Search (The Empire Chronicles #2)

by Alyssa Rose Ivy

“Good.” Levi’s body relaxed. “I’m going to be leaving soon, and I don’t want any problems. I’m leaving you two in charge, and I expect you to get along.”

  “Understood.” Owen nodded.

  “Also. Toby’s in charge of protecting Casey.”

  “What?” I shook my head. “No. I can do that a lot better.”

  “I expect you to help, but I told him not to leave her side if it’s possible until we find Murphy or whoever the hell he’s working for.”

  I wondered if anyone had let our plan slip. We’d done our best to keep the details from him. Levi wasn’t the type to sit back, even on his honeymoon.

  “Everything will be fine. Casey will be fine,” I assured him. He deserved this break. He’d been waiting months to have time away with Allie.

  “If something comes up, tell me. But I’d prefer not to be interrupted.”

  “Yeah, I bet.”

  “You know Allie will insist on coming home if she thinks anyone’s in danger.”

  “I know.”

  “We’ll be gone two weeks. Try to hold things together until then.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.” Owen gave me a look. He was letting me know we were going to drop our stupid argument. It wasn’t going to help anyone. Besides, I was pretty sure I knew where his outburst had come from. Watching Levi get married had probably reminded him of what he didn’t have. Maybe this would spur Owen to start dating again. He had danced a few times with Allie’s friend Anne.

  The send-off was Levi’s idea, but he left it up to me to execute. His surprise worked spot on. Allie’s face lit up as bright as the fireworks when they shot off across the sky. He’d had them timed perfectly to their first dance song. The band had set up a little ways behind us. She nearly hopped up and down watching the fireworks, that is until Levi started kissing her. I had to clear my throat after I saw her dad’s eyes nearly bug out of his head. We were standing around the landing strip. The resort was the exclusive kind designed for politicians and those who want privacy. The private landing strip was an added bonus.

  “Be good, princess.” I hugged Allie. We’d come a long way since I first met her. It was hard to believe we’d pretty much hated each other in the beginning, but now I counted her as one of my closest friends. Life is full of weird surprises like that, I guess. I hoped I’d say the same thing about Casey at some point, but there were feelings and urges there that I needed to get rid of first.

  “You be good too.” She gave me a warning look before nodding toward Casey.

  I smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll be on my best behavior.”

  Levi took Allie’s hand and led her onto the plane. They were headed out for a two week trip to a private island in the South Pacific. Levi didn’t bother hiding his excitement. Allie’s mom cried silently next to Helen. I was just glad we’d made it through the wedding.

  My celebration was short lived. As soon as the plane disappeared into the distance, the lights went out.

  Chapter-Thirty-One

  Casey

  All hell broke loose. There’s no other way to describe what happened when all of the resort lights shut off without warning. I’d been standing with Tiffany and Anne, but we were separated as the crowd swelled around me. My newfound ability to see in the dark came in handy, but it wasn’t enough. The crowd was too thick and the hysteria nearly overwhelming. A few screams filled the air, and the chairs set up for the sendoff were overturned as everyone ran from some unidentified danger.

  Goose bumps, and not the good kind, covered my body. Something was going on, and I knew without question it was about me. Murphy had attacked just as Jared predicted.

  Through the people, I saw a whiz of brown fur, and I heard a gnarly roar. The bears were definitely there in full force. I tried to gently move through people, but it didn’t do any good. I had no idea which way to go. I needed to find Toby or Jared. If it would save everyone, I’d turn myself in, but I had the sinking feeling that would only make things worse.

  “Casey?” a loud voice called. I followed it to find Tiffany huddled behind one of the buildings.

  “Hey. Are you okay?” I hoped she wasn’t injured, but even with night vision, I couldn’t tell from the way she was crouched.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” She didn’t move. “A little freaked out though.”

  “Tell me about it.” I glanced around, making sure we weren’t in eminent danger. The fighting seemed to have quieted down, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. I hoped more than anything that no one was hurt.

  “They want you, don’t they?” Tiffany asked quietly.

