My chest was on fire and my paws were torn and bloodied as I finally slowed my pace. I’d lost the car carrying Billy a few miles back, but I’d kept running anyway. I’d played out all the possible scenarios in my mind: maybe the car would break down, or they’d stop for gas or get caught in the snow – or maybe they were simply taking him not too far from here.

But after those few miles I realized the truth. He was gone.

Finally stopping was like admitting defeat, and a darkness came over me as I gulped air. My whole body was on fire. I’d never run that fast for that long without stopping before, and I was surprised I hadn’t actually passed out.

It had started to snow again as I chased after the sedan that had taken Billy away from me, and the sky was dark again with clouds.

I couldn’t even wrap my mind around what had happened. I’d woken up alone, which was bad enough after last night, but I figured he’d just gone to the shower or something. But when I went to look for him, he wasn’t there.

I saw movement outside and realized he’d gone out to make a call. I threw a pair of pants on, but by the time I stepped out the front door, he was already in the car.

“Aiden!” he’d shouted at me. It was the cry of someone who needed help, and my wolf had taken over. I’d shifted and chased him with everything in me, but it wasn’t enough. As fast as I was, a car would always be faster.

I’d passed more cars on the road heading in the opposite direction, and that was bad. Running around in wolf form in broad daylight where humans could see you wasn’t smart, and I knew I’d have to take the long way home to avoid the police or the game wardens who had undoubtedly already been called.

Fuck.

I leaped off the road and down the bank into the cover of the woods and started to lope home, feeling the ache in my joints and the sting in my paws.

Whoever had taken him from me was not a good person. That was for sure. The car he’d been pulled into was something a gangster might drive. Tasteless and expensive. Definitely not the car of the guy he’d been with at the bar.

So who was it then? Whoever it was must have some leverage over him or he wouldn’t have left. For a second I thought he might have been bailing on me, but when he screamed from the back of the car, it was obvious he was being taken against his will.

I heard the sirens of a cop car on the road behind me and made my way deeper into the woods as I headed back home. What a cruel twist of fate this was.

I’d gone to The Love Knot for a quickie – find a cute guy, take him home and wear him out and never see him again – and I’d run into Billy. Billy was a guy I could see myself spending the rest of my life with, and now he was gone.

I couldn’t get it out of my mind the entire way home. It was almost midday by the time I reached my front door and shifted back to human form. My hands were bloodied and my entire body was aching as I opened the door and stepped inside.

Just to make things worse, Billy’s scent was still everywhere. It hit me full force in the nose and almost knocked me to my knees.

“Goddamn it,” I growled, slamming my fist against the wall. I strode across the living room, making a point not to look down at the couch where he and I had shared our incredible night, and made my way to the bathroom and shut the door behind me.

This wasn’t like me. Not one bit.

My heart was still pounding and I felt like I was about to have an anxiety attack. All over a guy I’d known for less than twenty-four hours? What was going on with me?

I cranked the hot water on and stepped into the shower, pouring peppermint soap all over the place, doing my best to try and cover Billy’s scent, even though I knew it would never work.

I had to get out of this house – tonight.

Staying here would just be impossible with his scent all over the couch where I was supposed to sleep.

Letting the water drip over my head I thought about my options.

But then I realized I didn’t have any.

There was no way of tracking him now. They’d obviously used some kind of pheromone blocker on him to mask his scent and his heat, and I had no idea which way they’d gone or where they were taking him. Without a scent, and without a clue, I had no way of finding him again.

As tears welled up in my eyes, lost in the water of the shower, I had to simply accept the fact that the guy who’d turned my world upside down was gone.