A curse answered me, then the footsteps approached. The mask was ripped off my face, and I blinked, startled, at the sudden light. Several big vehicles lined up across whatever space I was in, shining their headlights right at me.
“Killian?” the newcomer growled.
I blinked a few more times, and Alpha Julian’s face came into focus. I huffed in surprise. “I’m guessing a lot of shit has happened since I lost myself. Untie me, will you?”
Julian gave me a suspicious look, but he did. The ropes loosened, and then he helped me out of the straitjacket thatbound me. I shook my limbs and stomped my feet to get the blood flowing again as I took stock of my surroundings. I frowned.
“Why is my town camped in the forest? And why are you here?”
Julian gave me a rundown of the fires in Tyrell, then explained that Hammond’s alphas had been worried about the pack here, leaving Tyrell territory, looking for better shelter, and had sent a few camper vans with additional food and blankets. I noted that he couched it in terms of keeping his pack safe. I was glad that they’d gone the more humanitarian route, rather than patrolling their territories’ borders to attack whoever might try to slip through.
“Looks like there’s an uproar,” I said, nodding back toward the camp.
“Owen is missing.”
I tensed. What had happened while I was in the darkness? “When was he last seen? Where are Jace and Renz?”
Julian jerked his chin behind me. I turned and my stomach swooped. Renz and Jace were both tied to nearby trees, twitching slightly. If they were here, then that meant Owen was on his own, trying to take care of the entire pack.
“Jasmine?” I asked, my heart in my throat as I imagined all sorts of terrible things. What if she had been hurt?
What if I hurt her?
“She’s gone, too. That’s why I’m not worried. They’re probably off somewhere—” Julian cut off, clearing his throat. Clearly, he was about to say something salacious.
I didn’t buy it. Neither Owen nor Jasmine would run off to have sex while the pack was in this condition. My wolfgrowled, and a shock of relief went through me. I touched my chest. It was as though I’d gone months, years, without feeling my wolf there. But I felt like myself again. Finally, I was back to myself.
“We need to wake Renz and Jace. Then we need to find Owen and Jasmine.”
Julian frowned at me as I strode to Jace and removed his mask. He blinked a few times, then snarled, throwing himself against the bindings.
I jumped back.
“How did you…wake?” Julian demanded.
I thought back, trying to clear the cobwebs that were clouding my memories. The last thing I knew was Jasmine’s face. She was talking, and I’d been overcome with anger. A certainty that she was being deceitful, that she was the reason all of this was happening. Then it was all darkness until…her scent. It preceded that sweet taste on my tongue. Her scent had filled me, and combined with the taste….
Tea. It was a tea made from a mix of herbs. Jasmine must have given it to me. I sniffed the air, drawing a little closer to Jace. He howled, his breath wafting over my face. It smelled of lavender and mint.
“Jace, you have to fight the darkness,” I told him. “Fight it. That anger you’re feeling isn’t yours. It’s not real. Jasmine needs us.”
Jace’s howl tapered off. He blinked a few times, as though he was confused.
“Jasmine?” Renz said, muffled.
I hurried to him and pulled off his mask. He wrinkled his nose but didn’t seem to be aggressive. I grabbed his faceand turned it toward the light to check his eyes. They were his normal dark blue. By the time I got him free, Jace’s eyes were back to brown. I filled them both in as I unbound him, too.
“If Jasmine gave the concoction to the others, we can wake them up, too,” Jace said.
Unease slithered through my stomach. Every moment we waited, we didn’t know where Owen and Jasmine were. I shook my head. “Let’s find Jasmine first. If we know what she did, we can replicate it.”
Julian folded his arms as he watched us. “I’m not sticking around. I came to deliver the supplies, but I’m not staying in this territory to be possessed.”
“Thank you for your help,” Jace said, a bit distracted. “When this is over, we’ll find a way to pay you back.”
Julian snorted and headed for the vehicles that Hammond had brought. I promptly ignored him and shifted to wolf form. Renz and Jace joined me. Without having to say what we were doing, we started searching the ground for Jasmine and Owen’s scents. We traced them first to Owen’s car at the edge of the camp, then into the forest. Once the other scents faded away, we broke into a run.
The trail was a familiar one, and Jace led us, easily avoiding any pitfalls in our way. We arrived in town in a little less than twenty minutes. A bright light pulsed from near the old college, and I knew instantly that it was where we had to go.
