44. Amateur Work

forty-four

Amateur Work

*ELDEN*

W hen Calvin and I arrive, Jace and his future beta, Deacon are already there. “Elden!” Jace calls out. He tries to look calm and composed, but I can see the panic in his eyes. We exchange a look, and I hope it conveys that I will do everything to find Flora and Janice.

Neither Vincent nor Calvin know that Jace and Janice are a couple, and it’s not on me to spill their secret.

“Let’s trace their last steps,” Calvin says. “Vincent, tell us everything you found out so far.”

“Not much,” Vincent hurries to explain. “I told Elden already that Flora called a while back, saying she and Janice will use the warm weather to drive here with their bikes, then do some final shopping and have coffee in the coffee shop here.”

“Did they ever enter the coffee shop?” I ask.

“No, I talked to the owner and the waitress. Both said they spotted Janice outside, but not Flora.”

“And what did Flora do?” Calvin asks.

“She was in the shop and bought some things.”

“Did she pay?”

“Yes, she paid and stepped outside.” Vincent blinks. “Why?”

“It means they didn’t surprise her inside. She wasn’t in a rush. They also didn’t alert her in any way,” Calvin concludes. “She paid and left, because she didn’t think anything was wrong,” he pauses. “We are on Emerald Moon territory, am I right?”

“Yes,” Jace verifies. “Technically, this place here is human territory, but you could say with one foot they are on our pack grounds, without knowing, of course.”

“That means whoever is responsible for this wouldn’t have alerted Flora,” I say. “She wouldn’t have suspected them, and only allies of Emerald Moon are allowed to come here.”

“And humans,” Calvin adds.

I toss a gaze at him. “Humans?”

“Yes, they wouldn’t attract any attention here. Flora wouldn’t even smell them, because what’s there to smell? They are not wolves. Neither she nor Janice would mind if humans lingered around. That said, it could be a pack member as well. I think we should consider both options.” He looks around. “Where was Janice last seen?”

“The waitress said she was walking around for a bit, then disappeared from her view.”

Calvin looks around. “So, she had to be walking there, and probably came to the side-entrance of the shop.”

“Maybe she was waiting there for Flora?” I suggest. “We should verify with the shopkeeper if Flora left from the main or side entrance.”

“On it,” Vincent says. Before he can leave, though, Calvin intervenes. “Please take the way around the building. I would like to see if Janice or anyone else involved left any traces.”

“Got you.”

Calvin goes to work immediately, carefully walking along the building and towards the side entrance. There, he starts digging through the sandy ground, picking a piece of paper out. It’s just a small one, as if it was ripped from a sheet of paper. “Trash?” Jace asks.

“No, there is something written on it.” He frowns. “Hello Liebling, I can’t wait-“ he pauses. “That’s it. It stops here.”

“That’s Janice’s,” Jace blurts out. When Calvin looks at him, he recovers quickly. “I know her handwriting.”

“She dropped it,” I say. “It looks like she was in the middle of writing it, and it doesn’t seem like she would just toss it away.”

“Liebling,” Calvin mutters. “That’s an endearment. It means something like love . Did she write it for someone?”

“The girls sometimes use endearments as an inside joke,” I say promptly.

“I will never understand that,” Calvin admits but doesn’t seem to suspect anything. Instead, he hands Jace the piece of paper. At the same moment, Vincent returns. “She left through the side exit,” he verifies.

Calvin nods before he turns around to scan the area. “The girls left their bikes at the front of the shop.”

“Yeah, but there is another parking lot,” I point out. “A small one. I think it’s just for the suppliers.”

We all leave our spot to inspect the small parking lot. “Someone was there not too long ago,” Calvin mumbles, looking at the ground. He takes out a paper to take prints of the footsteps. “I believe it’s the same as in front of the side entrance where Janice was waiting.”

“There is only one road leading away from here,” I point out. “Does anyone on the way have security cameras?”

“They would be passing by a big factory,” Jace says. “I am sure they have one.”

“How will we get it?”

