Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
A broken tooth, next. The root was still half-attached. Closing my eyes, I told myself it wasn’t Zeke’s. I’d read his autopsy report. It hadn’t said anything about missing teeth.
Then another ring. This one smaller than the last. Plain gold. A wedding band.
My fingers reached the bottom of the hole, and I slid them side to side. There was something—paper—in there about halfway back. Pinching it between my fingers, I pulled it out.
My world tilted as I saw the faces staring up at me.
Oh Gods. My hands began to shake.
The photo was tiny, square, and printed in black and white, but it was impossible not to recognize my baby brother’s beaming face. He was wearing a shirt that my mother had bought him for his birthday, and his arms were around a man who was laughing at the camera. Zeke’s hand rested lovingly on the side of the man’s throat. They both looked deliriously happy.
I fell to my ass.
I couldn’t look away from him. I’d never seen my brother look like that, his face so fucking relaxed and happy.
I would’ve known without the note on the back, but I was still floored when I turned the photo over and found my mate written in Zeke’s handwriting.
My baby brother had been mated, and I’d known nothing about it. How was that even possible? I’d known the moment our brother, Beau, had found his mate. I’d felt it, like someone setting their hand on my shoulder.
I wiped at my wet face with the back of my arm. I could hear my unit moving around restlessly outside. I needed to finish what I was doing so we could head back to camp.
Carefully, I slid Zeke’s photo into my front shirt pocket so the dirt and gore from the other items didn’t soil it further.
When I reached into the hole again, I found another ring and a toothpick. I wasn’t sure what the significance of the toothpick could be, but I put it away with the rest of the items. If nothing else, command may be able to get some DNA off of it.
Before rising to my feet, I gently placed the cement block back into the hole, covering it nearly seamlessly. How many Vampires had been held in that room without knowing that there was somewhere to hide a sign that they’d been there? How many had stared at those walls, hoping someone would come to rescue them? Even worse, how many had stared at those walls, knowing that no one was coming?
Arthur’s assurances that it was an isolated incident were utter garbage. Whoever had killed my brother had killed countless others, and we still had no idea why.
Brushing off my trousers, I strode to the doorway and stepped out into the sunlight.
I’d go back to camp with the others, but I wasn’t going to stay there. I’d done everything I could, and now it was time to go back home.
My family needed to know that the other half of Zeke’s soul was somewhere out in the world, suffering without his mate.
Everything else could wait until we’d found him and brought him home.
Chapter 1
Lucy
We shouldn’t have split up.
The thought played on a loop, even though it wasn’t like my brother would’ve been any real help. Charlie was a lover, not a fighter. I’d been defending him since I was seven years old, and a boy made him cry on the playground. To be fair, he would defend me to his last breath…and at least I wouldn’t have been alone as I watched the doorknob to my motel room turn.
I knew I’d locked it. I’d double-checked before I took a shower.
I wasn’t sure who was on the other side, but if I had to guess, I’d say that the baseball bat in my hands wasn’t going to do much but piss them off. I tightened my fists around the handle, making sure I didn’t choke up too far so I could really swing. I’d have seconds to do whatever I could to get away.
Light shone in from the streetlamps as the door swung open slowly. So slowly.
As soon as a shadow stepped inside, I swung as hard as I could. Aluminum connected with flesh with a sickening thunk. Gasping, I pulled back and swung again as the man closest to me went down. The one behind him was smarter or had better instincts, because I watched in horror as he caught the bat in mid-swing and ripped it out of my hands.
I didn’t wait to see if he’d use it. With a grunt, I rushed him. My shoulder hit his sternum, and he let out a whoof of air as I knocked the wind out of him. He stumbled backward, and I shoved past.
Straight into the arms of the third man.
“Stop,” he ordered quietly, carrying me back into the room as I bit and scratched, shoving at any part of his body I could reach.