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No one was there.
Her hands fisted in the pillow she held against her chest and she let her senses dive into the mating bond that connected her to Remmus. All she found was a psychic block, a barrier as impenetrable as it was confusing.
When had that shown up?
Brow furrowing, Ava sat up in bed. Remmus had brought her home only a few hours ago, and had gently put her to bed before her memory became fuzzy with sleep. Where had he gone? And why had he been so quiet and evasive after she’d shared her past?
Her quarters were swathed in cozy darkness, but the frenzied thump of her heart indicated something was wrong. She just didn’t know what.
Ava’s feet hit the ground and she was out the door, racing toward Remmus’ temporary lodgings. Her wolf instinctively knew it had something to do with her mate.
Hands shook when she finally got hold of the handle to yank the door open. The iron-rich tang of blood assaulted her senses. Immediately, she was drowning in it, and she choked on a scream. Her eyes sliced around the room for any signs of the Raeth.
No. No. No.
The pool in the middle of the floor was an ominous crimson that’d dried around the edges. Bloodied clothes were haphazardly piled beside it, as though they’d been a nuisance rather than evidence.
Where was Remmus?
There was no sign of struggle. Who had hurt him and why wouldn’t he have fought against them? Raeths could lose this much blood and survive, the same as wolves, but he wouldn’t have been without some degree of impairment. Judging by the volume lost, she first thought it would be a very deep wound. Or several self-inflicted tracks.
Ava’s wolf raced to the surface, peering through her eyes with a frenzied sort of concentration. She had to figure out who’d done this, if it wasn’t Remmus himself, and most importantly, where he was now.
Inhaling a breath to steel herself, she stepped around the drying pool of blood to stalk through the quarters. Nothing else was amiss: every chair was upright, every blanket was perfectly folded, and every bag was aligned by the wall.
Nothing that would indicate he’d struggled for his life or had been on the verge of bleeding out. Ava’s hand went to her back pocket, growling when she realized she was without her phone.
A crash in the other room spiked adrenaline through her veins. Almost stumbling, her legs carried her toward the sound, gasping when she saw Remmus propped against a wall, his legs collapsed beneath him.
“Remmus!”
Ava was by his side an instant later, her relief at seeing her mate overshadowed by the obvious blankness that marred his features and the blood that soiled his drenched clothing.
Seafoam-green eyes were swallowed by the storm building behind them. “A—Ava?”
“Remmus, we have to get you help. You have to see the healer.”
“I—I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Each word was a broken plea. His head hung where he sat, tendrils of his shoulder-length hair framing shadowed features. “It hurts.”
“What hurts? Why is there so much blood, baby? Who did this to you?”
Ava knew her rapid-fire questions wouldn’t help matters, but the enraged predator beneath her skin demanded answers: who had hurt her mate?
“My—my mother.”
Jolting, Ava’s hand clamped around Remmus’ wrist as her wild eyes speared through the quarters once more. Her wolf growled, “She’s not dead? She was here? Where is she?”
A strangled sound choked in Remmus’ throat, following quickly by a shake of his head. The motion elicited a moan before he pressed a trembling palm against his temple. Eyes sliding shut, his head bobbed forward.
“Remmus, come on, we have to get you to a healer.”
Shuddering, his hand slowly trailed over hers where she’d grabbed his wrist. Electricity flowed between them, the rightness of the contact resonating within her.
“Avelina.” Another shake of his head before his eyes met hers. “I saw you. I saw you hiding beneath that pile of blankets.”
Every muscle in her body locked. All the air left her lungs as she froze, eyes locked on Remmus. As Ava searched his face, she fought back the tide of rising nausea: his eyes had always been so familiar. She swallowed harshly and forced herself to speak.
“What are you talking about?”
