The Hunt Begins: Book 16 of the Grey Wolves Series

Chapter 1

Chapter One

“I’ve spent my life waiting to love you. My arms have waited to hold you. My lips have longed to taste you. And, finally, you were in my grasp … but for a breath. Now, you’re gone. I will search for you. I will search until I find you, until my body gives out, or until my life is snuffed out by my enemy.” ~Nick

Nick knew he and his wolf needed sleep. Though he understood his body needed rest in order to function, resting felt like such a waste of time when his true mate was being held captive by the Order. He did not know what was happening to her. His mind kept conjuring the worst. But he really had no idea what the worst was. The reality could actually be even more horrible than whatever he could imagine.

He stared up at the night sky, the hot air from his lungs letting out puffs of smoke as Nick breathed into the frosty night air. From the grounds of the Colorado compound, the stars lit up the darkness like city lights. Nick had been offered a bed inside, just like everyone else, but being inside felt stifling. His wolf didn’t want to be enclosed behind walls. It wanted to be out in the open, where he could see his enemy coming. If they were coming. Unfortunately, he’d seen neither hide nor hair of the Order’s members. Nick would give anything for an all-out battle right now, if only to distract himself from thoughts of his missing mate.

He forced his heavy lids to stay open and let his mind think about the past two weeks, searching for any mistake they might have made or clue they might have missed. The first night of the hunt, they’d gone directly to the Order’s destroyed compound. It was well after midnight, and all the human authorities, reporters, and curious on-lookers had mostly gone. Elle and Adam had masked their presence, so the straggler humans hadn’t seen them. The horror of what Nick had seen was still fresh in his mind as he drifted back to that night.

“Bloody hell.” Drayden stared down at the massive crater in the ground where several large warehouses had once stood.

“Peri did this?” The horror in Decebel’s voice mirrored Nick’s own feelings.

“Is there any chance Kara could have been here?” Nick asked through a constricted throat. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know the answer. No one replied for several seconds.

Then Fane finally spoke up. “I don’t think so. Your bond may not be complete, but the connection is still there, enough that you would know if she was gone.”

Then why can’t I feel her? Hear her? Sense her presence somehow? Nick wanted to snap at the alpha, but he knew that would bring him no closer to his Kara.

“Did you two know Peri was this powerful?” Dillon asked Elle and Adam as he pointed to the devastation.

Adam snorted, though no humor filled his eyes. “All those times she warned you about her power, and you ask us that?”

“With Peri, it was hard to know how much was smoke and mirrors,” the Colorado alpha answered.

“Well, now you know,” Elle replied softly.

“The wolves will phase.” Fane’s eyes glowed brightly with his wolf. “Smell everything within a ten-mile radius of this area. Thalion, Cyn, Elle, and Adam”—he looked at the elf prince and the three fae— “if you could check the actual site.” He motioned down the hill. “You all can detect magic better than us. It’s likely Peri’s spell obliterated the magical signatures of anyone else who might have been present. Still, check and see if you can sense anyone or anything.”

An hour later, Nick heard his alpha’s howl—a signal call. He bolted toward Drayden who was three miles away. He reached the alpha within minutes. When Nick was within fifty feet, he smelled her. His mate.

“She was here,” he said the moment he phased. Nick walked back and forth, trying to determine how much area Kara’s scent covered. It led in one direction for a hundred yards or so, but then returned to the original spot where Drayden had first smelled her.

“Alston was here,” Adam said as he and Elle appeared next to them. “I can feel his magic. He was definitely with her.”

Nick snarled, cursed, and clenched his fists. It took everything in him, and a command from Drayden, to calm his wolf. The beast wanted to fly to their mate, it just didn’t know which way to go.

“And he isn’t the only thing I smell,” Fane said. “There’s an elf…”

“Ludcarab most likely,” Adam said.

“…and a vampire,” continued Fane.

“Cain.” Decebel spat out the word.

The sound coming from Nick, though being formed by a man’s mouth, wasn’t anything human vocal cords could have produced. It sounded like a growl, whimper, and howl all rolled into one. Drayden gripped his shoulder, letting his claws sink in slightly. He looked directly into Nick’s eyes. “We will find her.”

Nick quieted somewhat, and his eyes went to the ground.

“Their scents mingle here, then disappear,” Fane said.

“Well, Alston certainly wouldn’t be traveling by foot,” Elle scanned the ground around them. “He flashed them all somewhere, I’m sure.”

“I wish we had a way of tracking them.” Fane looked around and saw nothing but blank faces staring back at him. “Let’s think about this logically. You’ve just kidnapped a healer. You’ve returned to find your compound completely and utterly destroyed. What is the first thing you would do?”

“Find a new hideout?” Decebel tilted his head.

“Exactly,” Fane confirmed. “But where?”

“After seeing this”—Adam gestured to the ruined compound—“as far away as I could possibly get.”

Everyone in the group nodded. “That doesn’t exactly narrow it down,” Decebel said.

“She could be anywhere.” Nick fell to his knees and picked up a handful of dirt, putting it to his nose and inhaling the smell. He needed his mate’s scent in his nostrils. The smell was more precious than the air that came in with it. But it was tainted. With his Kara’s scent came the smell of others, those who’d stolen her. They’d touched her. They’d put their filthy hands on her. He would make them pay for that. He would get his mate back and destroy those who’d taken her. But where was she? Where? Where? Where?

Where indeed. Now, two weeks into the hunt, they were still no closer to finding his Kara. Nick whispered the word to himself over and over. Where?

“If you’re going to sleep outside, you could at least do it in your fur.” Drayden sat beside Nick, pulling him from his compulsive thoughts.

