Page 128 of Wild Thing

Everything has changed, indeed, since we all moved to Ayana. I like it but am not sure it won’t ruin me in the long run. The Eastside was perfect. Isolated. Ayana is a boiling pot waiting to spill over.

Callie’s face is glowing as she sits in one of our rooms at the medical ward and talks about Kai. That’s all they talk about—each other. No one else exists when they’re together. It’s love like theirs that makes one believe in soulmates.

When she brings up the story of how she drew Kai’s full-sized portrait, I laugh and glance at Sonny Little, who sits on the examination table, his feet dangling—he’s way too young for stories like this.

Sonny is chewing on his favorite potato chips. I’m doing yet another check-up. The kid has never been to a doctor, so he’s curiously studying my hands every time I touch him like I’m invading his personal space.

We still haven’t located his parents and don’t know how old he is. Archer did DNA testing and studied his biological marks, determining Sonny’s age to be nine or ten. The kid seems happy, though he refuses to get a haircut, and his dark hair is still down to his shoulders and messy as ever.

Callie’s phone beeps.

“Kai,” she says, and her face lights up like she just got a present. “Hey, you,” she answers.

But her smile drops right away, and eyes snap up at me. “What do you mean?” She puts Kai on speaker.

“Archer and Katura are missing,” Kai repeats in a tense voice.

“How do you know?” Callie asks.

“Archer was supposed to have a meeting. He never responded. So Slate went to the yacht to check on them. They’re gone. We don’t know for how long. Their cell phones are there. Their Ayana bracelets are cut off, no way to track them.”

That’s what people don’t understand. No money or security guards can protect them forever if someone wants to hurt them. I know that better than anyone.

“Can’t you track them on the cameras?” Callie asks.

“They must’ve been taken out by boat,” Kai replies and exhales loudly into the phone. “Shit. They sent a team to Port Mrei. Raven went to talk to the mayor. But they suspect him anyway. And there’s no way to track every street and house in town. They are about to send a swat team with all the guards who are off-duty.”

“But it’s a big town. They’ll never be able to locate every basement and holding place.”

“They could, but… It’ll take time.”

“Ashlands,” Sonny butts in, his mouth full of potato chips.

Callie frowns. “The Ashlands?”

Kai’s voice comes in again. “Could be. But there’s nowhere to hide there.”

“There’ bunkers,” Sonny says indifferently, chewing.

“What bunkers?” Kai snaps.

“Where the’ keep guns an’ all.”

I exchange startled glances with Callie. “How do you know?”

“I liv’ there fo’ some time. Know places,” he announces with pride like we’re talking about a game.

“Little,” Kai says with urgency. “Would you be able to show those places on a map?”

Sonny shrugs. “Wha’s a map?”

“I’ll be right there,” Kai blurts and cuts the call.

Only five minutes pass before there are loud footsteps in the hallway, then the door opens to reveal Raven.

Uh-oh. This guy…

The first time I saw him, his eyes hypnotized me.

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