Page 28 of Mated to the Pride

I frowned, poised in front of her door. Down the hallway, a group of three uneasy North men looked back at me. The tension had been sharp enough when we had just decided to tell her the truth this evening; now, this silence behind the door was more than we were equipped for.

“Should we go in?” Preston suggested. “Is that invasive? Shit.”

I knocked again, a little louder this time. “Jessica. Are you okay in there? We’re worried about you.”

When she didn’t answer this time, I decided it was time. I glanced at Hale to be sure, waiting for his approving nod before I tried to open the door. It swayed open with almost no pressure at all — and showed us an entirely empty room behind it.

Stone didn’t wait a second to start looking around the cabin. “Jess?”

“She said she was going for a nap,” insisted Preston. “I swear that’s what she said.”

“She couldn’t have gone far,” I said, comforting myself as much as him. It was true, after all. She didn’t have a vehicle or shifter speed; if shehadleft the cabin, it was impossible for her to be out of our range. She wouldn’t be unsafe for long — not on our watch.

Now it just remained to be seen why she’d left in the first place. Frankly, that almost concerned me more than the fact of her absence. Whatever had been off about her for the past few weeks had either gotten badly worse, or morphed into something much more dangerous. Should we have revealed the truth to her sooner? I wasn’t sure. I still wasn’t convinced that it would make things better and not worse, but we had to try.

“Scent outside,” Stone called. Without waiting, we all followed him outside. I could feel a sense of dread mounting between all four of us — not least because Jessica’s scent wasn’t the only one we detected on the wind.

“Alright,” I said. “Stating the obvious, but spread out. Find a trace. We follow as soon as we’ve got a firm direction. Use whichever form is most suited; this is no time to be shy about it.”

“Just don’t scare her,” Stone pointed out, and I nodded my approval.

“Right. Four lions sprinting at her full speed is not going to help the situation, so let’s bear that in mind. Otherwise, just stay in contact. We’ve trained for worse.”

There was no time to waste on a long monologue, and we all knew it. As much as we’d like to believe Jessica was somewhere safe out here, the reality was that therewasno safe place in these woods. Over the days and weeks, the traces of their overconfident brethren’s corpses had stopped scaring them so much. While they hadn’t tried attacking the cabin again just yet, they seemed to sense we were getting close. Seemed to be circling in to try and intimidate us.

It would be easy for Jessica to walk too far from the perimeter of the cabin without realizing it. Last week, Hale had spotted them within sight of the walls, and—

“Here,” Preston called. I followed the sound of his voice, shifting to whip through the dense shrubbery and old tree-stumps that peppered the ground here. As soon as we were all there, he sensed us and nodded down at some scuffed footprints in the dusty dirt. “Looks like a struggle. I’m pretty sure that’s her footprint over there, leading up to it.”

Is there a scent?I asked

Over here. Hale tossed his head, drawing our attention to a fresh pathway that had been hacked unceremoniously through the undergrowth.Same iron they use for their weapons. Hint of her perfume. This is it.

Go ahead, I directed — but the order was unnecessary. Already, all four of us knew what to do. Preston joined us in his paws, running at full speed through this hacked-up walkway through the woods. Figured that they wouldn’t respect the nature around them any more than they respected human life.

Or shifter life, for that matter.

It didn’t take long to realize that Hale was exactly right. The metallic tang of their weapons grew stronger at every hacked branch, and every time the breeze blew back our way, it carried a hint of Jessica with it. We were heading the right way.

We’re coming, Jessica.

We slowed to a quieter pace as a group, falling back into the thick woodlands to avoid being seen. A minute later, we heard voices. Heads lowered, the deep sandy color of our bodies kept us coolly camouflaged against the dirt and dust — blended in by shadow. We would have to be careful, but with luck they wouldn’t see us until we were right up close. Until we could overtake them in a heartbeat, and make sure nothing happened to Jessica in the interim.

It was difficult to know, in the heat of the moment, whether I’d made the wrong decision in bringing her here. This clearly wasn’t a safe environment, as much as we had tried to make it one for her sake. Of course, if we hadn’t hired her, we may never have met her, and the thought of that alternative was a sharp stone under my paw — but I also couldn’t bear the guilt of having endangered her like this. If anything had happened to her…

Hey, Hale said, pressing in. Gone was the lighthearted teasing of his usual in-mind interruptions. Now, he was all business.You’re beating yourself up. I’m not looking; I can just tell. We’ve got this, okay? We’re going to find her.

We have to.I tossed my head, slowing my pace as the scent got closer and closer. We had reached a part of the woods we hadn’t scooped out yet, with the trees packed in close together and the floor thick with discarded leaves and needles. Visibility was low here. They’d picked a good spot.

Alright — standard formation. Ears open. You all know the drill.

At my command, the four of us fell into our places like the well-practiced unit we were, neatly diverging off in our separate directions without the need to hesitate or ask questions. Most of the time, this made our paramilitary work a lot easier. Right now? It just might save our One Mate’s life.

We heard their voices as background humming at first — sharp arhythmic buzzing that sounded like nothing in particular. As we got close enough to make out individual words, the pitch changed. Another voice.

Her voice.

Easy, I said, warning myself as much as the rest of them.Hold formation. Don’t rush in.

---