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“I hewp,” Molly said, sticking her hand out for the cookie eagerly.
“Help with what?” Celeste asked, grinning widely when Molly began eating her cookie and sharing with James.
“The first time I had lunch with Molly, I asked her to help me eat the cookies so I wouldn’t get a tummy ache from eating so much,” James explained, making his dad snort.
“As if anything can fill that pit you call a stomach. I almost went broke feeding you through puberty,” he mentioned.
“I was a growing boy,” James whined, but blushed when Molly gave him another piece of her cookie.
We chatted for a good while as I kept an eye on the activity on the tablet. Suddenly, in a lull of the conversation, I realized I still hadn’t seen or heard from Evie. I tried to mind link her, but it was still not connecting.
“Has any of you heard from Evie for the last hour and a half?” I asked. When they all shook their heads, I put my tablet back in my purse and pulled out my phone. I dialed her phone and heard it ring repeatedly, only to have it go to voicemail. I tried to mind-link Cory, wondering if he had sent her on another assignment, but the mind-link wouldn’t connect either. “What about Cory? James have you heard from Cory lately?”
“Not since I went to shower,” he answered and I watched him try to mind-link his friend. I knew when his face turned into a frown that it wasn’t connecting. “Cory’s mind-link is not connecting.”
“Maybe they went back to the office to look at something? I’ll ask Nat to tr—” before she could finish the sentence, Luna Celeste’s phone rang. “One second,” she told us, answering the phone. “Hi, mija, can I c—” loud talking cut her off and we waited as she spoke with the woman on the phone. “Yeah, we were just wondering the same. Let me go find him and I’ll have him link you. Okay. Love you, too.” She hung up the phone and her eyes glazed over. After a little while, Luna Natalia and Alpha Markus approached the group.
“What’s going on, Tuli?” Alpha Markus asked his mate.
“No one has seen Evie or Cory for a couple of hours now, and Bells just called saying she can’t mind-link Cory. Nat, can you try?” Luna Natalia nodded, and we all waited with baited breath, but she shook her head moments later, making my stomach sink. Alpha Helios joined his mate moments later, already frowning.
“I can’t connect with either of them. Either they’re not in the packs, or they’re not awake.”
“I’ll get Evergreen so he can look through the feeds. James, ask the guards if they’ve let anyone out, even if that’s Cory. Helios, can you do the same to yours?”
Both men nodded and their eyes glazed over while Alpha Markus walked over and pulled Evergreen from where he was talking to Adrien. One by one, all of the ranked members of both packs gathered around us, everyone either mind-linking, or looking through camera footage to see if we could follow their movements.
“I have to do the speech before the moon peaks. Let me know what’s happening,” Alpha Helios told us and took Luna Natalia with him. He didn’t look happy about leaving the search, but no one wanted to panic the packs, especially after what happened the previous month.
I continued looking for them in the crowd feeds since the buses got here, until, suddenly, Evergreen took a sharp breath. We all looked at him as his eyes glazed over, and relief crossed his face before concern filled it. He looked at us when his eyes cleared, and what he told us both filled me with relief and made my stomach sink.
“They’re fine. They were drugged and woke up in some sort of cell. They’re still somewhere here, but the dungeons seem to be underground.” His eyes glazed over again. They cleared for a moment, and then he went back into the mind-link. He finally smiled and looked over at Beta Gonzalo. “Can you make it rain? Evie said Cory can still use his water ability despite being bound in silver. I thought if you made it rain, he can show us where they are. She thinks they’re somewhere in the forest.”
“Got it,” Beta Gonzalo replied, bringing forward his wolf and running toward the tree line. Dark clouds covered the clear sky and I watched in awe as the rain began. It was away from us, mostly, though I could feel a drizzle coming from an errant cloud. Everyone was looking over at the forest for signs of Cory’s gift, and when we saw a water spout coming up from the trees, we all breathed a sigh of relief.
“We’ll jump nearby and make sure whoever took them isn’t watching the area. You guys can catch up to us,” Alpha Markus stated, grabbing Luna Celeste and jumping to where the water spout disappeared. Beta Kassie nodded, and after joining her mate at the edge of the forest, they both disappeared into the trees using their vampire speed.
“Let’s go grab the bolt cutters,” Gamma Sebastian told Evergreen and they set off running.
The first howls of the full moon cut through the air and I turned to look at James. His eyes darkened as our eyes connected and my heart raced inside my chest when I felt the bond snap into place. He took a step toward me, but hesitated at whatever look he saw on my face. He swallowed hard, hurt flashing through his eyes before he looked at Molly still in his arms. When he looked back at me, there was a look of determination in his eyes and he started approaching.
Instead of the loud, possessive way werewolves generally tried to claim their mate, when he got to me, he rested his forehead to mine and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them back up, he whispered, “You’re mine, Zi. Just like I prayed for. Will you give me a chance?”
I felt tears spring into my eyes and I nodded, kissing him softly. When I pulled back, I felt a tear fall as I whispered, “Just be patient. I just need to wrap my head around everything. It’s too much too fast. I need my brain to catch up with everything, but I do want you, James.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Take all the time you need. Right, Miss Molly?” he asked my toddler, who’d been watching the party happening behind James. She turned and gave him a bright smile, holding up her little hand for a high five, which James promptly met with exuberance. She then returned her attention to crowd with fascination as a few eager wolves began to shift, unaware that her life had changed as much as mine just did.
Chapter Seventeen
Cory
I groaned and sat up. I felt like I had a hangover. I blinked a few times, trying to figure out where I was. Everything that happened before I lost consciousness came back to me, and I started looking around. I was on the floor of a cell of sorts, one single halogen lightbulb illuminated the entire small cell. There was a small window at the top, and from there, I could see it was still night out... if this was even the same night. I sensed someone behind me and found Evie unconscious in the small bed I was leaning against when I woke up.
“Evie!” I tried to shake her awake. My hands were in handcuffs, the stinging sensation letting me know they were silver. I did my best to make sure the chains didn’t touch her skin, but my priority was making sure she was alright. “Evie, please wake up,” I begged in a whisper or prayer. After a few minutes, she stirred slowly, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Cory?” she mumbled. “My head hurts.” She groaned and sat up. Her hands were in a set of silver handcuffs as well, and she started struggling against them the moment she saw them.
“Stop. Evie, stop. It’s silver. It will make it hurt more.”
