A Cursed Embrace(44)

Gemini stroked Taran’s hair away from her face as he held her against him. “We have to find him. I’ll take the girls and Liam back to the house and join you as soon as I’m able.”

“I’m going with you.” My half growl, half psycho Latina tone left no question I meant business. The wolves surprised me by not arguing. Gem nodded with approval while Emme rushed to heal the gashes on my back already soaking through Shayna’s white sweater.

“I’m coming, too,” Liam insisted.

Gemini’s voice remained calm, but resolute. “No. You’re too weak from the speed in which Emme and your wolf healed you. You’re to stay with the girls. Let Emme care for you. When you’ve regained enough of your strength, you can help us search for Aric.” Gem looked to Shayna, his voice growing softer. “May I count on you to watch over Taran?”

Shayna squeezed Koda’s hand as she answered, “You know I will.”

“Go with them,” Gemini said.

I wasn’t sure who he meant until his black wolf sprang from his back like the pull of a wax strip.

• • •

Gemini the wolf stared out one of the darkened windows, his gigantic black form taking up most of the length of Koda’s leathered backseat. I’d raced half-naked down the street to retrieve Koda’s silver Yukon. Upon screeching to the stop near the alley, I quickly slid into the passenger seat and let Koda take the wheel, knowing I was in no condition to drive. My body shook, despite wearing the extra pair of sweats Koda had given me before tugging on a pair of his own.

Koda raced around the streets of South Tahoe’s club district, his window cracked in hopes of picking up Aric’s scent. “We’ll find him, Celia.”

I noticed Koda didn’t state how we’d find him. But wolves weren’t known for lying or for false reassurance. I tried to slow my breathing. It didn’t work. My panic for Aric’s safety beat my heart against my ribs, threatening to call forth my beast. The thought of losing him accelerated my racing pulse and forced my claws to protrude and retract, over and over until the tips of my fingers ached from the effort. We’d become so close in such a short period, it couldn’t all end now.

After a few more sweeps and some swearing, Koda abandoned the streets and jumped on 89. Gemini growled with equal frustration. I stared out toward the lake, and prayed silently for Tahoe’s power to somehow guide us to Aric. The lake didn’t answer. I wasn’t Misha. I hadn’t learned to harness the lake’s power. But since in a way I viewed it as a friend, you’d think the watery bastard would have tossed me a bone.

I rubbed my hands together. “Does your link to him as his Warrior tell you anything?”

“Only that he still lives. His death would destroy a piece of my heart.”

I wrapped my arms tight around myself, knowing exactly what he meant.

Koda’s phone rang, making me startle. “We found him,” a voice announced on the other end. “It’s not good. Trace my signal—”

Koda’s eyes cut to me. “I’m on it.”

Koda stayed on 89 until he veered sharply onto the abandoned housing development Whispering Woods. I’d read about this place in the paper. The contractor had purchased it and then lost all his money in a bad investment. Only a handful of houses had gone up before the owner had abandoned ship, leaving his employees out of work and his investors demanding his head on a platter. I rolled down the window, trying to track Aric’s scent and unable to keep still. Mud smeared the new road in streaks, and weeds had started to overtake the lots. In the nearing distance, I heard Aric’s enraged snarl.

Koda’s grip to my wrist kept me from leaping out. “Celia. There are other weres present. Don’t go off without us.”

My head jerked from him back to the open window. “I don’t care about them.”

“We do. Our presence will keep them from attacking you. I can’t make that same promise if you show up without us. Aric’s hurt. They’ll sense your predator side as a threat to him.”

I nodded but barely managed to keep my tigress from leaping out the window.

We passed through four more blocks before a row of SUVs finally came into view. A were with a long beard and sporting a leather jacket waved us in to where a mob of weres stood with their backs turned. They didn’t bother to face us. Either they knew Aric’s Warriors had arrived or what held their attention was far more important.

The headlights of Aric’s Escalade illuminated a two-story Colonial littered with pine needles and clumps of ash. The driver’s-side door was wrenched open, evidently left the way it had been found. An overturned EMT vehicle rested to the left of Aric’s SUV, the back doors barely attached to the hinges and smeared with gray wolf fur and blood—Aric’s fur and blood.