Wolf Betrayed (Talon Pack #4)(54)

“What did this?” Brandon bit out.

“Someone left a bomb that wasn’t too cleverly concealed over here. The center of the impact is here, and whoever made it shoved it full of a f*ckton of shrapnel. Anyone too close didn’t have a chance.”

Bram looked over at Shane as the other man spoke. “She’s still alive, Shane. We can feel her. But where is she? She wouldn’t just leave Chloe right here out in the open if she could help it.”

“We can feel her too, along the Pack bonds,” Maddox put in. “But where is she? I’m not the Omega anymore. I can’t find her like I used to.” He turned to Bram then. “Find her. Use the bond and find her.”

Bram ran a hand over his face. “You think I don’t want that? I don’t know how. Not all bonds work the same.”

Shane stalked toward them, his hands shaking by his side. “I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m going to find your daughter.”

Ellie raised her chin, her wolf in her eyes. “I know you will. We all will.” She reached out and cupped Shane’s face, surprising the other man from the way his eyes widened. “The bond is always different, but try at least. Close your eyes and picture the bond. Then travel along that thread, follow each path it takes, and try to sense her. You’re not going to get a perfect picture, but maybe you’ll get a feeling. Your bond is still so new, it’s finding its place amid the bonds of the Pack. It can do extraordinary things right now, and perhaps even more later. Just try, Shane. Find my baby.”

Bram let out a breath, and something caught his eye. Blood stained a large rock that didn’t look like it had come from the bomb itself. In fact, it looked like it had fallen over pieces of the bomb material.

He frowned, kneeling near it. Charlotte’s scent hit him full force, and his wolf came to the surface. A growl ripped from his throat, and his claws tore through his fingertips.

“Someone hit her over the head it seems with this rock,” he bit out. The words were hard to form, and he knew he was far too close to shifting for comfort. He took deep breaths and reined in his wolf. Brandon put his hand on Bram’s shoulder, and though the other man wasn’t his Omega, he was his mate’s, and somehow, the other man helped him. He wasn’t sure if it was some trick of the bonds or the fact that Brandon just had a steadying presence. Either way, he was grateful. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Brandon said softly. “It’s what I do.”

Bram looked over his shoulder at Shane, who still had his eyes closed, his features focused.

“Someone took Charlotte,” Bram said after a moment. “That’s the only answer. I don’t know who, and I don’t know why, but we’re going to find her.”

Kameron rubbed his chin. “It all smells like a trap to me.”

“Then we’ll get trapped,” Bram said simply. “But I’m not going to let them have her because we’re too scared to do anything about it.”

Kameron’s eyes rose, and the bastard smiled. “I’m going to like having you as a Talon, I think. And yeah, we’re going to find her. Montag isn’t going to win. Ever.”

“You think it’s Montag?” Bram asked.

“It’s his calling card,” Shane answered instead. “And I’m pretty sure Kameron here has been studying Montag’s moves for a while now.”

“Better to know your enemy than be surprised by it,” the Talon Enforcer answered.

“I think I can find her,” Shane put in at that moment.

Bram turned quickly to face his mate. “You can?”

Shane nodded, his eyes cloudy. “I think you can, too. Just do what Ellie said and try. We’ll find her, damn it. There isn’t another option.”

Bram leaned forward and kissed the other man hard on the lips. “No, there isn’t. We’re going to find her. I know it.”

Because if they didn’t, he’d lose everything all over again. And he wasn’t sure he and Shane would survive without her.





Chapter Fourteen


Charlotte needed to wake up. Pain radiated through her skull, knocking around so it felt like someone had bashed her head in. And if she thought about it that might be the case, but she honestly didn’t know anymore. Her eyes were too heavy, and while the rest of her body hurt even more than her skull, she knew she couldn’t do anything about it until she woke up.

Wake up, Charlotte. Wake up.

No amount of chanting would work, though. And her wolf was too quiet.

Fear began to crawl icily through her body, and she did her best to ignore it. Fear wouldn’t get her out of this situation—a situation she didn’t even know the root of as of yet.

So yes, she needed to wake up.

Muffled voices surrounded her, and she stiffened, her mind slowly working its way to being fully conscious. She tried to open her eyes, but again, they were too heavy, but she was getting closer and closer to being able to see what was going on.

She couldn’t sense her Pack or any other wolves around her, and that was what brought on the fear. Those voices she heard weren’t Pack. They had to belong to whoever had knocked her over the head and most likely taken her away from where the bomb had thrown her down—where Chloe had lost her life.

At that thought, her wolf whimpered a bit, as if waking up from a dazed coma herself. A sense of relief poured through Charlotte for only a moment before she tamped it down. She could feel that when she was home in her mates’ arms, and when those who dared to harm her and take Chloe’s life were punished.