Page 127 of Theirs to Crave

Together we followed their mingled scent trail. As we neared thea’aunaglade, my tail flicked with abashed amusement at my own worry. I should have guessed Zaf would take her there.

But when the glade opened before us, it was silent and empty.

Revik growled.

I felt like snarling too, but I pushed it down. We didn’t need anger now. We needed to find our loves.

I caressed the bright blaze of pale fur on his chest and pressed my forehead to his for a moment, then we broke apart and began searching for any sign that might tell us what happened.

There was a hollow where they’d sat for a while. I tilted my head. The scents split, Estrayuh’s becoming muddy and faint, while Zaf’s—

“He went this way, through the trees,” Revik said, his tail lashing. He didn’t need to say anything else. We took to the branches. Zaf’s scent—sharp with anxiety—pricked at us until we were running, our bodies stretching in tandem.

Estrayuh was uneasy in the trees. Zaf wouldn’t have taken her this way if he’d had any other choice. If hehadn’ttaken her...No. That was not a thought I’d allow to root.

A noise ahead. Zaf’s scent, and another’s. He was coming this way.

“Zaf!” I called out, relief almost making me stumble.

“Litha?” There was a rustle, then Zaf came into view, leaping to crouch gracefully on a nearby branch.

Tsalot clung to his back, the tall boy wrapped around him with both legs and one arm. He whimpered softly as they landed, his body held tight.

Other arm is probably broken, I thought.

“Where is Estrayuh?” Revik demanded.

“She wasn’t among thea’auna?” He shook his head, frustrated at the obvious answer. “Tsalot fell. We heard him cry out. Estrayuh insisted I go to him.”

“I’m sorry,” the boy said. “I should have been more careful.”

Zaf patted his arm, but his mind remained focused on Estrayuh. “She promised to wait.”

“You left her alone?” Revik’s voice whipped out, jagged with a snarl.

“Revik!” I hissed, as both Zaf and Tsalot winced, guilt lowering their ears.

He growled, pacing away to swipe deep gouges down a tree trunk. Prowling back, he pressed his forehead to our mate’s, and then to Tsalot’s. “I’m sorry. I spoke without thought. You are not to blame for what happened.”

“Whathashappened?” I thought aloud.

“Could...could ava’grevhave...” The boy trailed off, looking deeply uncomfortable.

“No, we would have seen the destruction of its attack,” Revik said. “Would have scented it.”

Unless Estrayuh had left the glade and been attacked elsewhere...but that didn’t explain how her scent disappeared.

A terrible suspicion grew within me, wrapping tendrils around my heart and squeezing. I forced calm into my voice. “One of her kin must have found her,” I suggested, the smile I gave Tsalot brittle and false on my mouth. “She’s probably waiting for us at thelenvang sounga. We should go. She will be worried, as will your mother.”

I twisted, leapt, and streaked towards our gathered kin, leaving behind the disbelieving faces of my mates and Tsalot’s relieved one.

A few moments later, Zaf and Revik caught up with me. From their grimly determined expressions, I was fairly certain we’d come to the same conclusion.

Someonehad found Estrayuh. Someone had taken her. It had been planned—they’d used a scent blocker to hide their identity and to keep us from following. That was why her trail just stopped.

Saytireka was behind this. I knew it. I just didn’t know to what extent—or what her plan was. Spirits, please let us not be too late. Let her not have gone that far into the darkness.

I glanced at Zaf, whose eyes were narrow slits burning with rage and pain, and terror pushed me to greater speed. He would not survive such a betrayal by his own mother.

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