The Falcon Ridge Series Book 4: Art of a Girl

(Chapter song ‘The Way' by Zack Hemsey)

BASTIAN

"Anton! Get Nigel, Dylan, and anyone else! Sam's gone... “I don't have time to explain... “I'm at the park... Just get here."

I bend down and pick up the pieces of her shirt. I walk into the park, and my eyes fixate on the trees she ran into. In seconds, she crossed the open park and let the forest swallow her.

It took her. I couldn’t stop it. She trusted me and I couldn’t stop it. Why couldn’t I stop it?

I look down at the fabric and back up at the trees. My heart is drumming on my ribs, and my skin crawls with nervousness as thoughts of what it could be doing out there spin though my head.

I hang up the phone, press my lips together and put it in my pocket. I look to the open passenger side door in disbelief. What I saw on Sam's face was pure evil. She wanted me dead. I can only assume Sam managed to stop her, so the wolf ran. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to stop the shift.

Her wolf is no wolf.

My eyes heat as I turn back to the trees.

It's at least half a size bigger than the largest known Alpha. Its fur is strange. It was chocolate brown with a purple sheen to it. I've never seen fur like that before.

As I stroll under the park trees just a few feet from the road, I think about how her head was so massive, it could fill my car easily. A she-wolf her size is not normal by any standards.

She looked thirsty for blood. You could see her brain was twisted. She looked crazed. But it wasn’t Rogue Sickness. This is something entirely different.

I need to find her before it kills.

The world melts away as I pray for movement in the black of the forest. I clench the fabric of her clothes in my fists as my mind begs for her to come back.

"Where is she?!"

I didn’t hear any of the cars pull up behind my car. I barely felt Dylan hit my side with his body in a panic.

He grabs my arms and looks into my eyes with a fear that I didn’t really get until now.

“Bastian?!”

I place my fingertips on my forehead and look to the ground. “I don't know... She shifted and ran into the woods." I motion to the forest and meet his eyes.

“She shifted?!" His brows cinch, his jaw drops and I feel his terror as he absorbs what happened.

I lick my lips and shake my head. I try to push the growing emotions in my chest down. My wolf is clawing at me, trying to rip himself out, but I need to keep my head.

"Dylan. She's massive. From the looks of her muscle structure, it would take three Alphas to bring her down, at least. What's going on?" I study his eyes for an answer.

He lets out a growl and turns. He rubs his nape and turns back. "I don't know.” He flops his hand out to the side as he looks around the park. “Like I told you before. We've never seen it. All I know is we have to find her. If it's out, it will be hungry.”

As Anton and Nigel join us, I rub my neck and place a hand on my hip as I think. “Ok… She has a good stride on her. She crossed 200 feet in less that 10 seconds. She has a solid head start.” I raise my head and float my eyes around the men. “Search the trees. Maybe the wolf gave up and shifted back close by. I’ll be back.”

I turn and dig in my pocket for keys. I stride to my car and shut the passenger door.

“Where are you going?” Nigel pushes through the other two.

I walk quickly around the car as I ready the key to the engine. “We need a tracker and there’s only one person I want on this.” I lift my door and meet Nigel’s eyes. “I’ll be back in 2 hours. Search every inch of that forest.” I say with a dark warning.

“We will.” He says in a serious tone.

I get in the car and peel out. I don’t want to leave and waste more time, but it'll be more effective to track her rather than try to chase her down. I estimate she can clear miles at least twice as fast as I could. And at the rate she was running, she’s long gone. Way out of the realm of my skill level for hunting people down.

I need an expert.

As I race out of Black Rock, and hit the I44, which runs around the entire Alliance, I think about how wrong this is. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. I was going to help Sam connect with her wolf. We were going to do this in a smooth, healthy manner.

What the hell happened? This not the right way at all.

****

My Lambo screams through traffic. I swerve around cars with no care at all. I just need to get to the Red Rock pack house as quickly as possible.

My tires squeal loud enough to wake the neighborhood as I pull into Luke’s driveway. It’s past 11pm and the house looks dark, but I don’t care.

I barely put the car in park, throw open the door and run to the porch. I jump the steps and slam into the front door.

I pound on it with my fist. “LUKE! IT’S BASTIAN!!”

I continue to pound and yell until it opens to a very tired and pissed off Luke Jackson. His face is groggy and his hair is everywhere. “What the fuck, Bastian?!” He scowls as I shove past him into the house.

"I'm sorry. I know it's late, but I need your help. I had nowhere else to go." I'm sick with worry and fucking desperate. I can’t call anyone else from the Alliance. Luke is my only option.

"What? Now? Are you fucking..." He whines.

"Shut up!” I take big steps to him, plant a hand on his shoulder and lock with his eyes. “You know the decorator?" I start.

"Yeah." He crosses his arms.

"She's gone. Her wolf tore through and ran off. I need your help to track her." I hold a hand up to him as I stare at with pleading eyes.

He cinches his brow. “Tore through? You used the trainers, right?”

I sigh and turn around. I take a few steps and then turn back. “Not yet.”

“Not yet?” He closes the gap and questions with concern. “I gave you those numbers weeks ago. What the hell were you waiting for?”

“I don’t know! I just… I didn’t want to force it. I wanted Sam to be comfortable. Look…” I lean to him. “I don’t have time. She’s out there, Luke, and you’re the best tracker in the Alliance. You’re also the safest to use. I need someone who can find her before she stumbles into the Alliance. I don’t want to beg, but I will if I have to.”

"Bastian Cole, begging. Now, I've seen everything." He crosses his arms.

I clench my jaw. "I don't have time for your shit, Luke. People will die if that thing finds them! Are you going to help me or what?!"

"Ok. How long ago did she leave?" His arms drop and his face softens at the mention of the real danger Sammy's wolf represents.

