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.
Memories flashed through my mind, but they weren’t my own. They were Amelie’s. I could see my aunt and uncle smiling, then it changed to blood. I saw their deaths, heard their screams as the other wolves ripped them apart. I wanted to close my eyes and shut it out, but I couldn’t. I was trapped. The voices of the wolves were all jumbled in my mind, but their faces started to come to me. Ever so slowly, they became clearer.
“Tyla!”
Gasping, I was thrust back into my own mind, the blue stone skidding across the floor as Sebastian knocked it out of my hands. He lifted me to my feet, cupping his hands against my cheeks. “What the fuck? Are you okay?” His eyes were wild, flashing back and forth between human and wolf.
I nodded quickly. “I’m fine. I don’t know what happened.”
He glanced back at the stone. “I do. That rock is covered in magic. I tried to stop you from touching it, but you beat me to it. What did you see? It’s like you weren’t even here anymore.”
Swallowing hard, I could taste the bile burning my throat. “I don’t think I was. I could see into Amelie’s memories. She watched the wolves tear her parents apart.”
Sebastian growled.
“I was about to see the wolves who took her until I was thrust out. We need to see who they are.” Clutching his hands, I pulled them away from my face and rushed to the stone. Before I could grab it, he tackled me to the floor, pinning my arms above my head. My body was too weak to even fight him off.
“Tyla, stop! I don’t know what kind of magic this is. We don’t know if it’s good or bad.”
I tried to move my arms and they wouldn’t budge. “What does it matter if I can find out who took her? Whatever the reason for it being here is, it’s obvious someone was meant to find it.” Her journal still sat on the desk. “We need to read her journal.”
Huffing, he loosened up his grasp and I still couldn’t fight him off. “The stone made you weak. I’m barely holding you and you can’t fight me.”
My heart raced. I knew I was close to something; I just needed to get there. “Please, Sebastian. I don’t know what’s going on, but it feels right. You have to trust me.” Jaw tense, he glared over at the stone and reached for it. “What are you doing?”
“I want to see what you saw.” I held my breath and waited for him to touch it. He took a deep breath, and when he touched it . . . nothing happened. Brows furrowed, he held it in his hands and studied it. That was strange. He helped me to my feet and sat the stone on the desk. “I wonder why it’s not working now,” he said.
I reached over and scooped up the thick journal, flipping through the pages. There were entries from thirty years before, when we were in Finn’s pack. “I don’t know. Maybe it was only supposed to work one time.” If so, we were screwed.
“I think we’re done for the day,” he suggested. “You can barely stand. I’ll rent us a cabin out this way so we can come back tomorrow. We’re obviously not going to get much more done today.”
Nodding, I held the journal firmly in my grasp and picked up the stone, not expecting anything to happen. But that wasn’t the case. I was sucked back into its magic. And this time, I may not have seen the three wolves who took Amelie, but I did see someone else.