Page 86 of An Unending Claim

“Since then?”

“It was—”

“We’ve been combing this site for nearly two hours,” he interjected in an admonishing tone. “I’m guessing you never pulled your head out of your ass today and opened your mind back up to her?”

Two hours?

Tanner’s question threw me for a loop. I’d closed my mind to be able to focus on what was in front of me. To study the problem as objectively as possible, without emotion swaying me one way or the other.

But… had that really been the logical choice? Wouldn’t reaching out to Peyton help us find her the fastest? Would I ever stop fucking up when it came to my mate?

I dropped the barrier between our minds, which allowed all of my emotions to flood my mind. The most prevalent was how much I loved her and my fear that she and our baby would be taken from me. I was tempted to put them back in their steel box, but they made it easier to feel for Peyton, to connect to her through our mating bond.

A second later my wolf howled as I roared with pain and rage when I felt the sting of a hand hitting my face. Someone had hit Peyton. My wolf was on the edge of feral, driven there by his connection to Peyton’s panther. When he realized what had happened, I came close to losing control over him.

But I couldn’t let him. Yet.

Peyton’s adrenaline spiked, then I felt a stab in my forearm before the pain became so intense it stole my breath. What was happening to her? How would I find her? Save her?

Pain radiated from everywhere on her body and my knees buckled, so I flung an arm out to grab onto the door of the ambulance, stopping me from falling to the ground. I needed to reclaim some control over myself, find a balance. But my wolf’s mental state was making it even more difficult.

I hated doing it, but I pushed him back, deep down so his volatility was muffled and my head could clear.

The first thing I did was push my mind toward Peyton, letting her know I was there, I was aware of what was happening, and I would find her. We couldn’t speak clearly to each other yet, but somehow I knew she understood.

Her response was gratitude, but it seemed curt and I knew after this was over, I had another fight ahead of me. I couldn’t focus on that right that moment, though.

I stood still, blocking out all other sound, and waited. Listening. Feeling. Until finally, she managed to give me a clue. She was practically pulsing with a very specific emotion. It was anger, but it had its own twist, a different edge to it. I’d felt it from her before whenever the subject of Xavier Castile came up.

“I fucking knew that motherfucker was behind this,” I snarled.

“Bane?” Jase asked, appearing beside me.

“Castile,” Tanner answered for me.

But that didn’t mean Bane wasn’t involved and knowing what he intended to do to her filled me with terror.

I’d be useless if I gave in to it so I refocused on my current surroundings and leaned to the side so I could see around Tanner. “Ephraim?”

He was lying on a stretcher in the ambulance with a medic tending to his injuries. Even though he’d been on the same side as Peyton, he’d been mildly luckier because his door hadn’t smashed right into a tree.

Still, he’d been severely injured, so I hated to ask anything of him. If it had been anyone but Peyton…

“On it,” he rumbled, pushing the medic away and sitting up. The medic grumbled, but one scathing look from Ephraim had him hurrying away.

“I won’t hold it against you if you aren’t up to it,” I assured him.

When he shook his head and pushed to his feet, relief drained some of the tension from my body. No one was better at tracking than Ephraim. I wanted to be the one who found my mate, but in order to give her the best chance, I had to check my ego and think logically.

“Léo,” I called to Peyton’s dad, who was studying everything as hard as I had been.

He reluctantly dragged himself from the mangled cars and approached.

“Ephraim and—” I glanced up at my enforcer, asking a silent question. He needed to be at his best, so I was giving him the choice of who he took with him.

“Mason, Sabrina, and Jase if you can spare all four of us.”

“Done. Go.” Looking back to Léo, I continued informing him of the plan. “Those four are going to track her location.” When he opened his mouth, I held up my hand to stop him. “No one, and I meanno oneI have ever met is a better tracker than Ephraim.”