Page 43 of The Alpha's Surrogate

The first time they’d gotten intimate, she’d withdrawn into a shell, putting as much distance between herself and Callahan as was reasonably possible. She had thrown herself into her work, and it took weeks for them to become friendly again.

This was the second time he’d gone to bed with her in his arms, and woken up alone. He wondered if she was going to behave as she had in the past. He hoped that she wouldn’t, but there was no way for him to be certain.

He saw images of his dream, but no real structure formed. He couldn’t put the pieces together, but it seemed prophetic to him. He tried to shake off the fear that was settling heavily on him.

Unlike the last time, he knew that he’d finally gotten through to Josie last night. He’d seen it in her eyes. She was willing to listen to him and give him a chance. There was no reason for her to run away from him now, not when it was so clear how much they wanted each other.

But the proof was there for him to see. Her absence. He took several calming breaths, and then left her bedroom. He wasn’t going to lose his head over nothing. He couldn’t afford to do that, not right now.

He went into his bedroom and got dressed quickly, ignoring how quickly his heart was starting to beat. He went to the kitchen first, and it was clear she hadn’t been there at all.

It was past noon, and she always made a pot of coffee if she woke up first. Her scent was faint, almost nonexistent in the entire room. He felt a sinking feeling in his gut. He had formed a theory but was determined to ignore it. To think about it was to give it life, and that was the last thing he wanted.

He went to her lab with an urgency in his step. He could tell she wasn’t in the room even before he turned the handle on the door. There was no hint of her presence there. The lab was clean and organized. She hadn’t been down there in a while.

His concern turned to worry as he stepped out into the garden. There was no sign of her in the greenhouse either, but he knew that already. There was no sign of her in the entire house. He could search the woods for a five-mile radius and come to the same inevitable conclusion.

Josie had left. It wasn’t like the first time, when she’d simply withdrawn into herself. This time, she’d taken the liberty of fleeing from him. Callahan was confused and worried. He couldn’t make sense of it. Everything was perfect, or so he had thought.

There was no reason for her to keep running away from him. She’d asked him to push a little more, and he’d done that. It seemed like no matter what he did, she was bound to run away from him. He didn’t plan to let that happen, at least not without trying.

He rushed to the front of the house. One of the cars were missing, his favorite. He felt a flicker of hope and dashed into the house. He found his phone where he’d left it eighteen hours ago, on the kitchen counter.

He ignored all the notifications and opened the tracking app. There were trackers in some of the cars, and fortunately, the one Josie had left in was one of them. He found her easily on the map. She wasn’t headed to Silver Peaks as he’d assumed. Where are you going, Josie?

She was on a highway, about fifty miles away from him. He couldn’t catch up to her even if he wanted to, but she was bound to stop eventually. He got in another fast car and peeled off after her.

He knew that she was freaking out. It was to be expected. Last night had been a lot, for both of them, and their emotions were running high. But he hadn’t expected her to actually run away from him. He didn’t mind her freaking out, and he’d rather she did so in their house.

He glanced at the map after he left Whispering Oaks and felt a moment of panic. He was certain that the car had not moved since the last time he’d checked, a quarter of an hour ago.

There were no buildings or service centers close to where the car was parked. There was nothing at all but a long stretch of road between a forest on one side and a grassy plain on the other. It was the middle of nowhere, and Josie had no reason to stop there. Unless…

He didn’t want to think negative thoughts, but a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. She was in that car with his child. He didn’t know what he would do if anything happened to either of them. He stepped on the gas, flying recklessly down the road as the fear grew inside him.

A million things could have gone wrong. It was such a fast car, and so light… No! He admonished himself, there’s no need to think about the worst. Nothing is wrong with Josie. Nothing.

He spent the next half hour praying that the car moved. He wasn’t a religious man, but he besought whatever supernatural powers existed in the world that he would see movement on the map. It didn’t matter how little, just a sign that she was fine.

Nothing happened, and his optimism melted slowly like a fat, tallow candle. He glanced down at the map. She was just on the other end of a hill he was approaching and he would see her as soon as he crested the hill.

He held his breath and slowed down the car, his hands gripping the wheel so tightly his knuckles turned a bony white. His heart threatened to rip through his ribcage and burst through his flesh. He made one final glance at the map as the car topped the hill. His prayers had turned fervent and he wondered if anyone or anything was listening.

The yellow car was a crumpled mess on the side of the road. Metal and glass were scattered on the ground, and dark splotches of blood dotted the green grass. The tires of the car faced the sky, and the car looked like an overturned turtle with a broken shell.

Callahan cried wordlessly when he saw the scene. Pulse racing, he parked his car on the side of the road and ran toward the wreckage. He sensed something off as he approached the car, but he ignored it. He needed to be sure Josie was safe, nothing else mattered to him.

The car was empty. Josie had been in it, alright. Her scent filled the crash scene. Callahan’s knees buckled and he sat heavily on the grass. He stared at the empty car, trying to understand what had happened here. It was likely someone had seen the wreckage and taken Josie to get some help—

What is that smell? The strange scent he had noticed earlier pushed itself to the front of his mind now. It was familiar but in a bad way. It wasn’t a scent he encountered often, but one he had learned never to forget again.

He sniffed the air, flaring his nose until he could taste the odd smell on his tongue. It was revolting and strange all at the same time. He frowned in confusion, wrinkling his nose as he tried to place the scent. Was that…was that were-bears?

***

“Calm down, Callahan,” Fannar said in his infuriatingly calm voice. “How can you be so sure?” Fannar looked him dead in the eyes, and Callahan didn’t see a trace of humor on his face.

“Look, Fannar, I know what I smelled, okay?” Callahan said, trying and failing to keep the angry edge out of his voice. “I know that I have nothing concrete to prove that they were involved in the crash, but I know what I smelled. It was them.”

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