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I’d brought food with me, stocked his fridge and cupboards with his favorites, just in case he did go back to his house. It was all I could do.

He’d shifted into his fox when he’d run off, and I got the feeling he planned to stay that way for a while. When he was in his animal form, he’d told me, his emotions were more contained; he went deeper into his animal side, his main concerns running, hunting, and sleeping.

If that helped him deal with everything he’d been through, I was more than good with that. I just hoped he came back to me soon, because I missed him, and I couldn’t lose him—not him too.

When I got home, Mom and Rose were on the couch. Rose was asleep, her head on Mom’s lap. Mom ran her hand over Roe’s long blond hair and gave me a sad smile. I couldn’t fucking bear it.

“Where are the others?” I whispered.

Art walked in and carefully put a hot chocolate down in front of Mom and held his up, silently offering me one as well.

I shook my head and gave his arm a squeeze. Art was honestly one of the best men I knew. “Thanks, Art, I’m good.”

“You look tired,” he said. “You need your rest.”

Art didn’t talk much, but when he did, it was about something important to him. He loved and cared about all of us. “I’ll head up to bed soon.”

“Iris is in her room, Brody brought her home,” Mom said, answering my earlier question, and she didn’t look pleased about it. “Else is in her workroom, and I think Magnolia’s with Bram. Would you mind checking on her? She hasn’t been herself lately. I think she’s struggling with everything that’s been happening.” She looked down at a still sleeping Rose. “There’s been a lot.”

“Yeah, of course.” I said my good nights and headed up to Mag’s room to check on her first, but she wasn’t there, so I ducked outside and around to the backyard.

Bram’s tree house wasn’t completely dark, so I took the ladder up to the door and knocked. When he answered, he looked like he’d been asleep. His hair was disheveled and he was in only a pair of shorts.

As soon as he saw me, he went on alert. “Is Mags okay?”

“She’s not with you?”

“No.”

“Have you seen her tonight?” I tried to stay calm, but my heart was already racing.

“She said she wanted an early night.” He aimed his dark eyes at me, now filled with alarm. “I think she’s…she’s keeping something from me.”

“Why do you think that?” They never kept anything from each other.

The pain on Bram’s face was acute. “Just a gut feeling. She said she’d met with a friend a couple days ago, but I think it’s a guy.”

What? “She’s seeing someone?”

His throat worked. “I don’t know, not for sure. But she hasn’t been herself and it’s not just the attack.”

His pain and worry grew, altering his aura, turning it varying shades of green and indigo. “Why would she keep this from you? From her family?” That wasn’t Mags, my baby sister was an open book. She wore her heart on her sleeve, and she sucked at keeping secrets.

He looked at me through thick, black lashes. “I don’t know.”

The panic grew inside me. Someone had attacked her, had been targeting our family. Disappearing like this wasn’t smart, it was dangerous. Mags knew better. She didn’t do shit like this. What the hell was going on? I pulled my phone from my back pocket and hit her number. It went straight to voicemail. I left her a message. I had GPS tracking on the whole family, and they could track me as well in case of an emergency. I clicked open the app. I didn’t like invading my sister’s privacy, but with the way things were right now, I needed to know where she was.

“What is it?” Bram asked.

“She’s turned off the GPS. You’re sure she hasn’t told you anything, anything at all?”

The muscles in his forearms flexed, and his expression grew focused, fierce as he shook his head.

Shit. “Text me if she comes here?”

“I’m not sitting around here waiting. She lied to me again, something’s wrong. I need to find her.” He walked to the edge of the balcony and shifted, taking flight and disappearing into the night sky.

I scrambled down the ladder and strode across the yard, calling Mags again as I went. Still no answer. Goddammit.