Chasing Tail [Rᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ x Sʜɪꜰᴛᴇʀs Rᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ]

Part 24

content warning for blood, bodily harm, knives

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Ash POV

I know something's wrong the second someone shakes me awake. Y/N's scent lingers around me, but it's gone stale, like she hasn't been by my side in more than an hour.

"Where is she?"

I look up to find Cody at my side. He's the one who woke me. I scan the library but find it emptier than before, and our mate nowhere in sight.

I jump to my feet, swearing up a storm. Cody and I storm from the building, finding her scent trail leading outside.

"Where is she?" Cody repeats.

"I don't know. Fuck," I keep cursing. I can't stop cursing. My heart is ready to explode right through my ribs with the panic that's rising inside me. "Maybe she just went to get some coffee or something."

Cody shakes his head, hair whipping back and forth with the emphatic movement. "Her scent is too faint. She wouldn't be gone this long."

I draw up short. "She said something about leaving her notes at the apartment. Maybe she went back."

Cody's cursing now, too. Together, we break into a sprint, heading home, praying Y/N is waiting there, safe and sound.

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Dread makes my stomach drop the second we burst through the front door. The air is thick and acrid with the scent of fear, combined with a suffocating chemical odor that chokes my nostrils and makes me feel woozy.

Underneath this barrage, there's the scent of shifters. Two of them, in fact—one is the same wolf shifter we've been scenting at the apartment and on campus.

The other is a cat shifter—someone from my own pride.

The hair on the back of my neck rises as my claws side out. Cody storms into the bedroom ahead of me. There's little sign of a struggle, nothing but a notebook with a few torn pages scattered across the floor.

He turns and punches a hole clean through the wall, snarling through his rage.

My fury is colder, suffusing my limbs and bringing icy clarity to my mind.

"Braden left his scent all over the fucking place. He took her! Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Cody roars.

"Not just him. A shifter from the pride was here too. They were working together."

I'm not sure that Cody hears me. He's lost in his anger, half-shifted already, fangs and claws lengthening to give him a monstrous appearance. "I'll fucking kill him!"

I nod. Cody going to confront his former pack might be suicide, but it's too late to worry about that now. Our mate has been taken. That's all that matters now.

"Go," I tell him, my voice icy calm. "I'll join you soon."

He rushes past me, then halts in the doorway, turning back with fiery eyes. "Where are you going first?"

"I'm going to take back my fucking pride."

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Y/N POV

Reality bleeds in slowly. Your head aches something fierce. Your limbs feel heavy and sluggish and your thoughts are slow.

You've been drugged.

The memory of the man in your bedroom sends a shot of adrenaline through your veins. You gasp. Your eyes fly open and you sit up too quickly.

When the black spots disappear and your vision stops swimming, you blink and survey your surroundings. You're in a small, nondescript room, something that looks like a mostly empty shed. There are no windows, but a single bare lightbulb dangles from the ceiling, illuminating the space. Pale evening light filters in through the cracked door. It's not open wide enough for you to see what's outside and get an idea for where you've been taken.