Total pages in book: 202
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
My senses sharpen as I pick up the scents in our largest building. The mess hall acts as a central meeting place, is where everyone started taking meals together, and this long building separates the village’s back end from the figure-eight road where all the pack members’ homes are.
Ahead of the figure-eight road is a line of mature trees and in front of that, the wood gate that blocks the residences from the business zone. It used to be that the junk was contained ahead of that fence, but in the last few years, it’s built up everywhere. It always smells like an old mechanic’s garage here but now it also smells of sulfur, ammonia, vomit, rotting meat.
My emotions are all over the place. Things are very wrong here. Even more wrong than usual.
Instead of going into the mess hall where I scent a lot of people, Jase mutters that he’s walking me to Grey by the trailers and cabins.
When I spot Grey outside my modular, where I lived since Father died and Wyatt moved me out of his house, my belly lurches.
Grey’s eyes are on me, but his cheeks are streaked with red. He’s pacing, fuming. Blood has been coming out of his eyes, though it looks like it’s now dry. He stops when he sees me and huffs out a hard exhale, eyes flashing from silver to shiny silver and three red sparks flare out from above his head and burn to ash.
Concerned, I hurry to get to him faster, and he’s doing the same, storming in my direction, then suddenly wrapping his arms around me too tight, pressing his mouth to my forehead. The blood on his t-shirt is still wet, but I know by the scent it’s his own blood and he’s not bleeding anywhere so it’s clearly from eye blood vessels popping out of anger. He’s sweaty. He’s shaking with that anger. My chin is tilted up and now our eyes are connected and the fire in his is raging.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
He blows out a hard exhale. “This. This fuckin’ place is wrong.”
My shoulders slump. “I know.”
He blows out another breath looking like he’s trying to calm himself.
“A lot of sick folks, wife. A lot. Gonna need all hands on deck to help Cat with working on helping them.”
I feel the color drain from my face. I only smell one scent inside my house. Brody, I think.
Grey searches my face, and I feel pain coming from him. He’s not just angry. He’s hurting right now. He’s angry and hurting though only the anger is visible. Because I’m the one who gets a peek into what’s inside. Because I’m his. I’m going to be okay; I’ll get through this because he’s here with me.
“Okay…”
“Let’s go,” he grunts and flexes his jaw muscles.
“Wait. I… Where are they?” I don’t think I caught their scents at the mess hall. Though, the overpowering stench of the whole village could be messing with my senses.
“People you share the place with aren’t in there,” he says. “Just Brody.”
“They’re in the mess hall?”
He shakes his head. “Those scents aren’t here.”
“Aren’t here?” I hurry inside the trailer, looking around the front room, to the kitchen, and noting the layer of dust, already knowing they haven’t been here in a while.
Why?
“Where’s Aunt Shea, Addy, Misty, and Halla?” I ask. “They’re not in the mess hall?
Nobody’s been here today at least. Maybe much longer than that.
Grey is behind me. “I don’t know where they are, but the scents from this house aren’t in this compound right now.”
I move through the kitchen and down the back hall past the bathroom toward the bedrooms and see Brody standing in the bunk room I share with Adelaide, Halla, and Misty.
He turns to look at me and his expression is deadly serious.
“This bed? Whose is it?” he demands.
I’m taken back at the aggression rolling off him.
“Adelaide, my cousin. We call her Addy.”
He looks past me at Grey who is directly behind me.
My eyes bounce to Grey, and he’s got a deadly serious look on his face as he regards Brody.
“Adelaide,” Brody says softly, and his dark eyes flare with an amber light. He touches her pillow, then lifts it and puts it to his nose.
Grey’s hands land on my shoulders. “Where would they be, you think?”
“I… here?”
“They’re not here,” Brody says. “None of the scents from this room besides yours are nearby. You know where she might be? Because she’s not within five square miles for sure unless she’s…” His expression darkens.
I frown. “Are they alive? Please tell me they’re alive.”
“We don’t know, Blossom. The guy called Larry said they’ve been burning the dead. You don’t know where they might be if they’re not here?”
“I don’t know,” I whisper.
“I gotta find her,” Brody says to Grey. “Gotta get away from this other stink – it’s clouding things – need to look for her scent outside the gates.”