Chapter 45
Abraham
El’s phone went to voicemail again and my stomach sank.
Something was wrong. I just knew it.
I stood up from my desk so fast that the chair went crashing to the ground behind me. Something was going on, and I needed to figure out what.
I stormed down the hall until I reached Evey’s room. Without even knocking, I barged in to find her asleep in her bed.
“Evelyn, wake up.”
Evey jolted upright and blinked up at me with wide blue eyes that were the same color as all our siblings’. “What? What’s going on?”
“Have you heard from El?”
She rubbed an eye with the back of her hand. “Not since she left. Why? What’s goin’ on?”
Without answering her, I left her room and headed to my next sister.
Callista was also asleep, but she stirred when the door opened. “Abey, what’s the matter?”
“Have you heard from El?”
She sat up in bed and yawned. “No, why?”
I ignored her too and headed to the last person she might have contacted.
Delilah’s room was a mess as usual and I had to pick my way through the debris to get to her bed. She was a heavier sleeper than the other girls, so I had to shake her shoulder to get her up.
“Del, have you heard from El since she left the party?”
She shook her head slowly, eyes wide. “No. Why? What’s going on?”
I ignored her question like I’d ignored the rest. Instead, I pulled my cell out and dialed Wyatt. He answered after just a few rings.
“Alpha.”
“I need you and your brother in my office now.”
“We’ll be right there.”
I hung up the phone and turned to head back toward my wing, but there was a wall of sisters in my way.
Evey crossed her arms over her chest. “What’s goin’ on?”
I took a deep breath to settle my anger. It wasn’t them that I was mad at, and I wouldn’t take it out on them. “Something’s wrong with El.”
Evey’s arms dropped to her sides. “How do you know?”
I placed my hand over my stomach. “I feel it, Evey. There’s something really wrong, and she’s not answering her phone.”
Callie walked around Evey and into the room. “Let’s just calm down and think about this. Maybe she’s asleep.”
I shook my head. “There was something that Peyton said that just doesn’t sit right with me.”
Del was on her feet by now. “Abey, you can’t listen to a thing that girl says.”
“This was different. She said Calvin took her home and is taking her somewhere else.” I reached up and scrubbed a hand down my face. Fatigue was setting in, but my adrenaline was pumping, so hopefully it would carry me through. “Apparently him and Peyton orchestrated this fight between me and El tonight. Peyton was supposed to upset her and then tell Calvin when she left the party.”
All their eyes were wide as my words sunk into the silence between us. “Why would Calvin do that?” Evey asked softly.
I ran my fingers through my hair and looked away from them. I didn’t have the answers they were looking for. I had no clue what was going on.
Beatrice walked up behind the girls and peered around them into the room. We must have woken her up.
“Do you think Calvin could be the killer?” she asked.
The other girl’s heads swung toward her while my jaw fell open.
That was impossible.
I shook my head. “There’s no way Calvin’s been killing women in our woods. No way he’s the one who attacked El. He likes her as much as everyone else does.”
Beatrice took a step forward, her arms crossed over her chest. “Do you think maybe he showed a little too much interest in her?”
My hands clenched at my sides. “What do you mean?”
She took another few steps into the room. “I mean he always seemed to be there. He was the one who found her in the woods, and he was the one who was there when she needed a ride home from Del’s show. He almost followed y’all to the vet that day you took the cat in, but we told him he should stay.”
My mind spun with everything Bea was saying.
Was it possible?
No.
No way.
There’s no chance my own flesh and blood was responsible for the heinous killings in our woods. No way that the boy I grew up with was capable of something like this.
I shook my head again. “That has to be a coincidence, Bea. There’s no way Calvin is the serial killer.”
She dropped her arms to her sides. “Then why did he put Peyton up to upsetting El tonight? Why else would he volunteer to leave the solstice celebration just to drive all the way to Raleigh?”
My mind was spinning as I tried to put all the facts in order.
Yes, Calvin had been around a lot and yes, I’d noticed him show an interest in El, but I thought it was harmless. I just assumed he was invested in getting to know my mate and our newest pack member. Never in a million years would I have thought that it was anything more.
I huffed out a breath, the tension vacating my system in an instant, leaving me feeling deflated and defeated. “You really think it’s him?” I asked softly.
