Nick hunted. He chased through the city and the outlying areas, constantly searching. He found traces of her in the forest near BadCreek’s compound, but they quickly faded into nothingness. There were other scents mingled with hers, something older like sandalwood, and they just drove him crazier as he searched.

He knew she still lived, since he didn’t feel like dying himself, but something was very, very wrong. He felt like one of his limbs had been amputated, while the rest of him was left to carry on. Nick remained in his wolf form, though the wolf himself remained close to taking control, and he only shifted back to human once.

Kara and Owen found him in the dark part of the forest, far from any roads and humans, When his sister wanted to talk, Nick couldn’t refuse her. At least for the time being. If he never found Lacey... Well. His human side wouldn’t survive long.

So he shifted back to human to face her, taking the sweatpants Owen threw him so he wasn’t completely naked. Nick couldn’t get his teeth to fit in his mouth right, so the words came out as mangled as his soul felt. “I’m not going back until I find her.”

“I know,” Kara said. She didn’t get any closer, and for the first time in a very long time, his sister feared him. It broke Nick’s heart the rest of the way, but there wasn’t much he could do about it until he found Lacey. Owen kept himself half in front of Kara, guarding her from the crazy wolf, and Kara leaned against him as she watched her brother. “We just wanted to tell you there’s a cabin near here where you can stay. There’s not much, but you won’t have to sleep rough. And if—I mean, when—you find her, you can take her there to rest.”

Nick nodded, though he didn’t like the “if” Kara started to say. “Thank you.”

Owen watched him closely as they started to walk, Kara leading the way, and Nick struggled to stay upright in his human form. He wanted four paws again. He might be missing her scent or a trace of movement that would reveal where Lacey hid. The bear grumbled and trudged along through the tangled undergrowth, periodically lifting his mate to carry her over the rough patches, and eventually glanced at Nick. “Have you found any hint of her?”

“Not yet, but she’s here. I know she’s here.” Nick felt hopeless in the forest. The farther he got from the trees, the worse he felt. She had to be nearby.

Kara took a deep breath, squeezing her mate’s hand as she watched Nick. “The hyenas stopped searching. They’ve stopped going after BadCreek. There was something of a... of a coup, I think. We don’t know a lot of what’s going on inside the den, but the wolves are picking up bits and pieces.”

“Lacey will sort it out,” Nick said. He nodded to himself, clenching his fists and ignoring the burn of cuts and scratches up and down his legs as he got caught in a bramble bush. “Once she’s back, everything will go back to normal.”

Kara and Owen traded glances, then Kara nodded back. “Right. I’m sure it’s just—they’re just trying to figure out how to handle things until she comes back.”

They walked in silence for a while, until Owen gestured at a mess of branches and moss and leaves piled around a dead tree. “There it is.”

Nick blinked as he looked at it; he’d run past that spot multiple times and never stopped to look twice. “Huh.”

“It’s good, right?” Kara smiled as she showed him the door and a small outhouse around the back, though she didn’t go inside with him after Owen caught her arm. Just in case the crazy wolf felt cornered and lashed out. Nick bristled at the implication that he’d hurt his own sister, but he didn’t feel like fighting a bear, so he let it slide.

The inside of the cabin was small, dominated by a bed and a small wood-burning stove, and a few shelves of canned food. A rain barrel outside provided water inside via a small tap. Nick frowned in appreciation for the craftsmanship throughout, and ducked into the watery sunlight to nod at the others. “Thank you. This will work.”

“There are medical supplies under the bed,” Kara said. “And extra sweats and towels in the waterproof bag on the top shelf. The food should last you a while, if you can also hunt. Just…take your time, Nick.”

But there was an unspoken request, and a hint of tears in her eyes. Nick attempted to smile, though only half his mouth worked. “How long until Kaiser decides to put me down?”

Kara started to object, but Owen squeezed her to his side and answered anyway. “You’ve got a couple weeks. Just stay out here, get your head right, and when you’re ready, use the satellite phone to call back. One of us will come out here to make sure you’re in the right mind, and then we can go back.”

He meant well. Nick tried to appreciate that about the young bear. The kid had lived a hard life in a few short years, and still suffered the scars of war. Nick knew what that was like; he’d only recently locked his own demons away. Nick didn’t try to get any closer to shake his hand or hug Kara, not wanting to cause more trouble. “I’m not coming back until I find Lacey.”

“Nick,” his sister started, and her voice broke. She cleared her throat a couple of times and pulled away from Owen so she could hug Nick, squeezing him tight. “Please. Please don’t die out here. I need you to be here, okay? We need you to be here.”

“You’re fine.” Nick kissed the top of her head and tried to untangle himself, though the wolf didn’t want to let her go. Protecting Kara had been their best mission, their finest cause, and he didn’t want to give her up. She was pack, she would always be pack, and she was the last good thing in his life. “You’ll be fine, Karolina. The bear will look after you. I trust you with him.”

And he gave Owen a hard look to make sure the bear took it seriously.

But Kara held onto him, her fingers digging into his bare shoulders until Nick winced. Her expression grew fierce as she poked him in the chest. “You will come back to me in one piece, do you understand? You have to. You’re going to be an uncle.”

The whole forest rang with silence. Nick couldn’t move, staring down at his little sister. An uncle. Nick looked at the bear, and Owen nodded, a hint of joy in his eyes mixing with the very real anxiety of protecting a pregnant mate around a dangerous wolf. Nick cleared his throat a couple of times as his vision blurred and he couldn’t quite see her face. “Well. Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Kara said. “We didn’t expect it, but here we are. So you will get your shit together, Nikolai, and you will call me in two weeks so you can be there when we find out if we’re having a girl or a boy.”

Part of Nick still wanted to strangle Owen for sleeping with his little sister and getting her knocked up, but the guarded happiness in Kara was enough to let the bear live. Nick hugged her once more, then pulled free and shooed her back to her mate. “I’ll do my best. But I’m not coming back until I find Lacey.”

“I know,” Kara said. She leaned against Owen as the bear grumbled.

It felt like goodbye, although none of them said it as Kara and Owen started walking back toward where the roads would lead them home. Nick remained by the cabin, though he tilted his head back to try and catch a hint of Lacey’s scent. She had to be alive. He wanted to protect his sister—and desperately wanted to know his niece or nephew—but he couldn’t rest until he at least knew what happened to the hyena queen. If her own pack stopped looking, he would continue the search. Everyone deserved to be searched for when they were lost.

Nick shifted to his wolf form and hunted for traces of her until the sun set and the heavy darkness of a summer night settled over the forest. Only then did he head back to the cabin to rest and eat. He dreamed of her, trapped somewhere.