I never even considered how it would feel to lose the link with Rig. I’d been out of his arms and out of his sight a few times since we completed the bond, but never out of range.
When he drove away with Natalie in the jeep and twenty minutes later I was alone in my head it almost sent me into a panic.
My scent must have changed, because I was sitting on the couch in the living room, intending to wait an hour before I went to see Meg since it was still so early, and I’d probably wake her up. But Charlie appeared suddenly out of the kitchen, frowning at me.
“You okay?”
It was embarrassing how intimately these wolves knew each other. Of course, I could scent his unease as well, so maybe we we
~ CARA ~I had never wished I could link with the other wolves more than in the moment when I walked out of that dorm with my head spinning, and my sweet friend back in her room still wiping tears off her face.I wanted to pick Charlie up by his scruff and shake him.And Rig too.What the hell were they doing? What had they agreed to without telling me?Why was Charlie treating Meg like she was repulsive?And why hadn’t Rig told me the night before?Charlie couldn’t come into the girl’s dorm, so he and I had arranged that when I was done with Meg I’d walk out the lower side door and into the trees whe
~ CARA ~I woke up, but even when I blinked I couldn’t see anything. Something soft but thick brushed my eyelashes.A blindfold? What?I inhaled, about to call for Rig—was this a game? If so, I could probably get behind it if he let me brush my teeth first—when the scent of the Night Walker hit the back of my throat, and everything that had happened came rushing back. I sat bolt-upright, then winced and grabbed my head, which was screaming with pain and spinning so badly I wondered if I might throw up."You'll want to give yourself some time before you move. You may have a concussion."The first thing that struck me was how warm the man's voice was, as if he was actually concerned for me.
~ CARA ~I could barely hear past the thunder of my pulse in my head.I couldn’t decide if he was crazy, or really onto something—Stephen had said he was a killing machine. That he could beat a wolf one-on-one. If that was true…I swallowed hard. “You want me to believe—”“I want you to think back and pay attention, Cara. I could have killed you, I chose not to. I could have killed any of those dogs that follow you around like puppies—which includes whichever of them has taken you—and I didn’t. If you are mated to the Alpha King’s son, he will kill you. Unless I kill him first. So… you’re here to make your c
~ RIG ~I paced the living room of the packhouse, heart hammering and all my instincts screaming.Dad had her. I knew it. It had to be him who’d taken her. Nothing else made sense. But he hadn’t reached out. Hadn’t threatened me or her. He was utterly silent.She couldn’t be dead. She wouldn’t be dead. I’d know if the bond was severed… wouldn’t I? Fuck. I was going to throw up.And what the hell had he done with Charlie?Fear and rage speared through me, but my head spun too.Did I confront him head on? Just get it over with?Could I win?
SOUNDTRACK: “The Ending” by Papa Roach.*****~ RIG ~I was a mess, my head spinning with thoughts of Cara, fear of what my father was having done to her, and abject terror that I wasn’t wolf enough to get her back.I was upstairs in my room getting ready for the Rite when Charlie scratched at my mind, and my already thundering heart threatened to shoot through the top of my skull.‘Charlie! Where are you? Is Cara with you?!’‘No, Rig. I’m sorry. He got her.’My heart dropped so hard I felt it in my toes. ‘Who? Who got her?’
~ RIG ~Charlie stared at me, half the house still between us. His eyes were pleading and I could feel the ache, the tearing inside him. He opened his mind, begging for me to see…Mate. Meg was his mate.He couldn’t deny it. But he was conflicted.He’d ached for me to come back from our trip, to remove the order, to give him the freedom to give himself to her, then last night I’d been nothing but suspicious. Unwilling to hear anything except that we keep watching her, because in my mind she was now connected to the Night Walker, and he was my father’s man. Or thing.And for the first time, Charlie had fought his own loyalty. Wrestled with it—and overnight secretly determined that he wou
~ MACK ~I was standing in my room, holding Natalie, when we heard the front door go.At first I panicked, pulling her behind me and rushing out with a snarl because instinctively it seemed like it had to be an attack from Rig’s dad, or the Night Walker and…But it wasn’t. The person striding through the door was Rig—when had Rig left? And then, head down and face pale, Charlie followed in his wake.A beaten male. If he’d been in wolf form, he would have had his tail tucked around his balls.I stopped dead in the doorway from the hall to the living room and stared at both of them, feeling the tension in the room.“What happened?”
~ MACK ~Surprisingly, the next he approached was Natalie. I held my breath, uncertain if he was naming her to something or challenging her—this Rite could be used to remove threats, too.“Sister, I stand today for freedom, for unity, and a new dawn. I will take down our Alpha, or die trying. Will you stand with me?”“Yes.” She didn’t even hesitate.Rig nodded. “I stand in my mate’s stead. And she Names you Second. Beta for her power. If she is… is harmed, will you step in for her and call the packs to safety?”Natalie sucked in. We hadn’t expected Cara’s Naming since she wasn’t here. It was the role of the Luna to call retreat at the loss of th