Page 69 of Hunted

Dominic nodded, but Luke saw his eyes flicker red with fury.

She’s gone.

Abigail was missing, and no amount of looking around the compound would help them find her.

“We need to question the Crimson Claw wolves. Five of them are still alive,” Dominic said, his voice becoming businesslike.

Luke nodded and they headed back to the front of the territory.

The quiet after the noisy fight was eerie, and Abigail’s absence made it even stranger.

“What was your real plan?” Dominic kicked one of the wolves.

The wolf, in his human form, glared up at them and refused to talk.

Luke sighed and dropped to his haunches.

He grabbed the wolf by the chin and forced him to look at him.

“Listen, I don’t have a lot of patience. Tonight, all I want to do is carve you up like the piece of meat that you are. I want to keep you alive, make sure that you heal just enough so I can pull your guts out and wrap them around your throat.”

The wolf must have heard the sincerity in Luke’s voice because he swallowed convulsively but still refused to talk.

“Okay.” Luke sighed and stood. “Let’s make an example of one of them.”

“Okay, okay!” One of the wolves shouted before they could actually do anything.

“We were a diversion to keep you distracted while a small group of wolves took her.”

“And where were they supposed to take her?” Luke could hear that Dominic was speaking through gritted teeth.

“We don’t know! We were just supposed to be a diversion. If we could take control of the pack, that would have been a bonus. But it wasn’t the main plan.”

“You have to know something!” Dominic shouted, a vein throbbing in his forehead.

In that moment, Luke lost all hint of patience and lifted one of the Crimson Claw wolves by the throat, throwing him against a nearby tree.

The wolf’s body shattered, and the rest of the Crimson Claw wolves winced as they heard his bones crumble from the impact.

“Now, I’m going to ask you again,” Luke said and placed a hand on Dominic’s shoulder. “Where is she?”

“We don’t know!” The remaining wolves spoke in terrified unison.

“Fine. We’ll have to find her ourselves. And as for them,” Dominic said to his betas, jerking his head toward the Crimson Claw wolves, “do what you like with them.”

“Scent tracking is the only way now,” Dominic said quietly to Luke as they stalked away.

“We need to shift,” Luke agreed.

But first, they walked around the territory, looking for any hint of Abigail’s scent.

They found it eventually, along with a trail of blood between two abandoned cabins.

A dead wolf from the Crimson Claw pack lay there.

It’s not Abigail,Luke thought, relieved as Dominic turned the body over.

They followed the trail of blood all the way to the edge of the compound.

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