GIFTED RILEY by Lacy Mierr

Chapter 56: A Missing She-Wolf

*Nicolas*

After returning to the palace, there was a mess for me to sort through. Since I had been gone for so long, everything just piled up on my desk. Untouched.

The things that I had others working on I still had to go through the reports to make sure no one had messed up. Which they did. That gave me yet another thing to do since I had come back from helping my

mate.

I had to spend hours on hours combing through all the work left for me on my own. That left me with no time to get any actual sleep while I was stuck in that large office chair. Not only was I too busy to get some shut-eye, but it was also hard to do so when I didn’t have my mate in

the same room.

Not only was it making me anxious, but my wolf wouldn’t settle down

either.

While I was scanning through each document one by one, my mind seemed to pause on one in particular. I read through it once, then for a second time with furrowed brows.

It seemed that, since the attack on the Evermane pack, there were no more recorded movements from the hunters. It didn’t make sense. They

Custer 56 A Masing She Wolf

should be working to get ready for their next move, shouldn’t they? Or even trying to see what happened in the aftermath of the last attack?

Yet, there was nothing at all. The group was cerily silent, which put me on edge, for what I believed to be a good reason.

‘Vera, when you have a moment, I need you in my office,’ I ordered through the mind link. I would have to ask her, seeing as she was around while the notes were being made. I just wanted some answers. I trusted my Beta to have them.

To my surprise, she was quick with her reply back. I’m already on my way. Just give me a bit and I will be there.’

e a bit and I will be there.

I briefly wondered if it was about the same topic, but decided not to push for any answers then and there. I didn’t have to anyway, because she walked through my office doors not a second later. I thanked the Moon Goddess for a timely woman being my second.

“Am I accurate in believing that you’ve come to me about the Hunters as well?” I asked my Beta, setting the report between them even though she had probably seen it already.

Vera took a peek at the wall of text on the paper before shaking her head. “Not entirely,” she said with a sigh. “Mine is to do with Mya, the she-wolf we had been tracking.”

I raised my brows at the idea that anything else had happened with one. of the wolves my mate considered a friend. I pulled the report back into

Chcter 56 A Missing She Wolf

the pile of papers I had and leaned back to listen to what she had to

say.

“I heard that she left the middle of the night again last night. However this time, she didn’t return in the morning.” Vera didn’t seem concerned with the woman’s well-being and I wasn’t either. I didn’t particularly care for the girl and this was seeming more fishy than anything else.

I crossed my arms over my chest with a frown spreading on my already serious expression. “Did you talk to the wolf we have trailing her? Or did he lose her?”

It would be extremely upsetting to hear that he left her since that was his only mission while the man was out. He was highly trained for things like this as well, so the likelihood of him simply giving up was out of the question in my eyes.

“I thought the same thing, so I went to search for him.” She grimaced. as she remembered what happened. “Unfortunately, it seems that Mya found out about her tail. She killed the wolf and dumped his body as soon as she could.”

I grimaced as well, upset that we lost such a talented tracker so easily. I didn’t doubt that the man would give a fight before letting the woman. be put down.

I rubbed a hand down my face in frustration. “And what of her scent? Were you able to trace it any further?” This was ridiculous. All this

Chapter 56: A. Missing She Wolf

mess when all I wanted to do was get back to Riley’s side.

With a thought on Riley, I was suddenly even more anxious to know what was happening. It was obvious that Mya had gotten close to her for a reason. Now, though, I was worried the reason was much more. sinister than trying to get close to myself. What if she was going straight for Riley?

Vera shook her head in a ‘no,’ adding to my agitation. “All traces just disappeared. I’m not even sure which direction she was headed in when she went and vanished.”

Me and my Beta sat in silence as we mulled over what to do now. There were other trackers I could send out, but it wouldn’t matter if there were things set in place that even Vera’s nose couldn’t get through.

I decided now would be a good time to reach out to Riley and see how she was doing. I would never admit that it was anxiety for her well- being out loud to anyone except her, but that was the only thing driving me to do so at that moment.

My fears were slowly being confirmed as I tried opening a mind link channel between us. There was nothing for my mind to connect with, leaving the bond locked between us.

Imagine the mind link as a channel between the two of us. Something or someone had put a block there, which would be like a brick wall to block the stream.

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Chapter 58 A Missing She-Wolf

That block was enough to send me into a warpath as I tried coming up with any reason that she could be unresponsive, except the obvious. I couldn’t handle anything happening to her.

That was why I stood, as quick as a flash, and started towards the door to my office. “We need to return to the Evermane pack. Now.”

Vera was hot on my tail in an instant.