by JJ King
The sound of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Give it Away Now” rang out through the room, muffled but still loud. Anthony looked around for his jacket and found it hanging over the back of the chair he’d sat at while playing poker. He jabbed Ronan in the side as he jumped up to answer it.
“Don’t take my spot.”
Ronan immediately took his older brother’s spot on the couch.
Anthony pulled a sleek Blackberry out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. He frowned then put it up to his ear.
Katherine was barely paying attention to Anthony, not wanting to eavesdrop. She heard him inhale sharply and looked over, alarmed instantly by the expression on his face.
Anthony’s eyes seemed to go completely black for a second then all the color left his face and he dropped the phone and looked like he was going to throw up. Just as quickly he recovered, his entire face flushing blood red, and he scooped up the phone and barked orders as he ran toward the door.
Everyone reacted quickly. Ronan jumped up and vaulted over the back of the couch to grab Anthony before he could rush out of the house with no explanation. Anthony ripped free and looked around wildly. Katherine recognized the expression in his eyes. She stood and took an involuntary step forward, her hand over her mouth to hold back what felt like a panic attack.
“He killed Derek and took Rachel. He took Rachel and he has her out there, and I have to find her!”
Katherine reached behind her for Quinn’s hand and squeezed it hard. Her heart was racing inside her chest and, despite her earlier confidence in her acceptance, she felt the fear threatening to wash over her again and take her under. “Raphael?” She gasped out his name like she was choking on bitter weeds and tried to fight hyperventilation. Quinn’s arms came around her like a protective vice.
Anthony shook his head furiously, his eyes completely wild, “No, the hunter. It happened in the city. Sarah saw it happen but she was shot and couldn’t stop him. He took Rachel. Why would he do that?” He looked toward the door as if contemplating making a run for it but then took a deep breath and looked back at his family.
“He has to know,” Ronan spoke directly to Anthony in a soft voice. “It would be a guaranteed way to get you out in the open. He knows she’s your mate.” All at once, Ronan sounded afraid and Katherine knew he was thinking about Anna. He rounded and stared at Pierre, “That means none of us are safe. He has to be killed now.”
Pierre’s voice was gruff when he spoke. “She’s your mate? Why didn’t I know?” He ran a hand through his hair, sticking it on end, and sighed. “Sorry, sorry, that’s not important right now. Ronan is right. The hunter must know who we are and who we know.” He looked at Katherine in horror, “Maxwell.”
Katherine shook her head. The desperate terror that had been threatening was now receding and she found that she was able to think again. Her need to help Anthony outweighed her fear of Raphael and her grief over Maxwell’s death. “Maxwell was a direct hit on this family. He was way too peaceful to have accidently gotten mixed up in anything bad. It just doesn’t make sense. I haven’t been with Maxwell for close to fifty years.” She bit her bottom lip hard, not wanting to continue. “There’s one possibility that makes me sick to say. There could be someone working for him, some member of the pack is supplying the hunter with information on us.”
The only sound for a few seconds was Anthony’s ragged breathing.
“Why would the hunter trust a wolf?” Teagan stepped forward from the corner where he’d been sitting quietly. “And what would drive a wolf to ally with a hunter?”
Anthony pushed Ronan’s hand off his shoulder and looked to Pierre. “I have to go, Dad. Please, just let me go. If she dies…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.
Katherine looked to Quinn, raised an eyebrow in question and then smiled grimly when he nodded yes. “We’ll go with you.”
In less than ten minutes they were on the road heading back into Montreal with a contingent of wolves and a lot of weapons. They would meet up with the trackers already in the city as soon as they arrived and set a grid.
Katherine couldn’t help but think about how big Montreal was and how hard it had been to catch even a trace of the hunter the last time she’d tracked him. She had found Quinn instead.
She glanced over at him while he stared out of the back window of the Hummer next to her, his expression dark. She sent a silent thank you to the Old Ones for having found such an amazing man and then begged their blessing for this new hunt.
Chapter Twenty Two
Twenty-three of the pack’s best trackers were waiting for them when they arrived in Montreal.
Katherine took in the old warehouse where they gathered and assessed the group as a whole. There was a nearly overwhelmingly awkward silence being shared subconsciously between the wolves. It was delicately layered with threads of deep grief and fury as though those emotions were too strong to vocalize or even register. Katherine’s mind, now open to her pack, buzzed with the unspoken response of her kind and added its own confusion to the mix.
She focused her scrutiny on the building, leaving the emotional mélange for others to decipher. It was located in the old section of the city, near Vieux Port, her favorite haunt when she was in town. The building itself was in poor repair, its walls crumbling and decrepit, well deserving of the condemned sign that hung just outside on one of its fences. Pierre had purchased it only recently and hadn’t yet started demolition, which is why the trackers had been using it as an informal meeting site for months now.