Callie took a hesitant step forward. “It does kind of make sense, Abey. I don’t think we can rule that option out at this point.”
She was right.
I couldn’t count anything out.
And maybe, I had been suspicious too on some level. After all, I hadn’t sent him to watch over El while she worked in Raleigh during the week. If I really trusted him, I would have assigned him instead of the Wyatt.
I took a deep breath and nodded at the girls. “We need to go.”
I charged through the wall of sisters and raced back to my office just as Wyatt and Wes were arriving.
“Alpha,” Wes said. “What’s wrong?”
“Something’s happened to El and we need to get to Raleigh, now.”
Both men straightened up further, ready and willing to act on behalf of this pack at a moment’s notice like a good enforcer should.
“We’re going with you,” Evey said.
I shook my head. “This is too dangerous. You all need to stay here.”
Evey took a step forward, a glimmer of determination turning her eyes to a steely blue color. “I’m coming no matter what you say. I’ll follow you in my own car if I have to.”
I didn’t have time for this.
“Fine. Do what you want, but I need to go, now.”
I raced past my sisters and Wyatt, Wes, and Beatrice fell in line behind me. We made it to the ground floor in record time and climbed into my pickup. Once inside, I quickly filled the brothers in on everything I knew.
“You think she’s still in Raleigh?” Wyatt asked from the passenger seat.
I sighed as I navigated the long, steep driveway. “I don’t know. But if we have any hope of finding her, I think we need to start there.”
The rest of the drive was silent. I noticed a little silver compact car following us and knew Evey and the rest of my sisters weren’t far behind.
I sped the whole way and made the trip in under three hours.
But, it was the longest three hours of my life.
Countless scenes flashed through my head.
El hurt.
El scared.
El all alone.
El dead.
That last one was the only one I knew wasn’t true. There was no way she’d left this earth without me. I’d feel it.
When we got to her apartment complex, we stopped the cars in the middle of the parking lot and all jumped out to race up the stairs.
What we found had my stomach churning.
The apartment was a wreck. There was broken furniture littering the floor, tapestries pulled off the wall, and blood splattered everywhere. I lifted my nose in the air and smelled mostly Calvin’s blood with a faint trace of El’s.
My chest swelled with pride.
She must have fought him, and if this apartment was any indication, she’d put up a hell of a fight.
“Oh my God!” Evey yelled from the doorway when she and the others finally made it up the stairs.
Her wide eyes took in the destroyed room and her lip started quivering. “What happened in here?”
“She put up a fight,” Bea answered, pride lacing her words.
“It doesn’t seem like it was enough,” Del said softly.
Her words seemed to coat the room and all its occupants in a heavy film of despair.
I heard a rustling sound coming from the corner of the room and cocked my head to the side.
What the hell was that?
I pushed through everyone in my way until I made it to the corner of the apartment where a pile of broken furniture had been tossed. I heard the rustling again and this time, a soft meow.
I fell to my knees and began digging through the rubble until I unearthed Charlie’s little cathouse. The black and brown tabby streaked out of the broken contraption as soon as he was free. I breathed a small sigh of relief. If something had happened to Charlie, El never would have forgiven herself.
I stood up with renewed determination.
We had to find her.
We had to get her back.
There was no other option.
“Where do you think he would have taken her?” Wyatt asked. I looked up to find his sad eyes taking in what was left of El’s living room. I hadn’t thought about it before now, but this must be hard for him too. He’d been tasked with keeping her safe and now she was in more danger than ever.
My heart sank at that realization.
Sure, Wyatt was assigned to protect her, but I was her mate. It was my life’s goal to make sure she was happy and safe, and I’d failed. I hadn’t seen what was right in front of me. Hadn’t wanted to believe that one of my pack, one of my enforcers could have been responsible for all the murders.
And now, El was paying the price.
“Abey?” Callie called softly.
I turned to look at her. “What?”
“Do you have any idea where Calvin could have taken Ellie?”
I blew out a deep breath and shook my head. “Well, he’s definitely not going back to Asheville, and he has no connections in Raleigh, so I don’t think he’s anywhere close by. But that leaves just about everywhere else in North Carolina.” I laughed humorlessly. “Hell, he could be in Virginia or Tennessee or South Carolina for all we know.”
I ran my fingers through my hair and tugged on the ends.
