Moon Severed (Mirror Lake Wolves Book 3)

by Jennifer Snyder

  “The numbers match up,” Dorian said as he glanced at a scrap of paper. “Why don’t we head down the road a little farther and see if we can find a place to park that doesn’t look suspicious. We can shift into our wolf forms and cut through the woods lining his driveway after.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Eli said.

  Peter also lived on a wooded lot similar to the one his brother had. Thank goodness. It meant there was minimal risk we would be seen. I thought to press the issue of there not being any neighbors and suggest again we use the time we were given to check the place out in-depth, but I decided against it. Dorian had made his position on that clear before we left.

  A dirt area off the side of the road came into view. I wasn’t sure if it was a turnaround or a place the property owner parked from time to time. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was we had found a place to park.

  The instant Eli cut his engine, the three of us climbed out of his truck and began shedding our clothes. Eli had Dorian stand at the tail end of the truck so he wouldn’t be able to see me undressing. It was a sweet gesture, but one that wasn’t necessary. Dorian had already seen me naked before. The entire pack had the night I became moon kissed.

  Once I was undressed, I slipped off my silver jewelry, ready to call my wolf forth. She was inside me, waiting anxiously to be set free. I felt the familiar heat envelop me as an image of her floated through my mind. Her big hazel eyes. Her soft, fluffy fur. Her tiny stature but fierce spirit.

  She called to me, willing me to step aside.

  Warm air filled with old wolf magic surrounded me. My lips twisted into a smile as I tipped my head up toward the sky, allowing the wind to caress my naked skin. My hair whipped around my face, and I closed my eyes while I waited for my wolf to take shape. When a chill zipped up my spine causing goose bumps to sprout across my bare skin, I knew the goddess of the moon was near. Her magic danced through the air around me, calling to my wolf. My wolf’s howl ripped through the air when the three of us had completed the final phase of our transition into wolf form.

  The familiarity of Eli and Dorian’s wolf presence pulsed through me. Safety, comfort, and a sense of connectedness.

  Eli stepped forward, his large wolf form getting into position to lead us toward Peter’s. The three of us trekked through the woods alongside Peter’s driveway. While it was nice to be hidden within thick foliage, I still preferred the coverage of darkness more. I searched for any sign of neighbors while we walked, but it seemed as though Peter enjoyed his solitude as much as Drew did.

  We made it up a steep incline before the land finally leveled out again, revealing a large clearing with a house nestled in the middle.

  Peter’s house was beautiful. The place was like its own tiny paradise tucked into a thicket of woods.

  The three of us stood still as we took in the area. I assumed Dorian was already taking stock of things on his checklist. Eli was probably doing the same, but all I could do was soak in the beauty.

  An acre or so of land had been cleared out, not entirely, but enough that there were only a few shade trees remaining. A pond that reminded me of the one Alec had taken me to caught my eye. I imagined it was probably overflowing with fish. The house was two stories and green. It had fun angles and a sharp pitch to its roof. The large wooden porch on the front had me thinking of cozying up with a blanket and mug of hot chocolate on a fall afternoon.

  I loved this house. Everything about it.

  My gaze drifted around as I tried to take note of some of the things Dorian had listed. There was no shed, but there was a detached carport a few feet away from the house. A riding lawnmower and shelves with various garden tools were underneath its cover.

  There was no sign of Glenn.

  Glenn.

  At the thought of him, I began sniffing the air, trying to pick up his scent. Damp, wet earth. Pond water. No Glenn.

  Eli nodded to Dorian, and then he started toward the house with a glance back at me. His eyes told me to follow. I did, hoping Dorian would pick up something related to Glenn and change his mind about not wanting to enter the house today.

  When Dorian paused and nodded toward the roof of the porch, I thought maybe he had, but then I realized he wanted us to look at something. My gaze drifted to see what he was pointing out. A camera mounted to the porch roof. Dorian made a noise I could have sworn meant I told you so. If a wolf could grin, he definitely was. There was no doubt in my mind that once we were back in human form he’d tell me again how much of a good idea it was to scope places out before racing in blind.

