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I noticed Miles, a few blankets over, shoot us a worried glance, while Owen kept his eyes focused on the doorway. Which meant they were picking up on something from Emma, too, even though they hadn’t claimed her yet.
“I should have said something earlier, but my great grandmother called to warn me a shadow was following Ava. She said we needed to trust our pack and be on alert because things were about to get bumpy. GG has a gift of insight, and occasionally foresight. Everyone in our family and at the farm listens to her. I told Max, and he immediately went on high alert. He’s holed up in the security room at the farm tonight.”
Cary went still. “I told Ava earlier tonight it felt as if a shadow was following her and it was putting me on edge. I’ve been picking up on it for days. It can’t be a coincidence if GG said exactly the same thing.”
I didn’t know about foresight and such things. My knowledge of the world was so limited, but I believed that when we listened closely enough, our instincts ran deeper than most people realized. I felt a growl I couldn’t contain rumble through my chest, as everyone tried to breathe through the sudden tension.
“I’m checking on her,” I growled as I shifted onto my feet, unable to sit waiting a moment longer. I’d barely stood up when Ava’s unease quickly spiked into full-blown panic. I was running instantly. “Move,” I bellowed to people in my path, and omegas scrambled out of my way. River and Ryder flowed effortlessly around them, barely even looking at their surroundings, their entire focus on that door.
We burst through, Cary and Nick at the rear, followed by Miles and Owen.
My heart clenched as Ava’s panic sharpened into fear. It felt as if she was struggling and tugging at us in the bond, trying to pull her to us.
“Ava,” I roared. I tried to reach out to her through the bond.
“What the hell is going on?” Lexie yelled. I could hear omegas crying behind me. There wasn’t time to feel bad. I was already running for the bathroom. I slammed the door open and barreled inside, but it was empty.
“Is there another bathroom near here?” I yelled out to Cary, fighting to keep the wildness from completely taking over.
“No,” Cary said from right behind me.
It didn’t matter, anyway. It was a wild hope. I could scent her. Omega scents saturated the room, but Ava’s stood out. I knew she’d been in here recently, but now she was gone. I turned and pushed past everyone to follow her scent back out into the hallway.
I clutched at my chest as her panic and fear faded out until there was nothing. Just empty space at the end of the bond.
“Ava,” I roared again, into the silence.No, she can’t be dead. She can’t be.
River grabbed my face, forcing it down to his. “She’s not dead. The bond is still there. It’s just muted. Focus, we need you.” I calmed slightly as his touch centered me. His blue eyes were like ice and I could feel how cold he was in the bond. He had shut everything down and focused on only one thing. Her.
I nodded once, and he let me go. I turned right, away from the ballroom, and started running.
“He’s got her scent. Follow him,” he growled. Footsteps pounded behind me and I could feel my pack around me. I pushed my energy at them, so it wouldn’t drown me, and I heard someone grunt behind me.
We ran through the secret door and down the stairs into the corridor that housed the secret labs, and my gut dropped. There was no reason for Ava to be down here. The lights were on, which meant someone had passed through recently. Yet there was a pool of darkness at the end, shrouded in shadows. My eyes zeroed in on a slumped mass on the floor, and I skidded to a halt alongside it.
I rolled the prone body over, pushing dark hair out of the way. It was Emma. Hands grabbed her, and I let Miles and Owen take over. “She’s alive, thank Christ,” Miles groaned, as he checked her pulse.
“Chloroform,” Ryder said, as he sniffed the air.
Fuck. That wasn’t good. I spun in place, knowing every second counted if someone was abducting Ava and Angel right now.
“What’s going on?” Sam bellowed down the hallway as he tracked us down.
“Secure the omegas in the ballroom,” River yelled back. “We have a breach. Ava and Angel are missing, possibly Nicole, too. They knocked out Emma. Miles and Owen will bring her back. Don’t let anyone else in once you barricade the doors.”
“Roger,” Sam yelled and disappeared.
Owen nodded at River as he supported Emma’s head, while Miles carefully lifted her into his arms. I knew it was dangerous to move an unconscious person without knowing their injuries, but River was right. We had no choice. They couldn’t stay here if we had intruders.
My breathing was hard and erratic, and the wildness was pounding at me. The corridor was a dead end. But her scent led all the way to the end wall. Unless they had backtracked, I didn’t think she was in any of the rooms behind us. But I couldn’t be sure.
I bellowed in frustration. Panic threatened to pull me under as I tried to focus my energy, but it was a wild stallion resisting my every attempt at control. They had taken Ava, and Angel too. An innocent little girl who had wriggled her way into my heart, as well as my lap. She seemed to have an instinctive on-switch for my purr, the same as Ava.Where the fuck were they?
River grabbed my shoulder, focusing my attention back on him momentarily. “This is not the time to hold your instincts back. You’re our best hope of finding them fast. Let that shit out. All of it. Now.”
I roared in his face as I settled into the wildness, completely immersing myself. He didn’t even flinch as my dominance flowed past him and my energy rushed through him.
“Good. Now hunt, Wolf.”
