For the rest of the night, Sebastian stayed in his wolf form and kept guard outside. I tried to search for the stone but couldn’t find it. He had it hidden well. It wasn’t until the early morning hours when I awoke to sounds of him coming inside and hopping in the shower. He was avoiding me. I guess I deserved it.
“Knock, knock,” I said, tapping on the bathroom door. It opened slightly and steam billowed out.
“Yeah?” Sebastian replied.
I could see his form through the cloudy, glass shower door. I fought back the urge to say ‘fuck my fears’ and jump in the shower with him. When I didn’t answer, he opened the door and looked at me.
“Can I help you?”
Clearing my throat, I turned my head. “Where’s the stone?”
He shut the shower door. “Safe, why?”
“I want to use it. We need to know more.”
Opening the door again, he turned the water off and got out. I met his gaze and it took all I had to keep it there. “Let’s go to Amelie’s again and search around. If by the end of the day we don’t find anything new, I’ll let you use it. You don’t want to be like the walking dead right now, it’ll waste the rest of the day.”
As much as I wanted to fight it, he had a point. Nodding, I stepped back. “Deal. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
While I waited for him, I heated up my leftover steak from the day before and saved half for him, putting it on a separate plate along with half of my baked potato.
He stopped at the door and lifted a brow. “What are you doing?”
My stomach growled. “If I’m hungry, I know you are too. You didn’t eat anything last night, so I’m giving you half of my steak.” When he sat down, I could tell a smile was just beneath the surface. I passed him a fork and he stuck it in the meat. “When we get back to Wyoming, I’ll cook you a meal. I’m actually pretty good at it. So don’t judge me by this chunk of reheated beef.”
He ate a bite and smiled. “So I’ve heard. Everyone talks about your cooking. I’ll admit, I was jealous when my brother told me you made him an apple pie.”
I burst out laughing. “It was an apology for giving him a black eye. Don’t let him make you think it’s because he was special.”
“I’ll have to tell him that.”
We ate the rest of our food and I was glad to finally see a smile on his face. “Are you going to help me look through the house, or patrol the perimeter?”
He got up and put his plate in the sink. “Both. I want to see if there are any new tracks. Maybe even a sign from Jaret. We still don’t know if they completed the bond.”
“True. I didn’t smell anyone other than my family in her house.”
“Then they must’ve been meeting at his place,” he said, opening the front door. “If only we could find it.”
My phone rang and I quickly pulled it out of my pocket. “Blake, hey. Did you find anything on Jaret?”
He sighed and I knew it was going to be bad news. “Are you sure his name is Jaret Bleddyn?”
“Yes.”
“Tyla, I can’t find anything on this guy. There is no Jaret Bleddyn in any part of the world.”
Sebastian heard and looked dumbfounded. “I don’t know what to do,” I whispered, more to myself than to anyone else.
“You’re not in any trouble are you?” Blake asked.
“No, it’s not like that. I’ll be fine. I guess I just got his name wrong.”
“And you’re sure you’re okay?”
“Yes.” I laughed, hoping to appease him. The last thing I needed was for him to get involved with what we were doing.
He sighed. “All right. Call me if you need anything else.”
“Will do.” I hung up and slammed my phone down on the table. “Looks like we’re back to square one. My cousin is involved with someone she doesn’t even know.”
We walked out to the car and Sebastian glanced at me from the other side. “We need to find out who he is, and fast. There’s a reason he didn’t want her to know who he was.”
***
Amelie’s house was almost completely cleaned up by the end of the day, but I couldn’t find any more clues, other than a couple of pictures in her room of her and the mysterious Jaret Bleddyn. I was ready to head back to our cabin and try the stone. Surely, I’d have more luck with it.
Sebastian had been patrolling the grounds for the past couple of hours, searching for tracks. If he’d found something, he would have been back long ago. The sound of footsteps scraped across the wooden porch and I rushed downstairs.
“Did you find anything?” I asked, turning the corner into the living room.
The man in front of me wasn’t Sebastian. He was a wolf, yet I couldn’t smell him. Tall, with dark green eyes and long, brown hair, the guy was dressed in dirty jeans and a plaid button down shirt. His eyes flashed when he saw me. “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”
He walked forward and I took a step back. “Who are you?” When I took another step back, a set of arms snatched me from behind. “Let me go.” I growled and bucked. My nails lengthened and I dug them in his arms, ripping his flesh.
He yelled and let me go, but not before smacking me across the cheek. It burned, but I stood strong and faced him. This guy had short, brown hair and glowing gray eyes. His fangs grew in length, and so did his claws.
