“We have to get out of here,” Mimi shouted. At least he thought she was shouting. In his head it sounded like he was underwater.
Melinda grabbed Logan’s forearm and yanked hard. “Let’s go. Get in my truck.”
Logan shook his head, trying to free himself from the trance. Maybe he’d imagined everything that had happened in the last thirty seconds. “No. I need to drive mine. Half your stuff is in it.”
Mimi tugged his keys from his hand. “I’ll drive yours. We’ll leave my car here. It’s not as valuable. You go with Melinda.” She pointed at the other truck in the circular drive. “Go.”
Melinda started running, dragging Logan behind her.
He had no idea how his feet managed to make the trip. Seconds later, he was in the passenger side, and she peeled out of the driveway and onto the main road toward Cambridge.
“Holy fuck,” he suddenly shouted. He tried to make contact with Amanda next. “Amanda. Amanda. Jesus, baby. Answer me.”
Nothing.
“Shit.” He slammed his fist into the dashboard.
“Logan,” Melinda turned her head to face him for a second, “stop it. Let me talk to Laurie.”
He nodded, pursing his lips and watching her face in a near trance while she communicated with her half sister. In a rare twist of fate, for some reason Mimi, Laurie, and Melinda were able to communicate with each other telepathically in human form, even though they weren’t part of mated groups. No one had ever heard of such a thing. But they were descendants of a line of powerful shaman.
And for that reason, Logan held his breath and let her do what she needed to do.
Somehow she managed to drive and communicate at the same time, even though it appeared she was in a hazy trance while she did so.
When she finally shook her head free of the connection, she turned toward him. “She went to the campus to fill out paperwork with human resources.”
“Are you shitting me?” He leaned forward, gripping the dash in front of him.
“No. I wish. She blocked you and only called Laurie so someone would know where she was.”
“When?” he shouted. “When did she fucking go missing?”
Melinda cringed. “Earlier this morning.”
“Fuck.” He slammed his palm against the dash again, making Melinda jump. And then the blood drained from his face. “What if she’s dead?”
“She isn’t,” Melinda was quick to respond. “I can feel her. Mimi can feel her. Hell, Laurie can too. She’s unconscious.”
“Where?” he asked the wind. “Where are you, Amanda?”
»»•««
“Fuck.” Roger paced back and forth in front of his office trailer, running his hands through his hair as he thought about how to get out of this mess.
“What do you want us to do, boss?”
“Keep loading. We need to get as much of what is already cut off this mountain in a hurry. Can you get another truck up here?”
The guy shook his head. “They aren’t letting anything more up the service road. There are deputies at the entrance to the road. Even though the evacuation isn’t mandatory yet, all traffic is flowing out, not in.”
“Shit.” Roger’s hands shook. “Doesn’t this guy realize we’re trying to run a business up here?”
The man said nothing.
Roger blew out a breath. “Fine. Let’s get whatever we can out of here. Have men move the equipment out. Get as much timber moving as possible. I’ll be in my office packing up paper work.”
“When are you going to leave, boss?”
“I’ll be the last one off this mountain. Just hustle.”
The guy turned and ran toward a group of workers to yell instructions.
Roger stepped back inside his trailer, grabbed his coffee mug from his desk, and threw it against the far wall. He was in way over his head. Too many precious commodities were at stake.
»»•««
“Amanda, baby. Please. Wake up.”
Nothing. Just like the other two billion times he’d shouted into her head. He agreed with Mimi. He could feel her. Faintly, but he could feel her nonetheless. She had to be alive. He couldn’t accept any other possible outcome.
As Melinda pulled into the parking lot at the junior college, Logan finally connected with Sawyer. He sat with his head hung low and nearly cried as he let his other mate know their woman was missing.
“What the fuck do you mean you don’t know where she is?”
“Just that. She went to the college to fill out paperwork and didn’t return. I thought she was simply blocking us. Who knows how long she’s been gone.”
“Find her,” Sawyer shouted into Logan’s head. “Oh my fucking God, please find her.”