*Maddox*
“Find everyone in the castle who is from Willow pack, now!” I shout at Beta Seth as I personally go to find Private Wylie. I have every one of my guards, the ones I trust, searching the castle, looking for clues as to where Isla might be. My mind is going crazy with the possibilities.
“What can I do, sir?” Poppy asks me.
I shake my head, wishing she hadn’t chased after me, but here she is. “Go check with the guards at the gate and see if any vehicles left the property in the timeframe when Isla first went missing.”
“Yes, sir, Alpha,” she says and takes off.
Ironically, I find Private Wylie exactly where I expect him to be… in front of Isla’s door. But something is off. I can tell by the way he is looking at me. He seems a bit disheveled as well. “Private,” I say, trying to keep my cool. For now.
“Yes, Alpha?” he says, his chin jutting out.
“Where is Private Parker?” I look to the vacant spot next to him.
“I don’t know, sir. I left my post to another guard and just got back on duty. I assume that Private Parker also went off duty, but he was still here when I left, a few hours ago.”
I study his face before I begin shaking my head. “You do know there are cameras everywhere in this castle, right?” That’s true, but most of them don’t actually record anything, and rarely are they monitored. Nevertheless, I point to a spot in the distance where a red light is flashing.
“Yes, sir,” he says. “Though… I thought… doesn’t that basically loop and not record anything?”
Again, I study him, seeing perspiration dot his forehead. “Why would you say that, Wylie?”
“Oh, uh… I was just thinking… we should install better cameras. That’s all.” He shifts on his feet.
“Well, the one on the gate works and will let me know if anyone has left the premises in a car recently. Also, Poppy knows you weren’t here for many hours and that no one replaced you.”
“Poppy?” he echoes, and I nod. “She wasn’t here, sir. She was off helping some other maid. If she told you I wasn’t here, she was lying.”
I take a step closer to him. “Stop fucking around with me, Wylie,” I say. “One of your confidants has already squealed. So… unless you wanna take the fall for this, tell me where the fuck Isla is, right now!”
He swallows so hard, I think he might choke on his own Adam’s apple. “Sir… I don’t know what—”
“Sir, Zabrina won’t let me in her room,” Beta Seth says in my head. “She says it’s not necessary, and I don’t need to go in.”
“Force your way in,” I tell him.
Back to Wylie, I narrow my gaze and grab his collar. “Zabrina doesn’t have feelings for you, you know?” I am taking a gamble here. I see in the way his pupils dilate that I am on to something.
“Wh-who?” he stammers, and I cram him up against the door. “Listen, shithead, I’m not going to stand around and wait for you to decide to tell me what you know when Isla could be in danger!”
“Fine!” he shouts. “Parker told me not to say anything… but he left. With her. Earlier. They’ve been having an affair. He’s snuck into her room several times!”
“That’s bullshit!” I hit the wall hard, and my fist goes through the drywall, leaving a hole. I pull it out, bleeding, ignoring the pain that radiates up to my elbow. “Do you want that to be your fucking skull?”
“Sir, there’s nothing here. We’ve searched every room in the castle, and we can’t find anything that will give us a clue as to where she might be.” Seth sounds a bit frantic.
I feel that in my soul. “Every room?” I ask him.
“Yes, every room, sir,” he repeats. “Well, all but one….”
Rebecca’s room. It’s locked. No one has the key except for me and that key is back in the pocket of the pants I discarded when I left the car.
I’m getting nowhere with Wylie. Someone may need to torture him, but I don’t have the time. I call one of my commanders who is nearby. “Commander Fife, take Wylie down to the dungeon and get him to tell me what he knows. He had motor oil on his hands this morning, right before my car broke down. He’s not fooling me. Besides,” I continue, staring at him, “Zabrina has already told me that he is involved in this mess.”
“Yes, sir,” my commander says, and I hope I can trust him. I thought I could trust Wylie up until a few minutes ago. In fact, when I saw that he wasn’t there when I arrived at Isla’s room the first time, I was even a little worried about him.
“No, wait!” Wylie shouts. “Please! I don’t know anything!” but Fife is bigger than him and drags him away.
I need to get into Rebecca’s room.
I head for the stairs that will take me up to it when Poppy tells me, “Sir! A car left here about four hours ago, and it hasn’t returned, but some of the guards did notice three wolves coming in on the east side of the castle wall a bit later. They said they didn’t recognize them but they didn’t pose a threat, and they were assumed to be guests out for a run.”
