The Art of Mending Memories

The Art of Mending Memories 45

Chapter 45

            Aaron was at the edge of the woods when he realized something was horribly wrong.  Something had made the hair on his neck stand up.  His eyes sharpened and he listened for the sounds of breathing.  He heard nothing, neither Kaelyn’s breathing nor her aunt’s.

            In a sprint he was at her back door.  It was locked.  Not thinking clearly and too full of worried fury, he punched the glass.  Aaron barely felt the shards bite into his skin before he was ripping open the door from the inside handle.  He ran through the house, smelling, looking for a clue as to where the owners were.  There was none.  The scent was old, at least a day.  It seemed as though Jane had not been in the house for two days, and Kaelyn had not been in for at least a full day.

            Aaron started to shake, his anger replacing his fear.  She had been taken.  Kaelyn had been taken.  He was not aware of the growls coming from his own body; he was only aware that the bastard who took her was going to feel pain.

            He was livid.

            Aaron raced out the front door and stopped dead with his hand on the outside door handle.  Her scent was on the handle, fresh from the pervious night.  It was stinking with her fear, and that only made Aaron angrier.  There was no scent trail leading to the door, making it seem like she had not been there at all—except her scent was distinct on the door handle.  Aaron looked down and saw her car keys .  He picked them up.  The smell of her fear was coating them too, deepening Aaron’s anger.

            Aaron was not aware of his elongated nails as they dug into his skin, drops of blood falling from his balled fists.  His sharp, long teeth were digging into his lip, but he did not notice this either.  His vision was sharp and edged in red fury, but he hardly noticed this too.  He was only aware of his wrath and his need to find Kaelyn and destroy whoever took her.

            Shredding his cloths as he transformed, Aaron took off in a sprint.  He had no idea where she was or where she could be, and he hated that he did not know, hated himself more for allowing her to be captured.  He had to find her, and would stop at nothing until he did.  The bastard, whoever it was, was going to pay.

            Bounding through the trees, he ran towards his house.  It was time he faced his father.

            Aaron was no calmer when he reached his house than he had been when he first got to Kaelyn’s.  He knew he needed to act calm when dealing with his father.  He wanted to be able to blame someone, and his father was the easiest choice, but Aaron knew his father had nothing to do with Kaelyn’s kidnapping.  He needed his father’s help to find her.

            Aaron shifted to his human form outside his house.  He could tell there were a lot of werewolves inside his house, although he did not know why.  He had not run with them the previous night, and Aaron could only imagine something important happened, otherwise everyone would be sleeping off the night’s run, not having a meeting in his house.  He instinctively knew Kaelyn’s disappearance was somehow connected to this meeting.

            He was walking up the steps to his front door when Galen appeared before him.  He held out a pair of pants in his hand.  Aaron took them and put them on.

            “Long time no see, brother,” Galen said in a low voice.

            Aaron ignored the greeting. “I need to speak with father.”

            “There’s a meeting.  It will have to wait.”

            Aaron glared at Galen, but said nothing.  It couldn’t wait, but he knew Galen would never allow him into the meeting if he seemed not to have control over himself.  Once he was at the meeting he could speak with his father.