Page 33 of Eclipsed Legacy

She locks her arms around me in a tight embrace before releasing me. “I’ll be fine. And, if anything, I have my twelve-gauge.” Because that makes me feel so much better, but I smile and hug her again. “I love you, honey,” she says.

“I love you, too.”

“I’ll watch your mom,” Celest reassures me.

“You better,” I only half-jokingly warn.

I hop in Ricky’s rust bucket, and he starts the ignition. I’ve never felt so uncertain about anything. We know Totius had to have taken Michael, but we have nothing else to go on. Dante is our only connection. Still, what if we get the information we need out of Dante, and his alpha kills Michael out of spite? Or what if he’s already dead? A flash of an image plays at the edge of my mind: Michael in a cherry coffin. A second the image comes to mind; it disappears into smoke. It had to have been part of my dream. Nightmare. Still, the image is seared into my mind, causing an overwhelming shudder to run through my body.

“Sorry,” Ricky says, not understanding, and he turns up the heat.

If anyone were to hurt Michael, I’d never forgive myself. I should have hidden him away the second I realized he was a wolf, no, the second he was targeted.

Taking a deep breath, I force myself to focus on something else. I’ll drive myself crazy if I keep thinking about “what-ifs” and “should-haves.” But my next thoughts aren’t any more comforting. It’s Friday, and I, Grandma’s executor, still haven’t done a damn thing for her funeral arrangements. We can’t have a viewing, anyway, I realize, then sigh for the millionth time this week. I have to take care of the living first.

When the rust bucket finally brings us to Uncle Carl’s, it’s nine o’clock.

“Uncle Carl’s Jeep is here,” Ricky observes as we exit his truck.

“Good,” I respond before adding, “Maybe he can help us.”

“’Course he can,” Ricky says positively as we ascend the front steps. Ricky opens the large glass door before knocking on the main one. I smile, more nervous than anything. Stay positive, I tell myself, repeating it in my mind like a mantra. Stay positive. We stand on the front steps in silence for a few minutes.

“Maybe this’ll help,” I say, ringing the doorbell. Immediately, I hear Lady start barking in the distance, but she eventually loses interest in the noise. I give Ricky a wide-eyed, concerned look before ringing the doorbell a second time. When no one answers or comes to the door after thirty seconds, I open the door. “Uncle Carl?”

“Maybe he’s out in the workshop?” Ricky wonders.

I nod. “Maybe…” I walk through the house, still hoping to run into him. Something seems…off. I raise my voice so Ricky can hear me as I investigate. “It’s not like him. When he’s here, he’s here,” I say. When Ricky doesn’t respond right away, I project my voice, adding “You know what I mean?” My anxiety mounts, but I tell myself that everything is fine. I’m paranoid, as usual. But Ricky still doesn’t respond.

I hear a booming thud, like a rough fall. “Ricky?” I shout, concerned, before turning to go back to the front of the house. Before I’ve made a full rotation, I’m slammed in the back of the head with a heavy, blunt force.

I blink, seeing stars, and look up to see a concerned set of dark brown eyes on a comforting face. I’m on my back? Aunt Angie sighs in relief. “She’s all right,” she says to someone on her right. I turn to see Ricky sitting on the counter and holding a steak to his forehead.

“Help her up,” she adds in her impatient mom voice. Ricky quickly jumps to do as she commands, grabbing my wrist and helping me to my feet. “I’d do it, but I’m old,” Aunt Angie says. “This old back would break if I tried to lift you, honey— take it slowly,” she adds as I catch myself on the counter. I’m surprised at how dizzy I am. They had to have hit me hard to knock me out in one hit. God knows, Tala Ward can take a hit.

I rub my eyes then the back of my head, wincing as my fingers brush the lump that has already formed. “How long was I out?” I ask.

Aunt Angie shrugs before turning to Ricky. “What time did y’all get here?”

“‘Round nine.”

Aunt Angie’s eyes briefly go wide. “Well, it’s past two. I’m glad I decided to take a short day. Do you happen to know where my husband is?”

I shake my head. “We were looking for him when we got here. We saw his Jeep, but he didn’t answer the door. We started to worry and just came in.” Abruptly, Ricky strides out of the kitchen. I hear his quick-paced footfalls as he descends the basement stairs before returning. I know what he’s going to say before he speaks, but I still groan when he says, “He’s gone. The Totius second is gone.” Fuck. Aunt Angie leans against the counter silently. We all know what this looks like. I put my hand to my chest and try to take in a calm breath, only to gasp.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, the concern in her voice mounting.

“My necklace— it’s gone.” When neither of them seems to understand, I explain, “Grandma left it to me in a safe deposit box. One of the members of Totius— the other pack—” I give Ricky a knowing look, hoping he knows whom I am referencing, and he subtly nods. “—said Grandma had stolen two things from their alpha: his legacy and his talisman. Grandma called the necklace a talisman, as well. The last time I changed…”

“—It was instant,” Ricky finishes for me when I can’t seem to find the words.

“Yeah, and now they have it. I don’t know what else it does.”

Aunt Angie nods. “So, you don’t know why they want it— I’m calling Ray,” she adds distraughtly before going into the other room, but Ricky calls after her. “Don’t go upstairs until we have searched the house!”

He and I sweep through the first floor before tackling the second. We’re finishing in the home gym when I sit down. “Nothing,” I finally say. “I know I should be relieved, but they got what they wanted. And we’re still no closer to knowing where they’ve taken Michael, and now they’ve got Uncle Carl, too.”

“We’ll find ‘em,” Ricky says, sitting next to me.