“Where is she?” Elijah asked, anxiety etched all over his face.
“I don’t know!” River said. “I have searched for her everywhere and I can’t find her.” Terror skittered up her spine. “Were you able to find Faria?”
“No,” he said in a voice that was akin to defeat. “I am going to her school,” lie said.
River looked at Asher and said, “I want you to search the area around her window and the garden.”
Asher gave her a tight nod, looked at his watch and clashed to Mia room. In an hour Hunter was supposed to arrive and he was going to go ballistic if Mia goes missing. This was the last thing they needed. Hunter was very protective of his sister. Ever since their parents had died, he had taken care of her. She was the only blood relative lie had.
When the two had left, River went to her room as Berta followed her. ‘Luna,” she said. “There is a group of she-Leans who want to meet. you. They wanted to invite you for a ceremony in the evening.”
“What ceremony?” River snapped. She didn’t want to go anywhere. Hunter was coming over and if Mia wasn’t found sooner, she knew that Hunter would be very upset. Everything was getting too complicated. How was it possible that Mia also went missing after Faria? What was the connection between their missing?
They wanted to run with your wolf-tonight in the woods. It’s a tradition that Luna has to follow. It is to make herself acquainted with everyone.”
She took a labored breath and nodded to dismiss Berta. “Okay, Luna,” she said. “You have to be there by 9PM.”
After Berta left, River started pacing her room. She wondered what could be the connection between Faria and Mia’s disappearances. She started thinking about the last conversation they all had together and h was about going to Howard’s house and finding Natalie’s phone. River stopped in her tracks as she placed her hands on her waist. Realization hit her like a mountain-size boulder. “Oh my God!” she breathed. “Did Mia go to Natalie’s house?”
River swallowed down her dry throat. What if is had gone there? What if she was trapped there? lt sounded ridiculous but what if Howard had trapped her? That couldn’t be possible. Howard was still finding his daughter. He would run into the woods often and howl loudly, hoping to attract his daughter’s attention.
Not staying there for another second, River stashed her phone and some money in tier purse and rushed out.
“Where are you going, Luna?” Berta asked, surprised. She was holding a glass of orange juice,
“I am going to Mia’s school,” she lied.
Berta pursed her lips. “Okay, then at least have some juice.”
In order to stop Berta from following her, River gulped the whole juice down in one go and dashed out. She didn’t even wait for the driver to drive for her and straightaway went to the garage, sat in her Porsche and drove to Howard’s house. While driving she remembered all the conversations that Faria and Mia were having that night.
She also remembered how in the morning Rosalie came and gave her the photos. The photos made her miserable all over again. Even though she felt bitter in her heart and tears burned the back of her throat, she didn’t want to believe the truth in the photos. Hunter was her mate and mates never cheated. Or did they? Back in tier pack, she had heard how other Alphas had harems. They said that their Lunas were unable to satisfy their needs. The Alphas were highly sexual creatures and they had three to four she-wolves who were always ready for them. Was Hunter going in the same direction? “No!” she rasped as tears rolled out. But she wiped them immediately. She had to find Mia.
When she came to stop in front of Howard’s house, she saw that it was pretty quiet. Instead of going to Natalie’s room From the back as Mia and Faria had suggested to sneak in, she decided to go straight through the front door and ask Howard about it.
She rang the bell once, twice, thrice, but no one came out. Perhaps Howard wasn’t inside. I Ier heart beating fast, she contemplated on opening the door and going in Although her morals said that it was incorrect. she turned the knob GI-the door and opened the door. When she stepped in, she saw that house was eerily quiet. She flicked on the lights. Everything was in its place as if it hadn’t been touched in a long time. She walked through the house and started climbing the stairs to Natalie’s room.
Howard’s house was a nice and cozy cottage with minimal furniture. The wood smelled as if freshly polished. The staircase creaked under her-weight as she went up. When she reached Natalie’s room which was the only room on the first floor, she saw that it was ajar. River pushed it open and peeped inside. It was dark. She fumbled for the switches and flicked them on. Scent of lavender hit her nostrils. But it was Mia’s citrusy scent mixed with lavender that shocked her, “Mia?” she called her as she gazed around the room.
There was no one. And then her gaze landed on the floor. She stifled a shriek and a wave of terror rippled through her. There were drops of blood on the floor that was now caked. With shaky steps she padded to the blood drops and knelt on the floor. There was hair entangled in the blood. It looked like the assailant had hit the victim hard on the head.
“Goddess!’” Her teeth started chattering when she thought that the victim could be Mia. “No, Goddess, no!”
She was about to get up and go when her eyes went beneath the bed and what she saw there made her knees go wobbly. There was a hammer over there, placed in a small basket with ropes entangled around it. She crawled towards it. With shaky hands, she pulled the basket out from there and examined its content. Scent of chloroform wafted when she picked up the rope. Terror rose and flooded her chest. Who was using all this and for whom? And what was this doing in Natalie’s room?
River shoved it all inside the bed and decided to explore the house. Since Howard wasn’t inside, she could look around. So the first thing that River did was to look into the cupboards. Other than the clothes and books and other girly stuff, she didn’t find anything else.
She went downstairs and decided to go into Howard’s room. She shouldn’t, but she needed some clue about Mia. What if it was Howard who was responsible for his daughter’s death? Maybe he didn’t like the fact that she had an interest in Hunter or maybe he was too afraid of Hunter. Nothing was making sense and her frustration only grew. Howard’s room was… clean. There was nothing out there. She was browsing through his cupboards when all at once there was a loud thud as if something had fallen on the floor and then a door opened and she heard heavy footsteps rushing out.
River ran out to see who it was, prepared to give a good fight as her wolf Gia was agitated already. However, when she went out, she saw a blur of a shadow hopping the fence and disappearing into the woods from the backyard.
“Stooooop!” she shouted and rushed after it.