  The camera didn’t bother me, though.

  I knew we’d have to confront Peter at some point anyway. He had information we needed; information we couldn’t get from anyone else now that Drew was dead.

  I flashed Dorian a look I hoped he would interpret as I don’t give a crap and started up the steps to the front porch. A low growl sounded from behind me, one I knew came from Dorian. He was warning me not to go near the door. I guess he thought I’d walk in even after everything he’d already said. I inched closer, testing his patience. He was really starting to piss me off. Eli let out a low growl that sent a shiver through me. He wanted me to get back too. I listened, but only because I had no intention of going inside alone anyway.

  Eli rounded to the opposite side of the house when I crept down the stairs. I followed him, eager to put distance between myself and Dorian. Again, there didn’t seem to be any sign of Glenn. Either he wasn’t here, had never been here, or the last couple of rains had washed away his scent.

  All were equally possible.

  The only way we would know for sure if Glenn was here or had been was to step inside. Eli knew this. I knew he did. Still there was something holding him back, something allowing him to let Dorian make all the moves. Maybe it was guilt. Maybe he felt horrible for having killed Drew. If that was the case, I understood.

  When we neared the back of the house, I noticed a window resting a few inches off the ground. It had to be a basement window. The house having a basement was good. It gave Peter a place to store things—like werewolves he’d helped abduct.

  I pressed my face to the window and peered inside. At first, I could barely make anything out, but once my eyes adjusted to the dim light inside, I was able to make out shapes. A metal table. Shelving that ran floor to ceiling along the far wall. A chair in the center with thick straps dangling from it. A cage similar to the one Violet had been kept in.

  My heart thundered at the sight of it. I tried to see if there were more beside it, but from the position of the window, I wasn’t able to anything else against the wall. Glenn had to be here, though. This basement was the perfect place to keep him. We needed to get inside.

  I howled and nodded to the window, begging Dorian and Eli to look. If this wasn’t enough to get Dorian to change his mind about taking advantage of our current situation, I wasn’t sure what would.

  Time was on our side, and we would never be given another chunk like today unless another member of Peter’s family died. Since I didn’t see that happening in the near future, my gut was telling me it was now or never.

  Eli and Dorian stepped to where I was and glanced inside the basement window. I imagined them turning around and giving me the go-ahead, so when that didn’t happen, I grew angry. Instead Dorian took off for the woods, and Eli followed close behind him. Not able to comprehend what the hell they were doing, I opted to chase after them.

  Once I reached the woods, I noticed Dorian already shifting into his human form again. Good, it must mean he wanted to talk.

  Even though my wolf was reluctant, I still managed to coax her to the side and let me have control again so I could shift back.

  “Did you see that?” I asked as I struggled to catch my breath from having to force a change so fast. I pointed over my shoulder to the basement window, not caring I was naked while standing in the woods with two equally naked guys. All I could think about was how Glenn might be down there, w
aiting for us to find him. “Glenn could be in there. There’s a cage. I couldn’t see if there were more than one, but there could be. Glenn could be inside one right now.”

  “You don’t know that,” Dorian insisted.

  “Those are similar to the cages we found Violet in,” I insisted as though that proved it. I shifted my glance to Eli, begging him to back me up on this. He had to want to go in there as much as I did. “Tell him, Eli.”

  Eli ran a hand through his hair. “They are the same cages, but I couldn’t see if Glenn was inside.”

  “Which is why we need to go inside to get a closer look,” I said.

  Dorian shook his head. “No. We can’t. We have to stick to the plan.”

  “But we found what we were looking for,” I insisted, waving my hands around wildly as anger and irritation toward Dorian and his stubbornness burned through my veins. “Maybe not who we were looking for, but he might actually be in there. We’ll never know unless we step inside.”