  “Yes.” No reason to pretend otherwise.

  “We need to get you to Toby. He’ll know what to do.”

  “You’ve seen Toby?” My heart soared. She was right, he’d know exactly what to do. Then we’d have to find Jared.

  A growl filled the night, and I shuddered. I couldn’t just hide out. I needed to come up with a plan.

  “The last I saw him he was around the other side of the resort. He was dealing with some fierce bears.” She pointed to the largest of the buildings.

  I started to follow her, forcing myself to block out the shouts around me. I prayed everyone else was okay. I couldn’t handle having any more guilt.

  “We’re almost there,” she said softly. My heart beat faster. I could do this. I just had to find Toby.

  “Well, hello there, sweetheart.” Murphy’s gravelly voice froze me. He grabbed my arms, and I started to struggle, the motion easily loosened his hold. I moved to attack.

  “One false move and he kills your friend.” Murphy gestured to where a fully transformed bear held onto Tiffany. Her face was a mask of complete shock.

  My arms went limp at my side. “Let her go.”

  A wry grin spread across Murphy’s face. “Absolutely. All you have to do is come with me.”

  “Why didn’t you take me before? Why show me my wings then just leave? Why all this?” I needed to stall him. I could take him out, but I couldn’t get to the other bear fast enough. What if he hurt Tiffany? I couldn’t live with that guilt on my head.

  “We had to make sure you were Pteron first.”

  “What do you mean? You knew I was.”

  “No, we didn’t.”

  A wave of nausea overcame me. “You didn’t know if I had wings?” He’d pushed me off a building and he wasn’t sure? “What would have happened if I didn’t?”

  He shrugged. “That wasn’t our concern. You were only worth something to us if you were Pteron.”

  What? He thought he might have been pushing me to my death. What did any of this mean? The more I learned, the less I understood.

  “Now, are you going to come willingly, or do we need to get rid of Goldilocks over there?”

  Tiffany let out a shriek as the bear slowly sliced her arm with a claw. A line of red blood oozed down from the cut. The color nearly matched her dress, reminding me of how crazy the situation was. We’d somehow gone from celebrating a wedding to having my friend’s life threatened. And they were doing it because of me. I had no choice. I cringed. “I’ll come.” I couldn’t let someone else get hurt. “Just let her go. Let everyone else go.” I wanted to cry, but showing more weakness was never a good thing. I needed to stay tough. Whatever was coming would probably be even worse.

  “Good idea. Now hold still.”

  I gritted my teeth as he put tape over my mouth. Was I really going down this easily? Where was the fight in me? I had to try once more. For all I knew, they’d hurt Tiffany anyway.

  I went to kick Murphy, but my legs were thrown out from under me, and I ended up on my back. Murphy hovered over me. “I thought you were going to make this easy.”

  Tiffany shrieked as the bear twisted her arm.

  My whole body shuddered. I needed to stop making things worse. I nodded, hoping Murphy understood that I was agreeing. He held out a heavy fabric jacket I couldn’t place for a moment. Then the reality hit me.

&nb
sp; He saw the understanding cross my face as he tied me into a straight jacket. “I wouldn’t want you transforming on me, now would I.”

  My fear climbed exponentially. A straight jacket? I’d be helpless. I took one more look at Tiffany. She was whimpering through the hand that covered her mouth. I had to stop thinking of myself. I nodded.

  “Good. We’ll let Goldilocks go as soon as you’re on the plane.”

  I hoped he’d be true to his word, but I didn’t have any other choice. And a plane? I was going to be on a plane with these crazies. I couldn’t fathom what they were going to do with me. The only thing keeping me sane was the hope that I’d be seeing Vera soon.

  I stumbled around as Murphy and two bears led me toward a waiting boat. Murphy pushed me in, and the boat left the shore immediately. I kept expecting Toby to find me before we arrived at the plane. I’d taken for granted the comfort and security he gave me with his presence, and his absence left me terrified and ready to curl up into a ball. It’s not like I couldn’t take care of myself, but being alone with a bunch of terrifying men, let alone bears, wasn’t something I was ever going to be comfortable with.