I had to think. I had to figure this out. Where would Calvin go?
“Do you think Peyton has any more information?” Del spoke up.
I wasted no time pulling my cell from my pocket and auto-dialing one of my enforcers. When his groggy voice answered the phone, I had instructions for him immediately. “Huxley, I need you to find Peyton and get her to tell you everything she knows about Calvin and his plans.”
“Okay, is there anything in particular I should be asking her?”
“Just see if she knows where Calvin was going tonight. Everything else can wait.” With that, I hung up the phone and tucked it back into my pocket.
That would take a little while, but we were running out of time.
I could feel it.
I began pacing the destroyed living room, needing to get this pent-up energy out of my system. I knew I should be saving it for whatever was ahead, but I felt like I’d burst at the seams if it stayed inside me for much longer.
“Why don’t we look around? Maybe we can find something that could tell us where he was taking her,” Callie suggested.
I looked up at her in relief.
Action.
I could do that.
“I’ll take her bedroom, Wyatt you search the guest room while the rest of you go through what’s out here.” I turned to head down the hall. “Holler if you find something,” I called over my shoulder.
I stepped into El’s dark bedroom and my heart clenched painfully in my chest. It smelled so strongly of her, it was like she was in the room with me. Sunshine and flowers. It was enough to bring me to my knees.
Focus!
I needed to focus on the task at hand. I needed to find something that would help me save her. Because I had to save her. There was no other option.
I found several overnight bags open and empty on her bed. Was she packing? Where would she be going?
“Abraham, you need to see this!” Wyatt called from the next room over.
I raced into the guest room and skidded to a stop in front of El’s desk where her laptop was open. Wyatt gestured to the screen, and I crouched down, so I could get a good look.
A picture of a wolf had been left up. I immediately recognized it as a werewolf due to its size. Wild wolves don’t grow that large.
I peered harder at the image, trying to see if I recognized the wolf when something stuck out to me. The wolf’s mouth was open and there was a chip in one of its bottom teeth.
A chip just like Calvin had.
I picked up the camera that was plugged into the laptop and turned it over in my hands. It was the one El had on her when she was attacked. She said she took a picture of the wolf that tried to kill her, but we hadn’t been able to get the camera to turn on and there’d been no memory card in it.
But, this was proof.
It really was Calvin.
He was the serial killer.
There was no denying it now.
“She must have known he was the killer,” Wyatt said softly, almost as if he was reading my mind.
I hadn’t realized I’d stopped breathing until I started to get dizzy. Dragging in a huge lungful of air, I shook my head. “Then why would she let him in?”
Wyatt shrugged his shoulders as we both stared at the image that filled the screen for a little longer. Finally, I left to search the rest of El’s room and presumably, Wyatt finished up in the guest room.
We both returned to the living room empty handed.
It seemed the girls hadn’t fared much better. Each one of them wore expressions that ranged from sad to angry to defeated. I had to admit, I felt all that and more.
“Do you think he’d go home?” Bea asked, breaking the tense silence in the room.
I immediately shook my head. “No. There’s no way he went back to Asheville. Too great of a chance we’d find him out there.”
Bea took a step forward. “No, not our home. I mean Charlotte. Do you think he went back to our old pack?”
Time stopped as I considered what she was saying.
“He hasn’t been on good terms with his father for years,” I said.
Bea shook her head. “He offered to drive Nana home the last few family dinners. Maybe they’ve reconciled?”
Why did I not know about this?
How much more was going on underneath my nose that I was oblivious to?
“Charlotte’s only two-and-a-half hours away from here,” Callie added.
Beatrice looked around the room again and raised her nose in the air to sniff. “Their scents have faded, and the blood looks like it’s dried. They’re probably already there or close.”
I weighed my options carefully. El’s life was on the line and I couldn’t afford to make a mistake.
If we went to Charlotte, and they weren’t there, we’ll have wasted over two hours for nothing. On the other hand, we had no other leads.
I pulled my cell from my pocket to check it, but of course I had no missed calls. Huxley probably hadn’t even gotten to her house yet and who knew if she’d talk to him or not. She didn’t owe this pack anything now that she was excommunicated.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Come on, El. Where are you?
I opened my eyes and nodded once at everyone in the room. “All right. Let’s go to Charlotte.”