  “There were files on the metal table I’d like to look at,” Eli said, surprising me. He was all for heading inside, exactly as I was. We just needed to convince Dorian. “They might be able to tell us what Peter and his brothers have been doing, or what their boss wants with us. They could prove to be valuable.”

  Dorian leveled us with his gaze. “We are not stepping foot inside that house. We need to wait until nightfall and think this thing through. He had a camera posted on the porch, one on the side of the house, and one facing the driveway on the carport where the lawnmower is kept.”

  I wanted to shout at him. I wanted to beat him senseless. I wanted to scream. Instead I settled for lowering my voice, grinding my teeth together, and narrowing my eyes as I spoke. “None of that matters. Peter is going to see our faces anyway because I am not about to let him walk away from this unscratched. What he did, and what he’s been a part of, isn’t right.”

  “And what are you planning on doing, Miss Hothead?” Dorian asked in a sharp tone. “Bust inside with guns blazing? That’s going to get you killed or hurt someone else. We have to be smart about this,” he shouted as he tapped the side of his head with his index finger, insisting I use my brain.

  “Then what do you suggest?” Eli asked. I could hear his irritation flaring through his words.

  “I suggest we give it another day before we step inside. We come back tonight and see what this guy looks like, if he lets any animals out, if he lives alone. Then we go from there,” Dorian said. I opened my mouth to tell him that wasn’t happening, but he held up a hand asking me to give him another second to explain. “But, I know you won’t go for that. Either one of you. So, I say we come back tonight at nightfall and break in. Now that I know there’s a window we can fit through, we have no need to go in through one of the doors. We still need to be careful, though. There might be a security system attached to the house. An alarm to go with the cameras. Even though I know you don’t care about being seen, an alarm would bring police here, which is something we don’t need.”

  “Maybe police are exactly what we need. They’d see Glenn in there, beaten and locked in a cage. Then we could at least get Peter off the streets without having to take matters into our own hands,” I insisted.

  “No. Dealing with the police is the last thing we need,” Eli said. “Dorian is right.”

  I hated to hear Eli agreeing with him. It made my blood boil.

  “Fine, I guess we just head home, then, and wait until nightfall.” Which seemed stupid to me, but apparently what I thought didn’t matter.

  “Shift back until we make it to the truck,” Eli suggested.

  I gave into my wolf again. It was easier this time because she was sitting there waiting.

  By the time we made it back to the truck, I was so pissed off I could barely see straight. I couldn’t believe we were leaving when we might be close to finding Glenn or at least to learning more about what we were dealing with. The files Eli had spotted would have been useful. Instead we were walking away empty-handed, thanks to Dorian.

  After the three of us pulled our clothes back on, we piled into Eli’s truck again and started for home. Silence built in the cab, but I was fine with it. There wasn’t anything I had to say to either of them anyway. Instead I focused on what I’d say to Ridley when I asked for her help.

  How would I even broach the topic?

  When we made it to the trailer park, I’d decided on calling her and laying it all out there. She would probably appreciate that, since she didn’t seem as though she was the type to beat around the bush. Also, it would be easier. And, at this point, I was all for easy.

  12

  Gran sat at the dining room table when I walked through the door. There was a pad of paper in front of her, and she was scrawling notes across its cream-colored pages. I imagined the notes were about what she’d tried on a Violet. Everything that had failed.

  “Is there any improvement in her?” I asked, knowing Gran would know who I was speaking of without me mentioning her name.

  I moved to the empty dining room chair beside her and sat. My gaze drifted over her perfect cursive handwriting etched across the notebook paper, but from the angle of the notebook and where I was sitting, I wasn’t able to read anything she’d written.

