Page 173 of Claimed

“We’ll do a protection spell in case something goes wrong before you can, but it won’t be as effective so please try,” a voice in the background says. I think it’s Jessie.

“Okay,” I repeat and end the call.

***

As I survey the last place my mate stood, where Jared’s RV was parked, my wolf abruptly pushes through. And now there’s a new scent in my nose. Obviously, my wolf instincts are more honed right now, so I’ll be leveraging those.

I know what that scent is. Holy shit.

“You good, bro?” Jase asks, concern etched into his face.

I shift back, saying, “Gotta go.”

“I’ll come,” Jase offers.

I’m about to tell him to stay here, but I can tell by his expression he has every intention of pushing to take my back.

“I’ll drive,” he asserts, and I grab my clothes from the ground while I hand him my keys.

“Need you to stop just on the main road so I know which way to go.”

“The masking–” he starts to say, but I cut him off.

“Although Meadows obviously masked Stacy’s scent as well as his own, my wolf pushed in just now when I shifted abruptly by where Jared’s camper had been.”

“Yeah?” he prods.

“I scented someone else. Someone reminiscent of her and also reminiscent of myself.”

Jase doesn’t say anything at first. And now his body language has changed. It’s sinking in.

“The only explanation is one I’m certain explains it. Despite that Stacy is masked, I’m smelling the scent of our growing baby inside her.”

“Let’s find your family,” Jase says and seconds later, we’re peeling out.

Dani said she and her sisters would do a remote locator spell and call if they’re able to glean any information after I told her I couldn’t participate. Because I can’t wait. I won’t.

“Stop here,” I say and get out. I don’t smell it, so I shift. As wolf, the scent hits immediately and I know which way they went. I run that way, and Jase follows me in my car.

Silver Hills is like a wasteland right now. I didn’t take time to talk to anybody, but Brody and Linc followed me to where Stacy’s scent ended. Brody told me he’s telling these people in afew hours to pack up whatever they want to keep and is renting a couple buses and moving vans to get them to Arcana Falls temporarily. He’ll be working to close the deal on the land he wants fast. Says if they don’t choose him as their alpha he’ll be starting his own pack and will open it up to our waiting list if any of them want to join.

There’s nothing for these people to go back to. Other than maybe some sentimentality, Silver Hills is nothing but junk and shit.

***

We’ve been driving for another hour and Jase is on the phone talking to Joel. I shifted to wolf a few more times and then half-shifted without leaving the car as that was just as effective. But now I can smell the scent trail in this form, too, so I don’t need to keep shifting. And it’s a good thing, too, because when I was half-shifted, Jase said the driver of a passing car did a double take. I shouldn’t be reckless right now around humans, but I can’t be bothered to give a shit. All I care about is finding Stacy.

Jase and Joel are talking logistics on speaker. The Silver Hills folks can be spread out between the clinic, the school, and the town hall. Supplies are being gathered, and shit is being organized to help them out until they can get onto their own land. If they don’t choose Brody as their alpha, that can be figured out later. For now, they’ll be somewhere safer and healthier than where they were.

Joel patches Ty and Mase in and they talk about having Joel liquidate some of our assets so we can loan Brody the cash to finance their property purchase and get things up and running. He has a decent down payment aside, but he’ll need much more than that, especially with all the infrastructure that’ll need to be put into place for all those people.

I let them talk it out while I think about what I’ll do to Wyatt Meadows. The fucker is toast. I’m on fire to reach my mate immediately, because once he realizes she’s carrying my baby the sonofabitch will try to use that to his advantage.

I’m absolutely enraged that my mate has had to endure her fuckface brother when I promised to keep her safe. And I can’t fathom how he got his hands on her with nobody noticing. Once I get to her, I just know it’ll be a hell of a long time before I let her out of my sight again.

51

Stacy

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