Page 91 of Knot Your Possession

I breathed steadily and kept myself focused on the next step, refusing to think about anything beyond that. It was the way I’d coped for the last decade.

“We’re heading back. Tell Max to call Lexie, she has the other satellite phone, and keep her updated. Your signal will drop out in the tunnel. We’ll coordinate with her at the other end,” I said to Nick. Then hustled down the stairs. We needed to marshall the troops.

“How the fuck did you run so fast?” Cary wheezed to Nick. He sounded frustrated. He was a fit guy, but he looked like he’d pushed himself to his limits. His face looked haunted, too.

“Wolf pushed energy at me through the bond,” Nick said as he ended the call to Max and came down the stairs behind me. A look I couldn’t discern flashed across Cary’s face in the torchlight. The bond gave me no clues either. There were too many emotions pummeling me from the others, and his unformed bond was too faint. I didn’t have time to stop and ask, either. I had to trust he would tell me if he needed something.

Luckily, we didn’t have to run back. We got the cart turned around and used it to get back down the tunnel. Pala was waiting for us, guarding the destroyed entrance at the other end. His face was grim. He knew time was now a priority if we were going to get her back before they forced her to become Maven’s omega. Apart from the worrying issue of them accessing Wolf’s power, I could see a genuine concern for Ava in his eyes.

“We did a quick sweep of the Palace and there’s no evidence of anyone else here. It seems like it was a snatch and grab,” he informed me.

“Is there anyone else missing?” I asked him as we headed back into the main part of the Palace.

“No. Ava, Angel, and Nicole are the only ones missing,” he answered quickly. I grit my teeth, picturing not just Ava, but Angel in their clutches as well. My heart clenched. “Inside job?” Pala asked, dropping his voice.

I nodded. Nicole had to have been in on it. I’d had a bad vibe about Nicole from the start, but I hadn’t thought her capable of this. It was a mistake that Ava and Angel were now paying for. If they took Angel, it would likely be to use her as leverage against Ava. To make Ava compliant. And it would work. There was no way Ava would let any harm come to the young omega.

As soon as we walked into the main living area, Lexie dashed for us. “They’re really gone?” she asked.

“Yes. What’s our status?” I asked. She snapped straight into general mode.

“Sadie’s got the Network on the line. They’re waiting for confirmation of a location, but they’ve put everyone on alert. The van is still on the move, and Max is tracking it. He said it’s moving towards where he believes the manor is located. Sam is already on his way to the farm to get the chopper prepped.”

Dammit.Sam had flown Maia and her pack home in the chopper, then driven a dirt bike back here to reunite with Lexie and Pala while Ava was in heat. He hadn’t wanted to waste fuel flying back again because we had a limited supply. But now the only two people who could fly it, Sam and Matt, were here, and the chopper was at the farm. It was a massive oversight that had me grinding my teeth again.

“Hey, I know,” Lexie said, as she took a step closer to me, but didn’t make the mistake of touching me right now. “But these are the cards we have, and we have to play them. I know the delay is going to kill you, but we should get there just after they do. It’ll be tight, but we can do this.”

I just nodded at her. As much as I hated it, she was right. There was no point wasting time wishing things were different. They weren’t, so we’d deal with what we had.

I turned to Wolf. His entire body was vibrating, but he was watching every movement of my body like a hawk, waiting for his next orders. He was our prime alpha, but he had no interest in directing anyone or leading right now. I realized with sudden clarity that his wildness wasn’t an anomaly, or something that would go away. It was a part of him he’d embraced a long time ago, but he needed a counterbalance. He needed me. I was a master at shutting everything down and focusing on the plan. I’d sometimes worried I acted too controlled to be an alpha, as they usually operated more on instinct, but I was what Wolf and this pack needed. Nick was right. Our pieces fit, as if we’d been made for each other.

So I focused on what was in front of me, and right now, keeping Wolf from tearing this whole place down was my priority.

I sent one more thought through the bond, desperately hoping Ava could somehow feel it.

“Hold tight, little bird. We’re coming.”

thirty-nine

Rage,fear,andregretwarred within me, like a seething confluence where powerful rivers met. Outside, my body was still with only the occasional ripple showing, but underneath, my emotions were churning.

They had taken Ava.

All this time, I had watched over her. I hadn’t even known exactly what I was protecting her from, but I’d known instinctively she was in danger. I’d almost tasted it. The air of the Palace reeked with it. Even though we’d freed the Palace, it had gotten worse, not better, since we came back. Now my nightmares had sprung to life, and she was gone.

“Wolf. Outside. Now,” I demanded. I’d always thought this ornate living room was ridiculously big, but right now, it felt too small to contain him. As tempted as I was to let him tear the place down, it wouldn’t help us right now.

Wolf growled at me, but River and Ryder both gave me quick nods. Ryder turned Wolf around and pushed him towards the door. Not flinching when Wolf snarled. Nick looked at me with wide eyes, and I gestured for him to follow, too.

“We’ll be back,” I said to Lexie, before I stalked outside, past the wide stone steps of the entrance.

“Where do you want him?” Ryder asked.

I pointed to a section of darkened wall beyond the garden beds surrounding the entrance and the curved sweep of the driveway. Wolf turned at the wall and watched me approach with the eyes of a cornered animal.

I pulled my dark hoodie off, then my t-shirt, passing them to Nick. Wolf’s eyes turned calculating before they narrowed on me. I pushed against his chest until I had him backed against the wall. I knew he let me. If Wolf didn’t want to move, nothing would shift him.

“Bite me,” I demanded as I got up in his face. His body heat seared me, even through his clothes. It wasn’t how I had imagined doing this, but I had hesitated too long out of fear and now we were paying the price. Ava needed us. To get her back, we needed to be strong, and that meant having all our pack bonds in place. We couldn’t afford any weakness right now. It was time.

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