“Someone better start explaining,” Cael barked.
Trager’s tense voice came from behind the others. “The bastard had Gabby. Now he’s dead, and we don’t know where she is.” He pulled back and kicked the lump on the ground, and that’s when Cael realized it was a wolf. A dead wolf. They must have tracked Jax to the woods, and dragged him here.
“I couldn’t let Vesh kill him. He took my mate.” Farrow growled low, his eyes narrow and crazed. “Now how will I find her? Tell me,” he roared.
Shit. Shit. He understood why Vesh hesitated to kill the alpha. Didn’t mean he forgave him though.
“Have you tracked her?”
“I tried. He’s masked her scent.”
“Masked her scent?” Cael didn’t realize it was possible. “With what?”
“With mine,” Isabesh spoke up. All eyes turned to her. “I know where she is.”
Chapter Twelve
Besh had been so wrapped up in her own trauma she hadn’t given the girl a second thought. But even if she had, there wasn’t any way to get word to Farrow from up here on this mountain.
“Please,” Farrow breathed, hope and fear in his eyes. “Lady Besh—”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped, but then tempered her tone. “Not anymore. I belong to Cael now, and I don’t want to be referred to by title.”
It seemed harsh, her reaction, but as soon as the name had left Farrow’s lips, it made her stomach twist with revulsion. Her hand shook as she found Cael’s and gripped it.
“Just ‘Besh’ is fine,” she told Farrow. “You couldn’t track Gabby because she’s in the alpha’s lodge.”
Farrow frowned. “No. I searched his house. I searched the entire camp. She isn’t there. And no trace of her scent.”
Besh stared at the ground. “There is a secret room, hidden behind a false wall in the closet of my—” It wasn’t her bedroom. It was simply the room she was kept in. “In the room where I stayed. He put her there.” After he made her bathe in Besh’s bath water. But she couldn’t bear to tell Farrow that. He’d learn soon enough what his mate had endured.
“Motherfucker,” Avan breathed. “How did he manage all this on his own? How did he keep it secret? From all of us?”
“That’s where you’ll find your female.”
“I need to go now,” Farrow murmured.
“My parents? Did he take them too?” Trager rushed out.
Besh shook her head. “No. They begged for a leave as soon as Gabby was mated. The Elders allowed it because of their age, and as long as it remained secret. They didn’t want any others leaving. And Jax didn’t care enough to chase them down.”
His shoulders sank.
“Tra, we need to go now. We’re hours from Ozarka.” Farrow’s face was full of determination.
Trager nodded. “Alpha?”
“Yes,” Cael nodded. “Go. Go.”
Trager shifted to a wolf in an instant, his skin swallowed by thick gray fur. He darted across the field.
Farrow stepped forward. “Thank you, Besh. Thank you so much.” She braced herself for a hug that was wholly unwelcome as his arms reached out. But Cael snarled, shoving him backward.
“Your dick is way too close to my female,” he warned.
“Oh. Shit.” Farrow threw his hands up. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“Don’t let it happen again. Go.”
Farrow nodded at Besh, and then shifted, running full-speed to catch up to Trager.
Cael ran his hands through his hair. “Shit,” he muttered.
“What are we going to do now?” Vesh asked.
Cael straightened, hands resting on his hips. He was so sexy like that. In control. Owning his life, the way he was teaching her to own hers. She liked it. A lot.
He glanced at her brother, and studiously avoided naked Avan. “Well, for starters, we’re going to get you guys some fucking clothes.”
Besh could not agree more. She was having the worst time dealing with the fact that Cael’s intended was standing just feet away, stark naked. And she knew how sexual Avan was. Maybe she was ambitious, and wanted to run the pack, but Besh didn’t trust that she was completely unaffected by Cael’s body. It was in their physical makeup to be attracted to each other. To perpetuate the race.
“I would definitely prefer to be clothed right now,” Avan sighed. “Vesh keeps looking at my tits.”
His eyes went wide. “I will kill you dead if you ever say anything like that again. That’s a promise. I desire my mate’s body only.”
She raised her hands in mock surrender, making her breasts bounce obnoxiously with the motion. “Point taken.”