My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach when I woke up in the morning and my Dad was still not home. He didn’t come home. He didn’t call. Something was wrong. May dad would never be that thoughtless or irresponsible, and he would never leave his pack unprotected.
I couldn’t sit around and wait any longer, so I threw on some jeans and a hoodie and went looking for him.
It was only a twenty-minute drive from the estate into town, but it seemed to take forever. I had to see if Michelle, the woman my dad went out of town with, was back at work. I was really hoping that when I pulled up to the Red Mountain Ski Resort that she wouldn’t be there. Maybe the assistant manager would tell me that Michelle just called and said that she had fallen in love, ran off to Vegas, and gotten married or something crazy like that. That she and her new husband were staying there a few days for their honeymoon. I knew it was a stupid thought. I knew my dad, and Dad would never do anything like that, but all the other scenarios that were running through my head were too devastating to think about.
I may be eighteen years old, technically an adult, but I couldn’t stop myself from thinking that if something did happen to my father, I’d be all alone. Sure, I’d have my pack, but it wouldn’t be the same.
I pulled up in front of the resort just in time to see Michelle pulling into her parking space. I sat there stunned; my little fantasy about Dad and Michelle may have been ridiculous but for that brief moment, it gave me a tiny ounce of hope. Now that hope was gone.
Michelle saw me and waved as she walked over to my truck, “Hey handsome. What are you doing up this early?”
“Hi, Michelle. Just grabbing some breakfast. Did you and Dad have a good time in Santa Fe?” I asked trying to pry some information out of her.
“Oh, honey, it was great. Didn’t your daddy tell you about it?”
“You know Dad. He never says much,” I replied with a smile and a shrug.
“Oh Luke, it was wonderful! The Marriott was all decorated for the holidays. We had this fabulous dinner, we danced, we drank champagne…well, I just wished I didn’t have to be back so early on the first. We were having such a good time. I hated to leave, but he was so sweet to wake up early and drop me off here where I’d left my car,” she gushed, completely unaware that she was confirming my worst fears.
I looked down at my hands, hoping to hide my concern. “I’m glad the two of you had fun.”
Michelle snuggled into her coat and then glanced at her watch. “Gotta go, honey. Tell your dad to call me, okay?”
“Sure Michelle,” I replied and watched her walk into the resort. That was it then. Dad was safe in his car in this parking lot twenty-four hours ago. Sometime between then and now, somewhere between here and home, he’d disappeared.
The car behind me honked, breaking me from my daze. I rolled my window up and pulled out of the resort.
I had taken the main road into town to get here and didn’t see any signs that maybe Dad had car trouble, so I took the back roads home to the estate.
Nothing. I was grasping at straws, and I knew it. Even if Dad’s car had broken down, and his cell had died, he could have easily made it to the woods where no one would see him. He is a werewolf. He could have simply changed and run home…unless he was hurt.
I was almost home when I decided that I couldn’t do this on my own, and Marcus needed to know that his second in command was missing. I probably should have told Marcus sooner, but I really hoped that Dad was fine and just having a good time.
I pulled up in front of the Walker house, turned the truck off, and just sat there. I could feel the weight of the last few days bearing down on me. The fight between Cade and Aiden, my relationship with Scarlett, and my missing father was all heavy stuff and threatened to suffocate me. Who knows how long I sat there, but it must have been long enough to draw attention because Cade actually came out to get me.
Cade opened the passenger door and slid into the seat. “Is everything all right, Luke?” “My dad never came home,” I blurted out without looking his way.
I heard Cade take a deep breath, like he was processing that information and what it might mean before he asked, “When was the last time you saw or heard from him?”
“New Year’s Eve.”
“Let’s go inside. Dad will want hear all of this. He was just complaining that Phillip hasn’t been around.”
Once inside, Noel insisted that I join them for breakfast while I told Cade and Marcus the whole story, or what I knew of it anyway. She set a huge plate of eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes in front of me and squeezed my shoulder as she went back into the kitchen. I’d never considered how much I missed out on not having a mother, but for some reason, at that moment, I realized I had. It was probably just because Dad was missing and I was worried, but out of nowhere, a stabbing pain shot through my chest as I imagined what it would have been like to sit at our table with my Dad as Mom brought us a hot breakfast and smiled at me the way Noel smiled at Cade. Pushing the painful thought aside, I dug into the scrambled eggs.
