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They were absolutely right. We’d just found each other. No fucking way I was giving them up now.
I pulled on my sneakers and a black hoodie and threw my hair up in a ponytail trying to buy myself some time. Pissing my mates off on our first night together wasn’t exactly on my agenda, but if the night called for it, then I would have to do it. Anything was better than waiting up here, where I wasn’t supposed to be in the first place, for them to come back. Injured. Wounded. Gods knew what had been done to them or someone else.
Hell no.
I pulled the door closed behind me then tiptoed to my old dorm room, the one that now belonged to June and Teresa instead of June and me. I listened, putting my ear to the door, but only heard soft, steady breaths and a bit of a snore. Must’ve been June.
I bounced down the hallway, more concerned about getting to my mates than getting caught by the headmistress or worse than that, Ms. Hollis. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen Ms. Hollis or had a run-in with her in a few weeks. I kind of missed her—not.
Scoping out the area where I’d seen the lights, I searched for my mates or any sign of life but found nothing. Damn it. They must’ve continued investigating somewhere else. I decided to make my rounds to see if I could find them.
I did my regular rounds, the ones I took when I went on nightly walks, when June and I used to do that. The night was cold. I put my hood up after a minute, hating cold ears. The silence was deafening and even more frightening than screaming or the bellows of pain. Any of that would be welcome. At least I would know the direction I was supposed to go.
Even worse than the silence, neither of my wolves were picking up any scents other than the normal ones. Someone’s lingering, overpowering perfume, probably a professor or the headmistress herself. The smells of other shifters and stress. The scent of anxiety and worry constantly assaulted my senses. Some of the time it was from me, but the scent sat in the air, stale. No wonder—this place was like a prison.
I took a few corridors, getting more worried by the second. There was no sign of my mates, and, as my feet grazed the grass of the common area, I saw nothing that would tell me anything had even occurred here.
No scorch marks like the other murder or the ones around Daniel’s body. The only light was from the flickering torches around the perimeter of the quarter and the dim haze from the moon above me. I put my hands on my thighs and bent over, trying to get a deep breath.
Goddess, please. Let me find them. Please don’t take them away from me.
A feeling blanketed me from head to toe. Every inkling of doubt was smothered by the weight of it. I no longer cared what I’d been told all my life—it didn’t matter what anyone in the Light Kingdom said or who they told me I was.
Casimir, Adan, Blaze were mine. My mates.
And I’d be damned if anyone was going to take them away from me.
I ducked into an alcove, intent on making some kind of plan. I, of course, had forgotten my phone back at the suite and smacked myself in the forehead for the oversight. I gasped for air, wondering what in the hell I should do next.
I knew this school—most of it. I knew the hallways and the ways through the forest. I’d run them just the night before with my mates. Even the tunnel—I knew where it was.
Focus, Karelis.
I pushed off the concrete wall to start over. Comb every trail. Retrace every step I took.
With my resolve fully intact, I turned to run toward the place where we’d seen the lights, when a pudgy hand slapped over my mouth and nose and hands, so many damned hands, grabbed my arms, legs, shoulders, even ankles, and dragged me backward into the darkness. I tried to scream, fight against them, buck or thrash, but it was no use. They had me.
My first thought: The Light Kingdom finally found me.
Chapter Eleven
Adan
The minute we got outside and approached the location where we’d seen the lights, they winked off. The regular security lighting remained unchanged, but the purplish glow was gone. We continued to go closer anyway, slowly though. No longer any need to rush…probably.
“I don’t see anything,” Cas muttered. “It’s as though it never happened. Shouldn’t there be a body? Or at least someone badly hurt?”
“No, not every time,” Blaze reminded him. “But let’s see if there’s anything left behind. It can’t just keep showing up and disappearing like this without a trace except for a scorched patch.”
“There’s no burn mark.” I bent lower in case I might be missing something. The spot where the lights appeared was just enough out of the main lighting to be cast in shadow. “At least I don’t think so. Anyone bring a flashlight?”
“Not me.” Cas circled around the place. “Is this right, or are we missing it? Shouldn’t there be something left of the last scorch?”
“No.” Blaze shook his head. “They were out here earlier with the pressure washer, so it’s probably the cleanest place on campus.”
We continued to search anyway. Whoever was doing this could not possibly be leaving without a trace. Unless you counted downed students… But we couldn’t find a footprint or a scrap of fabric on a tree…nothing. “On TV there are always clues to find. All those little evidence bags with threads and hairs and other ephemera. If that’s the right word,” I finished when they both stared at me. “You know what I mean. Bits and pieces nobody would miss but that end up solving the whole case.”
“This isn’t TV, brother.” Cas darted into a bush then came out brushing off leaves. “I thought I saw something, but it was just my imagination.”
