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“You didn’t tell them, but they have to suspect, so is that why you walked into the woods to find us alone?” He swallows, and I know I’m right. Jai would rather die than admit he’s a wolf or something like one. “How did it happen?” I ask. “You must know.”
“Ferals attacked my house one night. They killed and ate my parents. I survived, but only because neighbours heard the screams and called the police. They shot one of the animals. They called it a freak attack. No one expected me to survive the wounds, but I did.” He stops and watches me hesitantly, but if he wants answers, he knows he needs to talk. “I never changed. I didn’t even know that was possible, and the hunters took me in and trained me, but I always felt this . . . other thing inside me demanding blood. Training helped, but when I got angry or overstimulated, it became hard to hold it back, and that’s why they call me mad.”
“Wolves’ emotions are heightened, especially if changed by a feral. They crave blood and death. Wolves crave the hunt, and they need to work out those natural instincts. If you have been denying yourself that, then you have slowly been driving yourself mad and towards the brink of becoming feral. I don’tknow why you haven’t changed. I have never heard of it. Either you change or die. There’s nothing between. Maybe your will not to was so strong or something went wrong. Either way, there is a wolf trapped inside you, hunter.”
I stand and peer down at him. “You are not human. Think about that. You are hunting your own kind and hiding from humans. They will find out. You’re hated by both your own race and the race you wish you were. You are completely alone, Jai, and nobody will care when you die.”
I walk away, but when I reach the door, his voice stops me. “I know, so do me a favour when you’re done—kill me and put me out of my misery. I should have died that night with them. Let me die, Quinn. Please.”
It’s the first time I’ve heard Jai not only say my name, but also the word please.
It rings in my head as I open the door and head to Jang to report.
I’m unsure what to tell him. Jai’s eyes follow me until he can’t see me anymore, but there is one thing I know—Lucien and Vale won’t be far behind.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Isit upright as someone hits my shoulder. “Vale, wake up. Jai is gone.”
I blink, trying to figure out what’s happening, bringing a worried Lucien into focus. He stands anxiously above me, highlighted by the sunlight streaming through the curtains.
“What?” I groan, rubbing my face. “He probably went to get food.”
“No, his bed hasn’t been slept in and his gear is gone, so is his truck.”
That gets me up. I rush into his room, seeing Lucien is right, and turn to him. “You don’t think?—”
“He went to hunt the wolves himself?” Lucien nods. “The bastard is crazy enough to do so, and he’s been worried ever since he woke up. I think he did. I think he went to track the wolves.”
“Then we need to find him before they do.” I grab some clothes and throw them on as Lucien does the same. I pick up my bag, and we both rush downstairs to our truck. Once inside, I drive out of town.
“Which way did he go though?” Lucien grumbles, scanning the trees on either side of us.
“Check the truck GPS,” I remind him softly, knowing Lucien isn’t thinking clearly. For all his bravado, he loves Jai like a little brother. As someone who protected me when we lost everyone else, he takes our safety seriously.
As do I, but I brush away the concern and focus on logic, on what I can control. Lucien was never able to do that.
“Fuck, I didn’t even think of that,” he mutters as he yanks out his phone and logs into the GPS. Both trucks have them. Lucien suggested we all get one implanted too, and I regret not doing that now. We know it will likely be too late if we are hunting for one another, but we can’t give up hope.
Jai is one of the best hunters in the world, so he has to be okay.
I head towards the forest as he looks, knowing the general location he would have gone since we’ve been looking around here.
“Got it.” Lucien shows me the location, and I nod.
It’s far into the forest, and the roads turn into dirt tracks that throw us around even in our huge truck. I grip the wheel to keep us straight as Lucien presses his back to the door and holds onto theoh shithandle. When we finally emerge from the trees and into a dead end an hour later, the truck is right in front of us.
I pull up behind it, withdrawing my knife and gun. I leave our truck running with the doors open just in case there are any wolves around. We easily fall into formation, with Lucien watching our backs as we head towards Jai’s truck. When I come up alongside it, it’s empty, and sitting in the middle compartment are the keys and Jai’s phone, the idiot.
“He left it behind.” I peer into the forest. “I don’t see any movement.” I touch the hood as we round it. “Engine is cold, so he’s been gone a while. We didn’t go to sleep until midnight. Let’s say he waited an hour or two to make sure we were asleep,then it took nearly two hours to get here. He would have started on foot around four in the morning, and it’s only eight now.”
“You can get far in four hours,” Lucien reminds me softly. “Especially in these woods.”
He’s right. It’s a maze of unmapped wilderness.
Thinking through our options, I peer around. “He’ll head towards rock since that’s the pack name. If you draw a line between here and where we trapped Quinn, the she-wolf, then he’ll be heading east. I say we head that way and see if we find any trails and go from there.”
“And if we don’t?” Lucien asks, looking at me for a moment.
