Page 279 of His Sunshine Baby

“I just checked the CCTV. It’s Chris. He opened her cell, and… he’s missing too.”

I can’t believe it! I keep watching it over and over, but it’s the same. The video in black and white, despite the poor quality,clearly shows Chris and Iris talking for a long time, before he opens her cell door, and they both flee out of the camera’s range. I nervously bite my lip, annoyed.

Why the fuck would you do that, Chris? Why? Why now? My anger is so palpable, everyone is keeping a safe zone of a few steps away from me.

“How come no one was able to fucking track them?” I growl.

“I sent people, Elena, but they crossed the border right away, we had just noticed they were gone. By the time the clinic told me, and I told the patrol, they were already way ahead of us. I did send some people after them, but you don’t want anyone stepping outside our territory, so…”

I sigh.

Our protective measures are made so that no one would get caught and killed outside of the protective barrier, but I didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to go past it and run away! I don’t understand what could have happened. My cousins’ whereabouts are unknown, and I hate it. I can see why Iris would escape and leave, but Chris? Did she persuade him? Despite him finally agreeing to talk with her, I didn’t feel their relationship improved much. Why would he follow her? He was reluctant to go and see her again but still went. So, what happened?

“Do we send people after them?” asks Levi, the only non-alpha not terrorized by my fuming aura.

“No. I stand by my words, no one goes out.”

We don’t need more people getting killed by venturing outside. It may look like everything is peaceful, but I’m pretty sure some damn blood-suckers are just waiting for our kind to step outside of Sylviana’s protective barrier.

Next to me, Liam, who came along, takes out his phone with a frown, and lets Sylviana know about the events in a few sentences. When he hangs up, he looks annoyed.

“Yeah, no good at all. She can’t do anything about people leaving, and more worrying, her barrier keeps vampires and witches from crossing over. Werewolves are free to go in and out though. And she did feel your cousins run outside a few minutes ago.”

He scratches his head, looking at the screen.

“Sorry, Elena, but… your cousins are on their own.”

Which means they could get killed at any minute! I take a deep breath. If they are not too far away yet, I still have a chance to mind-link them.

“Chris? Chris! Iris!”

I can feel both of them. It’s faint, but I feel my cousins, in their wolf forms, far away from me. However, they either can’t hear me or won’t listen, as neither respond at all, no matter how much I try to call them. I keep forcing it, to the point I’m really growling, and other people in the room have to look down.

Then, I lose all contact. I can’t feel them anymore. Either they are now really too far, or…

“Elena?” asks Liam, visibly worried.

“I need to talk to Nora and Damian,” I growl. “Nate, too.”

He nods and follows me outside of the building. We hurry. This is not good, and we need to sort this mess out quickly.

“Elena! What do we do?” asks Levi, coming out the doors behind us.

“Nothing!”

I climb behind Liam on his bike, and we ride out of the White Moon territory. Why do I have such a bad feeling about this? Something’s wrong. Not just my cousin’s sudden departure, but my werewolf instincts are going crazy.

Suddenly, Liam stops the bike, in the middle of several buildings, on the side of a large crossroad, taking off his helmet.

“Liam, what’s wrong?”

“You don’t smell that?” he asks.

Smell? Holy crap, he’s right. I didn’t notice because I had the helmet on, but the air reeks of blood! We both get off his bike, looking for the scent’s origin. The smell is so strong, it’s horrible, and even worse to imagine where it is coming from. We keep looking around until I have had enough. I try to find any nearby wolves to reach out to. We can’t possibly be the only ones smelling that.

“White Luna!”several voices answer.

“Do you smell that?”

---