Page 138 of Without a Trace
My stomach flipped. “Seal it?”
No one answered.
I folded my arms. “You’re going to need to do a hell of a lot better than this. Because if I’m the one you weren’t supposed to bond with—then what exactly was I supposed to be?”
I looked over to see Kane stepping onto the porch.
I blinked. “Nice of you to finally join us. Maybe you can explain what the fuck is going on?”
He didn’t answer—just moved to the empty spot beside me and lowered himself onto the railing, elbows braced on his knees, gaze fixed on the horizon like it held something he wasn’t ready to say.
“You think I’m just supposed to believe this?” I asked, voice tight. “That I’m some cursed connection? That I sealed something ancient by—what—sleeping with them?”
Kane didn’t look at me, but his voice was steady. “You think I don’t want to pretend it’s bullshit too? But I watched the way they came back in this morning. You weren’t just another girl, Scar. You never were.”
Zeke stepped forward, eyes locked with mine, tone flatter than usual. “You really don’t remember anything. From before?”
“From before what?” I mumbled.
“From before. Before the lake house. Before us.”
I held his stare. “I was a kid.”
He nodded once, slow. “Yeah. And then suddenly you weren’t.”
Alden shifted beside him, touching my shoulder. “Your mom kept you hidden. Off-grid. We didn’t know where you were for years. None of us did.”
I glanced between them. “What does that have to do with now?”
Trace stepped forward. Closer than the others. His voice low. “Everything, Scar”
Alden rubbed the back of his neck, glancing toward the steps. “We didn’t find you until junior year. Some glitch in the Order’s tracking flagged your school enrollment. New ID. New location. It hit the system and lit everything up.”
My chest twisted. “What system?”
Zeke answered without pause. “The Order’s.”
“Zeke kept tabs,” Rhett said, softer now. “He always had access. We just didn’t know what the hell he was watching for until you showed up.”
I turned toward Zeke, who hadn’t moved. Still pacing slow, steady lines across the porch like the boards were counting each step. “You’ve been watching me?”
“Not just me,” he said. “The higher-ups flagged your bloodline before you were born. Once you disappeared, it became my job to keep a loose thread on anything that might lead back to you, and when your name surfaced—it flagged everything.”
I turned toward Trace. “And you?”
“I was sent to you,” he said. “They had me transfer to your state that spring, right before your graduation. Told me to get close. Watch.”
My stomach dropped.
“I didn’t know it was you. Not until after,” he continued. “After we met. After the lake.”
Rhett pushed off the post. “We didn’t know the truth either. We were just dumb kids playing at loyalty.”
“And when did it stop being pretend?” I asked.
Trace paced back and forth. “The second you looked at me and I forgot every reason not to want you.”
My throat tightened, but I didn’t speak. Couldn’t.
