the hell? My pulse roared in my ears as if my sanity was being tested. None of this made sense. Even with the witches, I was able to see a trace of them.

As soon as my feet steadied, Ryker charged in the direction I’d been staring at. His claws dug into the mulch as he sniffed, searching for the enemy.

I wanted to tell him that the man was gone, but I couldn’t. Not with us both in wolf form. I swallowed hard at the possibility that I could actually be losing my mind.

Ryker’s fur stood on end as he continued trying to pick up the scent of what had bothered me so much. But he walked in circles, trying to locate it. His head tilted as he glanced at me, the gold in his eyes warming like he was pack linking with the others.

Their footsteps were now upon us, and they stormed into the small opening. Gage, Kendric, and Xander each held a gun while Briar ran directly to me.

“Ember, what’s going on?” she asked, her voice full of concern and tenderness. She touched my shoulder lightly.

I… I blinked a few times, still trying to come to terms with what I’d seen. I saw someone strange, and then he just vanished, I linked. I felt like I was twelve again, waking from a nightmare and not sure what was real. But this hadn’t been a dream. My magic still buzzed beneath my skin, sharp and unsettled.

Briar told the others what I’d said, and I wanted to avert my gaze downward. However, I couldn’t be seen as weaker than I already seemed to be.

“Vanished how?” Kendric narrowed his eyes. “Like shadows again? Why would the vampires need to continue to cloak themselves?”

I don’t think it was the shadows. I shook my head, trying like hell to get my nervous energy out. He didn’t smell like a vampire or a wolf shifter, and his presence didn’t feel like theirs. He was… different in every way, even in appearance.

Once again, Briar recited my words.

Gage lowered his weapon but didn’t holster it, his voice rough. “Different how? Because right now, you aren’t making much sense.”

My warm magic cooled like the strange man’s absence allowed it to calm once again, so I shook, trying to rid myself of the cold creeping into my bones. I know this is weird, but his skin was more gold than brown or tan, and he had pointy ears. It was as if he materialized and vanished into thin air.

As Briar informed everyone, Ryker huffed and looked toward the woods again. He then glanced back at me, and I could see the concern in his eyes.

I swear I’m not losing it. But even the words in my mind came out a little too sharp and a little too desperate, revealing my own fear.

Briar petted my head and linked, We know you’re not. But we’re all raw and vulnerable right now. Then she began talking out loud to the other four. “The vampires were close and scared, so maybe they have their witch messing with you right now like a lingering aftereffect to sow doubt among everyone here.”

Some of the weight on my shoulders lifted. That explanation made sense, which meant that the vampires wanted me and the others to believe I was going crazy. You think she cast a spell on me?

She nodded. Maybe.

“You got a point,” Kendric muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “If this is the same kind of magic Queen Ambrosia’s witch used, maybe she can also mess with our minds.”

Ryker bared his teeth and paced a few feet in front of me, muscles so tight they quivered beneath his thick black coat.

I ached to press against his side, but I wasn’t sure if he’d want me to, considering the way he was reacting to my potentially manipulated mind. He probably saw me as weak.

Hell, maybe I was. The most likely solution was that my mind was manipulable, which wasn’t a good attribute for an alpha.

Ryker stopped pacing and looked at me. Something in his expression sent a spike of guilt and something uglier through my chest.

Doubt.

Of me. Of us. Or maybe even of my sanity at this point.

He moved closer, and for one breathless second, I thought he might nudge me or offer some kind of comfort. Instead, he turned and jerked his head in the direction we’d come from.

Right. Message received. He had to hate how much time we’d wasted when there were injured wolves that needed protecting and dead that needed burying.

“Ryker’s saying we need to head back. I hate to agree with him, but there are only six of us out here with no sign of Raven. We’ll be safer with more shifters around.” Gage wrinkled his nose. “Whatever it was, it’s gone. And we’ve got wounded who aren’t disappearing into thin air.”

Even though Gage hadn’t meant it as an insult or sneer, his words were the equivalent of a gut punch. I’d caused us to waste additional time that was precious when the Blackwoods needed and deserved everyone’s help. I needed to go back there and make up for all the horrible things I’d believed about them. Still, there were questions I needed answered from them when the time was right.

“This time, no one should run off for any reason.” Kendric turned in my direction and continued, “That way, if she does see the man again or vampires pop up, we’ll all be together.”

Xander rolled his shoulders, keeping the gun gripped in his hand. “Agreed. Ryker wants Ember in the center of the group. We can’t be sure she’s not still a target.”

