Chapter 11

Chapter

Eleven

I pulled open a drawer in Barric's desk, rummaging through the papers for anything that might give me insight on the head alpha. Was Barric as kind and fair as he pretended? Or was something dark and ugly swimming just beneath his exterior?

Most people wore masks, and Barric's could be hiding a frightening monster.

After the first two drawers were a bust, I sat in his chair and started on the left ones. I overheard Jax say that they were meeting with Coltrane to discuss the excess of sub-demons crashing Savannah. I sure as hell hoped Barric was gone long enough for my scent to fade from his office.

There was no real evidence that the head alpha was part of this Collective Hunt bullshit, but better safe than sorry. I'd rather come out looking like a paranoid idiot than a gullible one.

Valeria, the old healer who pointed out the symbol in his painting, was never here when I tried to hunt her down. I wasn't sure she would be much help anyway. She'd seemed a little out there, even more than Cirilla.

My lips pursed as I sat back in Barric's comfy chair, examining his desk. Something carved into the wood poked out beneath the large calendar, so I moved it and some other papers aside. Ice crawled over my heart as that damn tree symbol stared back at me, etched into the glossy surface. As my breath quickened, I ran my fingers over the network of roots within the circle.

What if this was all just a coincidence? Maybe the head alpha inherited this desk from the previous one, and he was in The Collective.

Or maybe I was kidding myself, and Barric was just another asshole disguised as a good guy.

As I pushed the calendar back into place, a small leather-bound notebook caught my attention. I plucked it from the corner, unwound the leather straps holding it closed, and flipped through the manila pages. The lists of names didn't mean much until I recognized a few who had vanished.

Barric must have been keeping a log. There was nothing weird about that.

My eyebrows slammed down my forehead at Charla Campbell's name. Had she gone missing? I hadn't heard about anyone in Silver Ridge mysteriously disappearing recently, and the pack liked to gossip.

My scalp suddenly prickled, and the faint shuffle of footsteps echoed in the hall. A rich, resonant voice flowed through the thick oak door.

Oh, shit!

My heart spasmed as I scrambled away from the desk and dove onto the brown leather couch on the right side of the room moments before the door opened. Barric's tawny eyes instantly landed on me, deep lines creasing his brow.

"Tate, what are you doing in here?" He could no doubt hear my hammering heart. "Pack members aren't allowed in my office alone."

"Oh, um, sorry." I cleared my throat and sat up straight. "I wanted to talk to you and figured I'd wait." A tight smile stretched across my lips, baring my teeth.

Barric hummed as he scrutinized his office, looking for anything out of place. Hopefully, I hadn't left a drawer open. "If it's about what happened with Torin and the three other males, I want to apologize again. They were punished and sent to another pack for a few weeks."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that," I lied. Fane told me two days ago. Barric was wise to send those douchebags away. If I had to look at those pricks any time soon, I'd lose my shit and tear them apart.

Fane definitely had the same sentiment.

The head alpha sighed and dropped into the chair behind his desk, the frame groaning under his weight. "You're supposed to be safe at Silver Ridge, but you were attacked under my watch." He dragged his scarred hand through his dark hair, his mouth pressing into a grim line. "I never thought anyone here would be so stupid."

"It's not the worst thing that's happened to me." I gave a dry laugh, thinking of all the shit life had dumped on me.

"Still, it shouldn't have happened." Barric removed his phone from his pocket and set it on the desk. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

My gaze struggled not to rest on the leather-bound book with the list of names. "Have you seen Charla Campbell lately?"

He quirked a brow at my random question. "I just passed her in the hall. Are you two becoming friends?"

Barric's words faded as blood pounded in my ears. If Charla wasn't missing, what the hell was that list? Why would her name be on it if she hadn't vanished like the others ?

A bitter taste settled in the back of my mouth. Would she vanish?

"Tate?" Barric snapped his fingers to get my attention. "Are you okay?"

