Not to mention that everything that I had thought was true for my thirty-something years was wrong.
Wolves and witches weren’t the only paranormals out there. Yes, there were demons, but those had been sent to their dimension, especially after Caym had tried to decimate our Pack, and they killed so many of us.
I tried not to think about him, though I had only been an infant when he had been taken out. I could still hear the pain and terror in my family’s voice when they spoke of him.
However, there were more than the three major powers. The Aspen Pack had a cat shifter, and during a horrific turn of events that almost cost my friend’s life, the Talon Pack also now had a cat shifter.
I knew there had to be many other secrets out there since the world so was much bigger than us. After all, I couldn’t be the only Tracker like my father. There had to be more. Only my family had never been able to find out why Josh was that way or why I was the only one of their children to inherit his traits.
I pushed this outside of my mind and followed the scent and trail towards Spencer.
“Do you feel him?” Rio, one of the lieutenants, asked, and I nodded. “Slightly. It keeps fading in and out, so I don’t know if he’s moving farther away or my wolf continues to lose sight of him.” I frowned. “I don’t like the idea of that, though.”
“Neither do I. We haven’t been able to find Spencer since we thought that he could be out here,” the other wolf, Dane, said.
I looked over at him and saw he had a frown on his face that only made the scar on his cheek more prominent.
“Our Alpha called you ahead then, to look?” I asked, trying to pick up on Spencer’s scent. I couldn’t at all, and that worried me. I just had to hope that my Tracking wasn’t leading us astray.
My cousin was still in Philadelphia, searching for Spencer, but nobody had seen him for the conference he was supposed to be at. There was no scent, no place to track.
Either he was in the wrong place, or we both were, and we were never going to be able to find Spencer. I pushed those thoughts from my mind, not wanting to think about them.
“Yes, as did your Beta,” Dane answered. “They told us when he hadn’t shown up and thought maybe he would come out here. Now that you’re here, it just reaffirms the fact that we need to find out.”
“Because I’m the Tracker?” I asked, ducking underneath a fallen branch.
Rio picked it up as if it weighed nothing, and he looked down at me, interest in his gaze.
They were both dominant wolves, strong enough to match my own wolf, and yet I felt nothing.
My wolf wanted a mate. She didn’t want just a quick lay to get rid of her aggression and need.
That meant I had to deal with it.
I gave him a small smile, then went back to Tracking, and I figured the way that I turned would be enough of an answer to the question in his gaze.
He didn’t push, and I was grateful. I hated having to put down dominant wolves when I wasn’t in the mood to deal with their games. I was a dominant wolf myself, I understood.
But I had to listen to my own needs. For once.
My phone buzzed, and I cursed and pulled it out of my pocket. “Sorry.”
“No problem, we’ll keep on the scent,” Dane said, as he gestured towards Rio to move out of the way. We were werewolves, and so it was going to be hard for them to give me too much privacy, but they were at least giving me the benefit of the doubt.
That was nice considering I was an unknown on their territory.
“What is it, Conner?” I asked, my voice a growl.
“I’m just checking in on you. You don’t have to snap at me.” My brother grumbled into the phone, and I held back a smile. This wasn’t a time to smile, not when something was sending me on edge.
“I’m Tracking right now, I don’t have time for you to get possessive and growly.”
“I just had a bad feeling along the twin bond. I don’t know what it is. I feel like you’re in the right place. It’s just hard. You know?”
My wolf calmed slightly, liking to be reassured. I sighed. “I feel like we’re in the right place too, and that worries me. Because I can’t scent him, Conner. I don’t know what we’re going to find.”
“If you don’t want me out there, anyone else from the Pack can come fly out, so you’re not alone. We’re creating an alliance with the Starlight Pack. They won’t mind.”
“I’m not alone out here. There are two other lieutenants that are helpful.”
“As long as they don’t get in your way.”
I held back a smile. “No, only you do that here.” My wolf patted at me then, and I froze. “I’ve got to go. There’s something. I think I scent something.”
“Shit, Kaylee. Be careful.”
“I will. I promise. There’s just something out there.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“Thanks for that. I love you, too.”
“I love you. Check-in.”
“You know I will.” I hung up the phone, stuck it back in my pocket, and trotted towards the lieutenants. “I have something.”
“Okay. We’re behind you.” Dane pulled out his phone, and I gave him a look. “I’m texting our Alpha and giving him an update.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
We moved through the trees, the live oaks tickling my nose. I hadn’t realized I could have allergies as a wolf, but apparently the oaks and cedars down here were enough to make my eyes water. It was hard to scent through all of that, but I blew out through my nose and then sucked in another breath, trying to sense what I needed to, and my wolf froze, so still, I was afraid I saw death.
But that wasn’t it, at least not yet.
“I scent him. He’s close.” I let out a low growl, my claws sliding through my fingertips. “And he’s not alone.”
“On it,” Rio said from my side.
We moved through the brush, quiet, stalking. We went in a three formation, having each other’s backs while making sure we were silent enough.
I could scent Spencer now. We were so close. But that wasn’t the only smell. Not even the stranger’s scent could overpower the coppery scent that assaulted my nostrils.
Blood.
There was blood.
I moved through the trees, and the sight before me chilled the blood in my veins.
A man stood over Spencer’s body, his hands over Spencer’s chest, blood coating him. Spencer lay still, unmoving underneath the man’s attentions, and I could already smell the rot and decay of newly made death.
A growl slipped through my lips, and I pounced, pulling the human back away from Spencer, and slammed the man into the soft muddy dirt. It didn’t hurt him, it wouldn’t break anything, but it was hard enough for him to let out an oof of air.
“Who are you?” I asked him, my voice a deep growl. I knew my fangs had elongated, my claws sharp enough to prick his skin. Even though my hand was around his neck, I was cautious not to make him bleed.
The man with green eyes and dark hair below me stiffened, and I ignored the sweet, honeyed scent of him that lay beneath the blood.
This man was human, not a witch, not a shifter. He held nothing but the knowledge of our existence like all the other humans in the world.