"Over an hour. I will warn you, her wolf is twice our size and double our speed.” I raise a brow and tilt my head to him.

“Let me get my things." He says in a serious tone.

Twenty agonizing minutes later, I’m back on the highway, breaking dozens of traffic laws, with Luke’s Harley behind me. The two of us race through traffic as our engines roar.

As I stare out the window, lost in thought, I casually look up at the white full moon. It won’t be blue for another couple months, but I still prayed to it. I prayed for Sammy to be brought back to me in one piece. I hope beyond hope, that when it does turn blue, I will be holding Sammy under it.

Luke was right. I know it now.

Sammy’s mine and I’m getting her back.

I aggressively pull to the side of the road, and park the car. As I get out, the guys turn to me and watch me walk up to them. I don’t see Sam which means their search was a failure. She really is gone.

“No sign?” I breathe as I join the huddle.

Nigel shakes his head. "Nothing, but broken branches and brush.”

The rumble of a motorcycle has me turn. Luke turns the bike off, dismounts, then opens his saddle bags.

“Just fucking perfect.” Anton growls.

I side eye him. “Don’t start.”

“You just had to pick him. Of all the trackers…” He motions to Luke as he walks from his bike to our huddle.

“Yes, I did. Now, cool it!” I grit.

"Anton. Still holding that grudge, I see." Luke smirks as he drops his back pack at his feet and crosses his arms.

Anton scowls. "Yeah. I am. Really, Bastian?" He motions to Luke.

Luke raises a brow with a smug look. "Hey. Don't blame me for giving your girl what she needed. She came to me." He places a hand on his chest, then ticks his head.

“You son of bitch!”

“WHOA!”

Anton lunges for Luke and I catch an arm around his waist before he can attack. Luke steps back and doesn’t change his attitude at all.

“Megan was the love of my life!”

"Hey!" I yell as I shove him back to Nigel. Nigel tells him to cool it and Dylan looks at the ground. I see his leg bouncing and I know we need to get moving. "Look. We find Sam then you can kick his ass." I glare at Anton.

He shakes me off. "Fine." He points to Luke. "But the minute we find Sammy, you're a dead man."

Luke scoffs and waves him off as he bends down and grabs his pack. “Alright. Give me something of hers.”

I reach into my pocket and pull out the fabric pieces. His eyes glow gold as he takes the fabric and lifts it to his nose. His brows scrunch as he takes in Sam's scent. “I get the flowers, but what is that?” He hands it back. “It smells…chemical.”

I shake my head. “I’ve been trying to figure it out since she filled my house with it. It’s weird and strong, but… I like it.” I shrug.

A shit-eating grin crawls across his lips. “I won, didn’t I?”

I grab his arm, turn him, and point to the trees. “Find my girl!” I growl.

He cackles as he puts the strap of his pack on his shoulder. “When we get back, you better have my 100 bucks!”

I groan and shake my head as we all follow behind him.

We start to undress as we get to the tree line. “Dylan. Can you think of anywhere she would go? Did she have any secret places to be alone? Would she go home?"

"Not as far as I know. This thing hates us all, and if it’s in control of Sammy, the last place it would go is home." He shakes his head at me then pulls off his t-shirt.

Luke puts his clothes in his pack and adjusts his dog tags. “Listen up! Once I catch her scent, I’ll be moving fast. Keep up or be left behind. I won’t come back to track you if you get lost. Do not get in front of me. You ruin the trail, I'll lose her. If the winds change, get downwind fast. I can’t mess up my nose because you’re slow. Listen for howls and please, for the love of God, watch my tail. If this thing is out there, I die last.” He arches a brow at all of us.

I lean to him. “If you don’t shut up and get moving, I’ll kill you myself.”

He smirks. “Killing me won’t get you out of the money you owe me. For 100 bucks, I’m haunting your ass.” He claps my chest. “Let's rock.”

I shove him to the trees. “We're on your six." I grit.

I call the wind and it blows the leaves and dirt around my body. The structure of my wolf emerges and my textured, light, tri-colored wolf stands where my naked body was. He shakes out his fur and raises his eyes to the trunks. He growls darkly as we peer into the black.

Everyone finishes their shifts and Luke heads to the tree line. With his nose to the ground and bushes, he sniffs to get a lock on her.

It's not long before he lifts his head and howls. A signal that he found her scent. He takes off into the trees and were hot on his tail. The branches whip by me as my paws grip the dirt. My wolf pants as I sit in my mind and wait to see her.

Please…let her be ok.

Luke darts around trunks and jumps logs as we follow closely behind. In the thick of the forest, he stops and trots around. His brown wolf lifts his head and looks behind him. He walks to a set of trees and sniffs around.

My wolf carefully watches him trot around the forest in front of us. He lets out a little whine as the others huff and pant behind me. Anton's black wolf growls and scratches at the ground. Dylan’s light brown wolf whines and paces on his paws. His bushy tail wags nervously as he waits for Luke to make a move.

Luke walks around a bush and sniffs. He ruffs out a breath, turns to me and barks.

My wolf barks back and he takes off. He found it again.

Our paws thunder across the forest floor. We spread out and keep watch for any sign of her.

As we run like freight trains through the woods, I sit in my mind and observe everything. As time goes on and we come up with nothing but her scent, worry fills me even more.

In the dark of my mind, I sit in the void. I pull a knee up and hold my hair. I try hard to fight the pain in my heart right now. I want to scream and cry out, but I need to keep my wolf focused.

I suck in a breath, choke past the lump in my throat and pull my other knee up. I close my eyes and lace my fingers on my nape.

As my wolf barrels through the trunks, kicking up forest dirt, I can only whisper one thing.

"Please…”

“…let me find you."