a nap.”
Her heart stuttered when he averted his eyes. There was something he wasn’t telling her.
“What is it?” she asked, afraid to hear his answer. “Did the Spiritcallers die?”
“No.” He held her hand tightly. “Buster’s missing.”
Her world came to a slow, grinding halt. “W-What do you mean?”
He frowned. “Drasko and Rone are looking for him.”
Predators were too afraid to come near their cabin with Hakon and Drasko’s protector scent everywhere. What could have possibly happened to him? “It’s not like Buster to run off.” Her voice cracked like old boot leather. “He always stays close to the house.”
He rubbed her shoulders, the creases in his forehead deepening. “I know.”
Why wasn’t he trying to reassure her? Did he fear the worst, too? “How long has he been missing?”
He grimaced. “We’re not sure. Maybe two hours.”
“Two hours!” She struggled out of his grasp, though her belly weighed her down. “Why didn’t you wake me?” More importantly, why didn’t her baby, with the gift of sight, alert her? She placed a hand on her belly and felt a strong kick. She was awake. Did she not see Buster run off or did she choose not to tell her?
His brows drew down in a deep V. “What could you have done, Amara? You’re in no condition to go after him.”
“Luc could’ve tracked him,” she snapped. She was very aware that Amaroki women couldn’t shift while pregnant, but Luc was the best tracker in the Amaroki. He would’ve found Buster in minutes, not hours.
“This isn’t hunting down terrorists,” he said. “This is one yellow Lab. They can find him.”
She looked at him accusingly. “How long have they been looking?”
Hakon had the decency to blush. “We only noticed he was missing about half an hour ago. We thought he was on the back porch with Max.”
“He’ll be dead, if he’s not dead already.” Burying her face in her hands, silent tears fell while Hakon rubbed her back. She wanted to be mad at her mates, but she couldn’t. She often let her big dogs out on the screened back porch during their sparse daylight hours. A large doggie door allowed them to come and go as they pleased, and a wood stove and lots of blankets kept them warm. They usually ran outside long enough to do their business and then came back inside. Never would they stay out for hours.
Watching the back window, she waited with a heavy heart for signs of her mates and Buster. “I don’t understand why he’d wander off.”
“Amara,” Hakon said, “did you ever think Buster doesn’t want to be found, that he knows it’s his time to die?”
“No.” She shot him an angry glare. “He wouldn’t leave me like that, not without letting me say goodbye.”
She hated the look of pity in Hakon’s eyes. “Would you have let him go?”
She looked away, realization souring her gut. “No.”
“He’s an old dog.” Leaning into her, he clasped her hands tight. “Just like the Spiritcallers, it’s his time.”
She shot up when Drasko, in his big, hairy protector form, and Rone as a wolf trudged through the snow to their house. Her world felt like it was collapsing when she saw Drasko carried the yellow Lab.
“Buster!” she screamed, racing toward the back door.
Hakon grabbed her before she could exit the porch. “Wait,” he growled in her ear. “The stairs are iced over.”
Heart hammering, her breaths came in shallow gasps while she waited for what felt like an eternity. Drasko finally ascended the stairs after shifting back into a human, shirtless with unlaced boots, pity in his large amber eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Drasko said. His eyes were red-rimmed as he laid Buster on the carpet by the woodstove.
Her poor dog was covered in frost. She lifted a paw, alarmed at how stiff he was. She’d no idea how long he’d been dead, but he was probably too far gone to bring back.
Gremlin, Scrooge, and Max sniffed Buster, whimpering and nuzzling his frozen snout.
Overcome with despair, she could hardly find words. She rubbed his cold paw between her palms. “I-I don’t think I can heal him.”
Rone knelt beside her. “I’m sorry we didn’t find him sooner.”
Turning into him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder.
“He wanted to go, Amara.” Hakon cleared his throat. “Now he’s at peace.”
She shot him an angry glare. “So he chose a horrible, frozen death?”
“He did it to save you from having to watch him die,” Rone said, rubbing her back.
He was probably trying to make her feel