  The only peace of mind I had was that maybe now that they had me they’d leave my friends alone. I kept picturing Tiffany’s bloody arm. I clenched my eyes shut. I refused to let something like that, or worse, ever happen again.

  My anger burned, and I felt the transformation starting. I was sure my eyes had changed, and my wings begged to come out. Agony like I’d never felt before hit me as my wings fought for release. The pain was almost too much to handle. My back felt both on fire and bruised.

  We reached the plane, and Murphy picked me up and carried me inside. I could barely breathe, and the demeaning treatment only made it worse. He strapped me into a seat and sat directly across from me right as we took off.

  “Are you comfortable?” Murphy laughed, watching me with amusement.

  His laugh made me angrier, only making the sensation worse. Finally, I figured out what to do. I closed my eyes. I had to calm myself. I tried to take a deep breath, but the tape was in my way. I thought happy thoughts of growing up with Vera and of Toby at the waterfall. Eventually, my body stopped fighting. Hailey had been right. Controlling your emotions was one of the hardest, yet most important parts of being a Pteron.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Toby

  The grizzly came after me, showing his teeth as his large body lunged toward mine. I jumped to the side at the last second, letting his heavy, furry body collide with the pavement rather than me. I moved to attack him when a large claw grabbed me from behind. I turned just in time to hit the black bear hard enough to send him flying. He fell in a heap, making a satisfying sound in the process.

  I glanced around for Casey again. I never should have let her out of my sight. Everything had been so peaceful one minute, and then the next, the lights were out and at least fifty bears were attacking us. Owen immediately led the few humans to safety. The bears had the numbers, but we had the strength.

  The area around the landing strip had quieted down. The only bears in sight were crumpled up on the ground. The Laurent’s men were already handling the mess.

  I searched for Casey again. She had to be somewhere. She was stronger than the bears now, and she wouldn’t have been taken without a serious struggle. She was fine. She had to be fine. I searched around for Jared. Maybe he’d taken her somewhere safe to hide. I found Cade first.

  I nearly knocked him over in my hurry to get to him. “Have you seen Casey?”

  “No… but you’re not the first one to ask me that question.” His light brown hair was a mess from the wind. I’d never seen the guy look so out of sorts.

  “What do you mean? Who else asked you?”

  “Jared.” He stuffed a hand in the pocket of his slacks. “He was hoping you had her.”

  My heart sunk. If Jared didn’t have her, I knew we were in trouble. “I wish I did.” I glanced around the darkness. She had to be somewhere.

  Hailey ran up to us, out of breath. “Have you seen Casey?”

  I struggled to stay standing. If something happened to Casey, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I fought the despair. I couldn’t wallow. I had to find her. “No. I’m guessing you haven’t either.”

  “No.” Hailey sighed. “I think Murphy got her.”

  She was only stating what I already knew, but I wondered what made her so sure. “Why? What did you see?”

  She crossed her arms over her now ripped bridesmaid dress. Hailey had been just as big a part of the fight as the rest of us. “I didn’t see anything, but Tiffany did.”

  “Tiffany?” The human friend of Allie and Hailey? “Where is she?”

  “This way.” Hailey jogged off, and I followed, vaguely aware that Cade was at my side. He seemed to always be around when the women in my life were at risk.

  Hailey stopped in front of a shaking Tiffany. She was huddled in a blanket, sitting on the patio of the largest of the restaurants. “Tiff, tell Toby what you told me.”

  “They took her. They just yanked her away.”

  “Who’s they?”

  “These huge guys. And one was a bear.” She opened the blanket. She was applying pressure to a cut on her arm. “The bear cut me.” She winced.

  “Can you be more descriptive? What did they look like?” I tried to keep the frustration out of my voice, but every second we wasted meant that Casey could be moving further away from me. Just the thought had me sick.

  “I couldn’t see. It was too dark.” She started to cry.

  I needed to go easy on her, but I also needed information. “Did they say anything?”