I glared straight at him. “You don’t scare me, you worthless pile of dog shit.”
The long haired wolf burst out laughing. “We got a feisty one on our hands.”
“Where’s Amelie?” I commanded.
He smiled wide. “You talking about the busty blonde who lived here?”
“Where is she?” I shouted as loud as I could. Sebastian was sure to hear me now.
Long hair shrugged. “Somewhere up north. We were instructed to kill whoever came looking for her. But I don’t think that’ll be the case with you; at least, not yet. I wanna have a little fun with that body of yours first.”
My eyes flashed and I was ready to shift. “You can try.”
The guy behind me tried to grab me again, but I dropped to the floor and punched him in the balls. As he went down, I jumped over him and out the front door. I didn’t get far before Long Hair lunged and grabbed me around the waist, bringing me down on the gravel driveway. The breath was knocked out of my lungs and I gasped, choking for air.
“That wasn’t so hard.” He laughed maliciously. “I thought you’d put up more of a fight.”
Sebastian’s rage unleashed and I could feel his anger. “I don’t have to,” I said, sucking in a breath.
The loudest growl I’d ever heard echoed through the trees. Long Hair backed away from me and shifted, ready to fight. The other guy stumbled out of the house and joined him, both massive gray wolves. Sebastian didn’t waste any time in his attack. Long Hair lunged for him and they toppled over one another. Short Hair turned and glared at me.
“Mad that I kicked those tiny things between your legs?” I growled. Ripping off my clothes, I felt the magic of the shift shimmer across my body. He roared and lunged at me just as I shifted, but I dodged out of his reach. I was prepared to fight, but Sebastian had already beaten me to it.
Tearing the wolf open with one swipe of his paw, Sebastian sent his blood splattering across the ground. The howls of pain were deafening. I stood back and watched the carnage unfold before me. Sebastian was lethal, tearing both wolves apart limb from limb. The rage had consumed him and it scared the hell out of me. He didn’t slow in his attack, even when they were clearly dead.
Shifting back, I took a step forward. “Sebastian, stop,” I said low.
His gaze lifted, eyes still glowing. He growled and I held my breath. He wouldn’t hurt me, but seeing him like that terrified me. Blood dripped from his mouth as he stalked toward me. I stepped back and lost my footing, falling on my backside. He towered over me, his fangs scraping along my neck.
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “Come back to me.” He backed up quickly, eyes darting back and forth from the dead wolves to me. “Sebastian, please shift back.”
Instead of shifting, he darted off into the woods. He could smell my fear.
As fast as I could, I threw on my clothes and ran inside to grab the keys. If there were more wolves around, they’d find the carnage. I didn’t want to be there if that happened. Grabbing his clothes on the way out, I jumped in the car and raced out of the driveway.
Back at our cabin, I could sense Sebastian was near. His torment was thick in the air. I had to find him.
Shifting back into my wolf form, I took off into the forest and followed his scent. Thankfully, he wasn’t hiding it from me. Coming to a stop at a lake that was partially frozen over, I waited as Sebastian rolled around in the water. When he was done, he traipsed out and shook off his fur, no longer covered in blood.
I approached him slowly and he never took his gaze off of mine. Rubbing my head under his chin, a satisfied growl rumbled in his chest. I just wanted him to come back to me. I nudged him with my nose and licked the side of his neck, only to come away with the taste of blood in my mouth. My mind whirled and a flood of emotions exploded inside of me. What the hell did I just do?
His feelings became my own and I could see everything inside of his mind. The pain became too much and I screamed as I shifted back, clutching the sides of my head. I closed my eyes and fell to the ground, hoping it would stop. Usually when you tasted a mate’s blood, a vision of your future would occur, but there was only pain, hatred, and rage.
“Tyla!” Sebastian pulled me into his arms and held me tight. “Tyla, what’s wrong?” He grabbed my hands and jerked them away from my face.
I looked into his eyes, and realized what he’d been keeping from me this whole time. “Sebastian, it’s too much,” I thought to him, knowing he’d hear me in his mind.
Eyes wide, he shook his head and shut me out. The relief was instant, but his agony was just below the surface. It wouldn’t stay hidden for long. “Dammit, Tyla, you weren’t supposed to see all of that.” Lifting me up, he carried me back to the house.
My eyes burned. “I didn’t realize it was that bad.” And all because of me. To top it all off, I hadn’t received a vision of our future. That could only mean one thing . . . death.