I snarled at the implied insult. I wasn’t a damn damsel that needed surrounding, but Briar moved so that I had to look at her face.

“Humor us, please.” Briar squatted so she was face level with me and gave me her classic puppy dog look, her eyes glassy. “You don’t know how hard it was for us to stand back when there were so many damn vampires around you. Imagine if it were me and I’d asked you to stay back like you did us.”

A cold knot formed in my stomach, and a little bit of pride swelled in my chest. Briar rarely acted like a leader and was quick to obey as long as she agreed with us, but when she needed to get her way, she knew how to work me. I exhaled and nodded my head. Fine. I’ll stay in the center. This one time.

The corners of her mouth tipped upward, but she fought the smile. “She agreed.”

Head dropping, Ryker let out a breath like he was relieved.

No doubt, he’d expected me to fight them more than that, but how could I when Briar put things in perspective for me?

Gage took the lead with his shoulders squared. Kendric and Xander flanked my sides, constantly scanning for a threat that we couldn’t see or hear. Briar drifted a step behind me, close enough that her breath brushed my shoulder.

And Ryker stalked right behind me, which made me want to slow so I could feel him at my side.

I both hated and loved the way his presence pulled at something buried deep in my chest. It felt even stronger now, like my ribs ached from my soul pressing against them, trying to break free to connect with him.

If Reid Blackwood hadn’t been my fated mate, there would’ve been no doubt that Ryker Grimstone was Fate’s pick for me. But that wasn’t how fated-mate bonds worked. Even if your fated mate rejected you, you didn’t get a second fated. People either lived out their lives alone or with a chosen mate who would never truly measure up to what Fate had in store for them.

Maybe the vampire’s witch had been messing with Ryker and me all along, if she could make me feel and see things that weren’t real.

The silence stretched as we moved quietly through the woods. My muscles twitched with every step, my aching wounds reminding me I was injured as well. Guilt sat like a lead weight in my stomach, gnawing at me.

A tingle ran down my spine… the same sensation all over again. Like I was being watched.

I couldn’t stop myself from glancing around and sniffing, hoping and fearing that the strange man would appear. Fear, because what if they didn’t see him? But also hope... because what if they did?

Ryker’s footsteps halted, and I glanced over my shoulder to see him studying the area more intently, like he was searching for the same thing as I was.

The sounds of footsteps and something being dragged hit my ears, followed by the scent of blood. We were almost back to the clearing where our group had been attacked.

Soft murmurs and whimpers echoed through the trees, followed by a single, broken howl.

One that screamed of death and heartbreak.

We stepped through the tree line, and everything slammed into me at once.

Bodies had been lined up with careful hands—some still breathing, others not. Blackwood pack members hovered nearby, their faces masks of grief and exhaustion. Someone sobbed softly, the sound muffled, like they were trying and failing to hold it in.

“Where are Reid and Perry?” Briar asked.

My heart dropped. Had Reid died as well?

A young man with reddish-brown curls and a limp jogged toward us. His jacket was half-zipped, blood staining the collar and one sleeve. Recognition tugged at the edge of my memory—Jaren, one of the younger Blackwood guards who’d trained under Reid.

He stopped, chest heaving. “I’ve been looking for you two everywhere.” He pointed at Briar and me.

Ryker’s growl rumbled low beside me as he brushed against my side, the jolt between us springing to life once again.

Jaren held up both hands. “Whoa. I’m not here to fight, I just came to relay a message. Sun moved Reid to their home for healing, and he wants Ember to come by the house so they can talk.”

My head jerked back. Sure, Sun had thought it would be safest and wisest for all of us to stick together, and I agreed, but going into the house of my fated mate who’d completed the bond with another woman took things to a whole different level.

Hunkering down, Ryker snarled, drool oozing from his teeth and rage shaking his entire body.

“Whoa.” Jaren hobbled back a few steps. “Don’t kill the messenger. But he said there’s something important that he needs to explain to you.”

If he thought that would make Ryker more comfortable with the request, he was dead wrong.

Tell Ryker he can come with me, I linked to Briar. Not being able to communicate directly was getting old. I needed to shift back to human form.

Instead of regurgitating my words, Briar shook her head. “It won’t be just Ryker joining you, all of us will.”

“Yeah, I’m in agreement with that.” Gage nodded like it was a done deal. “After what we just learned, I’m all about us getting information together.” He cut his eyes at Ryker, letting his sense of hurt and betrayal be known.