  “No. There’s been no improvement,” Gran said, and I swore I saw her deflate. Her shoulders slumped and her eyes grew weary as a nervous tremor I’d never heard before caused her words to waiver. “The swelling in her ankle has barely subsided, and her cuts and bruises still look the same. Nothing I’ve given her seems to touch this. I can’t will her wolf back. I decided all I can do is try to calm her enough so she might be able to connect with her wolf again on her own. I’m not sure it’s going to work though,” she said as she released a long exhale and smoothed a hand across her forehead.

  “Do you think this is something the Caraway witches might be able to help us with?”

  Gran’s gaze lifted to lock with mine. “I’m not sure. I guess I haven’t thought to ask.”

  “It might be a long shot, but maybe they have a spell to help bring Violet’s wolf back.”

  “It’s a good idea,” Gran said as one of her wrinkled hands reached out to grab hold of mine. She squeezed and my heart overflowed with love for her. “The Caraway witches are strong. They come from a long line of old magic. If there were ever a line of witches to help in this situation, they would be it. The problem is, there’s no telling what it will cost us to get their help. Magic always comes with a price.”

  I understood, but I didn’t think the price they would ask would be any worse than what Violet was already going through. I imagined Violet would pay whatever cost they insisted upon to have her wolf back. Her family too. As her pack, we were part of that family. The cost to connect her to her wolf again was of no importance.

  Gracie stepped into the room. Winston was clutched to her chest. So was his leash.

  “I’m taking him for a walk,” Gracie said as she eyed Gran and me. She knew we were talking about Violet. I could tell from the look on her face. “I’ll be back in a little while.”

  Gran nodded as I stood to get a glass of water. Once Gracie had stepped outside, I shifted my attention back to Gran.

  “I think I should call Ridley,” I said after taking a sip of water. “I’ll ask her if there’s anything her family can do to help.”

  I didn’t give Gran a chance to answer before I started down the hall toward Gracie’s and my shared bedroom. I scrolled through the contacts on my cell until I found Ridley’s number. Sucking in a deep breath, I tapped on her name and put the phone to my ear.

  “Hey,” she answered on the third ring. “How are you?”

  “I’m good,” I said, surprised she knew who I was. We had exchanged numbers a while back but still had yet to text or call one another. “How are you?”

  “I’m okay. A little shaken up, but okay. Shane brother’s funeral was today. Benji asked me to go with him so I did. I’ve never been
to a funeral before. It was pretty nerve-racking.”

  “I’ve never been to a traditional funeral before either, but I can imagine.” I chewed my bottom lip, not sure when I should bring up what I needed from her.

  Maybe this wasn’t a good time.

  “Alec seemed a little down. Obviously. I mean, his friend’s brother just passed, but, um, are the two of you okay?”

  Dread pooled in the pit of my stomach. The last thing I figured we’d talk about was Alec. “I think we will be. One day. Right now, Alec just needs time.”

  “You broke up with him.” There wasn’t judgment in her tone or anger. In fact, it wasn’t even a question but more of a statement.

  “I did. It was the right thing to do.”

  “I figured it would happen eventually. The two of you aren’t compatible. You have another side I don’t think he would be able to handle. Not in the long run, at least. Even if the two of you stayed together, Alec would never fit in with your pack. It’s just the way things are.”

  She knew what I was. I guess I’d always known she did.

  “Yeah, I know. It just sucks it took me so long to see it. I feel like I led him on.”

  “You did,” Ridley said without hesitation. I shifted around on my feet, waiting for her to berate me and this conversation to head south. “I can understand why, though. We all want to be normal, Mina. Alec represented normalcy to you. That’s understandable.”

  I was glad I’d called her. In fact, I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t called her before now, even if it was just to talk. Ridley understood what I was going through, because she was part of the supernatural world too.

  “Okay, enough of that,” she muttered. “What did you call me for? I doubt it was to talk about breaking up with Alec.”

  Straight to the point. I liked this girl.

  “I need a favor. Actually, I’m not even sure if you’ll be able to help, but I’m hopeful. I need to know if you have access to a particular kind of spell, something that might help a pack member who has been severed from her wolf find her way back.”