Page 4 of Into the Dawn

“When did he tell you?” I ask, still suspicious, frowning as the sky and my mood start to darken. The pale orange and pink sky turns to vibrant oranges and reds, bathing the treetops in an amber glow. “And when did you tell Jed about it?”

If Vanessa was sitting beside me instead of tied up in the back, she’d love this sky. It’s beautiful, like a fire burning across the treetops.

“Years ago,” she says cryptically, attempting to avoid giving me a straight answer.

A laugh of disbelief bursts from me before I can stop it, and I shake my head. I don’t know why I’m pushing it. Maybe it doesn’t even matter. Just that it’s there, and connects her clan to our territory. A way for someone to sneak in and out that John kept secret.

“Do you really think being vague is going to be enough to shake me off your tail? When, Vanessa? Six years ago, three months ago, last week…”

I can hear the blood rushing through my veins as I listen eagerly for her reply. This is what we've been searching for: some answers, at last.

“Just before the girls started going missing.” Her voice drops. “I told John when one of the girls went missing near there. I toldhim that Jed used to go for these… long runs, with a new friend he made in Sutton. And then… John was just gone.”

So Scott had a friend.

Even though I knew it was coming, hearing her admit that John didn’t just get lost in the mountains, that he didn’t just collapse and die out there like everyone said, is validating. He figured out who was using the caves, and he paid a price for it.

Evan and I spent months searching the hills every chance we got. We would have found him if he were dead. He couldn’t have just disappeared without a trace.

“Where is he now?” My voice is barely more than a growl as the idea of someone taking John, manhandling him, hurting him, sets my teeth on edge. He’s human. Fragile.

My beast is furious. He wants vengeance.

“I didn’t know they had him, I swear. But then I picked up his scent one day in one of the outhouses and confronted Jed about it. They kept him there for a few days but moved him before I could sneak in.”

Her words are like a knife to my heart. She had weeks to find a way to tell me. Or even to get in touch with Evan, if she really didn’t want to talk to me again. But she kept quiet and left us to agonise and mourn a man we believed never died in the first place.

“Do you hate me that much?” I whisper, my fingers wrapped around the steering wheel, needing something to hold onto as my world tilts on its axis. “You knew he was alive, and you even knew where he was, yet you didn’t get word to us?”

Vanessa lets out a pitiful sob. “They were watching my every move. And as soon as Jed realised I knew, they moved him. And I have no idea where. I wanted to be able to tell you more than where he used to be. I’ve been trying to find him again ever since. Or at least figure out what they did with him.”

If he’s dead, is what she’s trying to say. She doesn’t know if he’s still alive but that doesn’t mean he’s dead.

Closing my eyes, I fight back the wave of despair creeping over me. It's dark presence wraps around me, trying to pull me down into the depths with it. My beast wants to be let loose, to hunt Jed down and destroy him. I’ll let him soon, but I need to find John first. I won’t give up.

“I find it hard to believe you knownothing.” My tone is chilly. At this moment, Vanessa isn’t my mate, or my former best friend, she’s just the person who’s been keeping valuable intel from me. And I’m pissed.

Vanessa’s clearly not in a good mood, either. Her words drip with sarcasm as she responds to my accusation.

“You’re right, Ben. You got me. All this time, I've been John’s trusted guard. Even though my family knows that I was head over heels in love with you, they decided that I was the best person to keep him prisoner.” She sighs. “Use your brain, Ben. Eventhey’renotthatstupid.”

I scowl at her snarky tone, even as my insides twist at her saying she loved me. I used to think she did, but I’m not that naive anymore.

“He’s not dead,” I say with more conviction than I feel. “And you never really loved me, Vanessa. Otherwise we’d still be together. That's how mates work… if you give a shit about anyone but yourself, that is.”

It still stings. More than stings. It cuts down to the bone. I clearly loved her far more than she ever cared for me. I can still feel the total and utter devastation when I realised she wasn’t coming. After all our careful planning, she wasn’t running away with me. She stood me up and it crushed me.

“I don’t think he’s dead either,” she says in a small voice, choosing wisely not to get into a debate with me about the demise of our relationship. Because she doesn’t have a leg tostand on. “Jed would have rubbed it in my face if he were. There’s no way he’d pass up an opportunity to torment me.”

Frustrated, I pound the steering wheel with my fist. It’s getting dark, which means another night of waiting, another day that John spends locked up, god only knows where, enduring all sorts of misery. All because I didn’t look hard enough, and Vanessa was too scared to tell us what was going on.

“Jed will kill me if he finds out I told you.”

Nodding to myself, I have to acknowledge, she’s right. They’re horrible people, bad right through to their cores, and bringing Evan and me to their doorstep would be a step too far. They’d end her life for that betrayal, family or not. My beast’s innate protectiveness kicks in. In his eyes, she’s still her mate. He won’t do something to cause her harm.

“I’ll talk to your dad. Arrange a swap. He doesn’t have to know.”

Vanessa laughs. “If you think they’ll give you John for me you’re sadly mistaken.”

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