“Focus on my voice. Just keep talking, and I will find you. I promise I will find you,” I told him before hitting a tree as I reached the treeline. The air got knocked from my lungs, and I was trying to catch my breath when he screamed through the link again. Adrenaline kept me moving, and I took off, turning every time his voice grew softer, using the boundaries of the mindlink to guide me in his direction.
Chapter eighty-six
Ace
Crippling pain woke me and stole the air from my lungs as I lurched upright. My sweat drenched the sheets beneath me and clung to my skin as it covered me also. Atticus whimpered in my head, and I fumbled for the lamp, flicking it on and brightening the room when Tyson gasped, also jolting upright in the bed across from me. Yet, the middle of the bed was empty. Light filled the room, and I glanced around and sniffed the air for my mate. However, Lucy was nowhere in sight.
“Lucy?” Tyson called out, and I jumped from bed to check the bathroom, yet some part of me was being pulled outside, like some tether, and an invisible force was saying to go a certain way. My mate mark burned fiercely, and I covered it with my hand, the mark itself searing hot. I glanced at Tyson behind me, his mark an angry red and almost glowing under his skin; he, too, was drenched in sweat and was a sickly gray color.
Atticus was on edge, and the pull to her had us run into the darkness of the night. Tyson was on our heels when pain rippled through both of us, paralyzing us temporarily as we both hit the dirt, and I slid across the ground, the ground tearing at my arms and hands as I tried to catch myself. The air felt stagnant, and I struggled to breathe as pain radiated through my chest, her pain flooding the bond, and I couldn’t stand it.
“Where is she?” Tyson choked out when his phone started ringing.
“Answer it. It could be her?” I spat through gritted teeth, crawling to my hands and knees and trying to regain myself. Yet, her pain was crippling and flooding the bond.
Tyson fumbled in his shorts pocket for his phone before dropping it. He tapped the screen, and Melana’s frantic voice came through the phone, and he growled before clutching his chest like he was having a heart attack.
“Lucy is in heat. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t stop. She has gone after Alpha Jamie. I am… I am on the old road leading to Avalon City.”
“Where is she?” I heard Tyson snarl.
“I don’t know. I lost her trying to get phone reception to call you,” she said, but I took off, Atticus urging me to follow the bond, and we shifted.
Tyson stayed behind while he waited for instructions from him. Opening the mindlink I listened, waiting before speaking.
“Get back up. I will get our mate,” I told him before hearing him acknowledge my words and answer.
“On it. Find her, Ace, bring her home. I will get Aamon and hopefully Avery. Fuck, I hope we can wake Ryker,” he growled.
“I will find her. Just be ready when I do.”
Chapter eighty-seven
Lucy
I had been running for what felt like ages. My perception of time was off. I thought I was moving quickly. However, I felt Ace growing nearer, the bond trying to pull me toward him, and I hadn’t realized I had slowed to a walk. I was delirious as I continued to listen to Rayan’s voice leading me to him, but with each step, I grew sicker, weaker, and I struggled to remain upright. Clutching a tree, I tried to catch my breath. Lucille had gone quiet a while ago, and I was starving. Ravenous for blood.
“Lucille…” I gasped for air while trying to pull strength from my wolf, but I felt nothing. I felt hot and then cold, and before I knew it, I had collapsed, the ground rushing toward my face, and the only thing holding me from unconsciousness was Rayan’s screams running through my head. Holding me and keeping me from accepting the darkness as it tried to steal my vision.
It started to rain, drops falling from the canopy leaves above and hitting my face. I welcomed the drops, anything to cool the blistering heat that ravaged my body.
Rayan’s voice was so loud now that I could hear him so clearly and knew I was close. I had no idea how long I lay in the dirt, but willpower had me forcing myself to my hands and knees as I crawled to the tree to pull myself up. Ace, I could tell, was so close I was worried it would be all for nothing. His voice boomed through the link to come to him but I had to find my brothers first. I was not leaving without them, and I knew he could hear Rayan, or at least I hoped he could by now.
I stumbled through the forest when lights appeared in the distance, flickering among the shrubs and branches ahead of me. My heart rate picked up with excitement as I realized I’d found them, found the place Melana spoke of, and Rayan had managed to lead me to him.
When I reached the end of the forest and burst through the treeline, I found I was at a vineyard. Green and purple grapes lined up in rows filled the vast house’s fields. It was a mansion lit up in the night. I had barely taken a few steps when I was tackled from behind. Something warm and hard smashed against my back and collided with me, sending me hurtling toward the ground.
Sparks erupted everywhere, and a growl so terrifying slammed against me; its vibration against my back sent a shiver up my spine.
“I told you to stop,” Ace’s voice boomed, his aura rushing over me suffocatingly strong, his scent wafting to my nose, and I felt Lucille try to press forward, but she was too weak to push against the veil that separated us.
“I found them! I found them!” I groaned, trying to roll out from under him, but he growled, his teeth grazing down my neck in warning. It was like the energy just zapped right out of me at his thunderous purr, calling on me to submit to him. He pulled his chest off my back, allowing me to roll, and I stared up at Ace, my vision blurry, and he glanced around.
“Rayan?” he whispered, and I felt the mindlink open up.
“Please, god, tell me you’re close,” Rayan cried.
“She found you, buddy. I am sending Tyson back for you,” I heard him tell Rayan, and I growled. I wasn’t leaving them here. Ace glared down at me before dipping his face into the crook of my neck. He put pressure on my mark with his teeth against my throat. Atticus tried to force me to submit to Ace’s demands and go with him as he pressed beneath Ace’s skin.