I shook the daze off as cold trepidation sank through my gut. "Uh, yeah. Charla. I'm kind of friends with her. She helped me in the archives."

He nodded. "How's your studying going? Find anything interesting?"

"Now that you mention it, I did find something—strange." I jammed my hands under my legs to mask the tremors racing through them. "I noticed that humans born from shifters don't always survive. Why is that?"

The head alpha casually lifted one of his large shoulders. "They simply aren't strong enough."

Ice trickled down my spine at the callous way he said it, like they were nothing to lose. Did their lives not matter as much as a born shifter's?

"Really? That's it? The babies just aren't strong enough?" I pressed, a hint of anger lingering beneath my words.

"I'm not sure what kind of explanation you were looking for, but that's the only one I've got." He leaned back in the chair, his massive legs barely fitting under the desk. "The world is not a kind place, especially for the weak. It will find that weakness, claw it out, and expose it like a fresh wound. After all you've been through and seen, I thought you'd understand that more than anyone."

He was right about one thing. The world wasn't a kind place.

Barric grabbed a pen from the holder on his desk and wrote something on the calendar. His hand suddenly stopped moving once he noticed the notebook .

My lungs froze, shrinking within my constricting chest. Fuck . I forgot to wrap the leather straps around it.

The head alpha's muscles stiffened, and his stare drilled into me, but I looked across the room as if deep in thought, mulling over his words. A trickle of sweat ran down my nape as I tried to choke down the panic threatening to drown me.

"There's also another reason I wanted to see you," I blurted, reaching for anything to explain my nerves. "I feel stupid for asking, but I was wondering if you could help me shift." As I turned back to him, I caught his surprised expression.

My request had definitely caught him off guard, considering I'd never asked for his help before.

"Oh." Barric returned the notebook to his desk and rubbed the five o'clock shadow covering his jaw. "I suppose I could try. It would be best to do it on the next full moon."

"Cool." I finally plucked my hands from under my thighs and fidgeted with my hair. "I would really appreciate it."

A knock on the door interrupted our conversation, and Fane poked his head in, his gaze wandering over me as if to ensure I was okay before landing on the head alpha. "Can I steal Tate?" He held his phone out and gave a very uncharacteristic smile. "My cousin Dylan's on the phone, and he says it's life or death that he talks to her. I think it's about a girl."

"It always is at that age." Barric chuckled and turned to me. "I'll talk to you later about helping."

I nodded and stood on shaky legs. "Sure thing. And thanks."

Fane wrapped his tattooed fingers around my bicep and jerked me out of Barric's office. When I grabbed his phone, putting it to my ear, he rolled his eyes.

"No one's there," he growled into my mind and snatched his phone back, shoving it in his pocket. "I just needed to get you out of there. Your panic almost pulled me out of my body and caused me to wreck my car."

"Where were you?" I asked as we passed two shifters in the hall, both trying to keep as much space between them and Fane as possible.

"Running errands."

"Can I go next time?"

He shot me an incredulous look, his mouth thinned. "No."

"Whatever. I'll just have to sneak out then."

Fane dragged me into a small alcove and pushed me against the wall, his body brushing mine and sending zaps of electricity across my flesh. "What were you doing in his office? It felt like you were going to pass out." Splashes of crimson spotted his neck.

"Is that blood?"

He reached up to wipe it away. "Uh, no, it's paint."

A faint copper hint permeated the air around him. "Liar. I smell blood."

Fane ignored me, his jaw tightening, sharpening his face. "Tell me what the hell you were doing in Barric's office," he demanded, brushing off my accusation.

"Have you ever heard of The Collective Hunt?"

His head snapped back. "Yeah, but it's not around anymore."

"You sure?"

"There's been no sign of them for decades."

My fingers curled around his wrist, and I tugged him from the alcove. "I think they might still be around, and Barric could be in it."

Fane allowed me to tow him upstairs and deeper into the mansion, my hand still wrapped around his wrist. Maybe he didn't notice it.

