Page 58 of Shadow Bound

“Touché.”

Can’t really argue with that.

Remington sighs heavily. “What’s the plan now? What are we doing about Noah? He said he’d been gathering friends. Who are his friends?”

Ransom looks at Winslow. “I need to talk to your hacker friend. Now that we know it’s Noah, he can use that facial recognition software he has to track Noah’s movements for the past couple months. I want to know what he’s been up to other than killing innocent women.”

“I still can’t believe he was killing young girls like that.” Winslow’s eyes drift to a gallery wall of framed pictures behind her. Her eyes landing on one that looks like Pruitt and a pretty middle-aged woman.

Something about her catches my attention and I bounce to my feet, moving toward it. I feel everyone’s eyes track me while I move, but I brush off the unease. The woman has light brown hair and delicate features. She smiles at the camera, her bright hazel eyes shining with joy as her arm is wrapped around Pruitt’s shoulders.

Well, I’ll be damned.

I point at the woman in the picture. “This is Addison?”

“Yes,” Ransom confirms, moving closer to peer at the picture himself.

“He’s killed women that looked like her,” I announce. “All of Noah’s victims had similar features to Addison.”

The room goes dead silent and the information hits them like a bomb. It makes sense now. In Noah’s fucked-up head, he was saving them from feeling the pain of losing their future mates and because they kind of looked like Addison, in his twisted way, he was still protecting his mate. Grief is a hard thing to understand.

“Oh god, that’s F’d up.” Remington is the first one to break. A pained grimace on her face. “Noah…” She trails off. “Addie would be so disappointed in him.”

“You said Noah told you he was getting something out of working with Nessa. What could they possibly be offering him in payment for taking us out?” Ranger asks.

“No idea, but he said he was more than happy to take on the task.” Ransom scratches the side of his face. “He’s not the same Noah, I need you all to keep that in mind. Something broke in him and he… everything about him isjust wrong.He’s not sane.”

A wave of determination crosses Ryker’s face. “Doesn’t matter that it’s Noah, there’s a threat to the pack—our family. We don’t shy away from those. If Pruitt is coming home and Noah and Isabeau’s vapid bitch mother are also headed this way, we need to get prepared.”

“I’ll call Gage,” Remington takes out her cell phone.

“Who’s Gage?”

“The head enforcer of the pack and Remington’s new boyfriend,” Winslow answers, a displeased look on her face. Clearly, she’s not a fan of the pairing.

“We’ve beencasuallyseeing each other for a couple months.” Remington rolls her eyes and types away on her phone. “He’ll start assigning patrol shifts with the pack enforcers.”

“We’ll also take shifts.” Ranger nods. “We need as many eyes on the territory as we can get.” He looks at me. “You good to take a couple shifts?”

“Of course,” I answer without hesitation. I was going to do it anyway, didn’t really need to be asked.

“I’ll contact Whisper, get him started on tracking where and what Noah has been up to.” Winslow stands from her seat, looking at me from under her thick bangs. “Come on, I’ll drive you out to the cabin. We got all the new furniture moved in the other day, so you’ll have a new bed to sleep in.”

“I appreciate it, though I don’t sleep much.”

Her eyes widen. “Oh yeah, shit, I forgot the whole vampire thing. Do vampires even sleep?”

“Purebred vampires don’t. My fae side requires a couple hours every few days.” That’s if I’m feeding regularly. I’ve been more tired than normal the past ten months due to my irregular eating habits.

“Is that why you’re able to walk in the sun?” she asks, the interest clear in her voice.

“The sun only affects newly turned vampires, the older they are the more resistant they are to the sun. Nessa can walk around in it with no problem, though like most older vampires, she prefers to live a nocturnal life,” I clarify for her. She only just learned about all this last year. She had no idea she was a witch-necromancer hybrid until she met Ranger. That had to be a rude awakening for her. I’ve always known what I am, and I still sometimes struggle to accept it.

“I know Ryker hates your guts, but I just find you endlessly fascinating.”

“I’ve been called a lot of things, but fascinating isn’t one of them.”

After leaving Ryker’s, Winslow had taken me to her new home like she said she would. For the rest of the day, we talked with Whisper, her hacker friend, giving him all the information he’d need to track Noah. Whisper doesn’t know everything aboutwhatwe all are, but I think he suspects something. He said it would take a couple of days to get all the information we need, which is worrisome since Nessa and Noah are more than likely on their way here as we speak. I’d also walked the territory with Ranger, getting a good idea of where Nessa might try to enter. I pointed out the weak places in their security that I’d found ten months ago when I did my own recon of the property. If I saw them and used them, Nessa will do the same. Ransom had of course come with us. He acted like my quiet brooding shadow all day. I could feel the heat of his eyes on my back, like he was actively trying to burn a hole in me with his glare.

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