Mated in Mist (Talon Pack #3)(36)

“And we’re sure the bombers are humans?” Ryder asked, his mind on the fact that they still hadn’t found Leah.

“I scented humans near us right as the bomb blew,” Gina said. “But before I could do anything about it, I was knocked to the ground.”

“Get Max to my brother,” Ryder said, his wolf at the forefront. If he didn’t control it better, he’d shift right there and tear into the next thing that moved. “I’m going to find Leah.”

“I’m going with you,” Brandon said then turned on his heel. He and Ryder ran back to where Gina had said she saw Leah last and searched the area.

Ryder couldn’t scent a damn thing and it was killing him. “I can’t f*cking scent her.”

Brandon let out a breath and knelt on the grass to get a closer look. “I can’t either. Whatever they put in the explosives added extra scents to them I think. Ones to mess with our senses.”

“Fuck. That means they were not only aiming to kill us, but to hamper our recovery. Fucking humans.” He pushed at his wolf again, keeping his control on a thin leash. He couldn’t shift, not yet.

“Damn it, Ryder,” Brandon muttered.

Ryder turned to his brother and knelt beside him. “What is it?”

Brandon gingerly held up a small syringe between two fingers. “It has Leah’s scent on the needle.”

Ryder blinked once, twice, at the syringe, then threw his head back and howled. The mournful sound ended on a growl, and he had to take deep breaths so he didn’t do something stupid like run in a random direction to search for her.

“We need to find her, Brandon. The fact they took her isn’t a coincidence. Nothing is adding up.”

“Let’s spread out and find her scent trail,” Finn said as he came up behind them.

Ryder stood quickly and turned to the other man. He fisted his hands at his sides and tried to calm his rapid breathing. “They took her, Finn,” he bit out.

Finn reached out slowly and put his hand on Ryder’s shoulder. His wolf calmed somewhat, and Ryder’s eyes widened.

“You’re not my Pack, how did you do that?”

“Your wolf just needed another dominant wolf to be there. It’s not magic. Now take another deep breath and think. You can’t find Leah if you’re going off half-cocked. We will find her scent trail buried beneath the shit they pumped into the air. Once we do, we’ll follow it and find her.”

What wasn’t said was the fact that he hadn’t claimed Leah. He’d purposely tried to keep that distance, and now he couldn’t use the mating bond to try and find her. Though they’d slept together, her scent was buried beneath his skin. His past issues might have hampered his ability to find her. Fuck.

“We can’t kill humans,” Brandon added and kept his chin up as Ryder growled at him. “We’re still trying to act like we’re happy wolves that protect their own. I’m not saying we can’t rough them up for taking her, but the authorities might want to get involved. We still have to straddle that line until we know what laws are coming. Gutting the *s where they stand might be what is needed, but we can’t.”

Ryder closed his eyes and prayed for patience. It didn’t matter that Brandon was right. He wanted Leah. That was all. After that, he’d deal with everyone else.

“Fine. We find Leah. Then you deal with the f*cking humans. I can’t make any promises.”

They went off in separate directions, each taking a small section of the surrounding area in hopes of catching her scent. All the while, his wolf raged and his mind whirled. If he’d left Leah at the den, this wouldn’t have happened. If he’d mated with her, it might have been easier to find her. If he hadn’t let her leave the room and kept her by his side, she might not have been taken. If he…

If.

All ifs.

And no action.

“Ryder!” Bram called out from his left.

“Ryder!” Finn called out from his right.

He cursed and went toward Bram since he’d heard him first. “What is it?” he asked the other wolf.

Sweat glistened on the wolf’s dark skin and Bram let out a breath. “I caught her scent here. But Finn just texted and said he found her scent on another trail.”

Ryder cursed. “They must have taken her jacket or some shit and tried to catch us off guard and confuse us. They know far too much about wolves.”

“We’re out in the open now,” Bram said. “People want to find out everything they can about us. And now the same with witches.” He put his phone up to his ear as it buzzed, and Ryder tilted his head so he could hear the conversation. Sometimes having enhanced senses helped.

“I say we split up,” Finn said. “We each follow the trail and call the others as soon as we can if we find something. We’re stronger together, but we’re not weak apart.”

“I agree,” Ryder said. He didn’t have to speak loudly for the other man to hear as they were all wolves and privacy on a phone conversation wasn’t an option.

Both of them were Heirs and were in charge of the other wolves since neither Alpha was around. They, of course, would let their Pack know what was going on, and had been doing so already, but waiting for Gideon to come to him wasn’t an option. He didn’t want to think about how scared Leah must be. Hell, he didn’t want to think about the alternative to her being scared and alive. He wasn’t sure he could bear it.