*Maddox*I have hurt Isla’s feelings, and I feel terrible about it, but I don’t have time to ponder what to do about it at the moment. I have got to track down Zabrina. I imagine she is a good hour ahead of us at least. Without footage of a vehicle leaving the palace, it’s hard to say. And none of my guards outside seem to have seen anything to help pinpoint a time of departure.All of the pack Alphas that are close enough to my location for the mind-link have let me know they have barricades up on every major road and as many of the minor ones they can get to leading into and out of their packs. Every single car will be stopped. I’ve given them a description of the vehicle Zabrina’s family is driving, but I wouldn’t put it past her to steal another car along the way.Rushing out to the garage, I get into my own sports car and head out to where the vehicle they drove Isla in was spotted. I decide to start there and see if I can track Zabrina’s scent. That will be nearly impossible. I
*Maddox*The water treatment facility looms in the distance, and nothing seems to be stirring within the giant chain-link fence that guards the perimeter. As I slowly drive around, looking for any indication that this place has been tampered with, my eyes are met with not a single sign of distressI pull my car to a stop in front of the guard’s building and get out. “Facility is closed!” he barks at me, clearly not recognizing me in the dark. I have made sure that the proper authorities that are in charge of this facility know the threat, but that must not mean that the guards at the gate are aware that I might be coming by.“I’m aware of that,” I tell him. “I just wanted to make sure that you haven’t seen anything suspicious. No strange vehicles. No wolves carrying bags that could potentially contain chemicals?”He studies me for a moment before he says, “Nope, nothing of the kind. Everything is fine here, mister. So you can head back to the palace, and let the king know. Ol’ Virgil
*Isla*I am underwater.How I got here, I don’t understand, but that’s where I am.It’s odd, though. It’s like I can breathe just fine under the water, like I have shifted, but not into the wolf I’m meant to have. No, I have shifted into something aquatic, like a fish.I can’t see my own form as I press along underneath this rapidly moving body of water. Rather, I am only aware of what is around me—the green algae growing up from the rocky muddy depths beneath my feet, the large rocks that lay in piles strewn all around me, the occasional fish that shoots by in front of me.Water—lots and lots of murky greenish-brown water.“Where am I?” I ask, but not aloud. If I open my mouth, this dirty water will fill my up until I am sputtering. No, it is an internal question. I don’t know the answer, but I don’t think this is the ocean.I think it must be a river of some sort because of how quickly the current is moving and how it is flowing from right to left in a nearly straight line like it i
*Maddox*“Where does this pipe go?”Bill Bixby is standing near me, staring at the pipe, wearing a robe over his pajamas, his hair disheveled, and is eyes barely focusing.“This is the drain pipe,” he says. “It lets the unusable water back out into the river.”I stare at him for a moment. “So this doesn’t reach the spring where the water that’s used for the bottling comes from?” I have to clarify.“No, no, no,” he says. “We can turn this pipe in reverse to make the water flow the other direction. We do that from time to time to bring in more water to run the machinery and keep it cool, but for the most part, this pipe flows into the river, not the other way around.”“Where does the water come into the plant?” I ask.“Over there.” He points into the distance where I can see a large pipe that actually goes into the ground. “The spring isn’t under the river. It’s under the ground there, and it flows into the location of the river through an underground tributary. So we catch the spring w
*Isla*I fall back into a dreamless, restless sleep after Poppy assures me that she has spoken to Maddox and relayed the information I had given her.I don’t know why I am suddenly dreaming about what’s happening with other people, people I am not related to and have no connection to, but I am certain that what I saw was real, not just a regular dream spurred on by everything that has happened to me today.A few hours after my conversation with Poppy, I feel a shift in the bed and slit my eyes to see what is happening. Part of me wants to react with panicked fear that I am being attacked again, but I am too tired for that.Thankfully, that is not the case.It is Maddox.He is slipping into bed next to me, and while I am too tired, and it is too dark, for me to see exactly what he has on, when I rest my hand on his chest, it is bare.“I’m sorry I woke you, beautiful,” he whispers, his warm lips pressing against my forehead.“It’s okay,” I manage to get out before I roll onto his chest.
*Maddox*I should have told Isla I love her, too, but I didn’t.A million reasons why that isn’t a good idea flock my mind as I hold her in my arms, looking down at her beautiful face.I want her to know that I love her more than anything, that I will do whatever I can to protect her, but I know that she is in a dangerous position because she loves me. Clearly, that has been demonstrated in the past few days when Zabrina and her minions tried to kill her.Promising her that she is completely safe now would be foolish and dishonest of me. I want to do everything I can to protect her, and I will, but having just failed her, I find it impossible to know for certain I can do that.I couldn’t even protect Rebecca from herself.Isla isn’t sure how to respond to my statement, and I can’t blame her. I lean down and kiss the top of her head and then slide from the bed. “I need to go,” I tell her. I find my boxers and put them back on.“Are you going to look for Zabrina some more?” she asks me
*Maddox*We arrive in the village less than twenty minutes after we left the castle. I see the dive shop I’ve been told about pretty quickly and ask Beta Seth to pull into a parking spot not far from the front door. It’s still fairly early in the morning, and most of the activity around the shops is centered around the coffeehouse and the bakery—not the dive shop, which doesn’t even look to be open.I will not let that deter me.Hopping out of the car, I make my way to the door and try it. I’m relieved that it is unlocked, despite the fact that the lights are not in, and there being no sign in the window that says, “Open.”In fairness, and in my defense, there’s no “Closed” sign either.When the chime above the door dings, I hear an aggravated sigh from the back of the shop and have to assume that whoever is working this morning would prefer not to have any customers.That makes me glad I’m not intending to give them any money.Despite the humor I would find in making Beta Seth dive d
*Isla*My head is a little fuzzy when I open my eyes later that morning after Maddox has left. I run a hand through my hair and stretch my other hand over to the bed where his body had been. It’s not even warm anymore.I sit up, slowly. I still don’t feel completely right after everything I went through yesterday, but I feel a little better than I did before I went back to sleep.I remember what he said about calling my parents. Should I even bother to do that? Alpha King Maddox has explained to me why he thinks it’s worth it, but I’m not sure he really understands how Willow pack works. If it’s true that Alpha Ernest is no longer in power, that doesn’t mean that he won’t find someone to let him out of prison. He’s a little worm, and he has people working for him that Maddox would’ve never suspected wouldn’t be loyal to him.I have to wonder, as I sit there pondering everything that’s happened recently, how many people truly are loyal to Maddox?It’s not something that’s ever crossed