Page 44

“We would have been told if anyone crossed into the city. Thane has the place on the lockdown. No one can enter or leave without us being notified,” Leon reminds me, but his attempt to reassure me doesn’t work as planned.

The nagging feeling in my gut doesn’t settle. Quite the opposite, it gets way worse. I need to get back home, back to my mates.

It takes a quarter of the time it usually would for us to get back home, all thanks to my maniacal driving. As soon as I pull into the driveway, we hear Scarlett crying.

Even this far from the door, I can hear our daughter screaming her head off, and Leon is out of the car long before I even manage to unclip my damn seatbelt. Her crying stops just as I enter the house through the garage door.

I barely take one step inside before I freeze in my tracks. My eyes focus on the blood all over the floor. It’s Harlow’s blood, and I can’t see or sense her anywhere, so I race to the kitchen.

As soon as the door opens, I find Leon, clutching Scarlett to his chest. His eyes snap to mine, full of panic. I scan the room, my gaze falling on Rhen, who is face down on the floor.

“Where’s Harlow?” I gasp out. Leon looks down at Scarlett, rocking and trying to calm her.

“I found her next to Rhen,” he says as Scarlett starts screaming again.

I frantically look around before taking off. I race to the Den, screaming out for Harlow. But I don’t receive an answer, no matter how loudly I keep calling out. My heart races as I run upstairs. Leon meets me back in the kitchen, having already checked the upstairs rooms.

Rhen groans from the floor, finally seeming to return to his senses and regaining consciousness. I grab his shoulders once he jerks awake. His eyes shoot open in confusion.

“Scarlett!” he shouts as he jumps to his feet. A second later, dizziness sends him crashing into me.

“Scarlett is fine. She’s fine, Rhen. Tell us where Harlow is!” I clutch his arms, both to hold him up and to attempt to wake him up more. I need him to hear my questions and answer them before anything else can happen.

Rhen’s eyes roll slightly as Leon comes back. Scarlett is settled now, already asleep in his arms. Rhen attempts to reach for her.

“How? I was …?” Rhen cuts himself off. He seems out of it, very confused. He’s extremely disoriented and acting as if he can’t control his body or thoughts.

“Rhen, listen to me! Harlow! Where is she?” I snap at him, unable to hide my frustration, anger, and fear.

“Huh? Oh, she went to the bathroom. She must be with…” Rhen mumbles under his breath as he gets out of my hold and tries to stagger toward Leon.

“I think he’s been drugged. He isn’t acting like himself. Not quite present, you know? On top of the weird behavior, his blood smells off,” Leon warns me as I grab Rhen again.

I tighten my hold on Rhen’s upper arms and spin him around to face me. “Rhen, who is here?” I yell in his face as I shake his body.

“Why are you yelling? They’re watching TV,” Rhen groans as he tries to force his hand over my mouth to shut me up.

My eyes widen at his words. “Who is they?” I scream at him. I’m barely holding myself back from slapping my mate back to his senses.

“Harlow and Bree,” Rhen slurs.

I am freaking out at this point, losing my goddamn mind, but also wondering what the fuck he was drugged with. I have never seen anyone react to drugs like this before, and Rhen isn’t one to be taken down easily either.

“Bree?” Leon gasps out the name just as Thane smashes inside and slides into the kitchen.

“Did you find them?”

Thane snarls before his eyes focus on Rhen, who can hardly stand upright, still completely out of it.

“No!” Thane gasps. His voice is laced with panic as he races over to him, grabbing him from me and shaking him the same way I did a moment ago. “Rhen, where is she? Where is Harlow?” He screams the question with such desperation, I can feel the ping in my heart.

“He said Bree was here,” I say over Thane’s voice. Thane lifts his head right as Leo walks inside, just as naked as Thane. So that’s how they got here so fast — they ran from the airport. Wait, where’s Leo’s daughter?

Chapter Thirty

Harlow

“I can’t help but wonder… I wonder if our mother felt any guilt when she set me in that basket and left me on Dad’s doorstep. How could she walk away from her own child like that?”