Abandoned and Unseen (Branded Packs #2)(18)

Around each major city within the United States—and perhaps the world—compounds had been built for the three species. Ursines, Felines, and Canines were separated from those they loved and placed into camps where they had almost died from neglect. The SAU had eventually given them enough leeway to live and form new Packs within their cages, but it had brought them close to their extinction.

Where once, shifters would mate with different species, they were then forced to find their mates and have children with only their own kind within their respective compounds. That would have been fine for some, but not for all. When the SAU forced the cats and bears into the River Pack’s Canine compound, it opened up possibilities. There were now enough shifters that perhaps people could find someone they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with, but it was still a far cry from where things had once been.

Only in recent months had a human been bitten and changed into a shifter during a mating. That had once been rare, but part of their culture. Now it was taboo. The SAU hadn’t been aware that there were ways to make shifters, and now they had an idea. That idea had led to Cora and Soren’s kidnapping.

By Frank.

The man who’d fathered Anya’s babies.

It had all come full circle, it seemed.

As they reached the south side of the city, her legs grew weak and she knew they needed to rest.

“I can track from a moving vehicle,” Cole said suddenly. “I’ll get us one, steal it since no one is going to give us one. But I can still track while driving.”

“I don’t know how to drive,” she said, taking a sip of her water. She handed Cole the bottle and tried not to watch the way his throat worked as he drank.

“I do,” he said simply. “I had to learn. We’re about an hour away from downtown Denver if we drive. I have a feeling that Frank is on his way there.”

She frowned. “Why? Aren’t there more people there?”

Cole shook his head. “Parts of downtown are completely abandoned since there aren’t as many people living here as there once was. We’re about a twenty-minute hike from Colorado Springs, which lost almost all of its population when the virus hit. We’ll have a better chance of getting a vehicle here and making our way up to the city.” His brows rose. “Places near large military bases got hit hard. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

Her mind whirled, trying to process everything he was saying. “I…I don’t understand.”

“I don’t either. All I know is that my cat is telling me to head north. And downtown has tons of old buildings that are perfect for a doctor on the run. I don’t know if I’m right, but we’ll find out as we go along. As for now, we’ve been at this for a few hours and I’d rather find a place to stay for the evening and make our next steps soon.”

“But we need to keep going.” Her babies needed her.

“I get that. We’re going to go for a couple more hours. That will give us time to get the car and drive for a bit. But I want us to be clear-headed and ready to fight if we have to once we get closer to the city. I’m getting beat by keeping my tracking up for so long.”

The fact that he would admit to such a weakness told her something—what she didn’t know.

“Let’s get going, then.”

He nodded. “Frank had a car. We’re on foot, so he has an advantage, but Anya, we’re going to find them.”

“I know,” she said softly. She didn’t know how she’d live if she couldn’t find them.

They went for another thirty minutes until they reached an older neighborhood. She had lived in one similar to this when she’d been outside the compound. She’d played in the streets and rode her bike. She’d played tag with her brother and had laughed with her friends.

“These cars will be dead, Cole.”

“Yeah, but we can find a way to jump one or something. I’m not without talents.”

She frowned but followed him, careful to keep her eyes on their surroundings. If they were caught, they were dead. There would be no second chances.

They searched through a few of the garages, breaking through small windows in some cases, walking right in others. People had left their lives in a hurry all those years ago. It was a wasteland out here. What had once been privilege was now theirs for scraping by.

“I can’t believe there’s no one here,” she said as they entered the fourth garage on their search for a vehicle they could work with.

“There’s some in other neighborhoods I bet. This one’s just closest to the compounds, so humans probably don’t want to live out here. Denver’s growing, I know that much. I bet the other cities are, as well. It’s been a quarter of a century, and though the virus left a lot of the major cities without as many people, the humans are bouncing back.”

“The rural areas didn’t get hit as hard with the virus, if I remember right,” she said, recalling memories of a time when she’d been free.

“Yep. The cities got hit the hardest. Some rural communities didn’t get a single hit at all. I have no idea what the actual landscape looks like now. I just know Colorado Springs was one of the hardest hit, hence why it looks like this. I remember them saying something like ninety-six percent of the city died from the virus. A part of the percentage left living were shifters. The other hightailed it out of here.”