Kym Grosso - Tristan's Lyceum Wolves

“I don’t know, Tris. We were supposed to go for a ride hours ago. I tried calling the house, but no answer. I was hoping she was with you.”

“Lock up the barn, Janie. Lock all the doors until Simeon comes for you.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just do it. Don’t let anyone in. Grab the shotgun in the office and wait for Simeon now.”

Ending the call, he yelled over to the group. “Logan! Kalli’s missing. Simeon, over to the barn, now! Take Declan. Go wolf when you get there, start running the property. Something’s wrong. I feel it. Logan, car! Let’s get over to the cabin now. Call Mira; tell her we’re on lockdown. All wolves need to be inside and ready to shift.”

Running out of the building, Tristan and Logan jumped into his car and sped up to the cabin. By the time they got there, Tristan was furious. They tore through the cabin, but he could tell by the scents that she hadn’t been home since the morning. She was gone.

Tristan began pacing like a caged tiger, working through where she could be, who’d taken her. “Goddammit, Logan. How’d they breach our property? There’s no way in hell any foreign pack could make one step on our land without someone scenting them. The only way anyone could have gotten in is as human. What deliveries did we have today?”

“There was a scheduled food delivery early this morning, but if anything had been wrong, the food service manager would have called us. But you’re right; a human has to have done this. The wolves would know if another wolf breached our property. And if someone did go after her, why wouldn’t Kalli shift? She should be able to shift on demand by now…after last night,” Logan reasoned.

“A human. A fucking human. Or…” He stilled as the horrifying possibility ran through his mind. “A wolf pretending to be a human. The CLI. No one would have scented them. They could have taken her over the fence just about anywhere. We’ve gotta run the perimeter. Fuck!” He pounded his fist into the wall in frustration.

“And if they silvered her, maybe drugged her, they could stop her shift,” Logan added.

Tristan felt as if someone had reached into his chest and pulled out his heart by its bloody roots. They’d come into Lyceum Wolves and taken her. His blood pumped in rage. Stripping off his clothes, he instantly transformed, sprinting off across the yard and into the field. Logan followed in pursuit. By the time they reached the furthest boundary, they’d almost given up hope, but soon Tristan screeched to a dead stop and shifted back to human. Running over to the fence, he peeled off a small scrap of red flannel. Holding it to his nose, he breathed deeply, memorizing every last molecule of its odor.

“Wolf. Not ours,” he barked out, raking his fingers through his hair. Handing it off to Logan, he peered over the fence that led into a thin patch of woods next to a small road. No car. No trash. No clues. It didn’t matter, because he knew where they’d taken her. And he knew for certain who exactly took her. When he found Gerald, he swore he’d rip his throat out vein by vein. If he weren’t a dead man before, he’d just signed his own death warrant.

“Back to the clubhouse. I want every wolf there. I want to make sure no one else is missing and if anyone saw anything,” Tristan ordered.

Silently, Logan nodded. His Alpha was about to go on a tear, and he prayed they’d find Kalli. Cursing his damn visions, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen this coming.

Pack members filled the large all-purpose room in the clubhouse. A hum of nervous conversation echoed off the cedar walls. After a quick change of clothes in the locker room, an agitated Tristan entered the open area, parting the sea of people. Instantly it became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone sat, cautiously watching their Alpha.

Looking to Logan, who’d dressed quickly as well, Tristan assessed the situation. “All wolves accounted for?”

“Yeah, everyone’s here except for Simeon. I sent him to the airstrip to make sure the jet was ready tonight, and to change flight plans. We’re set to go.”

“Listen up everyone,” Tristan began in a deadly serious tone. “We’ve suffered a security breach this afternoon. We believe that at least two persons, possibly wolves taking CLI, came onto Lyceum Wolves’ property via the north gate. Somewhere between the barn and my cabin, they abducted Kalli.”

The crowd released a small roar of murmurs at the news.

“Settle down,” he ordered. “Now I know that most of you noticed her on last night’s run…at the spring. I was planning on a formal introduction to the pack later this week, but now it seems there’s no other way for me to do this. So for those who haven’t been listening to gossip, she’s mine; I’ve claimed her.”

A few gasps could be heard. Tristan nodded in response. While most wolves knew he’d claimed Kalli, it seemed as if a few hadn’t heard the news. Most of the pack was still happily surprised that he’d found someone after leading Lyceum Wolves for over fifty years as a single wolf.

“And she’s my mate,” he added, as the room fell silent once again. They all registered the seriousness of the situation. An Alpha’s mate kidnapped. Tristan and the pack would suffer enormously if anything happened to her. He would simply not recover from such a loss. While he would assuredly go on without her, he’d probably have to step down as Alpha due to the excruciating grief. There’d be infighting and challenges for his position, despite Logan’s status.

“Like I said, I planned to formally introduce her to you after we took down the Wallace pack. We were going to complete our mating afterward. But now…” His words temporarily trailed off as the thought of Kalli dead raced through his mind. It killed him, but he refused to show weakness in front of his pack. As always, they needed him to be a rock, and he never disappointed them. “Tonight we go in to take out Wallace. But before that happens, I want to know who was on the property today. Ellie said the clubhouse was locked up tight. No humans were there after the morning food delivery. Janie told me Doc Evans was out of town; that’s why she called on Kalli to check the horses. Somebody here must have seen something, scented something. If you’ve got anything to say, now’s the time. I want the truth,” he demanded.

A barely audible cough came from the back of the room as Julie stood. “Alpha.” She lowered her eyes. “Coming back from town in my car, I passed the stables. I noticed the mares were in the south field. The boys were in the northern field. I saw two men near them, but I just assumed they were Doc Evan’s workers. The interns, you know. They come with him sometimes. I didn’t stop. I should have stopped. I…I’m so sorry.” A tear escaped at the realization she could have seen the intruders.

“Were they going toward the barn or the field?”

“Toward the fields, into the woods.”

“Julie, this is really important.” Tristan fixed her with his stare. “What else do you remember? What were they doing?”

“Just walking. They had on backpacks, but again, sometimes Doc has a pack too. I had the windows down, and smelled the humans. Nothing appeared strange…so I kept driving,” she muttered.

“Did you see or scent anyone else besides Janie, Kalli or the horses? Humans? Wolves? Animals?”

Recognition flashed across her face. Her eyes darted across the room and then to the floor.

Tristan rushed to her, taking her by the arms. “Look at me, Julie,” he insisted forcefully. “Who else was at the barn?”

Julie raised her gaze to his, then her eyes settled on Mira, who’d been sitting up toward the front of the room. Inspecting her perfectly manicured nails, she pretended to ignore Julie.