Page 22 of Secrets and Ruin

At eleven, Heath stood and pulled out his phone.

“They should be back any minute, right?” I asked, knowing Carey was probably getting antsy in the living room. “They haven’t entered my territory, but I’ll tell you when I feel them.”

“Yeah… I’m going to see what the timeline is. They might have hit traffic, had a flat tire, or something.” Heath started calling one, frowning deeply as I heard the call go to voicemail. I watched him try again, and yet another voicemail.

“Do you think they just won’t answer while driving?” Shamus asked softly. He had his phone out now, calling someone. I heard the voicemail from across the room.

I heard every call the werewolves made go to voicemail. Teagan, Fenris, Jenny, and Carlos. None of them were picking up, and texts were going unread.

“Shamus, Ranger, call everyone in the pack to come here,” Heath said, glaring at his phone. “I want a head count and see if anyone has heard from them. It’s not an emergency… not yet, but we have to be serious. If it’s a false alarm, I’ll take the heat for it.”

“I’ll go to Dallas and check Teagan’s condo,” I said, standing and grabbing my phone. “So you can keep the pack together here.”

“Landon, go with her,” Heath ordered. “In case there’s trouble.”

“You don’t want to go?” Landon sounded confused as he stood. “I have no problem going to Dallas, but….” He gestured at me, stating the obvious without a word.

It surprised me, too. Heath was normally with me on every adventure, heading straight into danger without a second thought. There had never been a danger he hadn’t come with me to face if he had the chance—vampires, rescuing me, the Russian werewolf pack, the fae—time and time again.

Now he was sending Landon with me.

“Do you want to interrogate everyone?” Heath asked in return. “Or deal with the boys when they figure out something is wrong, and Teagan isn’t back when he’s supposed to be? If there’s trouble, I trust you to protect her, just like I trust you with Carey. Not that Jacky needs it as much as Carey.”

That made more sense than I had considered. Heath was the Alpha. I could no longer be the perfect number one. He had to make sure no one panicked.

We weren’t, not yet. For all we knew, phones were dead, left in the wrong bag, or any number of things. They could be on the road and not paying attention or getting lunch before coming back. I knew they weren’t in the territory. I had been waiting to feel them enter, but they never had.

When I left the office, Carey jumped up with a smile. I shook my head and watched the worry enter her eyes. The boys weren’t paying attention yet, too focused on the game they were playing in my living room, but Carey knew me too well. She knew her brother and father better than anyone.

She knew something was going on that was going to change all of our plans.

10

CHAPTER TEN

“What do you think?” I asked Landon as I drove. He tried to fight me on it, but I was behind the wheel before he had the chance to do anything but give in. I knew he wanted to protect me for Heath, but I wasn’t a porcelain doll, and he knew that. I could drive and wasn’t afraid of speeding.

“I’m hoping they’re just running late, but let’s be serious… we’re enemies of Callahan and Corissa. We have no allies among the werewolves, not openly or who would help us. We’re targets to the werecats who dislike your family, and your werecat allies are few and far between.” Landon growled softly. “This is going to be trouble.”

“Agreed. We should start thinking about what kind of trouble, who might be at risk, what the plan is….” I was white-knuckling my steering wheel, wondering if we were going to find all these werewolves alive. Teagan, Fenris, Jenny, and Carlos—four werewolves, three of them capable fighters, and two of them several centuries old. It would be a devastating blow if any one of them was dead.

“Let’s see if we can find them,” Landon said softly, his glare on the road ahead.

I dropped it, but my mind went in every direction. If they were murdered, was it someone trying to kill werewolves, or were they attacking our pack? If they had been taken, why and by whom? Who would help me if I lost a sizable portion of Heath’s pack? Zuri, maybe. It was a bigger risk than just helping me with other werecats. No one else in my family would think about lifting a finger. They had no attachment to any of my werewolves, even if they were comfortable with me and Heath, and I couldn’t even say all my family even liked my choice of fiancé.

We had no allies in other packs, thanks to Heath’s situation with Callahan and Corissa. Rogue packs were considered unprotected by the overall werewolf community, the werewolf version of ex-communication. The only person other werewolves might attempt to help was Teagan, who held a special place in the lives of other werewolves as a Beta. If they did help him, they might do it under the stipulation that he joined their pack and left Heath’s.

I pulled into the building’s parking, specially designed underground for residents and some guests to park. The security knew Landon and me, having our names, and the few other people Teagan was willing to allow in. We saw no trouble, taking a little ticket to say we could stay for up to seventy-two hours without a problem.

Once parked, Landon led the way. I knew Teagan’s building but had never gone up to his new condo. Landon clearly had, not saying anything as he hit the button on the elevator, and we went up, nearly to the top floor.

“Right here,” Landon said, pointing to the door. He knocked, and I hit the doorbell, but after a minute, we got no response.

“Shit.” Landon pulled his keys from his pocket, lifting one. “I got this.”

“Wait…” I reached out and turned the doorknob, anxiety racing through me to find it unlocked. “Don’t need a key.” Pushing it open, I let Landon go in first. I looked up and down the hall before following him inside.

The condo was clean, as Teagan’s home was. We moved slowly, looking over everything. There was nothing broken, nothing thrown around, not a single sign of violence or a fight. Suitcases were in the first hallway, telling me the werewolves never got back on the road to come home.

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