23
Cian
She was gone. Taken. I didn’t even have to get to the house to know that was my truth now, my reality.
I slammed the car into park and got out without turning the ignition off, racing toward the front door, which I could already see was hanging from the frame.
I was dizzy, my breathing short, fast, my head swimming. Panic settled in my gut as I broke through the threshold and took in the scene. Another roar spilled from my throat when I scented blood and saw the crimson smear on the ground. It was Evie’s, the scent sweet, an imprint in my body after marking her.
I’d never cried in my life, never felt fear. But right now I experienced all the things I never had before. I felt wetness cover my cheeks, knew I was crying by the feeling of those tears moving swiftly down my face, at how blurry my vision became.
It felt like someone had ripped a hole in my chest, pulled out my heart, and ground it into pulp. Without Evie, I was nothing but a husk, an empty shell. Gods, this was what Odhran had been feeling for far too long. How had he survived?
I angrily wiped the tears away, growling and pissed at myself. I had to keep it together. I had to find her. I would find her.
I tried to think rationally as I took in the scene, needing all the information I could to find her, track her.
The entryway was covered in blood. I could smell it was mainly Odhran’s, the red smeared on the floor, handprints on the walls, pools of the thick fluid fucking everywhere. He’d put up one hell of a fight, deep gouges from his claws raking down the walls and floors evidence of that. I also smelled human blood, males. I was proud Odhran had gotten some vicious hits on them.
Time had no meaning as I walked through the house, taking inventory of everything. Debris from the broken door and from destroyed wall plaster was scattered to my right. There was a lamp in broken pieces on the ground between the hall and foyer. I walked over to it and crouched, picking up a piece and scenting human female blood on it. But not Evie’s. I closed my eyes and breathed out in my temporary relief.
My body hummed with the need to find her, my wolf howling and pacing within me to track her. I was wasting precious time, even though I told myself I had to make sure I got any and all information. Not doing so would just slow me down.
But I couldn’t think clearly or rationally. This wasn’t me trying to track just anyone. This was me needing to find my mate.
I rose and took in the scene again and was aware of Adryan and his soldiers coming inside. I could hear their low voices, but everything was garbled in my head, nothing clear, nothing making sense. My hands were shaking, the blood rushing through my veins.
I was partially shifted, something I wasn’t able to help, an uncontrollable act as my wolf demanded vengeance. Slaughter everyone, anyone who gets in our way in our search for Evie.
I’d tear them limb from limb. Gladly.
“Holy fucking shit.” It was Adryan’s voice that came through my panic and rage.
He stepped over shards of debris, his hands in the front pockets of his jeans, his head moving to the left and right as he took everything in.
“Well,” he said and stopped in the center of the foyer, staring at all the blood. “This doesn’t look good, right?”
I bared my teeth and went to lunge at him, but right before I was about to clamp my canines into his thick throat, he started speaking again.
“Calm the fuck down, Cian. I’m not the enemy here. We do this together, yeah?”
I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying to clear it. Everything was so muddled, my synapses firing in every direction, adrenaline rushing through my body, my muscles growing bigger in anticipation for a fight.
All I wanted to do was shift. All I wanted to do was hunt my female down and destroy whoever had taken her from me. And if Adryan got in my way, tried to stop me or, hell, slow me down, I’d take him out too.
Adryan moved through into the living room, and then he stopped and stared at the wall that was blocked off from my view. His eyes flashed red, and a low growl left him.
“Fuck,” he snarled. “I didn’t have to have proof to know this was the work of those Assembly fuckers, but we got it anyway.”
I walked over to him and looked at the wall in question. The same symbol that was tattooed on the humans we’d taken down at the motel was painted in blood on the wall. I moved closer and inhaled. It was Odhran’s and… Evie’s.