He hated the helplessness that gripped us all the moment we realized Rowan was gone. Cade thrived on order—on having everything neatly in place and firmly under his thumb. But Rowan was proving far more difficult to bring to heel than he’d expected.
Her scent traveled through the hallway, stopping at the stairwell door. I scratched at the bottom as Ryker swiped his card to let me through. The moment we hit the stairwell, I heard the first scream—sharp, raw, and loud enough that the others vaguely heard it too. We took off, flying down the stairs at a punishing pace. It wasn’t Rowan’s voice though, but a man’s, and just as suddenly as it had started, it cut off.
I couldn’t pinpoint the exact direction it came from, so I stuck to Rowan’s scent, pushing forward. Maybe the scream had nothing to do with her disappearance… but deep down, I knew better. My gut feeling told me that the person who screamed, and whoever silenced him, was connected to Rowan.
We reached the bottom of the stairwell and stopped cold. Lying on the floor at the landing was Rowan’s book, Treasure Island. Cade reached for it slowly, his hand hesitant, swallowing hard with an emotion I couldn’t quite name. He looked at Killian, and something unspoken passed between them.
I made my way to the exterior door leading to the courtyard. Her scent was strong on the handle and keycard reader. She’d opened it. I scratched at the door, and Ryker pulled it open, but I froze the moment the air hit me. Her scent wasn’t on the other side. She’d opened the door... but she hadn’t stepped through it. Instead, her trail curved back, retreating into the stairwell and veering toward the basement access.
My pulse quickened. Why would Rowan turn back? What was down there? Was she trying to avoid someone or something. Soldiers outside, maybe? Whatever the reason, I scratched at the basement door frantically.
“Down there?” Cade asked, confused, “I thought she went through the door? Why would she go into the basement?”
I howledyesto confirm she had gone that way as Cade opened the door.
I sensed we were all worried about what would have sent her down here.
As we descended the basement steps, I made two chilling discoveries. In the crowded communal halls, scents blurred together, but down here, in the isolated basement, I could clearly make out two alpha scents, just as fresh as Rowan’s. She hadn’t come down alone.
The second discovery hit harder: the sharp, metallic tang of blood thick in the air. It was an overwhelming, sickening perfume that invaded all of my senses and made it hard to track Rowan. The scent was unmistakable and one that I had smelled often during brutal combat.
So much blood. Where am I? What happened? I’m scared. Help me.
I heard the words in my head. No one had spoken the words aloud; they originated in my mind. They weren’t my thoughts, though; they were Rowan’s. Relief filled me at knowing she was alive, followed by confusion.
I had heard her thoughts. Somehow, I could hear my mate in my head. She was close and needed our help.
We're coming, Rowan. Hold On.I mentally told her, trying to bring her comfort through our connection.
I could feel her raw emotions thrashing like a turbulent sea. Confusion, sharp and blinding. Fear, cold and tightening. Guilt, heavy and suffocating. They twisted through her like a riptide. But how was this possible? How could I sense her feelings so vividly? How could I hear her in my mind, her thoughts rooting within me?
That kind of bond... it only existed between shifters, and Rowan wasn’t one.
A storage closet sat unassuming at the end of the hallway, and beyond the door was the source of an enormous amount of blood. Now that we neared it, I could hear Rowan's frantic heartbeat and footsteps pacing back and forth. Cade tried the knob, turning it violently and banging with his fist when he realized someone had locked it from inside.
“Open this door now, Rowan,” he ordered using his bark.
A low and vicious growl reverberated on the other side. A creature lay in wait beyond the threshold. Had it injured Rowan? Is that where the blood had come from, which now seeped under the door, pooling in a glistening deep red puddle on the floor?
Cade drew his gun, pointing it for cover as Killian ran forward, throwing all his weight into the metal door, whichliterally crumpled inward, releasing from its hinges and sliding across the floor. He was a human battering ram.
As the room came into view, we could see the source of the blood scent. Two mutilated bodies lay spread out across the floor. One had been lying on the floor in front of the door, which explained the blood pooling in the hallway. The man’s face was almost gone, torn off by claws or teeth. Matted, spiked tufts of ginger hair were all that remained to identify him. He looked like the alpha that lived near our dorm. His packmate lay on a dirty, blood-soaked mattress on the floor. Well… not all of him. Someone or something had torn one of his arms from his body and discarded it several feet away.
Why the fuck was there a mattress in the middle of the floor? What had killed and mutilated these men? Where was the creature we had heard? Where was Rowan and why had these men been down here with her?
The pieces of the puzzle clicked together when I saw her clothes crumpled into a ball in the corner and the unbuttoned pants that clung to the dead man’s ankles. Murderous fury unraveled within me, and I growled, wanting nothing more than to bring these men back to life, so I could kill them again. Killian must have come to the same conclusion because he roared, thunderous and terrifying.
In the low light, movement caught our attention. A flash of orange darted from one hiding spot to another, slipping behind a stack of old mattresses propped against the wall.
“Rowan? Is that you? Are you hurt?” Cade called out.
A whimper answered, followed by a low growl.
“Rowan. It's okay, Kitten. You're safe now. Daddy’s here,” Ryker said, trying to coax her out.
She let out a savage growl, sharp and warning.
“ROWAN, COME OUT, NOW!” Cade’s voice boomed as he issued her a command in his strongest alpha bark.
