AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Crushed leaves, broken sticks, bits of displaced dirt marked the movements of multiple people. Drag marks led from the passenger side to the bumper, where crimson droplets sprinkled the ground.
Isaiah knelt and picked up a leaf. He sniffed the blood droplets.
Luca.
There wasn’t enough to suggest he’d been badly injured, but he had been injured.
Tanner came from farther up the path. “Looks like one vehicle, two sets of Sarvari tracks, and three people.” He stopped beside Isaiah.
“Grey did this.” Isaiah ground his teeth.
“Why would the Dekkers take Luca?”
“I don’t know.” Isaiah dragged his fingers across the dirt and lifted it to his nose. If he’d had his wolf, he wouldn’t have to get so close or struggle to sort out the scents. His sense of smell would be keener than any earthbound animal.
But even with a ghost of who he was following him, the scent of an egg-bearing Varu stood out.
And not just any Varu.
“Looks like Seung was with them.” Isaiah wiped his hands on his jeans.
“What? She’s Varu. Why would she help them?”
“She’s only Varu because the Clan leaders never got a chance to strip her of her wolf.”
Ever since Isaiah had known Seung, she’d rebelled against Clan law, inciting discourse between pack members. She’d gone so far as to release incarcerated Varu waiting to be sentenced. She’d defended ferals and argued against punishment even when they killed livestock.
And sometimes people.
“That still doesn’t explain why she’s helping them.” Tanner was right.
“The bigger question is how she or the Dekkers knew we were here.” Like most Varu, becoming nomadic became a survival method after humans destroyed their cities and before they lost their Cana. So even Isaiah didn’t know they’d be at the Cascades National Park campgrounds until Cassie located Luca.
“You think someone told them?” Tanner said.
“It’s the only way.”
“It wasn’t one of us.” Tanner said it like a plea.
“No. No, none of our people.” Isaiah would know. The bond between him and his pack would make such a betrayal impossible to hide.
“Ms. Phillips? Palmer?”
“If Laura had wanted to take Luca from us, she wouldn’t need the Dekkers to do it. And she sure as hell wouldn’t sneak up on us in the dark.”
Laura was the commanding Apex Warden.
A position she acquired by proving she was the deadliest even by Warden standards. It was a place they held for as long as they could beat their challengers, or they retired of their own free will.
No, if Laura had wanted Luca, she would have walked in and killed anyone who tried to stop her.
“And Palmer wanted us to have Luca. If he’d changed his mind, he would have told us. If we’d resisted, he would have sent Laura. She’s the only one he’d trust to collect him.” Not because he particularly liked her, but because she was capable and trustworthy.
“Who else could have known?” Tanner said.
“Maybe we’re asking the wrong question.”
Tanner furrowed his brow.
