Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

Rowan

G one. The word hit me with the force of a charging bull. I'd convinced Evelyn to trust me with it—I'd told her she could trust me. How could it be gone?

Evelyn followed me into my bedroom, and I watched from the door as she surveyed the space. She closed her eyes, and my wolf stood at attention as I sensed hers working to the surface.

"Do you smell that?" Evelyn asked.

I drew a breath. I didn't sense anything out of the ordinary, but maybe that was because I was used to the smells of my pack. If Evelyn found something—if she linked it to one of the members of my pack?—

She met my stare head-on, her eyes fierce and unwavering. "That scent. It doesn't belong to Black Lake. It's... different. Strange. And it's intentionally covered, like someone's trying to mask their trail from us."

"Masked?" My senses were sharp, honed by years of leading my pack, yet this scent eluded me completely. A cold finger trailed down my spine, awakening a primal unease. "Why can't I smell it?"

"Whoever it is, they're clever. They've managed to conceal their scent, but not completely. There's a trace, something synthetic maybe, that I can follow." She rushed out of the room.

"Where are you going?"

"To get my backpack and med kit!" She threw on her shoes and ran down the steps.

"Evelyn!" I raced after her, and when I arrived at Will's, she was already throwing her backpack over her shoulder.

"C'mon." She led me back to my house, walked down the hall, took another moment in the room, then raced out the back door.

I launched out after her and nearly bowled her over.

"Ow, Rowan!" She grabbed onto my arms to keep from falling backward onto the deck.

"Why'd you stop?"

Evelyn tilted her head up and met my eyes. "I was waiting for you."

I stood there, the weight of her admission anchoring me to the spot. Just yesterday, she'd been sneaking out of a hotel room, and now…My heart thundered, a wild rhythm against my ribs. This fierce, lone wolf—a beta without a pack—had chosen to lean on me. In that moment, our bond solidified, another thread snapping into place as tangible as the boards under my boots.

"Let me carry that." I pointed at the bag.

She didn't argue. We jogged down the path behind my house until we were concealed by the trees. Without hesitation, Evelyn began to strip. I turned my back and did the same, using every shred of self-control not to turn and look at her.

"You good?" I asked.

Evelyn barked in response. She'd already shifted. I turned and saw her back to me, her clothes in a neat pile on the ground. I shoved them in the bag and added mine, then zipped it. I barely had to think it before my wolf flew forward, bursting out of me.

I picked up the backpack with my mouth.

What the hell is happening? Jasper's rough voice echoed in my head.

If this is a sex thing, you need to shield your emoting, Lana added, a smirk in her mental tone.

Right. That surge of emotion from the time I chased after Evelyn to me standing on the back patio? My second and third—possibly further down the line—felt it.

Not a sex thing. We're following a lead, I growled back.

It felt too warm and fuzzy, Jasper snarked.

Evelyn nudged me with her nose. I nodded, and the forest swallowed us whole, dense foliage blurring into a sea of green and brown as we bolted forward. Evelyn led the way, her keen tracker's nose scanning the underbrush for any sign of the trail she'd found earlier. I trailed behind her, feeling like a novice rather than the alpha. It was disconcerting, being unable to smell what she could; my heightened senses were useless against whatever magic veiled this scent from me.

Evelyn slowed, sniffing the ground, then yipped as she veered sharply to the left. I followed, watching the determination set in her shoulders, the athletic grace with which she navigated the uneven ground. She was a force of nature, unstoppable, yet when we passed the same fallen log twice, frustration crept into her movements as the trail led us in circles.

It doesn't make sense. The scent is here, then it's not, she pushed.

I'm sorry I'm no help. The woods were nearly dark. Evelyn put her nose to the ground and retraced our earlier steps. She turned left like we had the first time, then halted abruptly, her body tensing. She bolted, and I followed. This time, we went north, then curved east. It was when we crossed the creek that recognition tickled the back of my mind.

That scent. I'd missed it the other night when Evelyn and I walked through this same section of woods in our human forms.

Kitimat. Strong and clear.

Evelyn slowed as the trees thinned, and I stopped beside her, following her gaze.

In front of us was Nathan's cabin.