Page 16 of Wretched Thorns

Jasper and Eli looked at each other across the grove. There was nothing to say. There had been little enough to say since the bond had gone wrong, and there was less now. Eli’s hand moved to the bark of the magnolia and rested there, the same magnolia Callum was lying under, and Jasper understood the gesture the way you understand any move your brother makes, common or odd, without needing to translate.

They walked back towards the house in silence that said more than words could ever convey.

Chapter four

Tara

Serena should have been there yesterday. Tara paced the length of her apartment for the hundredth time, phone clutched in her hand, watching the screen like she could will it to light up with Serena’s name. The coffee she’d made before bed had gone cold. The one she’d made before dawn sat untouched on the counter. Outside, Nashville was bustling through a busy lunch hour. The sounds of traffic whirred past her apartment, but none of them were her best friend.

Where the hell are you? Please be okay…

She tried her number again. Straight to voicemail. Again.

“Hey, it’s Serena. Leave a message and I’ll call you back. Probably. Eventually. Don’t hold your breath.”

She’d listened to that recording so many times since yesterday; she had it memorized. The slight laugh in Serena’s voice. The self-deprecating humor that hid so much pain. The sound of a woman who was finally, finally starting to believe she deserved good things.

“Serena, it’s me. Again. Please call me. Please, just... let me know you’re okay. I’m really scared, and if I don’t hear from you by tonight, I’m calling the police. I know you hate that; I know it’s complicated, but I can’t just sit here and—”

Tara’s voice cracked. “Please. Just call me.”

She hung up and threw the phone onto the couch.

Serena had texted yesterday morning. On my way! Should be there later tonight. Get the wine ready. And then nothing. No updates, no “running late,” no response to any of Tara’s increasingly frantic messages.

Almost a full day now. A full day of silence from a woman who always had her phone in her hand. A woman who was running from a dangerous ex. A woman who was supposed to be safe.

That was the thing that really made Tara’s stomach churn. Serena should have been safe.

When Serena told Tara she was renting an apartment from three brothers in a little Louisiana town backed up against a preserve with some creatures that howled all night, Tara had stopped what she was doing and called Grandmère. Grandmère had been quiet on the line for a long beat. Then she’d said, only: “The Voss boys. Triplets. You friend has stumbled into something good, chère. Best you no say more on this phone.”

Tara had laughed out loud when she’d hung up. Of course Serena had stumbled into them. Serena had a knack for stumbling into trouble.

Serena had no idea, of course. She thought she’d just chanced upon a sweet rental situation with three hot landlords. But Tara knew exactly what she’d found, and she couldn’t have been more thrilled.

“Girl,” she’d told her on the phone, “you stay right where you are. Those boys will keep you safer than any restraining order ever could.”

“You sound like you know something I don’t,” Serena had replied; suspicious.

“I know plenty of things you don’t. Trust me. Stay with the hot brothers. Enjoy yourself. God knows you deserve some fun after Marcus.”

And she had stayed. Had started to thrive, actually, in ways Tara hadn’t seen in a long time. The exhaustion that had clung to her for years seemed to lift. She laughed more. Worried less. Talked about the brothers in ways that made Tara tease her mercilessly about her situation.

“You know how much fun… well...hmm.. nevermind..” Tara had teased her once, unable to resist. “The stamina alone—”

“What are you talking about?” Serena had sounded genuinely confused.

“Nothing, girl. Just saying. Enjoy yourself. You’ve earned it.”

Tara hadn’t told her the truth about what the Voss brothers were. That was their secret to share, not hers. And besides, what did it matter? Werewolves had rules, strict guidelines they followed when it came to humans. She was safe. She was happy. She was being protected by three wolves who, from everything Serena had told Tara, were already half in love with her. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything, apparently. Because now she was missing. Vanished somewhere between Louisiana and Nashville, and Tara couldn’t shake the feeling that Marcus Webb had something to do with it.

But that didn’t make sense either. Marcus was human. Just a man, however cruel. And Serena had three werewolves watching over her. How had he gotten to her? How had he taken her right out from under their noses?

Tara’s phone rang. She lunged for it, nearly knocking over the cold coffee. But it wasn’t Serena’s number on the screen. It was an unknown caller, a Louisiana area code. Her grandmother’s area code.

“Grandmère?” she answered, her heart hammering. “What’s wrong?”