“More than any of us.” Klaus confirms

Maybe if I had spent more time around Raven, I could have seen what was coming before it was too late. Or maybe, this was how it was always meant to be. The higher powers worked in fucked up ways. That was becoming more and more obvious.

“How long will she sleep for?” I ask

“Possibly a few hours. As you are probably aware, it will be different for her now.”

“Good, I have somewhere I need to be.”

“I think you should stay.” Klaus blocks my way

“You said she isn’t going to be awake for a while and I need to make some fucker pay for this!”

“Who?” He challenges.

“I don’t know yet. But I will find out soon enough.”

“Let Damien and Dane get answers. I’m sure someone saw something.” Klaus tells me, his words full of optimism. He really wouldn’t have survived as a Hunter.

“I can’t just sit by her bedside. That’s not how I operate.”

“And what do I say to her if she wakes up?”

“Tell her that I’m going to kill the person who did this to her.”

I push past him and fling open the hospital doors. Everything is dark and the pack is quieter than usual. There are still some Wolves and Lycans plodding around, but not much else was happening.

Jogging down to the gates, I wanted to see who was on guard duty, but I also wanted to go out and check where Damien had found her. Maybe there were some tracks that had been missed. Maybe I could see something they couldn’t.

Ryken is standing at the gates. His attention focussed on the area outside the pack while the Wolf faced inwards. It was better than what I usually saw. Normally Wolves would stand chatting to each other.

“Ryken?!” I call out, but he doesn’t move from his spot.

“Hunter!” He growls back. “Is the girl okay?”

“Yes, seen anything?”

“No.”

“You didn’t see Madison either, did you?”

“I thought it was a fallen tree.” He mutters back. “There was no movement, no sound and no scent.”

“You have to be a little closer to smell Humans.” I mutter and the Wolf eyeballs me.

“Dane has informed me. I guess I have spent too long around Lycans rather than Humans. It won’t happen again, trust me.”

I had no reason to trust him yet. I probably never would.

“You took over from Mako, correct?” I press

“Yes.”

The Wolf had stopped looking at me. In fact, he was now trying everything in his power to stop our eyes from locking on one another. Even when I step closer to him. He focuses on something over my shoulder.

“You are very quiet.” I smile at him “What’s your name?” I was quite tempted to just call him pussy, because that is how he is acting. “Emerson!” He spits out

“Friends with Mako?” I query

“I have nothing to add.” He glares at me with his green eyes

“No? Because I would say by the level of avoidance that you are trying to master, you actually have a lot to say.”

“I didn’t see anything.” He grumbles

|

“Not a very good guard are you?” I muse. He was trying to hold his ground, but was also preparing to. get himself out of here and away from me. “I will have to let Dane know. He wouldn’t want someone as weak as you on the gates.

“I just mean….”

“What the prick is trying to say is that he has an issue with me being on the gates.” Ryken remarks. “That’s what we were discussing when Dane and Damien came down here and saw the girl. I have told them both.”

“Lycans shouldn’t work the gate.” Emerson snarls at me

“Is that your decision?” I muse “Or maybe you are just saying that because you know a little more about what happened to Madison.”

“I don’t know what happened to her.”

The annoying thing was, he was telling the truth about Madison, but he was definitely hiding something.