“No, she told me they died in the same car accident.” Remi drops the strand of hair she had been anxiously playing with and frowns. “Pru was the only survivor.”
The room is silent as I continue to pace in front of the desk. I have a million more questions than I started with. But there is one thing I need to know right now. “Where is Grey now?” I ask my sister, my tone demanding.
“Well, her name is Pruitt,” Remington reminds me with a pointed look. “And I assume she went home since she wasn’t feeling well. Here I’ll text her now and ask if she made it home okay.” She reaches into her back jeans pocket and pulls out her phone. She looks down at the screen, and her eyes go wide. “Shit!”
“What?” Everyone in the room demands. I’m already so on edge that if one more thing happens, I may lose control of my wolf and shift. That is something that hasn’t happened to me since I was fifteen years old.
“Addison has been trying to call me. I had my phone on silent for the party, I didn’t hear her calls.”
“Who’s Addison?” Avery asks as she stands from her spot on the floor.
“Pru’s aunt,” Remington tells Avery as she places the phone to her ear and waits for an answer. “Addison! What’s going on? My phone was on silent, and I didn’t hear—” Remi pauses, listening to something the woman is saying. “What do you mean she ran after a wolf? What the hell does that mean?”
All the heads in the room snap up at the mention of a wolf. I feel a bead of sweat roll down my back as bad thoughts fill my mind, many involving the rogue wolf I’ve been tracking. I knew that fucker was close to the territory; I don’t know how close.
“Wait, I’m putting you on speaker,” Remington tells the woman whose voice is now so shrill we can all hear it. “Addison, you’re on speaker. My parents are here, and so are my brothers.”
“Pru has been obsessing over this wolf since we moved here,” the woman begins, speaking quickly. “She’s told me she’s had the same dream every night about it since we moved here. Over the last couple of months, every time she hears or God forbid sees something resembling the wolf in her dreams, she goes after it. Just last week, she ran after a poor coyote one night when we were on a walk. And on her way home from your place tonight, we were talking on the phone, and she almost ran over a red wolf, or what she thinks is a wolf. But she ran into the woods after a wild animal, alone, and I can’t reach her.”
Listening to the woman’s words, the blood drains from my body and I break into a cold sweat.
A red wolf.
I run my hand roughly over my face, a hundred scenarios going through my head. I turn and look at my father. “I haven’t had time to tell you why I’m here,” I begin, the room falling silent as everyone listens to what I have to say. “Sawyer, Avery, and I have been tracking a rogue wolf the past couple of weeks who’s been growing more and more violent every day. I strongly believe he’s in our territory.”
I can’t help but look out the window and at the setting sun. “The wolf we’ve been tracking is a red wolf, and if there’s even a slight chance she’s in the woods alone with that fucker, we need to go now!”
“Ryker, why didn’t you tell me sooner?” my father demands, jumping to his feet. “Don’t you think that information could have been a vital thing for me to know? I could have had pack enforcers out patrolling the territory?” My father is visibly upset with me, and reaching into his pocket, he begins sending texts to the enforcers who are on duty. Pack enforcers are the protectors of the pack, and in the pack hierarchy, they fall below the beta.
“Wait! Ryker?” The woman’s voice coming from the phone goes up another octave. “Ryker Weylyn?”
“Yes, my brother Ryker is here. Why?” Remi questions the aunt.
“Crap!” the voice curses, and there’s a slight pause before I hear her speak again. “I thought I had more time to explain everything to Pru. She isn’t ready,” the woman whispers, her voice full of concern.
Having enough of being in the dark, my father snatches the phone from Remi’s hand and speaks to the woman. “What are you talking about? I want real answers, Addison. I’m growing tired of not having all the facts.”
The woman doesn’t speak for a second, but when she does, it leaves all our mouths gaping and my heart feeling like it’s going to burst. “I’ll explain everything to you soon, Alpha,” she says calmly like she had used the term before. Dad’s eyebrows shoot up in shock while everyone in the room gives each other questioning looks.
“But first,” Addison adds, “I need you to go find Grey. Yes, Grey Thorne is alive, but if what Ryker says is true, and she’s out there with a rogue wolf, she might not be for long.”
With that, my wolf bursts through my skin so fast, I barely have time to prepare myself for the shift.
5
Pruitt
I will be the first one to admit running after a wild animal when the sun is setting, was not a good idea. I’ll also admit leaving my phone and flashlight in the car was a bad idea. I’ll even admit not marking a path to remind myself what direction I came from was an epically bad idea. Because I am so lost.
After having my episode back at the Weylyns’ house, I decided it was best I leave in case the week-old leftover Chinese food I ate last night wasn’t the reason I puked my brains out. After leaving the Weylyns’, I took the long way home. Instead of taking the