It was in this building that Rachel had been ambushed. The hunter had followed her and fellow trackers back and used the numerous hiding spots to overtake them when they were taking a break from their work. It was here that Derek had been left to die alone while Sarah ran for help.
There was almost a tangible taste of death in the air here. Katherine breathed deeply, taking in the scent of her fallen peers and committing to memory their murderer’s scent. It was exactly the same scent as what had remained on Maxwell’s severed arm. Her stomach curled and her heart ached.
Anthony looked ten years older when he climbed onto an old crate so he could be easily seen and heard. Her heart thrummed for him when she heard his voice, so flat and dead. She knew that he was trying desperately to hold onto some measure of hope that he would see Rachael again, but she also knew that it was extremely hard considering.
“The hunter was last seen leaving these premises with Rachel Benoit at approximately 1700 hours. She was last seen alive,” his voice broke for a moment and Katherine had to hold herself back from rushing to his side, “but she was unconscious from a blow to the head.”
He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up so that it stood on end, and it reminded Katherine of their father. Anthony was so much like Pierre, so strong and able on the outside while remaining deep and feeling on the inside. She closed her eyes and offered another prayer to anyone who would listen.
“We will be heading out in the usual search pattern in groups of two. Everyone, and I mean everyone,” he boomed this last bit out with a glimpse of the anger he must be feeling, “will leave their radios on at all times, no exceptions. Tania and Goose will remain here and monitor everyone’s progress then relay the important stuff to me. Do you understand?”
There was a resounding yes from the group who immediately began to form small groups and congregated around a map of Montreal that was overlaid with a circular grid pattern they would be using. Each group was assigned a point. She and Quinn were assigned an older section of town near Mount Royale that she knew well.
Quinn handed her a small black radio tuned to a channel only the trackers would be actively using. His hand brushed hers as he dropped the electronic device into her palm and she felt a tinge of electricity pulse through her. Her eyes darted up to find his, staring at her. She smiled and pushed her face into his shoulder, taking comfort from his presence and his warmth.
He threaded his fingers through hers and t
urned to approach Anthony and Ronan, who was acting as her oldest brother’s second in command and partner for the search.
“I love you.” She spoke to both of her brothers but looked at Anthony to make sure he heard.
His smile was small but discernable and she was moved almost to tears when he pulled her close for a rough hug that bordered on painful.
Ronan gave her a kiss on the cheek and punched Quinn’s shoulder in a time-honored show of male affection. “You keep your eyes open, Kat. Promise me that.”
“Cross my heart and hope…” she faltered and lowered her eyes.
“I’ll watch her back for you.” Quinn sounded confident of his abilities and she could see her brothers’ nod at his declaration.
“We’ll see you back here at check in.” Ronan shot her a look that spoke volumes. He would see to Anthony’s safety just as Quinn would hers because that’s what you did when you loved someone.
“Fall out!” The order was followed immediately.
Changing to wolf form was out of the question for the pack even though it would have helped the trackers find their quarry more quickly. There was only so much you could do in the middle of a city without its inhabitants recognizing your otherness. Their progress was slower in human form, but time passed quickly regardless.
Katherine knew that Quinn’s nose was just as good as her own so she didn’t worry for a moment that he would miss anything while they scouted. It felt good to be able to depend on someone else and trust completely that they would be by your side through thick and thin. She glanced ahead at Quinn who was bent down by an abandoned cardboard box that once acted as a shelter to one of the city’s homeless and felt her blood warm.
She thought about Anthony then and how he must be feeling. Just two weeks ago she would have been able to sympathize with his loss because she was connected with him through blood and an enduring familial love but now, now she felt the reality of his loss to the tips of her toes and everywhere in between. Her very soul ached for her brother.
A part of him would die if he didn’t save Rachel. His body would live on because she, personally, wouldn’t allow him to succumb to the temptation of oblivion, but his soul would shrivel up and die. As would hers if she ever lost Quinn.
A war erupted inside her mind as she pondered the opposing emotions. She felt safe because Quinn was with her and loved her but she felt more vulnerable than she’d ever been in her entire life because there was a chance she could lose him someday.
This wasn’t the time, she reminded herself sharply, to indulge in an emotionally philosophical monolog. With a shake of her head, Katherine dismissed her errant thoughts and put her nose to the ground, metaphorically speaking.
♀♀♀
The glow from the city lights dimmed the night sky so that few of the stars so easily seen from Wild River were visible here at the city’s core.
Katherine held her GPS up to make sure they were still within their assigned sector then tucked it safely inside the leather pouch. Her body was covered in leather pouches full of electronic equipment or carefully concealed weapons. She was almost sure that if she bent the right way she’d actually stab herself in the butt or send herself an email.