  “Yes. They said they’d hurt me if she didn’t go with them willingly.”

  “So she just went with them? You said the guys grabbed her?” Cade jumped in.

  “They grabbed her first. Then threatened her.” Tiffany shivered. “She’s going to be okay, right? I mean, she is a Pteron.”

  “Casey is going to be fine,” Hailey assured her friend, but the fear in her voice was apparent. Pteron or not, she was in danger. We still didn’t know for sure what Murphy wanted with her, but it couldn’t be good.

  “Where is she?” Jared came barreling over. “Where’s Casey?”

  “Tiffany says she saw a couple of large bears take her.” Cade pointed at the frightened girl. “Do you think we should take her word for it?”

  “Why wouldn’t you?” Tiffany blinked back tears.

  “He’s just being an idiot.” Jared kneeled down in front of Tiffany. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

  “It was all so crazy. We were back behind the hotel because we were looking for Toby. Out of nowhere, these guys jumped out and grabbed her. And there was a bear.”

  Looking for me? A shudder ran through me. She was distracted by looking for me. If only I’d found her first.

  “Did anything about the men jump out at you? Any distinguishing characteristics?” He spoke to her gently. Jared really was like night and day depending on who he was talking to.

  She shook her head. “They already asked me that. I didn’t see anything.”

  Jared moved to standing. “I’m going to have the entire island swept. If she’s still here, we’ll find her.”

  Waiting around wasn’t an option. “We need to send someone in. You said you know where they’re keeping Vera.”

  “I have it narrowed down. It’s close enough we can go in, but we have to be strategic.”

  “Strategic? No. We have to save Casey.” No one was going to make me wait.

  Cade gave me a hard look. “Let’s handle this reasonably. Jared will have his men sweep the island. We’ll move on from there.”

  “We’ll find her.” Jared put a hand on my arm. The action was foreign and completely unlike Jared, but maybe he did care about Casey.

  “Do we call Levi?” Cade asked.

  “No.” Jared said immediately.

  I didn’t argue. I wanted as much
help as possible, but waiting for Levi would set us back. We didn’t have a moment to lose.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Casey

  “Get your hands off me!” I struggled to get out of Murphy’s grasp. I was much stronger than I used to be, but with my legs tied and my arms tucked into the jacket, I was at a distinct disadvantage. After an endless flight and at least an hour drive, we turned off onto a dirt road. They’d finally pulled the tape off my mouth a few hours into the flight, and I’d kept my mouth shut in fear they’d replace it again. Discomfort is taken to a whole new level with your mouth covered. At least it was easier to breathe now. What wasn’t easier was having Murphy sitting so close to me.

  He laughed. It wasn’t the sinister laugh you’d expect a villain to have, but it still made my skin crawl. He was enjoying himself. He enjoyed watching me squirm.

  “What do you want from me?” My voice sounded frightened, exactly the opposite of how I wished I sounded. I still didn’t understand why they’d go through so much effort to kidnap me. They knew they’d lose men in the fight, but they did it anyway. I just wished I knew why.

  He laughed again. “You waited all those hours to ask me?”

  “I asked you in Hawaii and you gave me nothing. I figured I’d give you time to change your mind.”

  He ran a hand through my hair. “So much like Vera’s. You two look so alike.”

  “Is she here? Will I see her?” The only thing keeping my spirit up was that she might be there. I had to believe she was the same Vera. Maybe she left me behind, but she’d never let someone hurt me. She’d always been so protective of me, so caring. Maybe Murphy never showed her his real self. Or maybe they weren’t together anymore. Maybe she was now with the bears against her will. I really wanted to believe the latter possibility.

  The car stopped short, and Murphy caught me before I could fly head first into the front seat. With my hands and legs tied, I couldn’t do anything. “We wouldn’t want to mess up that pretty face, would we?”

  I cringed. He needed to stop talking about me that way. The sexual overtones made everything worse even though I didn’t think he planned to touch me like that. He was using it to intimidate me, and it was working.