I glanced down at my phone again, blinking hard as the words jumbled together. My eyes were tired—hell, I was tired—and I had to force myself to focus.
I scrolled and clicked, moving back through the videos I’d watched a hundred times. Suddenly, I noticed something I hadn’t before. “Wait.”
Everyone stopped and stared at me expectantly.
“I think I found something.” I cast my phone screen to the TV so they could see what I was looking at. “Look.”
I’d searched YouTube multiple times over the past several hours and had a tab open for each of the disasters. “We’ve been focusing on the news stories that featured each individual disaster instead of the full thirty minutes of news coverage.” I paused one of the videos just as the story about the flooding began. “Look at the timestamp.”
“What is it?” Nico took a step closer to the screen. “I’m not following you, Ty.”
I played each newscast, pausing the videos just as the full stories of the disasters began. Pulling up the notes app on my phone again, I showed everyone the list of timestamps. “I’ve added up the times and they equal these two numbers. Nico had a point about the coordinates because when I put the two numbers into the map…” I paused and everyone stared as the Presley Acres library popped onto the screen.
Dad leaned forward. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Nico jaw dropped. “How the hell did you figure that out?”
I shrugged. “Fuck knows.”
Dad glanced at the countdown on the screen, then at his watch. “We have to go. Now. Everyone, load up.”
Nico’s voice rose over the chaos in the room. “All right, team. You heard the boss. We’re leaving in three minutes. Pull the SUVs around the front. Load up your supplies and weapons. There’s no telling what we’re about to walk into.”
As everyone filed out of the room, Liza made her way to my side and wrapped her arms around me, her smiling lighting up her face. She planted a loud kiss on my lips. “I knew you were more than just bronze.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Can you handle this? Would you rather stay here?”
Her smile vanished. “I’m going with you.”
Fair enough. I could get on board with that, mostly because I wanted her by my side, no matter what.
Dad pulled on his jacket and walked out the door, giving us a moment of privacy.
“Do you think we’re walking into a trap?” She twined her fingers through mine. Her eyes were clouded with so much worry that I wanted to scoop her into my arms.
I shook the idea out of my head since we needed to leave. “Like you said, Castro’s going to give us a chance to figure out the clues. But we better go. Not making it in time could prove to be dire.”
Fingers laced, we rushed out of the house and joined Dad in the front SUV. As soon as we were in, the team rolled out, speeding toward town with the emergency lights on.
Liza couldn’t keep still, her leg bouncing so hard I thought she’d wear a hole through the floorboard. Adrenaline pumped through all of us as we wondered what we’d find at the library.
We finally pulled into the empty parking lot, and I checked the time. We had ninety minutes left before Castro told the whole world what Dad had done to the Wylder pack.
I envisioned swarms of angry shifters from different packs tearing down the stone wall that surrounded Keller Estate, kicking down the door and burning our house to the ground. It’s what we deserved after all, wasn’t it? Or had time forgiven my father’s sins? Could people look beyond the terrible act and see the reasoning behind it: the horrible leadership and disgusting dealings of the Wylder alpha, and how there was only one way to stop him?
Liza’s soft voice broke through my thoughts. “What exactly are we looking for?” Her face was pressed to the window, straining to see the library’s entrance.
I frowned and wiped my sweaty brow. “Honestly, I didn’t think that far ahead. I have no clue what we’re looking for.” I thought of the bell tower and how quickly we’d discovered the bomb taped to the wall just inside the entrance.
If I had learned anything about Castro up to this point, it was that he loved the element of surprise. There was no way in hell he’d make it that easy on us again. We had a long search ahead of us with only a very small amount of time left on the clock. The odds weren’t in our favor.
Everyone lined up and looked to me for instructions. I’d uncovered the clue and, of course, I was the future alpha. I wasn’t used to calling the shots when my father was around, but it was a welcome change to step into that leadership role, proving to myself that I could handle the stress.
I glanced at Dad. His nod gave me permission to take the reins. I would be calling all of the shots before long. Why not start now?
I scanned their faces, praying to the gods that I wasn’t leading everyone astray or right into Castro’s hands. “Let’s split up and search the entire library. Leave no book unturned since we have no idea what we’re looking for. It could be as obvious as the nose on your face, or it could be subtle.”
Everyone nodded, divided the library into sections, and entered once Dad used his key to unlock the main doors. At after midnight, the library was deserted, so we could move freely through the building.
