Page 16 of Blood Moon
“No,” Cole spoke up before me. “Elle and I went over it this morning. It’s not helping that we naturally hate the shifters, so she’s probably the best to have a conversation with him. He needs to call Nakia and Bren back. A month is too long for them to be gone like this.”
Zac leaned back in his hair. “Let the fuckers go. They won’t be missed.”
“Not helping, Zac,” I said. “This is why I’m going to try and convince Zane. All you guys do is insult him anyway.”
“You think you can handle his little bitchy responses?” Logan questioned. “The guy seriously needs to own up to all this shit. He’s acting like an alpha fairy if you ask me.”
“Stop,” I said. “You guys just do your thing today, and let me see if I can convince him to bring the guys back. We need to consider bringing in that enchantress or shaman to help too.”
“Make sure he’s all in, or that’s just a risky waste of time,” Cole said.
“I will.”
We were all interrupted when we heard Zane yelling into his phone before chucking the damn thing out past the infinity pool and amazingly landing in the ocean surf.
“What the fuck?” Logan stood up while the rest of us followed.
“What the hell is going on out here? Keep your voice down, asshole.” Zac said, reaching Zane before the rest of us.
Zane slumped down into the patio chair, leaned his elbows on the table, and dropped his face into his hands. “This isn’t real.”
“What?” I asked, startled by Zane’s reaction to his call.
He shook his head. “It’s Nakia and Bren.” He let out a breath. “They’re gone.”
“Gone? As in…?” Cole asked. “Talk to us. Where’d they fucking go?”
Zane’s eyes were set ablaze with fury when they met ours. “Supernatural fucking hell? Heaven? Wherever we go when someone kills our asses.”
“Oh, my God.” I held my hand over my heart. “Tell me that’s not true.”
Logan pulled me into his side, obviously protecting me from whatever the shifter was about to do, being this pissed. Braden instantly was flanking my other side like a war was about to bust out at any minute.
“You need to tell us exactly what the fuck you just found out,” Cole ordered. “Settle down and start talking.”
Zane’s biceps were flexed, his hands gripping his coal-black hair, and I could swear I could hear a diabolical growl constantly rumbling from his chest. This shit wasn’t good. All Zane’s stupid idea, and now, Nakia and Bren were…dead?
I felt my legs buckle while all the energy drained from me at the realization that my powerful, yet sweet shifters were gone. Oh, my God. I was filled with mixed emotions. I knew the bond was dissolved between all of us, but shit, they were amazing men. Funny, lively, and only gone trying to get back what we all once had. Now, they were gone?
Zane was going to fucking lose it, and I knew the vampires would kill him if he came anywhere near them or me with a hostile attitude. It would take everything to keep him from dying if he lost it, and by the looks of him, he looked like a bomb that was about to detonate right here and right now.
10
“No one says a smart-ass comment,” I said, feeling my vampires’ pissed-off energy while they silently studied Zane as he stared darkly out at the ocean.
“Fuck’s sake, Elle,” Zac said, looking at me then to Zane. “This is a whole other level of bullshit we all knew would happen. It’s why you want to fucking kill anything in sight right now, right wolf?” he growled.
Zane remained silent, his jaw tightening while he contained his explosion.
“Zane, I’m so sorry,” I said. “I don’t know what to say or—I can’t believe this is real.”
“Ellie,” Cole seemed calmer than I imagined he would be, “We have to find outwhythey’re gone.” He looked at Zane, “I’m sorry, but we have no time for pity parties. What went down, and why are those shifters dead?”
“My contact with that pack told me they believe someone is disguising themselves and running undetected in the pack. Someone’s doing Enzo’s bidding, and they took out Nakia, Bren, and a few others to make it look less obvious,” Zane said, staying as steady as he could.
“Make it look less obvious?” Braden said in a low voice. “Care to expand upon that part?”
Zane wouldn’t look at anyone. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s what we all feared as a worst-case scenario, sending them up to live with a pack for a while.”