“I’m good with that.” Xander gestured in the direction of the pack neighborhood. “Let’s go.”

We all took off, and I linked with Briar, I’m going to go shift back real fast. My clothes are nearby.

She nodded and told the others.

When I split off, Ryker did the same, and I had no doubt he was shifting as well.

As my body contorted and bones cracked, my wounds ached, but I could also feel them closing up. Back on two legs, I slipped on the black shirt and pants. Within seconds, I headed back out to Briar, Xander, Kendric, and Gage.

Kendric still held a gun in case an enemy appeared. His face was twisted, and I knew the expression well—heartbreak.

Gage and Xander watched two separate directions, each tense and pale. Even though we’d all been hurt by Raven’s betrayal, our pain was nothing compared to Kendric’s.

Heading straight to Briar, I examined the scratch marks on her shoulder. Though she hadn’t complained, I hated that she was injured. I kept failing to protect her.

Ryker emerged, his shirt torn, but since we’d shifted, his wounds had also healed. His eyes met mine, but he seemed cold and distant.

“We’d better go see what Reid urgently needs to tell you.” Ryker’s nose wrinkled, making his feelings clear.

I just turned and led the group toward the Blackwoods’ town. We slipped through the woods in tense silence, not one of us straying more than a step from the others.

The Blackwood neighborhood came into view—rows of tan two-story homes built from the same sturdy materials, identical in layout, structure, and spacing. Every house had the same wraparound porch, the same white-painted trim, the same gabled roof. Cookie-cutter homes designed for pack functionality and order. Nothing fancy. Nothing unnecessary. Just practical.

We walked past at least a dozen dead bodies surrounded by pack members crying and tending to the ones they loved. Images of my parents and our pack flashed into my mind, and I guessed that Ryker and the others were feeling the same way.

Ryker stayed by my side, just an inch away. With him on one side and Briar on the other, some of my worry eased.

Reid’s house was the last one on the corner, three rows in, and close to the west edge of the territory, the woods curving behind it, with a wide backyard for training and a reinforced fence.

When we reached the porch, Ryker’s breathing became labored and rapid. I tried to ignore his anger, because there was no reason for it. Reid had mated with someone else; there was no coming back from that. Ryker had nothing to fear.

Our footsteps creaked on the painted wood, and Ryker stalked at my side, his jaw tight and hands fisted. He hadn’t said a word since we’d shifted to human form, but the weight of his silence pressed against me harder than his words ever could.

I lifted my hand to knock, but the door opened before I could.

Sun.

Her eyes snapped fire, and her braid looked frizzed and wild, like she hadn’t slept in days. Her body blocked the doorway like a wall. “What the hell are you doing here?”

I froze, breath catching. The others stilled behind me, but no one moved forward.

“Jaren said Reid wanted me to come by so we could talk.” I didn’t understand why this was taking her by surprise. Surely Reid would’ve told her.

Sun’s lips thinned, and something flashed in her eyes. Not shock exactly. Not quite anger either. But something close to… unease.

“He’s not in any state to talk. Cassi sedated him.”

I blinked. “But—”

She stepped forward, expression hardening. “He’s not lucid, Ember. Not right now. You showing up like this, after everything… it’s not what he needs.”

Ryker’s growl rumbled low beside me, his energy pulsing hotter by the second. My hand brushed his clenched fist. He didn’t look at Sun—his gaze stayed locked on me, burning with something too raw to name.

The two of them made me feel as if I’d done something wrong by coming here. Fuck that. “I didn’t ask to come here. Reid sent for me. If you’ve got a problem with that, take it up with him.”

Sun flinched but covered it quickly. “Maybe he did send for you. Maybe he thinks he needs to talk. But he’s severely injured, so I’m making the call right now.”

Her eyes flicked toward Ryker like she wanted to say something more—something aimed directly at him—but whatever it was, she bit it back.

The silence was deafening.

Briar took a small step forward. “We’ll come back later. When he’s stronger.”

Sun didn’t reply. She just crossed her arms and stood in the doorway, daring me to try again.

“Let’s go,” Ryker gritted out. He turned sharply and stepped off the porch before anyone else could react.

“Wait,” Cassi called from somewhere behind us.

I looked over my shoulder and saw her beyond the hedgerow, her long auburn hair tousled and wild like she’d run here. Her face was pale, her eyes wide.

“I need to talk to you,” she said, voice trembling. “I did something horrible.”