Bastian and Darla returned to the main office, him with his arm around her shoulders. When I saw her face, red and wet with tears, the urge to call my brother increased. I hadn’t noticed earlier, but she looked like hell.
“Darla, can I get you some coffee?” I asked, standing to offer her my chair.
She nodded so I fired up our one-cup coffeemaker while Bastian settled her at my vacant desk. I caught his gaze over her head and noticed he too looked concerned. So, this probably wasn’t nothing.
“Have you spoken with the other females in the pack?” I asked, handing her a steaming cup.
“Not yet,” she admitted, taking a sip. “I’ve left messages for all of them, though.”
“You mentioned this full moon is a blood moon. If the lunar cycle made the men take off, would it have affected the women, as well?”
“It should,” she answered. “Christ, I didn’t even think that the women were gone, too. No one has reported them missing yet.”
“Why are you two still here then?” I asked, looking from Darla to Bastian.
“I’m a beta,” he said.. “My powers differ, on some levels, from the…lesser cats.” He gave Darla a look of clear apology, as if he had said something offensive. “If this is a lunar-based issue, I may have better resistance to it. If someone is kidnapping the weres… Well, I haven’t left the office in over a week, so no one has had a chance.”
“What about you?” I asked Darla.
“I would have been beta if Bryce hadn’t chosen Sebastian,” she said, shrugging. “I’m stronger than the rest of the pack, too. And I don’t think anyone was snatched. It would be almost impossible to kidnap an entire clan without anyone noticing.”
“Darla said she’s hoping you can call them.” I turned back to Sebastian. “Can you do that?”
“Only Bryce can.” He shook his head for emphasis. “I think we need to contact him. With the full moon so close, I’m worried about the whole pack running off to who knows where and for who knows what. They could shift somewhere inappropriate. People could get hurt. I know he’s off licking his wounds somewhere, but this pack is still his responsibility, and he needs to get his ass home.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “Darla, keep us posted on anything else that seems out of the ordinary. If you need us for anything, don’t hesitate to call. We’ll be here.”
“Thanks, guys.” She stood and stared at us both for a full minute. “You two look like shit.”
We watched her leave, not really knowing how to respond to that. When I looked over at Bastian, he was gazing at me, an expression of surprise on his face.
“What?” I asked defensively.
“She’s right. You look terrible.”
“Yeah, well, so’s your face,” I retorted. “Come on, let’s close up and head home. We’ll both blow up Bryce’s phone until he answers.” I looked my lover up and down. He appeared rather skinny and pale. “And get you some food. Jesus, have you lost weight?”
He shrugged, glancing down at himself. His jeans were barely staying up on his hips, and his ribs showed more definition than his ab muscles used to allow. How hadn’t I noticed?
Because, I answered myself, you’ve been so wrapped up in missing your brother, you’ve been neglecting Sebastian for months. Fuck, we really needed to fix this.
Chapter Two
Sebastian and I spent three straight hours calling and texting Bryce with no response from him. Finally, I decided it was time to give up and get some food into my boyfriend. My brother had said in the first note he’d sent after bailing that he was going somewhere we wouldn’t be able to reach him. Maybe, the reason he never had time to call or text real messages was because he was in a location with spotty cell reception. Or maybe, he was just a selfish asshole. Either way, we obviously weren’t going to hear back from him immediately.
The sun was setting by the time our Chinese delivery arrived. I spread the containers across the table, and Sebastian and I ate in silence, as we’d done so many nights over the past few months. The quiet was broken by a deep growl from Bastian.
“Yes?” I asked, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.
“What?”
“You growled.”
“No, I didn’t.” He looked genuinely confused, and for a moment, I thought maybe I’d imagined it.
I hadn’t even raised another forkful of noodles to my mouth before he did it again. When I glanced at him, he was still focused on his fried rice.
“Sebastian?”
“What?”
“You seriously think I can’t hear that?”
“Hear what?” A deeper growl thundered through his body, and his eyes grew wide as if surprised by the sound. “Sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t realize I was doing it.”
“Well, why are you?”
“I don’t—” His body stiffened for a moment before he slid to the floor. With a sound that was half-scream and half-roar, Bastian slammed into the bottom of the table.
I rushed around the table and stared at the giant black panther lying in a heap on the floor. He whimpered softly, his blue eyes staring up at me. Even in his animal form, I saw the terror in his gaze.
He shouldn’t have shifted until the first night of the full-moon cycle that started tomorrow. Plus, the sun had set nearly an hour ago. If he were going to shift, it should have happened already. But there he was, fuzzy as fuck on the ground. What the hell was going on?
A loud banging issued from the office below. I turned to the door, calling to Sebastian to stay where he was and I’d be right back. I grabbed my .45 from the cabinet on the way and hit the stairwell at a run. When I reached the landing, I realized the noise came from the back door. We had a half-hinge door installed there, so the guys could
