Page 72 of Shadow Bound

“I don’t want to do that.”

“I don’t remember asking for your opinion on the matter,” she repeats my earlier remark, a sassy smirk on her face.Touché, witch. “You’ve had a bad day and you’re feeling a lot of things you’re not used to feeling. So, we’re going to go try our hand at burying those said feelings in ice cream.”

Ican’t decide if the feeling I’m feeling is anger or fear.

She fucking left. She promised she wouldn’t, and the second I turned my back on her, she disappeared.

Beau was supposed to be out shooting with Winslow, but after an hour of not hearing any gunshots echoing through the trees, my wolf alerted me something was wrong. I went to the ridge to look for her, but there was no one in sight. She was gone. Winslow was supposed to be keeping an eye on her, but Ranger’s witch had vanished with her. And so has Winnie’s car.

Where the hell would they have gone? Winslow knows better than to leave pack territory right now, it’s not safe with the looming threat of Noah and Nessa. In my gut, I know that Isabeau can protect herself and Winnie, but the overbearing, all-consuming need I have to be the one to keep Beau safe is clouding all reasoning.

I can’t protect her when I don’t know where the hell she is.

Standing in the driveway in the spot of Winslow’s missing vehicle, I anxiously scrub my face. “See if her location is coming up now,” I order my twin, who is equally stressed out with his mate being nowhere to be found.

Ranger glowers down at his phone, not liking what he’s seeing. “Still won’t come up, she turned it off or something, it’s going straight to voicemail too.”

“Fuck!” I shout, my wolf so close to the surface, my skin is burning as I fight the shift. “I’ll shift—track their scents,” I offer.

Ranger nods. “I’ll come with you.”

Ranger isn’t slow, he also isn’t bad at tracking, but I’m faster and I’m better. He’s going to slow me down, but I don’t argue with him. Our girls are out there. He’s not going to stay back with her missing.

“Fine.”

I’m imagining the worst-case scenario. They left the safety of pack territory and were snatched up by our new enemies. They could be hurt or dead right now. The sight of Noah’s knife in Isabeau’s neck in Colorado replays in my head, making my blood boil with anger. I never thought I’d wish the man I’d looked up to as a leader for most of my life a brutal death, but I want Noah dead. And right now, I want to be the one who does it. I want him to know what it felt like for the women he mutilated, and just like them, I want him to know he’s dying. I want him to choke on his own blood, slowly suffocating as the life leaves his body.

And if he touched Isabeau, I’m going to skin him alive with my claws.

The shirt I rip off just barely lands on the ground when the sound of a car coming down the gravel driveway has me freezing in place. The second I spot her sitting in the passenger seat, my raging wolf relaxes, the mere sight of her is like a pacifier for him. Her presence is the calm I’ve never had, but always desired.

She’s always so good at controlling her expression, but when she meets my eyes, the flash ofpainthat crosses her beautiful face is so blatant and out of character for her.What the hell?She’s looked at me a lot of ways, but never has she looked at me like I cause her pain.

My wolf whimpers, not liking it.Yeah, buddy, I don’t like it either.

Ranger is flying to the driver’s side, tearing the door open to get to his mate before Winnie has even put the car into park. My feet are dragging me to Isabeau’s door before I even realize I’ve moved.

When I open her door her icy gaze crashes into mine, the pain that resides in her eyes is like a punch to the gut.

“Where the fuck have you two been?” I couldn’t keep the rage out of my voice even if I tried.

As if they practiced their response, the two women answer at the same time.

“We got ice cream.”

“Ice cream.”

Each of them holds up their half-eaten cups of dessert.

“Wanna bite?” Winnie waves hers in Ranger’s face. “It’s chocolate, your favorite.”

An angry growl is Ranger’s only response.

I haven’t taken my eyes off Beau. Something is different about her—something has broken in her—since I saw her last this morning. That strong exterior she’s built so high around her has visible cracks in it right now, like something big hit against it repeatedly and it’s starting to crumple. “What hap—” I start to ask, but don’t finish because suddenly the scent hits me like a freight train and any other thought evaporates from my head.

In a flash, I’ve got her seat belt unbuckled and I’m lifting her out of the car, she struggles against me, but the fury I feel inside is making me strong as I manhandle her out of her seat. Placing her onto the gravel ground, I scan her body, looking for the source.

“What the hell, Ransom?” she shrieks, when I start pulling at her shirt, lifting it to expose more of her perfect porcelain skin.

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