Chapter 103-2
“We need to find her,” London said tightly.
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“Gather anyone close to Eloise. Anyone who can recognize her scent,” I told London as I pushed off the doorframe. “Start them at the warehouse and see if they can follow where she went. I’ll go
back to the security office and start searching the cameras.”
“My guards have been ordered not to show you anything else,” London said with a touch of
annoyance. I just grinned. “I will have Cruz review the cameras. Perhaps you can talk to your witch,
and I’ll speak to Ava. Magic might find her faster.”
I nodded. “Let’s get to it.”
It turned out that location magic was not all that easy. Janelle and Ava were both needed, and still,
the magic could only detect within a two-mile radius. Kiana and I followed behind Janelle on the
other side of the territory while Finn, Amelia, and Willa had shifted to search quickly if the magic
found anything.
Cindy had also shifted, but she was walking by Kiana and didn’t seem interested in leaving her side.
At least she was out of the house and controlling her wolf, even if it was to keep an eye on Janelle.
I didn’t blame her, and Janelle didn’t seem to mind. It was almost as if the witch needed someone
to blame her.
In front of Janelle, a white orb of light shimmered. It occasionally started to fade, and Janelle would mutter under her breath to make it brighten again. I knew the witch still wasn’t at full
strength. If this was too much for her, she didn’t say anything.
“So,” I began conversationally to Kiana, “your father would tell you stories to give you nightmares.”
“Wasn’t he a peach? Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Frankenstein. Cthulhu. Sleepy Hollow.”
I mulled that over. “Classics. Not just any genre of horror story but monster stories. Could your
father read?”
“Sure. He was always scribbling in a notebook.”
“I didn’t find any notebooks.”
Kiana shrugged. “He burned them afterward. I always thought it was weird, but there were more horrifying things about my father than his need to journal and get rid of the evidence.”
True, but when you put it all together, it posed some interesting questions. “Most wolves who grow up rogue aren’t all that literate. No need to read when you live in the middle of the woods. Finn was already taught to read when he was exiled, and he used those reading skills to barter for things
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Chapter 103 2
when he became a messenger.”
Kiana didn’t say anything, so I continued.
“You can read. Well, too. Parker said you were even computer literate. And your father told you
monster stories.”
She slowed just a little and stared up at me. “What are you getting at?” she said uncertainly.
“Did your father teach you to read, Kiana?”
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She jerked her head away and started walking again. “My father didn’t teach me anything except
how to be afraid.”
“So, who did?”
“I don’t know, Troy. What’s your point?” She was starting to sound more and more aggravated.
Cindy’s wolf looked at me and growled in a small warning.
I ignored it. “I always assumed that your father was rogue his whole life, but it sounds like
someone taught him to read. A formal education comes from a pack.”
“If you’re asking me where he grew up, I don’t know what to tell you. He didn’t talk about his past,”
she snapped. “Can we drop this line of questioning? I’m trying to focus on Eloise.”
Kiana was often short-tempered with me, but she usually had good reason to be. This was not a good reason. So why was she pushing back so hard?
Someone had taught her how to read. Someone had taught her father how to read, and he’d had
access to classic horror stories. Obviously fell in love with them.
I’d done as much research as I could about Ragor right after killing him. It wasn’t out of remorse. I
was trying to figure out all that I could about my mate. The first murder I’d found tied to him was
fifteen years ago.
There were plenty of reasons for that, and so I hadn’t given it much thought. Maybe he’d just snapped and started killing. Maybe he killed a different way before then. Maybe he’d just moved to the mountain fifteen years ago.
But Kiana would have been old enough to remember the move. She hadn’t said anything about it.
A wolf’s howl sounded in the distance, followed by another and another. Janelle’s light immediately
went out and she sighed and sagged a little. Kiana hurried forward and caught her.
We both looked in the direction of the sound. Eloise had been found.
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