“Thank you.” I moved into the other room to discover it filled with the familiar faces of our extended family of hunters. Enzo joined his brother Ezekiel, who sat across from Rhys and Cole. Eryx, one of the Fenrir wolves from Montana, was beside him, here on behalf of Saint, his alpha, and Braelyn, Saint’s mate.
Noah, Micah, Onyx, Kaderyn, and Meredith were my unit that often hunted together. Unfortunately, when Micah and I split because he slept with my best friend the night before our wedding, it caused a rift in our group.
“Micah, you shouldn’t be here,” I warned, fighting the urge to tell him how I felt. “You should be with Meredith.”
“She’s dead. There’s nothing I can do for her,” he shot back, pain filling his words. “I need to catch the asshole that did this.”
Nodding slowly, I fought the nausea swirling through me. “I get that, but I require you to be level-headed, Micah. This will not be a quick fight. Whatever hit us, it’s strong. It attacked hard and fast, and we weren’t prepared. But, if you can keep it together and not allow emotions to overrun you, I will let you join us.”
Not bothering to wait for his agreement, I entered the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water. The shit Enzo had given me was making me dizzy and had my mouth tasting like ash. Downing the contents in one swig, I set it down on the counter, holding onto it for balance.
“You’re wounded, Xari,” Kaderyn stated, sidling next to me.
“The entire fucking guild is hurt. I am fine,” I argued, turning to look into her shimmering silver gaze. “Tell me what we’ve learned so far. I can’t go down there without knowing more details before I enter that room.”
Noah cleared his throat, and I turn to see him leaning against my fridge, holding out another bottle of water. Accepting it, I listened to him report everything I already knew. It wasn’t until he looked me in the eye and shook his head that my stomach dropped to the floor.
“On the video, you flew across the street, but you never hit your Jeep. Something prevented you from impact, and then you fell to the ground,” he explained, shrugging. “Either you have a guardian angel, or something didn’t want that blast to kill you.”
A shiver snaked down my spine as the thing on my stomach heated. I slid my hand down, brushing my fingertips across it absently. Noah nodded, as if reading my mind. No one spoke for a moment, then Eryx broke the silence.
“Braelyn and Saint will take the families of the fallen hunters,” he announced softly. “The mountain is thawing, but we’d need to get them to the top using the Blackhawks. The roads won’t thaw for a couple more weeks yet. They wanted you to know that if you require anything further from them, they’ll come.”
“No,” I swallowed down the urge to ask them here, but I didn’t wish for anyone else to be in the path of this mess. Not until I had a better idea of what had happened and what we were facing. “Tell Saint and Braelyn that I appreciate their help and that we’ll ask those in need where they wish to be for now. The sanctuary is full already, and our oath is not only to our hunters, but their families as well. We protect our own.”
“They know that, Xariana. No one is assuming you won’t do your job to keep them safe. The thing is, you’re right. Whatever attacked this place hit fucking hard, and they did it before anyone knew they were even here. Your father is the best hunter I have ever met, and they escaped with him without a trace. That says a lot more than the damage left behind. They snatched Xavier Anderson from the steps of his guild in broad daylight.” Eryx shrugged, not needing to elaborate. He silently held my stare, fussing with the cuff of his sleeve, which revealed the hint of the tattoos that covered his arm from the wrist up.
“Kaderyn, please reach out to the families and let them know that there is a safe haven for them to seek shelter once the funeral rites have been completed. We should get started on that process. Our dead deserve tending to immediately. I have to inform the other hunter guilds about what took place here as well. Call the leaders of each guild and ask them to hold. Once we’ve reviewed the videos, I’ll speak with them directly.”
I swallowed the uneasiness that came with speaking to the other guild leaders. Admitting that my father was missing would make it all real. Right now, it merely felt like a nightmare, and I’d wake up soon and discover nothing amiss.
“Are you ready for this?” Kaderyn asked.
Noah snorted along with Jensen. “Xariana Anderson was born into this role. She’s ready,” he stated firmly. “If anyone can do this, it’s her.”
“Thank you, Noah. First, let’s find out who attacked us and took my father. Then, we’ll send them to Hell.”
Chapter Four
The video showed exactly what I’d seen, minus the creatures, who were invisible in the video. The final explosion had thrown me backward, but as Noah stated, I never reached the Jeep, even though it held a massive dent in the driver’s side door where I would have landed. We examined the door, then my wounds, and they didn’t match up.
Once I explained to my extended team where I’d witnessed the beings standing, we’d created a layout and reconstructed the scene. Nothing of the incident made sense. The cars inside the gate blew up, but it looked more like one giant bomb had gone off instead of two separate explosions. After studying the charred remains, we still knew very little about what transpired.
“The scene is confusing,” Enzo snorted, leaning his long muscular tattooed arms against the table. “You said there were two explosions, but only one appeared on video. Bodies littered the ground before the second, which backs up your story. So why make it appear as if there had only been one blast?”
“I don’t know,” I swallowed, staring at the last frame of the video. “Why save me? None of it makes sense. There have been no demands for my father’s safe return, either. One would assume they’d want something in exchange for him, right? Nothing has come through.”
“It’s still pretty early, Xari,” Ezekiel offered. “I don’t think they would presume you’d be up and handling shit so soon. Normally, chaos and bedlam would ensue, and then would come the calm. But, instead, you’re up and about, running on pure stubbornness. Your ass should be in bed, resting.”
“We’ve had this conversation already. If I was my father, would you be telling me to ignore what happened, sending him to bed?” I snapped, closing my eyes at the tone I’d used. “I’m sorry, Eze. It’s been a long day, and I can’t rest. I’d literally lie in my room, wanting to be right here helping. This is where I am needed right now.”
“Then let’s deal with the leaders of the guilds and see what they know?” Enzo offered, turning to face the wall of monitors.
Swallowing the urge to run away like a scared child, I steeled my spine and squared my shoulders. The men and women that controlled the computers and electronics began bringing up images and nodding to the names on the screens.
“They’re all up, Miss Anderson,” Clyde stated.
“Just Xari, Clyde,” I chided. “Ladies and gentlemen, I come to you with news I never wished to deliver.” The hunters on the screen straightened, giving me their undivided attention. “Last night, an unknown enemy attacked the Washington guild. They hit us quickly and violently. My father was taken, and we don’t know where he is or who took him. There’s been no ransom or demands made of us yet. We lost a lot of brothers and sisters in the assault. For now, all guilds need to be on heightened alert until we know if this was an isolated incident.”