Abandoned and Unseen (Branded Packs #2)(12)

No. No no no no. They hadn’t been kidnapped or taken from her home. They could have opened the window for air and went into Oliver’s room. Only that didn’t account for the lack of scent.

Maybe they’d snuck out again and went to that damn cat.

Her hackles rose.

That f*cking cat.

She pounded on her brother’s door. “Oliver! Wake up. I can’t find the boys. I’m going to Cole’s to see if they went there.”

Oliver opened the door as soon as she turned down the hall and grunted. “Shit. Okay, I’m right behind you.”

She didn’t bother to look at him, her mind on the horrors of what could happen if she were wrong about where they were. But she couldn’t be wrong. Her little boys were just on their way to Cole’s. That had to be the answer because she couldn’t deal with the alternative.

She stomped toward his tree, following the faded scent of her little boys. Damn it. They’d gone after the cat. The f*cking cat. Only when she got to the tree, she didn’t see Cole or his cat self.

She huffed out a breath. With all the scents of the other shifters in the area, and the fact that they’d all been out here the previous night, she couldn’t tell if her boys had been there that morning or not. She’d have a better sense of smell in her bear form, but Cole, as a Tracker, would have the best sense.

Knowing she was getting desperate, she ran to Cole’s home, pounded on the door, and yelled his name.

He opened it, his hair disheveled, and a pair of jeans riding low on his hips. He hadn’t bothered to button them, and she could see the trail of hair from his belly to the dark patch that should have been hidden behind his jeans. It looked as if he’d pulled the pants on in a hurry, but she couldn’t care about that right then.

“Are Owen and Lucas here?” she asked, knowing she sounded frantic.

His eyes widened a fraction, and she wanted to scream. “No. I was sleeping. I don’t know where they are.”

“They have to be here, Cole. They aren’t at home. They aren’t at the tree. They have to be here.” Her heart raced, and she knew she was screaming and probably waking up the entire den, but she didn’t care.

Worry entered his gaze, and she almost broke. This wasn’t the lazy cat; no, this was a man far from lazy. And that scared her more than anything.

“Where are my babies, Cole?”

He let out a breath and pushed past her, grabbing her hand along the way. “I don’t know, Anya, but we’re going to find them. Got me? We’re going to find them.”

She held on to his hand like a lifeline, her bear roaring inside. If she let the bear out, she’d rampage and not be able to think. But the fact that Cole had said they’d find them made her want to calm slightly, as well. She shouldn’t rely on him and she knew it, but if she didn’t, she’d miss something—miss finding her children.

The lazy cat wasn’t so lazy anymore, and now she needed him more than she thought possible.

Her babies were gone.

And now this momma bear needed to find them, and that meant death for any in her way. Anyone.





Chapter 4


Cole’s cat scraped at his chest, but he ignored it, knowing he needed to stay calm for Anya. He’d seen the panic in her gaze, and he did not want to be on the receiving end of her snap if she went bear on him. He hadn’t been involved in whatever the hell was going on, but he was the easiest target.

The cat wanted to hunt down anyone who dared hurt those cubs. It was such an intense reaction that he was slightly startled. He’d have fought for any of the shifters’ young, but this felt different. He didn’t want to think about why it was different, so he shoved those thoughts aside and looked down at his hand clutching Anya’s.

Mistake.

Big f*cking mistake.

Her eyes widened, and he had to swallow hard. He shouldn’t have grabbed her hand, shouldn’t have touched her. Not when she was about ready to blow, and frankly, not ever. She hated him. Or perhaps hated everything he represented when it came to the changes in her life. Again, he pushed those thoughts from his mind, knowing he needed to focus. He was the Tracker for his Pack, and though she wasn’t truly Pack being Ursine and not Feline, she was still in his den. There was no way he’d let his duties fall by the wayside because he didn’t know how to take whatever feelings were going on in his mind right then.

“Let’s go to where they should have been first. Then I’ll shift if I have to. I have better senses in my cat form.”

She nodded, her jaw setting. “I know. That’s another reason I’m here. I can’t make out their scents with all the new ones. I should be able to find my babies easily since they are mine, but with the overwhelming scents of so many other shifters we haven’t been near before, my bear can’t do it.”

That must have killed her to admit. No shifter wanted to show weakness—especially a female with regard to her cubs. He also didn’t blame her bear for the inability to sift through so many different scents. As it was, Cole was afraid he’d have to shift to his cat pretty soon to discern the boys’ specific scents among so many others. It didn’t help that the boys had played near his tree so often that their scent had practically embedded itself in his territory.

The fact that his cat actually liked that was something he’d have to explore later.