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“What—?”
“Let me be now, child.” Her hand left my face, and her eyes closed, and I knew there was no getting through to her anymore. I was stuck in a cell with a lady who was losing her faculties and claimed to be Luc’s other grandmother. She was nice enough to Luc when I saw them together, but they seemed more cordial than loving compared to Bubbie and Luc. How would Miti know Luc loved me? Infatuated I could believe, but love?
Luc
I was pacingback and forth in the living room. I knew Rocco was still enroute and would be here soon, but Dad and Dredge should be here by now.Screw waiting!I turned and began striding to the door when Rocco came in.
“What took you so long?” I demanded, walking right up to him.
He pushed me aside and went to the fridge. Opening the door, he perused the contents, ignoring my question and the fact that all of us were staring at him.
I shoved him away and closed the fridge, standing in front of the door so Rocco had no choice but to look straight at me. Bloodshot eyes looked back at me with indifference.
“I don’t answer to you,” he mumbled, pushing me aside and reopening the fridge.
“Who cares who you answer to! My friend is missing, and you’re withholding information!” Becca yelled, stomping over as if she was going to pummel him.
I was about to back her up when Brandon put a hand on both of us. “Dad is here.”
I turned to see Dad and Dredge coming through the door. Rocco immediately let go of whatever he was about to pull out of the fridge and stood at attention. I had to give it to him; he was the perfect soldier. No wonder Dad trusted him more than me.
Dad glanced at Becca for a second before turning to Brandon with a questioning look, but he didn’t say anything. He then turned back to Rocco and took charge. “Rocco, what have you found?”
“Pac’s smell is at a bunch of locations. There’s a warehouse by the water and an apartment downtown near the hospital.”
“That’s probably the guy who we found already,” Dredge said.
Rocco nodded. “Most likely. There’s also the guy who works the Ferris wheel at the carnival in town, and the ice cream guy who walks his cart through the park every day at two o’clock.”
“Where is this all going?” I growled.
“None of them are Pac,” Rocco said.
“What do you mean?” I said, lunging for him.
Dredge grabbed me and held me back. I tried to fight him off, but Brandon, Jacob, and Bruno came and stood by me too. Even Damon and Brent surrounded me.
“Let him finish. Then we’ll know where to go,” Brandon said.
I wasn’t going to fight all my brothers, and with Dad staring me down, I simmered down.
But Becca wasn’t having any of it. “This is ridiculous. I’m not waiting around while all of you wait for him to get to the point. I’m going out to search for Jill.” She stomped out of the room.
Brandon’s eyes followed her out, but he stayed put, not letting me move an inch from where I was standing.
Rocco continued with a nod from Dad. “I questioned all of them. They all said the same thing the first guy said. They were given something to change their scent, and they all smell like Pac. None of them know anything else.”
“They might just be very good actors,” I huffed.
“You’re the one who told us Jill said Rich was a guy who was capable of this. Now you’re—” Dredge started.
“No, I just want something that I can go on. It’s been almost a whole day. Jill could be—” I couldn’t say it. I didn’t want to believe that Rich was hurting her.
All my muscles constricted. I was beginning to see red again. Now that Becca was out of the room, I stopped holding myself back. I felt a bunch of hands hold me down as I swung at whoever I could reach. I started to change, and it was at that moment when my mind was completely wolf when I heard it—a voice was calling me from far away. I stilled, then noticed Brandon and Dredge had changed too. The others circled us, boxing us in. I willed myself to calm down in the hopes they would relax and let me go, but mostly I did it to concentrate on the voice in my mind.
It was a woman’s voice—an older woman’s voice that was raspy and tired. I made out my name and realized with a start that I hadn’t heard her voice in my head in a long time. We’d seen each other every day up until . . . a week ago. I felt sad that I hadn’t realized it had been that long. She would disappear for days but never a week, always to come back not remembering where she had been.
“Miti,” I said in my mind, and apparently Brandon and Dredge heard me too. I saw them transform back into humans to explain to the others what I had said.