“I can do that,” Calvin says. “It’s what I am good at.” He turns to me. “Alpha, are you able to reach out to the luna? As a royal lycan, I believe you could link someone over longer distances.”

“No,” I say promptly. “Our connection is blocked. Probably silver or wolfsbane.”

Jace looks at me and puts his hand on his heart. Damn it, does he think Janice got hurt? “Janice is your pack member,” I say. “Can you reach out to her?”

“No,” he says, furrowing his brows. He seems to focus on something. “But I could swear she is close by.”

At that Calvin looks at him surprised. “You can feel her presence? How is that possible?”

“Well, Jace is going to be an alpha too,” I point out to cover his ass and keep his secret. “And he is a lycan.”

“But with no royal heritage,” Calvin says. Fuck, obviously, he is not one to be easily fooled.

“It’s my gift,” Jace says. “I don’t talk much about it, but I do have the capacity to reach out to pack members I have a personal connection to. And Janice is my friend.”

Calvin seems to be content with his answer. “That makes sense.”

I can’t believe he bought that. Even Vincent looks skeptical, but, as usual for him, he doesn’t prod further. Maybe it’s because Calvin has problems with social cues, and he certainly isn’t interested in what’s going on romantically between Janice and Jace.

However, despite that, watching Calvin analyze the situation and the traces shows me my own shortcomings. He is so analytical about it and gets so much done, through keeping a cool head. Sure, he is a couple of years older than the rest of us, and he has experience already, which is why he was even chosen as my beta. Hell, he was even one of my so-called protectors, from what Samuel told me. I am sure he was groomed into his role from a very young age. Still, he truly has a way of analyzing a difficult situation. I still have a long way to go.

Clearing my throat, I decide to focus back on the present. Flora needs me now, with a cool head and not filled with self-doubts. “Can you-“ I turn to Jace. “-explore that gift of yours, further?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you said you can feel pack members you have a connection to, could you push for that feeling to get stronger. Can it lead us to Janice?” I hope he gets what I truly mean. I might not know the full truth, as he hasn’t told me, but I have no doubts anymore. They must be mates, and his mate bond to Janice is something he can touch upon in his mind. It will tighten their connection and truly lead him to his mate. He can still feel her after all, so their connection wasn’t blocked.

“It’s weak,” he admits.

“But you can feel…the connection?”

Jace seems to understand what I am talking about and nods.

“Elden is right,” Calivn points out. “It means you could lead us to her.” He pauses. “How about you try to find where Janice is being hidden, meanwhile, I will retrieve the camera footage and take a look for some more traces.”

He waits for me to nod my agreement before he takes off back to the shop and café. Meanwhile, Vincent looks at us thoughtfully. “I won’t ask questions,” he says simply, briefly looking at Jace. “Just do what you need to do.”

“I will try,” he says, not sounding too confident.

I glance at Vincent, who gets the hint and pretends to be focused on something at the other end of the parking lot. “You have a connection,” I tell Jace. “A connection only you have to her, and no one else. It’s true and real, even though you are hiding it. It’s in the way you feel her pain, joy or when she is sad. It’s how you instinctively know what she needs, and how you want to make her happy because nothing means more than to see her smile. It’s real.”

“It’s real,” he says quietly.

“Just focus on her,” I encourage him. “You said the connection isn’t blocked fully.”

I wait for him to verify my words with a nod.

“Then she can hear you if you reach out to her.”

“But she didn’t reply.”

“Maybe she is unconscious,” I say. “Or something is dimming the effect of the bond, but it is there.” I hate pushing him, and I wouldn’t do it in normal circumstances, but I need to find Flora! And Jace is my way to get to her, through Janice. Once we find her, we’ll know more. I need him to do this; I need him to succeed. He has to do it!

Jace takes a deep breath. “You are right, I can do it. She is my… she is everything.”

He closes his eyes, an expression of deepest concentration on his face. I stay silent, trying not to appear too impatient or anxious, while inside, I am raging at my mate being clearly kidnapped and deeply worried because I don’t know her whereabouts or if she is okay.

