Chapter 9

9

R emy spun around, his eyes already searching the crowd. His mouth tightened when his gaze landed on Katy, who was still dancing and laughing with Ainsley. A second later he looked down at me.

“Dante’s still upstairs. Can you get him? I’ll grab Katy and shut the party down.” He barely finished the sentence before he was moving past me to get to his sister.

I turned and headed for the stairs. The music died by the time I was halfway up them, a few dancers complaining loudly at the sudden silence. Once at the landing, I looked at the open and closed doors wondering where Dante could be.

Thankfully he stepped out of a room down the hall a second later, rubbing the back of his neck. He frowned when he saw me, his hand falling to his side.

“What’s wrong?”

I took a deep breath. “There was an accident. Maren’s missing.”

It was a little scary how fast Dante went from relaxed to intense, his already sharp features hardening as he ran down the hallway, brushing past me and hurrying down the stairs as I followed behind as close as I could.

“We need to go look for her now !” Katy yelled shrilly as I reached the bottom.

Remy was holding her by the shoulders, half comforting, half holding her back from running out the door. Mr. Hendricks had come inside and was talking to Dante. The group of partying teens had gone eerily silent.

“Move!” A sharp voice snapped, and the crowd parted for Tate and Ryder as they came in from the backyard.

“Someone said Maren was in an accident?” Tate demanded, coming up behind Dante as he spoke quietly with Mr. Hendricks.

I made my way through the quiet group of teens until I was at Katy’s side.

“Remy, we have to go look for her,” Katy urged, her voice teetering on the edge of hysterical. She yanked on his arms uselessly, trying to break free as Rhodes and Larkin came up behind her.

“Shh,” Larkin soothed, stroking her back gently.

Remy’s eyes cut to me. I didn’t need to shift to read his mind.

I gave a short nod, wrapping my arms around Katy’s waist as he let her go and stalked back to where Dante, Ryder, and Tate were furiously talking with Mr. Hendricks.

Katy turned to me, her dark eyes huge against her pale face. “Skye—” Her voice broke as she whispered my name, my heart squeezing at the despair in her expression.

“We’ll find her,” I promised quickly, praying to anyone listening that I could keep that vow.

A sharp, ear-piercing whistle made the entire room flinch in tandem. Seconds later, the remaining Brooks Ridge pack emerged from the crowd and swiftly followed their alpha out the door.

Katy jerked against me, ready to follow them.

“Listen up!’ Remy barked, turning around and commanding the attention of the room. “There’s been an accident. One of us is missing. We’re sending out scouts from each pack to track her. Five minutes until we move out.”

Remy’s gaze caught mine and he jerked his chin at us. Like a trained unit, the four of us moved to him, following him outside and down the stairs. Seconds later, the rest of our pack joined us.

“Remy—” Katy started.

He held up a hand to silence her. “You’re coming with us,” he told her, his dark eyes sympathetic as he watched her.

Katy gave a sharp nod, squaring her shoulders as she shored up her resolve. Her skin was almost ashen, but there was no missing the determined glint in her eye.

“Larkin, can you and the twins take the rest of the pack back to the cabin? Once we know anything, I’ll call you and let you guys know. Make sure everyone sticks together,” Remy told her, his gaze moving back to where Konnor and Kyle stood off to the side.

“Of course,” Larkin said, her eyes going from me to Rhodes.

“Will, Rhodes, and Skye are coming with us. Let’s go!” He turned and started moving quickly through the snow, back towards our cabin.

The majority of the pack followed Larkin inside while I went with Remy and the others to where the truck was parked around the back.

“We should just shift and run,” Katy said, frustration lacing her tone as Remy and Rhodes worked to clear the snow from the SUV.

“They’re miles away,” Will told her, brushing snow from the windshield. “It’s snowing like crazy. Fastest way is to drive there.”

I stepped forward, helping them clear the rest of the snow from the truck with my bare hands until they ached.

We all quickly climbed wordlessly into the car. I snapped my seatbelt into place as Remy shifted the car into drive and started forward, the chains around the tires crunching across the snow.

Glancing over my shoulder, I exchanged a worried look with Rhodes, who quickly wrapped a supportive arm around Katy’s thin shoulders as she shivered.

None of us had bothered getting our coats before we ran out the door, the mix of fear and adrenaline keeping us warm until now.

“How far away?” Will asked, his eyes already focused on the world outside the cab as he squinted to see through the darkness as more snow fell heavily around us.

It took several minutes before we pulled away from the large front gates of the school, joining several other SUVs and trucks heading down the road to where Maren had crashed.

“Mr. Hendricks said a couple miles outside the grounds,” Remy answered, his knuckles white around the steering wheel as he tried to go as fast as possible without sliding off the road. There were easily twenty miles between the front gates of GPA and the outer edge of the boundary lines of the property.

I exchanged a look with Remy. He was doing the math, too. It would take us longer than anyone wanted to get to where the accident was, but driving would still be better than trying to run through snow up to our bellies if we shifted first.

Katy leaned forward. “Hurry up, Rem.”

“I’m going as fast as I can,” he replied, jaw clenched.

