Chapter 52

Megan

"Something doesn't feel right." Nothing was wrong, but something felt off.

"What doesn't feel right?" Cade asked as he flipped the TV off where credits of the zombie movie were scrolling up.

I drew my eyebrows together. "I can't explain what it is. Something just doesn't feel right." My phone was on the coffee table, and I snatched it up, dialing Sam's number.

My blood chilled in my veins.

"What?" Cade pressed.

"It went straight to voicemail." I looked at him, fear squeezing its hand around my stomach. "He always picks up if it's me. He'd never turn his phone off. Not now that our link isn't working," I admitted in a whisper.

Cade's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

"Mary!" He jumped off the couch and headed into the kitchen.

I took several deep breaths trying to calm myself as I heard Cade, Mary, and Rev speaking in the kitchen. Dread pooled in my gut and looking down, I realized my knuckles were white. I forced myself to unclench my hands and dialed Sam's number again. Voicemail.

"Sam, where are you?" I whispered into the room.

Sam? Can you hear me? I tried our link. Nothing. Just a black hole that swallowed my words and offered nothing.

"Megan, come with me." Mary's voice was stern and offered no room for disagreement. Phone still in hand, I followed her to the stairs. She opened the door to the closet under the staircase. "Do you see that ring there in the wall?" She pointed.

I nodded as I made out the barely visible outline of a metal ring embedded in the dark closet wall.

"If you give that a tug, a door will open in the floor. If anything happens and you're in danger, you go down there. There's food and water for several days." She looked hard at me and my eyes went wide as my mouth went dry.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. But we're preparing for all possibilities." Mary was clearly taking charge.

"You feel it, too, don't you?"

She looked me in the eye, hers sad and uncertain. "Yes."

"Dad is assembling the fighters." Cade's blue eyes were shining. Both from fear and anticipation.

"The chain is started. Families are being notified to put their safe measures in place," Rev said as he joined us in the living room.

I jumped as my phone rang with an unknown number.

"Hello?" I nearly shouted as my trembling hand held my phone to my ear.

He groaned on the other line. "You're safe. Okay."

"Sam! What's wrong?" I couldn't get any more out before he cut me off.

"Megan, are you still at the house?"

"Of course."

"Put me on speaker and get everyone else in the room."

"We're all here," I told him as we huddled around the phone.

"We were ambushed. I'm at the phone in the back of Druzy's Bar at the edge of town. Someone needs to come pick me up. My leg is hurt, and I've got wolves on my trail. They drugged me and not all my senses are working. I can't use the all call. Get Jennifer Kypson and have her meet me at the house. I may need stitches again. Tell her to bring stuff for blood collection, too. Assemble the fighters. They still have Dad, and we have to go after him."

"Sam," Mary started, catching her lip between her teeth as terror slid across her face.

"I know." He heaved a breath. "I'm moving toward home. I don't want to stay in one place. I don't know if they'll follow me inside city limits, but they might. I don't know what they want."

There was blood in my mouth as I realized I'd been chewing the inside of my cheek.

"I'm moving east. I'm going wolf, so whoever comes needs to be looking for fur, not skin."

"I'll come right now," Rev offered.

"No. Stay with Megan. Have Jake and his dad come if you can. They're closest to this side of town. Tell Jake to bring a robe. I want everyone going in pairs. No one should be going anywhere alone."

"Calling Jake now," Cade said and stepped away from the group.

"Mom, I'm sorry. We'll get Dad back."

"Oh, Sammy, I know! Be careful!" Mary's chin trembled, but her voice was strong.

"Megan? Be safe. Okay? Don't leave the house."

"I won't. Please, please be careful." My whisper strangled itself from my throat.

"I will. I'll be back soon." And the phone clicked off.

I was numb. My brain was trying to work through the information it had been given, but the cogs and wheels weren't turning fast enough. Terror bloomed in my belly and spread like poison to my limbs making them heavy and sluggish.

"Megan, breathe," Rev said as he put an arm around my shoulders and led me back to the couch. "He'll be all right. We'll get this all sorted, and things will be fine," he comforted. I wanted Grandpa. What I really wanted was Sam, but in his absence, I wanted my grandfather's arms around me, his orange tea and spice smell cocooning me. I shivered. I texted Grandpa and Rachel what I knew. And then I waited. There was nothing I could do but wait.

Wolves began to arrive. Some in animal form, some in skin. The animals blended into the darkness, flashes of green glowing eyes giving away their shadowed forms as they collected. Waiting. Waiting for their Beta to return. Waiting for news of their Alpha.

I searched for Wolf inside me. She was there, her concern ratcheting my own up higher so that I felt tied in knots. She paced, and though I secretly went into the kitchen by myself to try to let her out, I couldn't. We were agreed and of the same mind at last, but we could not change.

Nearly thirty minutes after Sam called, there were tires on pavement that came all the way up the drive. Racing to the window, I jerked the curtains so hard I nearly brought the rod down. Jake's familiar truck and then Sam's shaggy head in the front seat had my breath leaving me in a rush.

"Mary! He's here!"

Mary was already dashing to the door, but I beat her through it and ran to Sam, launching myself at him, remembering he said he was hurt only at the last minute.

It didn't matter. He leaned his weight against the truck and nearly lifted me from my feet as he buried his head in my neck and my arms locked around his shoulders.

"Where are you hurt?"

"Just let me hold you a second," he mumbled into my hair. I melted against him, my heart hammering as my fingers felt hard muscle beneath them, assuring myself that he was here.

Headlights danced across the front of the house as a beat up white sports car pulled into the drive. Sam released me but kept his hand around mine, cinching his gray robe tighter with the other. Mary leaned in and pulled Sam close.

"I'm sorry, Mom."

"No, Sammy. This is not your fault."

Jennifer got out of the car, and Kyp followed out the passenger side. I realized that the gathered pack members had converged and had formed a semicircle around us. Jennifer and Kyp approached tentatively.

"Let them through." Sam turned to address the rest of the pack. "Thank you all for coming so quickly. Your Alpha and your Beta were ambushed tonight by some of Victor Atwood's pack. I don't know why, but they clearly meant to hurt us. They still have Dad. We are going to get him back. Steve, Corwin, Jonathan, Rev, please come into the house. We're going to form a plan, and we're going to move quickly. The rest of you, stay close. I was drugged, and not all my senses are fully functioning. As soon as the all call is working properly, expect to move out." He nodded at Jennifer who hesitantly moved up the walkway to the house. Sam put his arm around my shoulders and leaned on me more than I expected.

"Bad?" I whispered.

He nodded and grimaced as we limped together to the door.