“I got her,” Jace blurts out, pulling me out of my thoughts. “I… She has just answered!”

“Where is she?” I ask breathlessly.

“In a small hut, not on pack grounds.”

“A forest?”

“Yes.”

“Then she is close by, like you said. There is only one forest that is close but not on pack grounds, and close enough that whoever took her was able to reach it in two hours. Try to stay connected to her while we head there.” I wave at Vincent. “Jace got a trace. Let’s take the jeep.”

We have a clue! Fuck, I am glad it worked. I try to keep it all locked up for now; my anger, my anxiety, my guilt. No one is allowed to hurt Flora. She is all I have. The only constant in my life that remained at my side, unwavering and strong.

I can’t lose her!

We briefly inform Calvin, who is about to drive by the factories on the road to retrieve video material. “I am going to catch up with you in an hour at the latest,” he says.

“Can you really get results so fast?” I ask.

“I can, but not in the most legal way.”

“Do what you need to do,” I say. “But I don’t want an innocent person to get hurt.”

“I promise you I will just use my gift,” he smirks. “These are humans. Manipulating them is going to be easy.” He rummages for something in his bag and hands an item to me. “That’s a mobile phone.”

“Oh, you finally got them delivered!”

“Yes, took longer than I wanted to, but they arrived today. They are charged and with a sim card. You know how they work?”

“I had a briefing last week,” I inform him.

“Good, I have saved my number in it already. If anything happens, or when you have reached Janice, please call me.”

“The same goes for you.”

“Got you,” Calvin says. He doesn’t waste any more time and rushes off, taking Vincent’s much smaller car since we will be using the Jeep. Jace seems to get more from Janice, now that he managed to push through with his mind link.

“She is still under the influence of wolfsbane,” he says anxiously after we get in the car and Vincent drives off. “Which is why her senses aren’t working, and she was mostly unconscious on the way there, but she did wake up a couple of times.”

“Did she see or hear anything?”

“Yeah, it seems they drove right to the hut and dropped her off there.”

“How stupid,” Vincent mutters. “I don’t want to sound like Calv now, but if he were here, he would say it’s stupid and reckless to abduct one girl, and drop another off somewhere so close by that’s easily reachable by car!”

“I agree,” I admit.

“How does that make sense?” he pushes. “Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that Janice is okay, but if their target was Flora, why even take Janice along and not just knock her out? Or why not take her along as well just to be safe?”

“Maybe to slow down Elden’s search?” Jace offers.

“But finding her is going to be helpful now,” I say. “Vince is right. It doesn’t make sense. Janice was able to hear and see things and will tell us about it. It would have been safer to wait for Flora to be completely alone.”

Or kill Janice . I am not saying the last part out aloud, though.

“It seems like they didn’t even care,” Vincent says. “It’s so… weird.”

“Let’s see what Calvin has to say about this once he catches up with us,” I say. “For now, let’s focus on finding Janice.” I turn to Jace. “Any news?”

“She is feeling better now. Just too weak to break out of her restraints. She says she can hear water nearby and birds.”

“A stream?”

“No, she says, it’s calmer.”

“Then it’s a lake or pond.”

I take out the map we always have with us when driving, open it and go through the possible places she could be at. “It’s either here or here,” I say, pointing at the two places. “Both are close to a pond, and close enough to be reached in under two hours.”

Vincent gazes at the map. “We are close to the second spot. Let’s go there first.”

However, we aren’t even there yet, when Jace intervenes. “No, this is not it. She is not here. I would have felt her presence.”

“Got you,” Vincent says, steering the car in a different direction. “The other place it is.”

We drive mostly in silence. Jace looks both hopeful and anxious. I try to keep up a cool facade while my emotions are in a turmoil. I try to reach out to Flora again, pushing further and further, but I can’t reach her. I can only feel her lightly. Vincent tosses a glance at me. “We will find her,” he says quietly. “I promise you, I will rip my leg off to find her.”