The wipers on the windshield furiously tried to keep the snow from blocking his vision, but it was a losing battle. The snow was too heavy and too dense for him to drive more than thirty miles per hour.

I reached across the consol between us, letting my hand rest on top of his rock hard thigh as he drove. A small shudder rippled down his body, but he relaxed a fraction at my touch. I stroked my thumb against the rough denim of his jeans absently as I tried to keep my thoughts positive.

The drive took forever between the tension in the SUV and the blinding snow outside. All the terrain blended together in a world of white snow, pitch black darkness, and the red glow from the taillights of the caravan of trucks we were leading into the night. Several times Remy had to ease off the gas as the truck started to slide.

“We’re almost a mile out,” Remy murmured, not needing to raise his voice to be heard amongst the silence. “When we get there, everyone shift. Katy and I will take one direction, Skye, Rhodes, and Will the other direction.”

His eyes cut quickly to mine and he tapped his temple. I nodded. We would still be able to communicate if one of us found Maren.

As we rounded the corner, bright red and blue lights lit up the sky around us.

“Fuck,” Remy swore, the leather of the steering wheel protesting under his unforgiving grip.

“What?” I asked as we pulled up with other vehicles.

“Cops,” he said with a sigh. His eyes lifted to the rearview mirror and he slowly shook his head.

“No!” Katy yelled, already trying to scramble over Rhodes.

Remy twisted in his seat with a grunt. “Katy—” He managed to push her back into Rhodes before she could reach the front of the cab.

“Fuck you!” Katy hissed, fighting against Rhodes with everything she had.

I spun around in my seat, stunned to see how completely out of control Katy was. Her dark eyes were wild with fear and anger. “Katy, stop!”

“Calm down,” Rhodes said gently, wincing when her nails caught his forearm and drew blood.

I reached out for Katy as a fisted hand knocked against my window. With a gasp, I whirled around, stunned to see a man standing next to me, a wide brimmed hat covering his face as a gust of wind whipped more snow around.

My window slowly lowered as Remy pressed the button, his shoulder rubbing mine as he leaned across me.

“Deputy,” he greeted in a level voice.

The deputy ducked his head closer to the window, his cold blue eyes sweeping across all of us before landing on Remy. “You kids need to turn around and head back to the school.”

“We just came from there,” Remy said calmly, almost nonchalant. “A friend of ours is missing. We came out here to help look.”

“We already know about the accident and the missing girl,” the man replied firmly, his jaw set. “The department is already here, and we’ve called in state help. We’re working on sending a team out for her.”

“With all due respect, sir,” Remy went on evenly, “we know this land and might be able to help.”

The deputy squared his shoulders. “The last thing we need is a bunch of teenagers getting lost out here, too.”

“You don’t understand,” Katy started from the backseat.

“Sweetheart, why don’t you go back and wait where it’s warm and safe? I promise we’ve already called in the best in the state to look for your friend. The middle of a storm is no place for you kids to play hero.”

“We aren’t going anywhere without our friend,” Katy snapped.

The deputy’s eyes narrowed. “Honey, I wasn’t offering a suggestion. You kids turn this car around and go back to the school, or I can assign another deputy to drive you to the station where you can wait for your parents to come and collect you. They’ll have to personally sign each of you out of our custody.”

His lips quirked into a thin, condescending smile. “I hear you all attend a boarding school, so it might be a while before your parents sign for your release.”

“Understood,” Remy said quietly. “Thank you.”

The deputy tipped his hat and started back towards the flashing lights as I wound the window back up.

“Fucking hell,” Rhodes muttered.

“Remy, we need to get out there,” Katy urged, reaching up to grab his arm.

“We can’t.” Remy pulled away and put the truck in drive, turning around slowly and heading back for the school. The rest of the cars followed.

“What the hell are you doing?” Katy screamed, reaching for him again, but Will and Rhodes pulled her back. “Maren is back there!”

My heart was pounding in my chest as I touched his shoulder. “Remy.”

His hands flexed around the steering wheel. “The locals are there. If we try to interfere, they’ll arrest us.”

“Then pull over, and we can shift!” Katy snapped, still struggling.

“And have a bunch of armed normals shooting at wolves in the dark?” He shook his head. “We can’t. I’m sorry, Katy.”

“No!” Katy yelled, tears in her eyes for the first time since she heard Maren was missing.

My stomach dropped as I swallowed hard. “Katy, they’ll find her.”

Her furious eyes glared back at me. “You don’t know that!”

“I’m sorry,” Remy repeated, his eyes fixed on the road—or lack of road—in front of us as he drove. The convoy that had followed us out was now behind us on the road, everyone trailing Remy back to the school.

“If Maren is hurt, I’ll never forgive you for this, Remy,” she threatened, her voice shaking as hard as she was.

He sighed softly, but didn’t speak.

“Let go !” Katy shrieked, finally pulling away from Rhodes and Will. She pulled her knees up to her chest, sobs tearing through her body as she cried.

Again, I reached across the console for Remy, needing to touch him.

The second my fingers touched his leg, he dropped a hand and caught mine in it, squeezing so hard I felt my bones grind together.

He was clinging to me like I was a lifeline.

I swallowed my own tears, squeezing him back, and feeling just as helpless and frustrated.