The Hunted

Twenty-Nine

Red

The Blake that was joyful and laughing in the shadow of Byers Peak was not the Blake that came with Red down the mountain. As the miles passed she withdrew, rebuilding the wall that she'd let fall apart when it was just the two of them.

For a moment, he'd allowed himself to think that they had something. It had been real and it hadn't been because of the bond. What he'd felt...It had extended beyond the bond's purview. Something born from the pain they'd experienced and shared with each other. The weeks of getting to know each other slowly, naturally.

Then Henry had mind-linked him and it had all gone to shit. He'd watched the blood drain from Blake's face and known that whatever she had felt for him in those sparing moments was gone. Perhaps it would never come back again. Not as she'd been reminded of why she was in this pack to begin – and what Red had failed to stop.

She was silent, the mask on her face deceptively calm, as they reached town. Red walked by her side, nodding at his packmates as he passed. A few even said hello to Blake but she didn't even acknowledge them. She just stared impassively ahead, ignoring the looks of surprise that Reba and Jenny sent her. Wolves that Red had considered her friends and yet now she couldn't even meet their gaze.

"Blake—" Red reached out to place a hand on her arm but she shook him off.

"Don't." Her voice was not kind.

Blake had said that before. It was the first time she'd ever looked at him with a hint of fear in her eyes.

Please don't.

He'd told her anyway because she would have hated him more if he hadn't.

They met Monroe and Toby at the edge of pack territory. Toby still wasn't entirely fond of Blake but there was no annoyance or irritation in his face. Now, the Mate to the Beta wolf only looked at the human with pity.

"Who found the first body?" Red asked them.

"A river nymph," Monroe said. She glanced at Blake warily but his Mate only stared stonily ahead. Not paying any of them more than a rare glance. "One of the bodies was found next to a river she was traversing through. She alerted others in her Court and then they found the additional three bodies scattered throughout the woods nearby. They called Henry."

"They moved the remains so that they were all together," Toby added.

Red felt a flash of irritation. Moving the bodies could have contaminated the trail he could have hopefully gotten. With any luck, Red would still be able to pick up a scent from the deceased humans and link it back to someone in Sanguis Ridge.

"Show me," he ordered.

Toby led them through the wall and slowly they made their way down into a ravine. From a distance, Red could see three people at the bottom near a creak standing next to a collection of four bodies. He picked out Ejo – the warlock's lavender skin like a homing beacon – and Lehna whose hair was bright enough to match the still-green foliage in the trees. The leaves had started to change already, summer giving way to autumn.

The other female he didn't know but she was a lithe short-statured faerie. Her hair was inky, the colour of navy but her skin was a soft powder sort of blue. It glittered faintly, shimmering scales catching the sun.

As they approached, Red glanced down at Blake but she still wasn't looking at him. Her fingers had clenched into fists and her jaw was locked. She'd swept back her midnight hair into a French braid and it made the planes of her face stand out, the bones of her cheeks more prominent.