A shadow of a smile crossed her face at that thought then vanished as she realized that her mind had been wandering from her urgent task. It had only taken a moment of her notice but another wolf’s life was in jeopardy and her brother’s soul was on the line, so better safe than sorry. She stopped, stood still for a moment, uncertain, then retraced her steps back around fifteen meters and hunkered down low to the pavement.
There were chip bags and old gum wrappers scattered everywhere in this section of town. During daylight hours, it was a popular hangout for many teenage human children so the area also reeked of hormones and stale sweat that somehow lingered on the air.
The lot was illuminated by several spotlights so she took the time to gaze around her and double check that she’d missed nothing.
“Find something?” Quinn’s voice carried over the empty lot easily and she could sense as well as hear the hope in his voice.
“No,” she muttered just loud enough for his wolf ears to hear from forty feet away, “I’m just paranoid, that’s all.”
Katherine stood gracefully and raised her face to look at Quinn. He stood at the far end of the lot waiting for her to catch up to him. His side of the area was clean and so was hers, so they had to move on, keep searching until they found something, anything.
Quinn was looking at her with kind eyes that were filled with exhaustion and sadness. His hair was mussed charmingly and she could smell the sheen of body sweat on him that tugged at her lower core.
“I love you so much.” She breathed the words out softly but he heard her as clear as day and raised his right hand to his heart and covered his chest in a sign of everlasting love.
That’s when she saw the necklace.
The glow from one of the spotlights cast a gleam on the ruby pendant creating a slight red glow that attracted Katherine’s attention from Quinn’s gorgeous face. It was dangling from a wire fence some fifty meters beyond Quinn and it took a second for her eyes to adjust to the abrupt change in perception and identify it as the necklace she’d first seen hanging from Rachel’s neck the night she’d introduced Quinn to Anthony.
She threw herself into a run and made it across the lot in seconds.
Quinn got there just a moment later and stared at the necklace that was still hanging, caught in the wire fencing. “Hey, I remember seeing that necklace before on…” His words trailed off and he turned his head to look at Katherine. “We have to report this.”
“Just…wait a second.” Katherine brought her face as close to the wire as she could without nuzzling it intimately and took in a deep breath. The scent clinging to the necklace was Rachel’s with a hint of her brother and a trace of the Hunter. A few of Rachel’s rich brown hairs were snagged in the clasp.
“It’s hers. We have to tell Anthony we’ve found the trail.”
Katherine reached for her radio but stopped when Quinn’s hand stilled hers. She looked up at his and saw that he was looking away from her to their immediate left at a copse of trees. Her eyes followed his line of sight but couldn’t pick out what he was apparently seeing. She looked at him questioningly.
“Smell,” he commanded softly and then lifted his head and took in a deep breath of the night air from the direction he was looking.
Katherine closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet night scent. She could pick out the individual smells of the nearby bushes and flowers as well as the unique aromas of African fare coming from a nearby home. The scent from Rachel’s hair in the necklace still filled her nose so, for a moment, she didn’t pick up on the other smell, the new smell.
She stepped forward a few paces and cocked her head to the left, sniffing the subtle breeze. Then her eyes went wide and she looked sharply at Quinn. He looked worried and excited all at the same time.
“It’s her blood, not much, but enough to follow.” Katherine felt every sense in her body focus on that one scent and it took everything in her not to dash forward in pursuit of the trail. She held back, though, because she wasn’t thinking clearly enough tonight to trust her judgment.
The fear she felt for her brother’s mate was nothing compared to the abject horror of the truth that she might someday lose Quinn. She felt vulnerable to the remote possibility that she would have to face what Tony was facing right now.
She hunkered down and motioned for Quinn to follow her lead. When he was beside her on the dirty pavement she spoke softly. “Everything we know about the Hunter points to the fact that he is intelligent and one step ahead of us. There’s no way we can know if that blood was deliberate or accidental.”
Quinn nodded and grimaced. “It does feel a bit like a trap. That necklace was just too…” he searched for a word, “convenient.” He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head towards the radio strapped to her waist.
“Should we call now?”
“Probably,” Katherine muttered, looking in the direction from which the scent of blood emanated. Ignoring her own inner speech about staying cautious, she moved gracefully forward, staying close to the ground until she stood above the small, dark stain of freshly spilled blood that sat on the tip of a blade of grass.
She knelt then and brought her face down low to the grass, careful not to disturb the drop of blood. Her eyes focused and took in the undisturbed area around the drop and the degree to which the blood itself had dried on the blade of grass. It was still shiny and wet, though partially drying.
A further glance around the area revealed exactly what she was looking for, a set of men’s footprints leading off to the east. Her inner wolf tugged at her core and urged her to change and follow the prints.
Katherine was about to speak when Quinn dropped down next to her and whispered, “There.” His long arms pointed and her eyes followed until she saw what he was looking at; a dark building roughly seventy feet away from them with what looked like a broken window on its lowest level.