Running Red: Lost Moon

Chapter 41: Protection

Celest turned to Rhea as she parked her car behind Tate's. "I should have been here sooner."

Rhea shook her head, "I don't think it would have changed a thing." She gave a sad smile. "He would have found a way out there."

"Let's get inside, so we can start figuring out where Levi is."

"Okay."

Celest gave her arm a gentle squeeze before stepping out of the car. She was heading for the house just as Tate stepped out of the house. The two of them paused long enough to look at each other. "Tate."

"Celest."

"Kevin inside?"

"Yep." Then he was jogging down the stairs. "Going to clean out a forest for him."

"Roll some head for me."

"I'm thinking of burying some."

"See if you can get one of them to cry."

"Planning on it." Then he was walking in long strides to his car. He gave a warm smile to Rhea as he passed, and she quickly jogged after Celest.

Rhea followed Celest as she moved through the house, calling out. "Kevin, I need to have a word with you."

There was a panicked sound from the office as she entered, and Rhea picked up her pace. She entered the office in time to find Celest leaning forward on Kevin's desk. Bryce quickly excused himself, squeezing past Rhea with a worried glance over his shoulder. Rhea's attention was quickly pulled back to Celest and Kevin. "Explain to me why you let a seventeen year old out of the safety of this house?"

"Because they came into this house and attacked." Kevin was standing with his hands also placed on his desk. "I figured he would be safer on the move and in the safe house."

"But they found it."

"Because someone told them."

"Who?"

"Not one of mine. He's the one who took Levi."

"I want to know who, Kevin."

"He's the older brother of one of Levi's friends. Levi's friend went missing. The older brother was pressured into trading Levi for his brother."

Rhea softly asked, "Tad's brother is willing to trade Levi for Tad's safety?"

"Yes." Kevin sighed as he sat down.

Celest looked from Rhea to Kevin then it dawned on her. "The kid Levi is dating?"

A small frown pulled at Rhea's lips, "Was, but yeah." Rhea watched as Celest's brows pulled down as she frowned, and she was struck hard by how much it reminded her of Levi. "They broke up right before Levi was hospitalized."

There was a long silence before she looked at Kevin. "Name." The steely edge in her voice had Kevin sighing.

"His name is Wyatt." When she raised a brow, he gave another sigh. "Evens. Wyatt Evens." He watched as she turned and left the room as she pulled out her phone.

Rhea watched in confusion. "Why does she want to know?"

"Because she's about to go look him up on the council's database."

"Database?"

"I don't like it. It was made to keep track of were population. They claim it's for good reasons like a census and to track if weres suddenly start dropping dead, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with other reasons."

Rhea started to say something when her phone rang. She quickly picked it up without looking at the caller id, "Hello?" Kevin caught muffled sounds. "Wait, Aaron, slow down. What happened?"