Meredith joined the call. “Heya! I’ve got Donovan with me. You’re on speaker.”
“Anyone else ringing in?” My knee bounced as I waited. I wanted to start filling them in so that I could figure out where we needed to go next, but I had to wait. I didn’t think I had the patience to explain everything we’d found out twice.
“Few more,” Chris said. “Just a sec.”
“Hi.” Claudia’s voice came through as she joined the call.
“How’s Axel doing?” Michael asked.
“Good. He’s on a run with Lucas right now, but he seems to be doing all right despite being worried about Tessa. It’s enough to set any werewolf on edge. Was Samantha able to help?”
“She was.” I really owed Samantha for what she’d done. Especially since helping us physically hurt her. “I have some answers, but a lot more questions. Anyone else joining—”
“Hey. What do we know?” Adrian’s voice came through. “Shane’s with me. We’re ready to roll. Just tell us what we need to do.”
“Is this it?” I ran through the list in my head. There were so many of us now it was sometimes hard to keep track, but I trusted every single one of them. We’d fought together. Bled together. We’d forged a link, and there was no hiding from it. “Where are Blaze and Beth? I don’t want to tell this twice.”
“They’re investigating something, and I’m not sure they can make it. I haven’t heard back from them yet,” Chris said. “I’ll fill them in later. Spill. What do you know?”
I hesitated to speak for a second. I was nervous that this would eventually lead to another dead end, but I couldn’t let it. I needed this to work. This was a start. This was exactly what I’d been hoping for.
Now I just needed to narrow down which wolves I was hunting. I needed a target.
“I saw Samantha today, and things didn’t quite go as expected.”
There was a gasp. “Is she okay?” Claudia asked.
“Yes. She’s in the hospital but fine. I swear. I wouldn’t have left if—”
“Come on, man. We all know you wouldn’t just leave her. What the hell happened?” Adrian asked.
They waited patiently while I explained. I tried to answer all the questions I could but took as little time doing it as possible. My wolf was urging me to run, find, hunt, and I had to keep reminding him that we needed to wait. I had to use words right now. I couldn’t be a wolf.
I watched the city go by as I talked. There were so many people on the road. So many lights and cars and sounds and smells. I’d noticed it last time we came here, but Tessa had been with me. I got to see it through her eyes, and it wasn’t so overwhelming. She’d seen it as something familiar. This had been her home.
But now, it was overwhelming.
My friends’ voices filled the car as they asked questions. My adoptive father was sitting in the car next to me, driving. And yet, I was alone.
Alone and hollow.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever not feel alone again.
They were arguing with each other now, and I was letting them for another thirty seconds, and then I was jumping in.
“No. No. We already looked into this.” Chris’s voice held a thread of frustration. “I questioned Lisabetta extensively with Cosette. You talked to the French Alpha. Right?”
I nodded, but they couldn’t see that. “Yes. I
know we talked to everyone, but clearly, we missed someone.”
“How? How could we have missed someone?” Chris was almost yelling. “We’ve been to every Alpha—even alphas who weren’t quite powerful enough to hold their own pack.”
I got his anger and frustration—I really did—but it wasn’t helpful right now.
“We made a list, and we talked to everyone. Everyone.” Now, Chris was actually yelling. “No one knows anything. They wouldn’t be able to lie—”
He wasn’t listening. And if he wasn’t listening, then maybe no one else was. That was unacceptable. “Then we missed someone. We’re going over the list again,” I snapped. “Who’s powerful enough—”