Page 62 of Marked By Love

Royce’s ears pounded, fingers trembling. Was he breathing? He couldn’t tell.

“Phase!” his wolf bellowed. “What are you waiting for? We need to track the trail while it’s fresh! PHASE.”

A yell tore from his chest, and he gripped his hair as his knees threatened to buckle. His teeth were elongating, and thick fur was starting to spread over his skin. He fought it back.

He needed to remain rational. He needed to know exactly what happened before he let the wolf take over. He needed to talk to Margarette.

“What happened?” he demanded.

“Dr. Abbott! I mean, Theodore.” Her voice shook, and her hand clutched at her throat. “He came in early to walk Mutt. He—he went further from the clinic than normal. I couldn’t see … I was doing inventory, and I couldn’t see. But I heard the shots.”

“How many?”

“I don’t—three, four, I’m not sure. When I came out, he was gone and so was Mutt.”

“They took both of them?”

“Mutt was howling, I don’t—I don’t know what happened. I couldn’t see.” Margarette had started bawling at this point.

Scott’s brown wolf disappeared, leaving the naked man standing in the grass. “I scented three alphas, one was in bear form. And there are four shells in the grass and some alpha blood and …” He held up Theo’s glasses. “Whatever happened, Theo put up a fight.”

“He’s scrappy like that, a good shot too.” Royce remembered the time he’d been the one Theo was aiming at. If he hadn’t ducked and rolled when he did, there’d be no more Royce. “But still, three alphas at once? And if one of them was shifted, he wouldn’t be able to fend them all off if they took him by surprise.”

Royce wanted to fall to the ground, to cry and scream, to shift and run after his mate. But he forced himself to remain in control. This attack had been coordinated. They would have had an escape vehicle waiting somewhere. He couldn’t run down a car the way he could run down someone on foot.

“Amelia!” he called upward. “What do you see?”

The hawk took a nosedive. A split second before it hit the ground, it pulled up and turned into a woman.

“There’s a track in the trees,” Amelia said. “Four miles, maybe six, up to the northernmost path, based on the mud tracks, they had a van waiting. I’d also wager someone got shot in a critical location.”

“Blood?”

“Tons.”

Royce turned to the forest. He hoped to hell that blood belonged to the alpha Theo injured.

“The dog. I can’t believe they took the dog too. And Doc. What do they want with Doc? What’d they do to the dog?” In his shocked state, Gerald was repeating the same sentiment over and over again. Royce twitched as the omega’s voice grated his ears.

Lucy had taken Margarette to the side and was asking her more detailed questions along with trying to get anything out of Gerald. Argus was on his way, but he hadn’t been in town when they called, and it was going to take him a while. Royce couldn’t wait that long. Theo couldn’t wait that long.

“Buford, you’re coming with me. Amelia, follow from above and return here if anything happens to us or we find where they’re hiding.” Royce kicked off his boots. He couldn’t outrun a van, but he could sure as shit follow it until the trail died.

A pitiful howl carried through the air as he was removing his shirt. His head snapped to attention. The sound came from the cabin, by the lean-to. He went forward to investigate; maybe one of them got left behind? But how had he not scented that?

With a whine and a bark, Mutt came out from the lean-to. Her lead still attached to her harness, her curly fur was covered in mud and bark. She whined and limped, her ears flat as she looked around cautiously.

“Mutt!” Royce knelt in front of the dog. She wiggled her butt and came forward to Royce’s open arms. She rested her head against his chest. “Oh, Mutt, you poor thing, you’re shaking. They didn’t hurt you too, did they?”

Mutt snuffled and licked Royce’s face. He ran his hands over her, careful of her stitches and bandages. She seemed okay. He was worried sick about Theodore, but seeing Mutt here, unharmed and upright, soothed a piece of Royce’s mind. Albeit a minuscule one.

After reassuring Mutt, Royce took her to Gerald and Margarette. They’d know better if anything was wrong with her. Mutt, however, looked as if Royce was abandoning her in her most dire hour. Odd way for a dog he’d hit with his car to be looking if you asked him. But he couldn’t stop and consider that right now. Theo needed him.

Shucking his clothes, Royce let go. His wolf surged forward, and he dropped to all fours. Placing his nose to the ground, he found Theo’s scent. It was stronger as a wolf. He could track him across the lawns to the exact spot Theo had a surge of adrenaline, then terror. His wolf growled, the scent of his mate’s fear leaving a sour taste on his tongue.

He also picked up the three distinct alpha scents: the black bear, his pain and surprise; a bobcat, he had surprise in his scent too; and a wolf, her scent was mixed with arousal.

His hackles went up, and he sprinted into the woods. Some alphas got off on being bullies, especially to omegas. If these lot were the traffickers, which was his best assumption, he had to hope they had a long way to travel before they got Theo to their destination. Far enough to buy Theo time … time for Royce to track them and catch up to them.