“Let’s not go that far,” I mutter. If anything, I am going to be the one to rip my leg off to find her.

“Just saying.” He grabs the wheel firmly. “She is my luna,” he says. “And your mate. She is a friend, and I will do everything to help you find her. That’s a promise. And I know that Calvin is doing everything, too. Maybe his reasoning differs, but I know he is doing everything to find her.”

“Thank you, man.”

* FLORA *

I startle awake with a gasp. I had the weirdest nightmare ever. I was hanging out with Janice, and then heard her talking with someone. She sounded stressed. When I wanted to help her, we were knocked out cold. I frown, trying to regather my senses. Sometimes, when I am dreaming very vividly or visiting my mother, it takes some time to find my sense of orientation again, but this time, nothing alike happens. Instead, I find myself in a small room with the bare minimum of furniture. I am lying on a small bed, and I know for a fact that this is not a place I have ever been before. For a couple of minutes, I just stare at the wall, piecing together that I probably didn’t dream it, but that someone indeed captured me.

On my neck, I can feel a collar out of silver, and I am still feeling drugged from too much wolfsbane.

Celeste, I try to reach out to my lycan, but she is silent, just as silent as Elden when I try to reach him. My connection to Elden and Celeste is completely blocked.

Just fantastic! I can’t believe it!

Maybe the normal thing would be to feel panic now, or fear, but I just feel annoyed. These imbeciles, I bet Elden will kick their asses when he finds them, or rather, I will kick them. They better hope that Janice isn’t hurt. Speaking of… she is nowhere to be seen, so I hope she managed to escape. My stomach sinks when I think about her, realizing how many things could have gone wrong, but I refuse to believe it did. Janice did not die! They did not kill her!

Obviously, she is well and with Jace right now, and if anyone calls me delusional for my thoughts, it’s on them. Janice is fine, as long as proven otherwise.

I hear noises at my door, immediately sitting up in the bed, and brushing through my hair to make it look tidier. It’s long and slightly curly, giving me the perfect angelic look. I usually hate my damsel-in-distress look, but now it’s going to come in handy. Like my grandmother used to tell me: Weaponize it!

The door opens and two men and a woman step through. I make sure to flinch backward, looking at them through panicked eyes. They don’t look scary at all. The woman is wearing a brown dress, and looks more like a kind nanny than anything else. And the men look completely misplaced. One of them clears his throat.

“I know you must be scared, but as long as you behave, no one will harm you.”

Scared? I scoff inwardly. I am beyond pissed. But to keep my persona, I look at him through big, innocent eyes. “I don’t understand,” I whisper.

“How old is she again?” the other guy mutters, clearly sounding uncomfortable.

“I don’t know; it was said that she is eighteen.”

“Doesn’t look like it. She looks younger. I swear if we were done dirty-“

I press my hand to my heart. “I am always causing trouble,” I mutter sadly.

“I don’t like this either,” the woman says. “I know we need the money, but they told us she was a young woman. Look at how terrified and young she is.” She comes closer to sit down next to me. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. No one will harm you. Just like Gary said, you don’t need to fear anything. The plan is not to hurt you.”

The plan is not to hurt me?

I tap my lips in a seemingly innocent and thoughtful gesture. “So, you need money from me?”

“No, dear, we got money from…” she pauses, not continuing further. I secretly peek at her and the two men. I didn’t see my kidnappers well, but I saw enough that I know it wasn’t either of them.

“From the bad men, right?” I ask, before taking her hands and giggling. “I know it wasn’t you. It can’t have been. You are so nice.”

“My God, she is so cute and innocent,” one of the men says. “Cindy is right. I don’t feel comfortable with the situation either.”

My God. They are human?

I make sure to look as pitiful as possible. “Do you know what they will do to me?”

“You are supposed to stay here for a couple of days only,” the woman, Cindy, hurries to reassure me. “Then, they said they want you to return.”

What? They want to keep me here like I am on a vacation and then just return me? How does that make any sense?