him. The who for the what now? At my blank look, he indicated his phone. “They have guards with them. There are hidden messages in their texts that tell me if they’re safe. The messages are timed at certain points throughout the day. If they miss a message, it’s an automatic safety alert. If the message comes through without a code, it’s an alert. If a certain code gets sent to me, it’s an alert.”
“So you’ve been getting all clear messages sent to you at regular intervals from Raff, Borris, and his guards,” I murmured, comprehension dawning. “Codes only they would know, at times only they would know.”
“And they’re staggered. It’s not like they’re all set to come in at one time,” Alarick muttered as his fingers flew over his keyboard. “Different people check in at different times, so there’s been no reason to think that there’s an issue.”
“That’s…”
“Really not good,” Shannon finished on a whisper.
“No one’s answering their cells,” Ian hissed. “If they were at Ocean Mist, they wouldn’t be in seclusion, not all of them at least. And if they were still traveling, at least one of them would pick up.”
“We have to go. Now.”
“I can put the school into lockdown,” Ian decided, his hands a blur as he typed messages. “No one in or out.”
“What about Luna? Has her team come back yet?” Shannon gestured to where Chann and Zev could be seen in the distance with the pup.
He hissed, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before shaking his head. “They’re still off property.”
“We split up then,” Alarick suggested, rubbing at his neck. “Some of us stay here with Luna and the pack, the rest go after my dad and the others.”
“That’s suicide!” I cried. “They can’t come here and issue a challenge with us gone, and they can’t start a war with the wards.”
“It doesn’t mean she’ll be safe here though,” Ian argued. “We don’t know how many traitors we have.”
An earsplitting screech sounded from Alarick, nearly making me tumble onto my butt. “What in the hell is that?” I questioned, clamping my hands over my tender ears as my wolf howled. Alarick’s eyes went wide for a moment before a shutter dropped over his face. Pounding footsteps sounded behind me as Chann and Zev raced up with Luna under their arm. Alarick hit the button on his phone.
“Dad.” I nearly sagged as Alarick spoke the single word. “We’re all here. A pup too.”
“Alarick.” If Alarick hadn’t greeted him, I didn’t know if I would have recognized the voice. It was garbled, sluggish. A greenish pallor washed over his skin as he listened to his father. “No time. Have to meet me now.”
“Where are you?” Alarick’s voice was clipped, cold. Luna started crying, and I made a shushing noise, rubbing my hand over her hair.
“It’s okay, pup.” Even like this, Raff looked out for his pack. Stubborn bastard. He rattled off a hotel and a room outside of Hartford. “Fast, son. They’re going to issue a challenge for control of the pack.” My blood ran cold.
“Ocean Mist betrayed us?” Shannon whispered, her usually pink cheeks ashen.
“Starlight Woods,” he hissed. “Don’t know why. It was Borris. Poison.” Cries of denial surrounded us as everyone sobbed.
“Work it out on the way,” Ian ordered, already ushering us to the SUV.
“But Luna,” Shannon objected, as Alarick jumped into the passenger seat.
“No time.” Zev gritted his teeth as he jumped into the driver’s seat, flooring it out of the driveway as Ian hit buttons on his phone, sealing the gates behind us and placing the school into complete lockdown. I murmured to the pup, buckling her between Ian and me in the middle row as Shannon and Chann settled into the back.
“If it’s not Ocean Mist, can we call them to get to him faster? He’s on their territory, right?” I pressed my hand against the cold leather of the seat ahead of me as Zev whipped around a turn, using my other arm to hold Luna steady.
Ian grimaced. “I wish we could, kitten, but we don’t know who to trust right now. We don’t even know who’s actually on pack territory there, or who’s still in Washington.” His dark eyes were full of regret as they met mine. “It would be more dangerous to let them know our alpha was in this state on their territory and prime for a challenge right now.” Ugh, he was right, I knew, but I hated it—having to think of everyone as traitors