Chapter 306: At First Light
"Fucking hell," Damon swore, the expletive slipping from his lips as smoothly as butter on a hot day. "I knew it wouldn’t be the last we hear of that guy. Where the fuck is Kyle? Did he suddenly forget to report such a huge detail? I’m going to rip him a new―"
"Kyle is out investigating a lead for us," Milo interjected before Damon could complete his threat of turning Kyle into a new humanoid life form. "He and Layla are investigating where Dahlia Elrod was last seen before the trail went cold."
"Before the trail went cold?" Damon echoed incredulously. "Let me see if I’m understanding this matter correctly. Dahlia Elrod is still missing after three days?"
"Regrettably, yes," Darach gritted out, a muscle twitching in his jaw as he was forced to admit his failings.
"How in Selene’s name did you manage to lose such a large wolf, let alone one that happens to be Dahlia Elrod?! She’s the biggest attention seeker in the world! Can’t you bait her out? Are all of Thunderstrike’s wolves useless, or are you telling me now that there isn’t a single warrior in the entire pack of thousands?" Damon ranted on the other end.
"That is... another issue," Milo confessed, trailing off as he looked unassuredly at Darach.
"What?" Damon demanded angrily. "What other issue have you hidden from me?!"
"The warriors have gone on strike," Darach flat-out admitted in a rush, as though that would have made the news easier to digest. "That was what caused the wendigo mess in the first place. My sister took the chance to escape interrogation― we’re still searching for her, but it’s difficult since she does know this territory like the back of her hand."
"Fucking―"
There was a bit of commotion that came from the other side of the call. I could make out sounds of furniture crashing against the floor, and what sounded like Blaise’s worried voice in the background.
"I should’ve brought her back with me!" Damon yelled, his voice distant from the phone’s microphone. He sounded a lot more fuzzy than before, and there was some muttering on the other side, most likely Blaise trying to calm Damon down.
When someone finally returned to the phone, a much calmer voice flowed through, and I immediately recognized it as Blaise’s.
"We’ve informed Kyle to return immediately," Blaise said, his voice a lot more controlled than Damon’s. There was even an odd smile in his words, but I recognized it as the calm before the storm. The more smiley Blaise sounded, the more murderous he probably was. "His main assignment is to protect Harper while she is at Thunderstrike, not go around chasing fallen heiresses."
"Blaise..." I trailed off, wishing to put in a word, but was quickly cut off by my mate.
"Oh and Harper?" he said. "You’re coming home. Immediately. Thunderstrike is no longer safe. We weren’t aware that the strife within Thunderstrike had gotten so bad."
"Wasn’t the plan to move to Hornstead?" I asked, looking at Milo, who merely shrugged.
"Fuck Hornstead!" came Damon’s voice from a distance away, awfully muffled. There was a bit of static and all of a sudden, his voice streamed through the phone, crystal clear. "We’re not putting our trust in fae magic and pixie dust or whatever nonsense is keeping Hornstead safe from the outside world. You’re coming back immediately."
"Of course, no offense, Milo," Blaise immediately added. "Damon is just mad."
"Mad?" Damon echoed. "Try pissed as fuck! Harper is only there for barely a month and already her safety is jeopardized. We should’ve never placed our trust in―"
The cold tone of a disconnected call filled the room, followed by the stunned silence originating from the three of us as we stared at my phone screen, Damon’s name grayed out.
"No prizes for guessing what he wanted to say," Darach said with dry bitterness. I could only be grateful that Blaise had managed to cut off the call before Damon spewed more insults in Darach’s direction. Truthfully, it wasn’t his fault that the situation had gotten so far out of control.
Damon had already given me grace the first time around. There was no wriggling out of a return trip to Fangborne.
"I don’t want to leave you, but it seems that I must," I said regretfully. "I’m sorry that things have turned out this way― I wish I could do more to help. I’ve only found one possible candidate to be your charlie so far. Layla, is it? She was the one that spoke up against Dahlia, and she’s been helpful enough with looking after the pack."
"Vaguely," Darach said with a slight frown, while Milo hummed in consideration.
"Honestly, the issue of finding a charlie is the furthest thing on my mind right now," Darach confessed frankly. "My priority is on finding where Dahlia could have slunk off too. If she was indeed in cahoots with vampires, I can only hope that they are far away from Thunderstrike, and not tucked away in a secluded corner of our territory, biding their time to strike."
"Thunderstrike is not only huge, it’s also bordered by mountains that make it difficult for patrols to detect intruders, even when they’re not doused in scent blockers," Milo added grimly. "And now they have an added advantage since your sister is practically a local guide."
Darach closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh, sounding as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Technically, it wasn’t all that far from the truth. He rubbed his temples before turning to glance at me.
"I should be the one apologizing, Harper. You better pack your things then. You and Kyle will leave at first light. You’ll use one of our heavy duty vehicles, just in case."
"So quickly?" I exclaimed.
"No time like the present," Darach said with wry resignation. "Any slower and I’ll have your mates beating down the door. I would send you off tonight, if not for the need for a good night’s rest."
"Make sure to keep mum about this. We don’t want news of your absence to spread before it actually happens," Milo cautioned. "With Dahlia still at large, I don’t trust her to not be in contact with any spies. I’ll have to interrogate Gertrude further, to discover the extent of her network."
"I understand," I said, my heart sinking in disappointment. I was hoping to say a quick goodbye to Elder Otto and Atlas’s family, but clearly that wasn’t possible.
On the very next morning, I was on the car ride back to Fangborne.
