Heart's Desire

Chapter 14 - Kit

"How do you know that?"

The alpha glares at me, and I flinch and look at the ground. I know by now that no one is going to beat me for speaking up, but a lifetime of conditioning is hard to overcome. Monty rests a reassuring hand on my back, and summoning my courage, I take a breath and will myself to look up and meet the alpha's eyes.

My uncle would have knocked me down for daring so much, but Alpha Dane seems to expect people to stand up to him.

"Death... leaves traces," I say, and lower my eyes again, unable to hold his gaze. "Like shadows in the air. Even if it happened long ago, the shadows linger. No one has died here in recent memory."

"You said 'something bad' happened, though. What's that about?"

I flinch at the challenge in his tone, but do my best to explain.

"Emotions leave traces, too. Like... echoes. I can hear them, sometimes."

"So, what do they say?" he growls, crossing his muscled arms over his broad chest.

I shut my eyes, reminding myself again that no one will hurt me for being what I am. Not here.

"Not... words," I whisper. "I hear... feelings."

Dane blows out a breath in frustration, but Monty smooths his hand over my shoulders before my fear can rise again.

"Kinda like how Julian senses things, maybe," Monty says, addressing his brother. "Why not have him 'read' the scene, too? Maybe he could verify what Kit's saying."

Alpha Dane frowns and turns away, surveying the site of the burned home.

The midday air is warm and scented with ash, and the sky overhead is a pale, faded blue, washed almost white by the dusty haze of late summer. A faint breeze stirs the air, lifting little bits of gray ash on gusts of fitful breath. The alpha sighs.

"Jules needs a physical object with energy attached. Burning things releases whatever energy it holds. That's how he explains it, anyway. I don't think there's enough here for him to pick up on."

"Would it hurt to try?" Monty presses. "Maybe there's something nearby—something that didn't burn. Maybe they dropped something, or touched something, or—"

"You don't think Freya or I would have found it if there was?" Dane snaps. "Or Jake, who's been over every inch of this place?"

"You didn't pick up on what Kit sensed," Monty points out gently. "Maybe Julian could—"

"I'll ask."

The alpha's tone carries a clear warning that says the matter is closed, and any Wolf in his right mind would let it lie, but Monty seems ready to argue his point.

Fortunately, the others rejoin us then, forestalling any conflict as they return from inspecting the place I'd felt the strongest 'echoes' of distress.

"It's where the front door woulda been," the tall, slender Wolf—Monty's sister—says with a shrug.

Dane rubs his hand over his chin. "Makes sense. If someone forced Mom and Dad from the house, or if whoever did this came to the door, and they opened it, it's where they would have felt the first, or strongest, shock."

"You think they were taken somewhere else?" the strange, blue-eyed man asks. Supposedly, he's the pretty, plump Hunter woman's Mate, but I can't tell if he's Pack or not. He smells different.

"Yeah." Alpha Dane nods. "Like you said, if they'd escaped of their own free will, they'd have showed up by now. If they're not here—" he gestures at the ashy remains of the house, "—then that means wherever they are, someone's keeping them against their will."