Chapter One
“How are we supposed to find anything here?” Lucien asked as he lowered his feet from the dashboard to survey the quiet town they’d entered.
Saxon studied the adjoining storefronts they passed. Most of the stores were brick fronts with red or gray weathered signs announcing a feed and grain store, lawyer, yoga studio, pharmacy, market, veterinarian, and a doctor. The businesses were all shut down for the night, though a few lights remained on in what he assumed were apartments over the stores.
No streetlights illuminated the winding, dark, country road, but as they drove further, a bar with all its lights on lit the sidewalk and part of the street. The bar stood separate from the rest of the buildings, which was a good thing judging by the noise of the music and the shouts of the crowd. The sides of the bar were clear of any trees, but woods surrounded the back of the building, and despite the wintry January night, a group of smokers stood on the deck there.
The snow piled high on the sides of the sidewalks didn’t deter a group of young kids scrambling over them in their eagerness to get to the bar. In the driver’s seat, Logan slowed the SUV as they crested a hill and left the town behind. Moonlight shone off the icy sheen coating the snow as more countryside came into view.
“Small town,” Declan murmured.
“Pull over,” Lucien said. He sounded like he’d rather deal with a thousand Savages than one small town.
Logan guided the SUV to the side of the road and put it in park. From the seats behind Saxon, Asher leaned over to study the countryside. “Is this where Kadence sent us?” he asked.
“This is it,” Declan said. “We passed the town sign before driving down what I’m assuming is the main section of town.”
“Is that all there is to the town?” Asher asked.
“How are we supposed to know?” Lucien asked. “We’ve never been here before either.”
“Someone’s testy tonight,” Asher muttered, and Lucien turned in the passenger seat to scowl at him.
“We have no idea what we’re doing here,” Lucien said. “Other than looking for some log cabin, and I’d guarantee there are about a hundred of them in these boonies.”
“Still not a reason to be a dick,” Asher replied, and Saxon stifled a laugh when Lucien looked like his head might explode. For a second, he thought Lucien might jump over them all to strangle the hunter.
“Enough,” Declan said from beside him.
Lucien continued to glare at Asher who pretended not to notice as he stared out the windows.
“Kill the lights,” Saxon said, and Logan turned off the headlights.
The tick of the cooling engine was the only sound in the night as Saxon stared at the field next to him. Strings of wire ran across the tilted wooden posts stretching over the earth. On the other side of the road, an embankment led into the woods. Wind buffeted the SUV, shaking it as it howled over the land.
The idea of exiting the vehicle and stepping into the chilly night was about as appealing to him as having his toenails ripped out, and he doubted he was alone. They were all dressed similarly in jeans and shirts with jackets that hid the weapons stashed inside their interior pockets. Most of them wore boots, but Asher had opted for sneakers. Even with the jackets and boots, they weren’t dressed for these elements.
“Is there any information about the town on the map Kadence gave us?” Saxon asked.
Declan pulled out the map and laid it flat on the seat between them. He tapped the big red circle Kadence had created on upstate New York. The Catskill Mountains ran through the center of the circle, and there was no denying they were in the mountains when another blast of wind rocked the vehicle. He hated the bleakness of winter, but there was something especially desolate about this night and place.
“We’re on the edge of the location she circled,” Declan said. “The town is about fifty square miles, possibly more.”
“So we’re supposed to find a cabin out here,” Logan said and waved his hands at the windshield. “How many do you think there are?”
“I can find them on my computer,” Declan said. “It will take some time, but I’ll track them down tonight.”
“Maybe she sent us here because she’s trying to kill us,” Lucien murmured.
“Maybe she’s trying to kill you, and who could blame her? But she likes the rest of us,” Logan replied.
“Especially me,” Asher said.
Lucien gave them the finger. “Fuck you both.”
Turning, Saxon leaned over the map to study it. In his mind, he saw Kadence spreading it across the table in the library as everyone gathered around her.
Kadence pointed at the circle in New York. “Here.”
“And what is here?” Declan inquired as he spun a lollipop between his fingers.
“A log cabin.”
“And what is so special about the cabin?”
“I don’t know.”
Behind her, Ronan folded his arms over his chest; tension emanated from him while he watched his mate. Saxon leaned back on his heels as he surveyed the other marks on the map. Instead of circles, these were pen lines etched onto the map. Each mark had a date written beside it that went back almost three weeks.
He pointed at the first mark and date; it was only fifty miles away, and the date was Christmas. “What are these?”
“That’s when I first started seeing markers,” she said.
“Markers?” Killean asked.
“Yeah.” Kadence turned the map toward her. “Here”—she pointed to the first dot on the map— “there’s a church with some of the most beautiful stained-glass windows I’ve ever seen. And here”—she pointed to the second marker—“there’s a bakery with a pink pig on top. I saw the actual town sign for this one.” She pointed to the third dot.
“That was when I realized the snippets of visions I was receiving during my dreams were from different towns. I researched what towns had things like what I was seeing and learned the exact locations.”
“Why?” Logan asked.
“Because I knew they were leading me somewhere; I just didn’t know where or why I was seeing them.”
“Why didn’t you come to get me to help you with them?” Nathan, Kadence’s twin brother, asked.
Nathan had his arm around Vicky, his very pregnant mate. Vicky’s twin, Abby, her mate, and their mother and father were arriving tomorrow to stay until Vicky had the baby, which could be any day now.
“Because they were coming to me in dreams, and I didn’t know when I was going to have them,” Kadence said. “Plus, they were short scenes with one vividly detailed thing that stood out when I woke up. And, like I said, until I saw the town sign, I didn’t know what was happening. Once I realized the dreams were trying to lead me somewhere, I searched for the pig and the church, but I didn’t know where they were taking me… until, last night.”
“And what happened last night?” Simone asked.
“It came to an end.”
“And how do you know that?” Killean asked as he ran a hand through his short, dark brown hair. It had taken some time, but his hair and eyebrows had grown back after being burned off almost seven months ago.