Between forkfuls, I told Marcus and Cade about Dad’s New Year’s Eve plans, how he and Michelle had gone to Santa Fe for the night, but Marcus was already aware of that. I told them that I had tried calling and texting Dad several times, but he never responded. Without hesitation, Marcus grabbed his cell and tried, but it too went straight to voicemail. That was a very Marcus thing to do, I thought. As if my dad was would answer his call but not mine. Then I told them I’d tracked down Michelle this morning, but she didn’t appear to have a clue that anything might be wrong. Obviously, I avoided telling her that he never came home as she would surely insist on calling the police.
Marcus took one last sip of his coffee and stood abruptly. “I don’t like this one bit. Phillip is in trouble. He would never take off without telling anyone. Something is wrong, and he definitely needs our help. I can feel it.”
He paused for a moment, then said, “Luke, go home and get something of your father’s, a shirt or jacket, something with his scent on it. Come straight back here. I will form a search party. If he’s out there hurt, we will find him.”
As I got up to leave, Noel came back in the room and gave me a big hug. “It will be okay, honey. We’ll find him.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Walker. I’m sure we will. And thanks for breakfast. It was perfect.”
“Cade,” she said, “go with Luke. He doesn’t need to be alone right now.”
I was about to say that I would be fine, but Cade was already slipping into his coat.
*****
It felt weird going through my dad’s things. Cade suggested something from his hamper would be best, something that hadn’t been washed yet. So I grabbed the t-shirt Dad had on New Year’s Eve before he changed to get ready. I held it up to my nose to make sure his scent was strong. It was, and my eyes filled with tears. I hadn’t shed a single tear since the age of five, and for the first time in so long, I felt weak. Completely helpless.
“Ready, Luke?” Cade called from the living room.
Shit! I quickly dried my eyes with the back of my hand and went to meet Cade. Avoiding eye contact, I nodded toward the door. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this, especially not Cade. Weakness was not an option for an enforcer.
But as soon as I opened the front door, I came face to face with yet another major weakness. Just the sight of her made my pulse quicken. Apparently, this day was hell-bent on breaking me down. Scarlett was walking toward me with two steaming cups of coffee, one in each hand, and a beaming smile on her face. Seeing her this morning, so oblivious to my new situation, I tightly clinched my jaw as my eyes threatened to fill again.
Her eyes shifted quickly between Cade and me, and her smile faltered. “I hope it’s okay that I just stopped by.”
“I’ll go on ahead. Want me to take that?” Cade offered.
I handed him my dad’s shirt and assured him that I wouldn’t be far behind. Then Cade smiled and said a polite hello to Scarlett before leaving.
With genuine concern in her eyes, Scarlett asked, “Is everything all right?”
When I didn’t reply immediately, she handed me one of the cups, but instead of taking it, I took both. I sat them on the railing to the porch and pulled Scarlett to me. I held her tightly, and without question, she let me. Breathing deeply, trying to control the all-consuming emotions that I had no idea how to handle, I stood there, inhaling her scent and letting it run through me. She didn’t let go, but finally asked, “What’s going on, Luke?”
I pulled away and let go of the words I’d been holding in. “My dad is missing.”
Her eyes widened as she latched onto my arms. “What do you mean missing?”
“I haven’t seen or heard from him since he left here on New Year’s Eve. I’m heading over to the Walkers’ right now. Marcus is putting a search party together.”
Her head collided with my chest and she let go of my arms to hug me around my waist. “Oh Luke, I’m so sorry. You must be going out of your mind with worry.”
“Please let me help,” she said into my chest before she stepped to look up at me. “I’m going to run home and get my dad and I’ll meet you there, okay?”
I couldn’t have said no if I’d wanted to, so I nodded and walked her to her car. Before she left she reached up and whispered, “Don’t worry. We’ll find him.” Then she gave me the quickest of kisses and left.