Page 29 of Malcolm

Malcolm had missed her just as much as he’d missed his land. Morgan had been his older sister, always there to run and hide with him in the thick forest. She’d prevented him from losing his head many times, so seeing her broken and weak at the hands of Damon had been so hard. She had been vibrant and joyful; the next, she had been broken and lost.

She smiled through her tears at him. “I can’t believe how big you’ve gotten. You’re almost taller than Uncle Robert.”

Just as quickly as he’d felt joy, he lost it when his sister mentioned their uncle. “That may be true.”

Hearing the change to his voice, she looked at him in confusion. “Malcolm?—”

“Don’t, I just can’t right now. If I’d known the report was just to bring me back I wouldn’t have accepted the assignment.”

She looked away from him. “Uncle did what he thought was best,” she said, retiring her eyes to his face, her gaze sympathetic. “And I don’t hate him for it. You’re back and I can’t hate that fact.”

“Then what, were these disappearances fake?” he asked a bit exaberated.

“No,” his sister insisted. “There have been five so far, but that was only on our land. We think the same is happening elsewhere but aren’t sure.”

He nodded. “Fine, then I will do my best to find them, but that’s it. I don’t have any intention of attending thea-sgeithefestival.”

“Malcolm, please,” his sister begged, grabbing his hand. “We need you. The older Robert gets, the more other families have been eyeing our land. Not to mention those within our own pack who wish nothing more than to take us backward. You have to be the next Alpha.”

Malcolm pressed his lips together; he didn’t want any part of this.

“Malcolm?”

Turning his head he spotted Eliza behind his sister; she was walking towards him. She’d changed into a long-sleeved shirt with a high neck. She’d braided her hair and twisted it into a bun; her leggings exposed her shapely legs. “Boy, I’m glad I found you. I didn’t think I could get lost, but I did.” Her voice held humor; as she approached, she stopped short when she spotted his sister. Her eyes went to where her sister gripped his hand. “Ah, I’m sorry am I interrupting something?”

He could hear the tone of jealousy in her voice and felt a bit of pleasure at it. It was nice to know she had some feelings towards him other than simple friendship. “This is my sister, Morgan.”

His sister let go of his hand and turned to face Eliza. He could tell from her tension that she was surprised by Eliza and by the way she glanced at him in question. He knew she wondered about Eliza’s significance to him. “This is my partner, who was sent with me to investigate the disappearances.”

“But she smells of—” His sister tilted her head, shooting him a look. He gave a short shake of the head. “Lovely,” his sister finished. She smiled, walking towards Eliza. “As my brother said, I’m Morgan, his older sister.”

Malcolm couldn’t help noticing the awkward way Eliza reacted to Morgan’s attention. She looked at him as if asking for his help, but instead, he smiled and shoved his hand into his pockets. If there was one thing he was thankful for, it was seeing his family again. Even his annoying uncle.

Lanias

Standing on the side, she bit her lip as she watched Eiru perform her tracking. Trying to control the anxiety running through her. It had already cost her time when she’d waited for Eiru’s reply instead of appearing in the woman’s house. Something Oye had spoken out against, very loudly.

So, she’d settled for sending a text message.How human.

Eiru frowned down at the glowing map in front of her. Black dots moved over it like a GPS system; she glanced at Lanias, confused. “It appears Eliza left via plane. She’s now in the human world,” she returned her eyes to the map, and lifting her right hand, she waved it over the map; it morphed from a flat view of the veil and the city beyond to a round globe of the world. The black dot lifted in the air and landed on one of the fifty states. “Yeah, she took a plane to…Tennessee?”

“Tennessee?” Sabina said in surprise, from where she had sat on the sofa in the corner of Lanias’ office. “Why would she go there? I’ve never even heard her speak about the place.”

“Yeah, that’s odd,” Oye said, spinning a short blade between her fingers. “Can you tell if she was alone or not?’

Eiru nodded. “Give me a second. “The globe faded before brightening, and an amber dot appeared next to the black one. She frowned. “Yes, she was with a...” She squinted, leaning closer. “A werewolf?”

“A werewolf?” Lanias repeated slowly, her eyes squinting. Before they then brightened with realization. “A damned werewolf?”

She whipped her angry gaze to Oye. “What werewolf do we know that recently left the city?”

Oye stared at her in confusion before she glanced at Sabina, who released a soft gasp.

“Malcolm.”

Lanias released a curse and turned away, disappearing within the arms of her tendrils.

Working on his laptop, Tiller sat in his office at the Jackals Headquarters, an office he demanded from Raijin, who’d had the gall to tell him that one office was enough for him at the council building. Tiller had little interest in working with the very people he wanted to take down and destroy.

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