“I like the way the cold air feels on my skin.” Nick didn’t wear a jacket, only a short sleeve T-shirt, pants, and his boots. He didn’t want to feel any comfort, not until he had his Kara back. Nick had no idea what sort of conditions his mate was living in. He couldn’t bear the thought of being comfortable when she might be being mistreated or even—he shuddered to think about it—tortured.

“She’s a healer, Nick,” his alpha said, seeming to understand Nick’s self-punishment. “She’s valuable to them.”

“That didn’t stop them from hurting Sally,” he bit out through clenched teeth. Fane had shared with him the things that had happened to the Romanian pack healer. At one particular point in the story, Nick had rushed outside to vomit. He couldn’t fathom how Costin endured what his mate went through.

Drayden sighed and leaned back against a tree, his legs stretched out in front of him. “I wish Fane had waited to tell you Costin and Sally’s story until after we found Kara.”

“It wouldn’t matter when or if he told me. The Order is not known for their mercy. They will use any means necessary to get Kara to cooperate with them.”

“And that’s what scares you, isn’t it? She will never cooperate with them.”

Nick finally let his eyes close, and her face immediately filled his mind. His strong, stubborn mate who’d seen too much in her short life. “I don’t think she will. And I fear they will kill her when she doesn’t. But I also fear she might cooperate, perhaps only to buy time until I can reach her. And that choice will break her.”

“You should give her more credit than that,” Drayden said, his voice admonishing. “She may be young, but she’s a fighter.”

“Fighters don’t always survive.” Nick’s wolf snapped inside his mind at the harsh thought. His beast refused to even entertain the idea that they wouldn’t get their mate back. But Nick understood what the wolf didn’t. They weren’t bonded. If it came down to it, and Kara was faced with the tough decision of sacrificing herself instead of hurting someone else, he knew what she would do. Perhaps it was better that they weren’t yet bonded. If she died, he would live on. If Kara had his life to think about as well, then it might make her hesitate. And innocent people could die as a result.

They were quiet for a time, Nick thinking about everything he could and should have done differently to prevent his Kara from being taken. He knew it didn’t do any good to think about the past. His wolf continually reminded him of that. But that didn’t make it any easier to block out all the “could have” and “should have” thoughts assaulting his mind. He growled at himself. He was having a major-ass pity party, and it served no purpose.

Nick pushed himself up until he was sitting, his legs bent and his arms wrapped around his knees. “We’ve searched every lead,” he said. They’d come across dozens of vampires that all knew nothing. For some reason, the bloodsuckers were out of control and seemed to be wandering around leaderless. After questioning them and finding out nothing concerning Kara’s whereabouts, the wolves dispatched the vamps and burned the bodies. Nick wished he could resurrect them and kill them all over again, just to have an outlet for his frustration.

They’d returned to the Colorado pack to regroup. Since then, they’d taken to watching the news to see what the humans were making of the string of murders that were occurring along the western portion of the United States. Speculation of multiple serial killers, alien invasions, and, yes, even vampires had become the prevailing theories. Every eyewitness seemed to have seen something different, each more unbelievable than the last. The human law enforcement authorities were at a loss and stretched thin. Dillon mentioned that if things continued to deteriorate, the military might get involved. Nick had a feeling things could get messy fast if that happened. Backing a desperate animal into a corner never ends well. And both sides, the Order and the humans, appeared to be very desperate.

“It’s frustrating, I know,” Drayden said, “but we will find something. Someone, somewhere, knows something. We just have to find them.” He reached over and patted Nick’s shoulder. “We’re hunters, Nick. It’s what we do, and we do it well.”

“Damn straight we do.” Adam stepped out of the darkness.

“You’re not a wolf,” Sorin said dryly, stepping up beside him.

One by one, wolves padded out of the woods surrounding Nick. Fane, Decebel, Dillon, Ciro, Gustavo, and Crina, all in their fur.

“We’re pack.” Fane’s voice filled his mind, the power of being the alpha of alphas. “We fight as one, we rejoice as one, and we struggle as one. You’re not alone.”

The wolves surrounded him, and each laid down so that some part of them was pressed up against him. This was what pack did. Nick had separated himself from them and hadn’t even realized how badly he needed them.

“Those of us who aren’t wolfy,” Adam said, “aren’t into cuddle piles.”

Nick snorted. “You’re missing out.”

“I’ve experienced it once. That was enough until my next major life crisis,” the fae responded.

Elle appeared out of nowhere. “We’re still pack. Our way of contributing is to offer a different kind of protection than your wolf brothers and sisters. Cyn, Adam, and I have put a ward around this area. It will alert us if another supernatural being comes within a five-mile radius.”

Drayden bowed his head to the two fae. “Thank you.”

“Thalion said to tell you all to get some rest,” Elle said. “He and his warriors will keep watch.”

“Elle and I will be sleeping on this cold, hard ground, for obvious reasons.” Adam huffed and stared at his mate in her wolf form. There was a teasing glint in his eyes that Nick was jealous of. He wanted Kara there with him so he could tease her. He wished he could hear her smart retort.

Crina’s wolf bared her teeth at Adam. She closed her eyes and laid her head down as if dismissing her mate. Adam simply grinned.

“He’s such a diva.” Elle sat and leaned her back against a tree.

“Let’s get some sleep,” Drayden said and then phased to his wolf.

Nick looked around at the pile of wolves and felt a tiny semblance of peace. He phased and let his beast take over as he pressed in tightly to the warmth surrounding him. For now, he’d let his wolf have control so his human emotions could take a break. “We will find her,” his wolf promised. They would, Nick agreed. He couldn’t live with any other outcome.