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Heat and fury rose from the pit of my stomach. I expected fur to break through my skin. But that heat faded as quickly as it came on. “I don’t put my mate in danger.”
It was a bold declaration. We hadn’t talked about anything, and she’d just proposed a second date with this infuriating wolf. But there was no denying that Hannah and I shared a bond.
“She’s not your mate. Your mate is one of your own. This human is a plaything.” Armand revealed his true colors.
“Then what do you want with her?” I asked.
Armand grinned. “The future you can’t give her, now that your secret weapon is gone.”
I lunged at Armand, my hand on his throat. I didn’t give a damn if the cameras were rolling. I expected Bibi, Bjorn, Hugo, someone to step in. To stop me. But they didn’t. There was no way Armand, his wolves, and fuck, my brother, could get away with this.
I’d lived so long in peace, in solitude, longing for connection with something more than the land.
Heat rose in my body all over again, but it was nothing more than a distraction. I could be human for the rest of my remaining days. But that was the least of my problems at the moment.
“You won’t touch her.” I said between gritted teeth.
“I wouldn’t be too threatening. You need me more than you know, squatch. Or should I just say, human.” Armand laughed, wriggling away from my grip. I didn’t have him in a true chokehold, considering we were on live broadcast. He put his hand on Hannah’s arm. She looked like she was ready to crawl out of her skin. “I look forward to our date.”
The wolf had the nerve to turn and head to the door.
“Cut,” Bibi said way more calmly than I would’ve managed. “Well, that certainly didn’t go as planned, but I think it was still progress. Unfortunately, not the progress we wanted.”
“We didn’t get any information about Zoe,” Hannah said, a hint of hopelessness resonating in her voice. “That’s the whole reason we came here.”
“We’ve been monitoring the chat,” Marissa said, staring at her screen. “All leads that look credible are being worked on by the security team.”
Hannah put her hand on my shoulder. “You know I only offered to go out with him to get information about Zoe and whatever else he’s up to.”
“I know.” I looked up at her. Those blue eyes still had hope. Her hair was wild, skin colorful. I reminded myself why I’d fallen for her in the first place. Why I’d been willing to fight when I’d known claiming her was an impossible dream.
It didn’t have to die, even if my days on earth were very possibly numbered.
“I want us to be able to go back to your mountain and relive the magic that we had that first night. I want these stupid wolves, your brother, the hunters…all of it…to go away. And I feel like I’m making it worse for you. That I ripped you away from your home because I wanted to be on the show.”
“I wanted to be on the show,” I reminded her. “You are making this better. You’ve stayed by my side ever since our night together. Even when things weren’t working out the way we planned.” I rose from the chair and took her into my arms, pressing her soft, curvy body against mine. “We’re gonna find your friend, and stop my brother, these wolves, and their madness, once and for all.”
thirty-two
Lars
“Sweet moon, how did I not know about this?” Hannah clapped her hand over her mouth as we scrolled through the information Marissa and the security team had compiled from the forum chat.
Zoe wasn’t the only fan who’d come to Sunset Springs to go missing.
“I wanted to do this for all the fans. Any one of us could’ve been picked.” She was up out of her chair. “I said I’d make them part of my episode, every step of the way, and now people are getting hurt because they were here to cheer me on. We have to find them.”
“It’s not your fault.” I reached for her hand.
“You’re being hunted and my friends are going missing.” She shook her head. “It feels kinda like my fault.”
I pulled her into my arms and swallowed whatever her next objection was with a kiss that I needed as much as she did. Hannah was so full of life, and at the same time, she let other people stop her from taking the spotlight. I understood it because I’d spent my life living in others’ shadows too. Enforcing my brother’s terrible policies, and then living separate from humans to the point where they were afraid of me.
“I’ll fix this.” And it would be so much easier if I could shift. My human senses were duller than when I was in my natural form. I’d have to use every ancient instinct I had to save these missing women, before my brother and the wolves did something none of us could repair.
Hugo came into the room with a tablet in hand. “We’ve detected some unusual activity on this heat map.” He turned the screen so we could all see it. “The bright red spots show human activity. Usually, this far out in the mountains, there might just be a pinpoint. A hiker, a hunter, or a passing car.”
“Would the map also pick up shifters?” Bibi asked.