Or maybe he enjoyed it .

A girl could dream, right?

Once we stood in front of the painting, I pointed out the symbol. "There."

"It's a painting of Barric. So what?"

I scoffed and jabbed my finger at the marking. "The symbol of a tree, the one belonging to The Collective, is in his painting."

He finally pulled out of my grasp and stared at the corner where I pointed, his tongue toying with his lip piercing. "I don't see anything, Teague."

My mouth gaped. "It's clear as day. Right fucking there."

The demon shifter shook his head. "I don't know what to tell you. I don't see anything."

How could I see it and not Fane? It didn't make sense. Chills skated across my shoulders as I recalled the moment in the archives when I asked Ruin about it. Apparently, he hadn't seen it either. Neither had Logan. They only mentioned the page about Barric's son.

So why could I see it? What was different about me?

I moved to the next painting that hung above the wainscoting in one of the many halls of Silver Ridge's compound, searching for a glimpse of that tree with twisting branches and roots. How many people could see that mark in Barric's painting and on his desk? Obviously, Valeria could, but shouldn't there be more suspicion around the head alpha if a symbol belonging to a hate group was found in his house, on his personal property?

Unless, of course, it wasn't visible to most of the pack.

My teeth ground, and a huff burst out as my boots stomped on the hardwoods. After spending hours perusing the house, I found no other hints of The Collective Hunt. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place. And maybe I was simply reaching.

Did I really think Barric was part of some secret group of elitist pricks? He was the head alpha of Georga for shit's sake. Someone would have discovered that little detail about him by now. And there were plenty of bitten shifters in his pack.

Still, I had to keep looking to satisfy this obsession. Barric could be like a lot of people in my life, a complete asshole under his nice mask.

I descended the huge staircase, running my hand over the burnished banister to feel for any symbols carved into the wood. Two female shifters sat on the comfy leather couch in the living room, talking and sipping coffee. Their conversation halted when I entered the room, and they watched me awkwardly meander through.

Could I really blame them? Being tied to the infamous Fane Maverick had put a spotlight on me.

I turned down one of the many corridors branching off the main living room, studying the baroque wallpaper for hidden symbols as my boots sank into the thick carpet runner. If I wasn't careful, I'd get lost in this maze again.

A door opened, and Jax popped out, his eyes widening briefly before that usual charming smile settled over his face. "What are you doing down here, Tate? Last I saw, you were knee-deep in books in the archives. I thought you'd be there all day."

"I needed a break."

"Right." He nodded and rubbed the scruff on his jaw. "Uh, listen, do me a favor and stay out of the east wing on the first floor."

My brow arched at his suspicious behavior. "Why? What's going on?" The head alpha's council met in a large room in that part of the house .

"Nothing you need to worry about." He ran his hand through his blond locks and winked. "We're just dealing with some extremely irritating and entitled shifters who think they own the world. Trust me, you'd rather not run into them."

"Okay…" Did they have a problem with Fane and me staying at Silver Ridge even though we weren't part of the pack? Maybe Wes, Torin's father, was spearheading a campaign to kick us off the premises.

Jax patted my shoulder as he walked by. "I knew you'd understand. I told Barric he'd have nothing to worry about."

Heat tipped the ends of my ears as the beta vanished around a corner. Did Barric think I'd go crazy on that asshole?

My phone buzzed, and I slipped it out of my pocket, a text from an unfamiliar number displaying on the screen.

Unknown: I have something of yours.

Well, that wasn't ominous at all.

Me: Who is this?

Unknown: Your favorite princess.

A gust of icy air washed over my back, sinking all the way to my bones. How the hell had Venna gotten my number?

Me: What do you want?

Her following text had no words. Only a picture.

My veins frosted over at the picture of Kortney Tran gagged and tied to a chair with Mykel threateningly looming over her. Blood streaked her temple, dribbled from her nose, and smudged her eyebrow.