And There Were Wolves

fifty one | how's one to know

We made a beeline for the Center, wasting no time. It seemed that Trish had volunteered to join the team looking for Eros and she'd been the one finding him. While Ryker focused on driving, I quickly sent a text to Trish, thanking her for doing this. Although she didn't have to help, she went out of her way to help me with Eros, knowing how much he meant to me. By the time the car stopped a few blocks away from Eros's apartment building, I frowned. It was unbelievable that Ares chose the same apartment complex as Eros, even though he rented a different unit. Perhaps the familiarity of the building somehow drew him into renting a unit there despite the high rental cost. This could be taken as a good sign that maybe his memory was still there, just hidden. That he could be saved.

I stepped out of the car and was greeted by both Trish and Young Seb.

"So what now?" asked Young Seb, looking at me and then at Ryker, who had gotten out of the car and was approaching us. "According to—", he turned his eyes to Trish who narrowed her eyes, clearly unhappy that Young Seb had forgotten her name, before adding, "her, Eros, or Ares is not in his place right now but he should be back soon. I mean, this is where he resides."

"Good," commented Ryker. "Well done, Trish. We should wait for him and while we wait, we can discuss our plan."

"How many people do we have here?" I asked, wondering if there was a way to prevent Eros/Ares from escaping.

"Aside from me, there are four more, including Miles," answered Trish. "I'm not sure about these guys."

"Twelve," answered a girl who had the same hair color and eyes as Young Seb. I recognized her right away as Seb's sister. "There are ten more and I've had two tailing Eros, while the rest are on their way here to help secure the place." She walked towards us, keeping her eyes on me. There was blatant curiosity in her gorgeous eyes, which made me wonder what it was about. "Are you sure you can bring him back? Can you fix him?"

No. I wasn't sure. I'd never done this before. Yes, I could temper with people's minds, and apparently also suppress Alana's consciousness — although I wasn't sure how long that would last, but I'd never retrieved people's memories back or neutralized witch's hexes. But I answered her with enough assurance anyway, because I knew I'd damn well give my best shot. "Yes."

Seb's sister nodded. "Tell us what we can do to help."

A quick glance at the building made me grimace. "I was hoping we could do it elsewhere. I don't know if it'll disturb the other tenants."

"I don't think we could lure him elsewhere," said Seb's sister with a small sigh. "Unless you want to kidnap him, and then relocate him somewhere."

"Or maybe we can do it in his place," said Trish. Judging from the way her eyes sparkled, I knew she was about to suggest something wild. "And move the other tenants on his floor."

Ryker arched his eyebrows. "And how are we going to do that?"

"We could even move out the whole building," said Trish, her smile shifting into a grin. "Just fake a fire. They'll evacuate everyone in the building. It'll take some time for the firefighters to come here and scour the building before giving an all-clear."

Surprisingly enough, both Ryker and Seb's sister nodded.

"We could do that," said Ryker. "I'll have someone on standby to burn newspapers in a trash can or something to trigger the fire alarm, and wait for our signal." He turned to Seb's sister. "Would you mind telling those two who are tailing him right now to let us know once he's heading back?"

"Will do, Alpha Ryker," answered Seb's sister. I was quite surprised that she would address him with his title, considering he was from a rival pack. She turned around and pulled her cell phone out of the pocket of her jacket.