“Thank you, Poppy,” I tell her. “Can you meet me at the Luna’s room?” I don’t know why I want her there, but she’s the most trustworthy person I can think of, other than Seth, to help me find Isla.
“Of course, sir, but… do you mean Luna Rebecca’s room?” She sounds as shocked as I was when I asked her to meet me there.
No one has been in there for years.
“That’s right,” I say. “I don’t have the key, but I’ll have to force my way in. It’s the only room that hasn’t been searched.”
“No key?” she repeats.
“I left it in the car—”
She cuts me off. “Mrs. Dixon!” she shouts in my head.
I am taking the stairs two at a time, and I can’t slow to go over this with her again. “Mrs. Dixon doesn’t have a key to Rebecca’s room. She just took over—”
“No! I know, Alpha, sir. It’s just… Mrs. Dixon can pick any lock! And this afternoon, she was helping Isla and me get into her armoire. Mrs. Dixon made a comment about young ladies always needing for her to pick locks. What if she’s opened that door before?”
I stop at the top of the stairs, frozen as I consider what that would mean. Has someone been infiltrating Rebeca’s sacred space, against my commands?
“I’ll find her,” I say. Then, to Seth, I say, “Get Mrs. Dixon’s fat ass up to Rebecca’s room, right now, and tell her she’d better be ready to pick a fucking lock.”
“Yes, Alpha.” Seth sounds like he’s got no clue what I’m talking about. I can’t blame him.
I walk over to Rebecca’s door. No one else is here. No one comes here. At least, they’re not supposed to.
I walk to the door and take in a deep breath before I try the knob.
It’s locked, just as it should be.
But that doesn’t mean that it has been locked ever since the last time I walked out of it.
Standing there for what seems like hours, I stare at the door, listening to my own raspy breath. “Isla? Where are you?” I try again, but my mind can’t reach her.
I have the forethought to tell the commander who lets me know that he’s rounded up fourteen members of Willow pack from the staff that he needs to send them out running as fast as possible in fourteen different directions, reaching for Isla with their minds. They are her pack members. They might be able to find her with the mind-link.
“Sir?” Seth says behind me, making me jump.
I turn to see he has Mrs. Dixon with him. She is panting from climbing the stairs so quickly.
I step aside. “Open it.”
She doesn’t even begin to argue with me, only pulls a bobby pin out of her hair and shoves it into the lock. The door swings open almost effortlessly.
Before I go in, I ask her, “How many times have you opened that door recently?”
She swallows hard, her ruddy face turning redder. “Only three, sir, but the new Luna said that you had given her permission. She said she misplaced the key you gave her, and she didn’t want to ask again.”
“The new Luna?” I repeat, glaring at her.
“Y-yes… sir. Alpha Jordan’s daughter. She’s too mean for me to argue with.”
I look at Seth, and before I even open my mouth, he turns to head back down the stairs.
“Stay here,” I say to her.
Mrs. Dixon nods, and she looks like she might pass out.
I hear rushed footsteps coming up the stairs behind me and turn to see Poppy flying over to me. “Did you find anything?” she asks as she tries to catch her breath.
I haven’t even looked in the room, so I don’t answer her.
My eyes go to the window first, where I thought I’d seen Rebecca standing this morning. But it wasn’t her. It wasn’t my wife, the Luna.
The only Luna.
I walk inside and take a quick look around. It’s quite clear that Zabrina has done nothing to try to hide the fact that she’s been in here. All of Rebecca’s items have been touched and moved. Her jewelry, her perfume, even her shoes. Rage boils up inside of me. How dare that fucking bitch touch my dead wife’s belongings!
My eyes do not go to the bathroom. I have yet to see my wife’s form in the castle since the night she died, but if I were going to see her, it would be in that bathroom.
Instead, I begin to open drawers, starting with the desk. Poppy does the same with the nightstand before moving to the dresser.
“Sir!”
I rush over. She has a paper in her hand, and her lips are quivering. “What is it?” I ask.
Poppy turns to look at me, her eyes wide, tears beginning to reach the brims. “It’s a map—and a list.”
I hold my breath and wait for her to show it to me.
Three words stand out to me as I take in the paper. “Silver chains.”
And “wolfsbane.”