Page 54 of Midnight Moon
The Wilds shifter looked like he’d been slapped in the face. His complexion paled. “It’s Ash... I can’t sense him.”
Fifteen
I staredat the blond shifter, unnerved by his panicked expression, but not understanding what he said.
“What do you mean, you can’t sense him?”
Chase’s throat bobbed. “Even in skins, our pack can detect when another one of us is near,” Chase revealed, once again shocking me with the abilities of the mysterious Wilds Pack. “I lost my connection to Asher right when that crash happened”
A fist of panic gripped my chest, nearly robbing me of breath. “W-what would make you lose your connection?”
Chase began to pace, maneuvering around the brambles in his path. “Asher must be unconscious. That’s the only explanation,” he mumbled to himself.
“Okay,” I exhaled. “That’s not so bad.” I’d feared only death would cause Chase to lose the connection to his packmate.
“You don’t understand.” His face hardened. “Asher is the strongest shifter in our pack. Nothing should be able to knock him out, and I do meannothing.”
My brows furrowed. Surely, even impressive shifters could be knocked unconscious if they took a blow to the head, but that wasn’t even the part of Chase’s statement that stuck out to me.
“He’s stronger than your pack’s alpha?”
Chase had been marching away from me. Hearing my question, he whirled around and asked, “What?”
I reworded my question, “Are you saying Asher is stronger than your pack’s alpha?”
The shifter groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m saying that nothing short of a fall from a ten-story building should have been enough to knock Asher unconscious and make us lose our connection.”
Well, that seemed unlikely given our location. Not even the cliffs were that high.
I wanted to doubt Chase’s claim about Asher’s abilities, but I reminded myself they had magic. I didn’t know its limits.
“Then what do you think happened to him?”
“Nothing good. I need to go out there and find him.”
“I’ll help.”
Chase’s pacing ground to a halt. “No. You should stay here. It could be dangerous.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Chase, if what you’re saying is true, Asher is badly hurt. There’s no point in me staying here and twiddling my thumbs when I can be out there searching for him.” And the worrying knot in my stomach wouldn’t let me stay back and do nothing, anyway.
Chase glanced back and forth between me and the surrounding trees before finally sighing with acceptance. “Fine, but be careful. Our opponents must be fighting dirty.”
Knowing the Coastal Pack’s reputation, I didn’t doubt it.
“I promise to be careful.”
Chase nodded. “Meet back here in half-an-hour if you haven’t found him.”
I agreed and glanced at my watch to note the time. Then, I moved left while Chase headed right. Asher had been heading towards the cliff, so I stayed close by, hunched low to ensure I wasn’t spotted by the Moors shifters.
As I ducked around a thicket of unruly bushes, I spared a brief thought about what this deviation would mean for our team’s victory. Almost immediately, I acknowledged it didn’t matter. Some things were more important than winning.
Ten minutes later, I held back a shriek as I almost fell face first into a large crater.
My arms flailed. I fell back onto my butt. My heart raced with fear.
I evened out my rapid breathing, then leaned forward to take in the massive hole I’d almost fallen into.
