Resisting the Moon (Royal Shifters #2)(15)

“We won’t. But every second matters. We need to see if we can pick up Amelie’s scent and find out where she was taken. We’ll have to come back and bury your family later.” It was a long shot, considering we couldn’t even track the other wolves’ scents. But we had to try.

I didn’t want to leave my family rotting on the ground, but what choice did I have? Nodding, I placed my hands over his. “Okay, let’s go.”





Tyla

We’d picked up Amelie’s scent pretty easily and followed it away from the carnage. It made no sense why they would leave her scent while masking their own.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked, glancing at Sebastian. “Either they want someone to follow her scent, or they figured she wasn’t part of a pack, and therefore, no one would try to find her.”

I could tell the wheels in his mind were turning. He was older than me and definitely wiser when it came to tracking. “But why would they mask their own scent then? There’s something more going on, and I can’t figure it out. It makes no sense,” he said.

“What do you suggest we do?”

He pointed in the direction Amelie’s scent guided us to. “We keep following.”

Ten minutes later, we spotted a backcountry road off into the distance. The footprints and spots of blood stopped at the side of the road, where a set of car tires were ingrained in the dried mud.

“They had this planned,” I said, glaring at the tire tracks on the road. “Can you tell what kind of car they were in?”

He shook his head. “Only that it’s probably a large SUV or van. There are lots of vehicles with that size of tires.”

There were no houses within miles. The chances of someone seeing anything were slim. All I could do was stare at the road, hating myself for not knowing what to do. “What the hell are we going to do now?”

Sebastian came up behind me and put a hand on the back of my neck. His touch made me feel things I didn’t want to feel. Biting my lip, I slipped out from underneath his hand, hating the disappointment on his face.

He stepped away, the muscles in his jaw tense. “Our best bet is to go back to Amelie’s and search around her house. Maybe there’s something we missed, a clue as to who would be after her. You haven’t seen her in years, so you have no idea who she was involved with.”

I threw up my hands. “And the only people who would be able to help are dead,” I said angrily. “What’s worse is that I still have to tell my parents. My mother’s going to be heartbroken.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him reach for me again, before stopping short and clenching his hand into a tight fist. How was I going to handle disappointing him every single second of every day? It hurt to know what I was doing to him.

“Let’s bury your aunt and uncle before we call them,” he said. “That way, they’ll know they’re resting in peace.”



We were standing in front of Amelie’s house, staring at the front door. The burial was complete, and now we had to uncover the whereabouts of my cousin.

“Do you want to take a break, or continue our search and go through Amelie’s house?” Sebastian asked, concern etched in his voice.

We didn’t have time for breaks. The longer Amelie was gone, the smaller her chance of survival became, especially with the full moon coming up in a week’s time. I didn’t want to imagine what would happen to her if we didn’t find her before then.

“Let’s start searching,” I replied.

Amelie’s room was upstairs and that was the first place I went. Everything was still in perfect order, all bright and airy in light blue and white. It was only the downstairs that was in shambles. I sat down on her bed and pulled a pillow into my lap.

Sebastian came into the doorway and stopped, staring at me.

Taking a deep breath, I gazed around her room and found a picture of us from years ago. We had our arms around each other, smiling from ear to ear in our graduation cap and gowns. Sebastian must’ve followed my gaze because he walked into the room and picked up the picture.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, before passing it to me.

I smiled. “Thanks. Amelie is as well.” I glanced down at the picture. “All the guys followed her around. She loved breaking hearts.”

“What about you?” he asked.

My smile faded when I looked up at him. “My life was a little more complicated than hers. I had more responsibilities.” From a young age I’d been slated to be our alpha’s mate. Everyone knew I was off limits.

Sebastian’s gaze narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I waved him off. “It’s not important.” I slid off the bed and put the picture back on her desk. She’d always had little trinkets and colorful stones she’d managed to collect over the years. Her desk was decorated with all sorts of gems.

“What’s that?” Sebastian announced from behind. I turned to see what he was referring to. And there, on the corner of the desk, sat a brown leather journal with a smooth blue stone sitting on top. Sebastian stared at it like it had three heads.

“It’s just Amelie’s journal. Maybe she wrote something that’ll help us.”

I reached for it and Sebastian shouted, only it was too late; my hand had already closed over the blue stone. A jolt of electricity surged through my veins and it was as if I was taken away from my body. Sebastian yelled my name, but I couldn’t get back to him. I was stuck in a world only I could see.