Chapter 39

Rachel

“What do you mean he just told you to tell me to spend the night at Megan’s?” I grilled Cade for the third time.

“I don’t know, Rachel.” Cade held up his hands in defense. “That’s just what he told me. He said he had something he had to go take care of and for you to spend the night at Megan’s.”

I bit my lip. I didn’t like this. Something was wrong. I couldn’t call him. His phone was here. I tried to use our spotty link, but he didn’t respond. I paced.

“Come on. I’ll go with you up to the cabin. I’m going to check in with Sam anyway.”

Eventually I let him persuade me. I texted Megan and threw a few things in a bag.

“You want me to drive your car, or you want to drive?” Cade asked as I locked the door behind me. I left a note for Jennifer on the table.

“I’ll drive.”

I pulled onto the main road going through the subdivision.

“Did he say anything else? Look a certain way? Anything?” I pressed.

“He was distracted. But he’s an Alpha now. You don’t really question another Alpha’s decisions.” He glanced sideways at me as I bit my lip again.

****

“And that’s it?” Meg asked, her reaction eerily like mine.

“That’s it. Something is wrong.”

“Is Cade telling Sam now?”

“I assume so.”

“What does your wolf think?” Megan asked.

Wolf was pacing. She didn’t like whatever was going on either. Something was off about the whole situation.

“The same thing I do.”

Meg nodded. “I vote that if he hasn’t made contact by morning, we go hunting.”

Sam agreed with her as he walked back in the door having sent Cade back to his own house.

“He may have a legitimate reason for staying away. Maybe he just needed to clear his head? Becoming an Alpha is a big change and he’s probably still coming to terms with it,” Sam said.

“I hope that’s all it is,” I said. Secretly, Wolf and I worried that I’d pushed too far tonight. That this was somehow a reaction to my own crazy and the mistakes I’d made that he couldn’t handle—not about becoming Alpha. Fresh mortification and concern churned like acid in my middle and sent ripples of unease through me.

“It’s late. I think I’m heading to bed. You girls staying up to talk?” Sam covered a yawn with the back of his wrist.

Meg glanced at me. “What do you feel like?”

I felt like finding Kyp and giving him a piece of my mind, and then kissing him senseless.

“I think I’ll try bed, too. I want to be up early.”

Meg nodded. “Want me to sleep out here?” There were still three beds left out in the common room, even though Sam and Meg had moved their bedroom into their newly finished addition.

I smiled. “No. If you’re out here, we’ll only talk all night. Just no funny business loud enough I can hear,” I forced a light tone that melted into a genuine smile as Meg’s face heated. Sam cracked a grin.

“Wolf hearing and all,” I pushed.

“Oh, shut up,” Megan laughed.

****

I spent a restless night. I borrowed a book and tried to read for a while, but the words just blurred on the page. Wolf kept pacing. I’d let her out earlier in the afternoon. She wasn’t needing out, but we both needed to know where Kyp was.

Finally, I drifted into a shallow sleep. Before succumbing, my last thoughts were to Kyp.

Where are you?

****

When I cracked my eyes open with the first rays of the sun, Wolf nudged me. Our heart beat steadily. We knew where Kyp was.