Chapter 143

Alaric’s POV

As I watch Noel hug Cara, and Cara melt into the hug, a flash of jealousy rushes through me. Immediately, I push down on it. Now isn’t the time to be concerned with my personal feelings, especially when we finally have a lead to act on.

Yet, the apparent closeness between Cara and Noel is somewhat concerning to me. I want to step in, to push them apart, and take Noel’s place with Cara in my arms.

If anyone should be offering her comfort, it’s me.

Though, given the circumstances, perhaps that’s not true. After all, I’m the one to blame for all of this. Likely, Cara doesn’t want anything to do with me right now.

Noel might be a newcomer, but because he is, he hasn’t done anything to hurt Cara. Not like I have.

After our five year separation, when I was finally reunited with her, I vowed to do my best not to hurt her again. But it’s because of my negligence and failing that Mia has been taken.

I’ve hurt Cara in the worst way possible, even worse than five years before.

I’ve taken her child from her.

What right do I have now, then, to step in when she is finally accepting long overdue comfort? Even if that comfort comes from my rival in her affections?

Cara deserves whatever peace she can find in these moments, regardless of who offers it to her.

So, without a word, I turn and step outside. The crisp air cools some of my inner anger and hurt. My wolf, in particular, hates the sight of Noel and Cara together, and urges me, wordlessly, to go back in there and force them apart.

“We have to focus on Mia,” I remind him in my mind. “Our pup.”

That reminder is all it takes to refocus my wolf onto the task at hand.

We love Cara, but with Mia in danger, we can’t risk any distractions. Our quest to earn her love will have to continue later.

For now, saving our daughter is the most important thing I can do.

Colin and the twins step outside with me. They don’t say a word, but I can feel the way they are watching me. They are expecting some kind of reaction to the hug. They won’t find it, not yet.

Turning to them, I’m all business. “I followed the scent down to the brook in the forest,” I tell them. “I think we should begin our search there and then stretch out in all directions. If we can track where they went from that spot, then we might have a chance at finding them.”

The brothers all agree. After a moment, Noel emerges alone from the house. He closes the door behind him. No one says a word about what happened in there, though Colin quickly relays the plan to him.

“Ready?” I ask them.

They all affirm they are.

With that, one my one we shift into our wolf forms and then take off running.

As they are visitors here, not familiar with my pack lands, I lead and they follow without issue or challenge. We all push ourselves hard, rushing to the edge of the forest. There, I catch the scent again. It’s even fainter now than it’s been before, too long exposed to the elements.

Even so, catching the scent, I follow it down to the brook. The brothers and Noel follow my lead, all sniffing the air, trying to take in the scent.

At the water line, I give them a look, and we start to fan out, each scenting along the dirt and the brush and leaves a few feet beyond, searching for that scent.

I’d searched for it so hard on my own, but many noses are better than one.

They didn’t just disappear. The scent trail must continue somewhere, somehow, in some direction.

Not wanting to retrace past failures, I venture out further than the rest, pushing my nose through the dirt and debris of the forest bed.

Then, just as I’m about to turn and search elsewhere, I catch the barest trace of a familiar scent.

Yes, it’s there.

Throwing my head back, I howl, drawing the brothers and Noel to me.

I found it!

Cara’s POV

I hate how helpless I feel. While my brothers, Noel, and Alaric are out, chasing leads to find my daughter, I am trapped here, unable to help at all, as my wolf is lost to me.

Closing my eyes, I try once more to reach out to her, but as with every time before, she remains hidden from me. I can still feel her, distantly, as if she slumbers deep within me. How I wish I could wake her up, especially now. As I beg in my heart, I can almost feel her stirring.

Yet her slumber is far too strong. She cannot rouse herself, not right now. The knowledge gives me even more heartbreak.

It’s not her fault that she slumbers. It’s mine. If I could be a stronger person, perhaps I could have given her wait she needed to awaken by now.

I’m a terrible werewolf, and an even worse mother. Losing Mia like this… Not being able to find her…

Being so helpless…

Suddenly, my cell phone starts to ring. My heart jumps into my throat. Have they found something?

It’s been too soon, surely, but I’m not about to pass up any news.

The screen doesn’t identify the caller. It just reads unknown.

How strange.

Yet, still believing it might be Noel, Alaric, or one of my brothers, I answer it.

I’m not prepared for the voice that greets me on the other end of the call.

“Hello, Cara,” Lilia says. “It’s been a long time since we last spoke, but I imagine you still remember who I am?”

“Lilia,” I spit out the name. Five years ago, she made my life hell.

She seemed even more determined than ever to do the same now.

“Why would you call me?” I ask. “What do you want?”

I don’t question how she got my number. Given the nefarious things we all know she’s guilty of, tracking down my number is probably the least of what she’s done.

But, even though I suspect her of taking Mia, I don’t want to give away all of my cards too soon. It’s better to keep my hand close to my chest, and allow her to reveal her own plans.

That must be why she called, after all. To gloat.

To rub in my face that she has my child, just as she did in the past when she had Alaric’s attention and his ring.

The woman loves to gloat, to rub things in. Her likely only regret is that she can’t see my face this time, to know how much her games hurt me.

“What I want is for you to suffer,” Lilia says, revealing herself to be every inch the villain we expected her to be.

Then, in the background, I hear a voice… it’s soft but present.

A mother would always recognize her child.

“Mom! Stay away! It’s a trap!” Mia cries.