~Kade~
All our business was done. The work had been neglected over the past few months. My father picked up my slack, but there were some things he couldn’t do since stepping down as Alpha. Those things were put in piles awaiting my attention.
My father’s hand slammed down on my shoulder in a heavy gesture.
“Go join your family now,” he said proudly.
My chest swelled with pride at his comment. My family.
“Is Celine with you?”
I rose from the chair and turned to my mother once the mind link echoed in my head.
“No, I handed her to Tracey. They were going to the house to meet up with Layla.”
The mind link went quiet. Mason didn’t speak.
“We have a problem.”
I never thought mere words could put such fear in me.
“What’s wrong?” Mom gasped. Her eyes sunk into her gut before she knew what had happened.
“My daughter is missing,” I growled.
We ran through town, calling on the warriors on our way to the house. Layla passed through the doors and ran down the stairs. Anna was hot on her tail, and Jason rushed through the gates.
“Where is she?!” Layla cried frantically.
“The warriors are searching—”
It took ten. Ten minutes for everything to change. Layla took off, shifted, and ran through the park. We followed her. Everyone spread out and searched the town, the woods, and all the nearby roads.
I picked up a scent as we passed through the west end of the forest.
Ynox ran, zig-zagging past the trees, and followed the trail. Layla was close. She picked up the scent too.
Another wolf came running beside us.
Cara picked up her speed. Her wolf side-glanced at us and then took off through the forest.
We shifted back. I dressed in the clothes from the duffel bag Mason brought.
Cara was still in wolf form, standing huddled over the source of the blood. A red trail in the ground marked the path over which someone had been dragged.
Her head sank. Her leg bent in a bow. I walked around my sister’s wolf to see what she was hiding.
“No…” I fell to the ground next to her crushed body. The blood was pooling around her head. “No, no, no.”
Her arms were limp by the side of her body, and her mouth hung open. It looked like a scream was leaving her lips but never actually sounded.
“You are not dead… You are not…Fuck!” I pulled her to me and cradled her head.
“Holy shit.”
Where’s Layla?
“Behind you.”
I gently laid her down on the grass and turned around.
Clara came running through the woods and shifted when she saw us. Layla’s body flew on the ground, her feet pressed into the ground. Clouds of dust and dirt rose around her when she tried to halt her body.
I grabbed her shoulders. Layla fell onto my chest, and she tried desperately to move me out of her way.
“Where is she? Where is Celine?!” She sensed the blood. She saw the stained patches around our feet, and her eyes lowered to the blood that covered my hands.
“Oh my god,” she breathed and grabbed my hands. “Who…” Layla’s eyes started watering. Her lip trembled, and her pain seeped through the mate bond and consumed me.
Poisonous needles punctured my veins and filled my bloodstream with poison. If this was the pain I felt through Layla, I couldn’t imagine the pain she felt in herself.
“Move!” Her fists slammed down on me.
Her eyes kept moving over my shoulder and toward Cara’s wolf. The warriors were gathering. Everyone followed the trace here. Mason ran up in human form. Danielle and Justin shifted back and dressed.
All eyes landed on the body on the ground. They swept over her. I felt my veins contracting and my jaw clenching. I held onto Layla’s arms and pressed her against me, but with each breath she took, her arms expanded, and she forced herself past me.
Cara’s wolf turned to block the view, but Layla already knew. She didn’t need to see it. She felt it, all of it—very memory, every love, hate and every moment of indifference that would strengthen the moments of happiness. Every moment she’d had with her sister—a memory that would never be repeated. All of it played around in her head at once. Clouds of dust arose around her as her knees landed on the ground.
She clutched her chest, wanting to grab hold of her heart.
I turned and locked eyes with Danielle, who stood bewildered behind the warriors.
With glossy eyes, she turned her heels and walked back.
“I’m so sorry,” Danielle said when walking up to me.
“I didn’t… I didn’t see them.” I looked at Layla broken on the ground.
Something came over her, and she pressed her hands down to the ground.
“Layla?” She stood up.
Her eyes glowed, and Clara was on the surface.
A ferocious growl left her lips. “Where is my daughter?!”
“She’s been taken. Layla, baby, you need to come back. She’s taking over, and you need to regain control of your mind.”
Layla’s shoulder twisted backward. Her arm broke, her leg buckled beneath her, and I realized she was shifting.
It was slowly, every bone in her body breaking like it was her first time.
“Layla?” Her head turned to the side. A painful scream echoed in the woods, and when her head snapped back and our eyes locked, I could tell that she had no idea what was happening.
“Layla! Push her back!”
She shook her head.
“It’s not us!”
Her back hunched against the sky, her spine tearing apart and reconnecting.
“Someone is forcing their shift. It’s not Clara that’s doing this.”
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