The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 111

REMY

I tried to crawl away from Julie, but my head was spinning, and I felt like I was going to throw up. "Blade is going to be here any moment. Just stop this, and you won't get in trouble."

Julie grabbed my hair and started dragging me along behind her. She was stronger than I had expected, and I couldn't break free from her grasp.

"Stupid girl. I left you that note. Your precious boyfriend isn't coming for you," Julie snapped. She moved even faster.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to get the world to stop spinning. I needed to get away from Julie and get some help. I just had to find a patrol or anyone really. They could link Caulder and my dad, and they would take care of Julie. But my hands felt too weak to pry her away from me.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, feeling completely hopeless. Julie had premeditated this whole thing, and there had to be a reason she was targeting me.

"Because Draven asked me to," Julie said simply. "And I will do anything he asks me to."

"Draven?" I repeated. There was no way I heard that right. How would Julie have even met Draven, and why would she be doing his bidding? None of it was making sense, and I was losing my grasp on reality as she continued dragging me by my hair. "Just shut up, or I'll make this worse for you," Julie said, yanking especially hard on my hair.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to focus to the best of my ability. I had to get away from Julie and get some help. I couldn't let her take me to Draven, because I had no idea what he was planning to do with me, but I knew it wasn't good. There was also a good chance that if Draven got his hands on me, I wouldn't ever get away from him.

Even though I felt weak and nauseous, I had to keep fighting for my life while I still could. Another deep breath, and I focused every ounce of my brain power on my magic. I felt the power building inside as I ignored the scrapes on my hands and the bruises that I knew were developing from being dragged along the forest floor.

When I felt my magic grow strong enough, I focused on shifting. The world spun even more for a moment, but then my hair stopped hurting. I reached up, and Julie was no longer holding onto me.

"Hey!" Julie screamed. She was close. Too close, but at least I was freed from her grasp now.

I stumbled to my feet, and tried to shift again. I moved a few feet forward, but it wasn't as much as I needed. My focus was dwindling, and I felt even more tired, but I just had to find someone. "Help!" I screamed again, hoping someone would hear me. At this rate, I wouldn't be able to get away on my own, so I just needed someone to hear me and come to my rescue.

A growl made my chest tighten. I looked back, and I saw Julie now in her werewolf form, staring me down. She was baring her teeth, and she looked furious. She looked like she was ready to tear me to shreds, and it terrified me. I knew Julie was vicious when it came to her words. She had made snide remarks to me all of my life, saying things like I was the worthless twin, and no one would ever love me, but I never thought she would resort to physical violence.

I put my hands up, hoping it would calm her down. I was sure she was past the point of having a civil conversation, but I had no way to really fight her.

"Look, Julie, I don't understand why you are doing this, but maybe we can just talk it through. You can tell me what Draven is promising you, and maybe we can work it out between us. This doesn't have to go any further. Please." My hands shook as I spoke to her, and I had never felt so helpless in my entire life. I couldn't fight or link for help. I was utterly on my own, and I was barely running at forty percent of my normal capacity.

Julie growled again, and saliva flew from her mouth. She was making it very clear that talking wasn't going to do anything. She lunged forward, and I held up my arms in a crossed position to protect my face and neck from the imminent attack.

-

CAULDER

I ran out of the pack house after Harper, my heart racing. The conversation with my father rang through my head. If Blade didn't leave a note for Remy to meet him, my first thought was the potential traitor. Whoever it was pretended to be Blade to trick her into going by herself. Remy was smart enough to not wander outside of the territory boundaries with the vampires lurking around every corner, especially in her state, which meant she had to be nearby.

However, I looked up and down the street, unsure of which direction to go exactly. "Mason, Remy might be in trouble. Have every warrior be on alert and tell them to contact me if they find her." If Remy was in trouble, we needed everyone's help to try to find her. I couldn't link her right now, so I pulled out my phone and quickly dialed her number, hoping she picked up. The phone kept ringing until it switched to her voicemail.

"Damn it," I muttered under my breath. "She's not answering her phone."

"We need to find her now," Blade said. He was stiff, and I knew he was panicking inside. Remy was a huge target, and if Draven got his hands on her, I wasn't sure if we would ever get her back. I was sure he was thinking the same thing. "Who would have left her that note if it wasn't Blade?" Harper asked.

"I don't know," I said.

"Could a vampire have gotten through the borders without us knowing?" she asked. She was trying to run through every possibility in her head, just like the rest of us.

"I don't know," I repeated. If we knew who left Remy the note, then maybe we could figure out where that person might have told Remy to meet Blade, but there was no way we would be able to find that out based on the information we had on hand. "My dad thinks there could be a traitor in the pack, someone who fed Draven information about our return yesterday. If that's true, that same person could have left the note for Remy, but we don't have any leads." Harper swallowed hard. "Julie."

I looked at her a little strangely. Julie was not someone I would have thought of.

"Julie was acting strangely when I saw her yesterday," Harper admitted. "I thought she was just upset about seeing me after I punched her."

"You punched her?" I said, completely astonished. Harper wasn't the violent type, so Julie really must have pushed her to her limits.

"It was pretty awesome," Blade said. His face was as still as stone, and he showed no signs of laughing.

"I'll tell you about that more later. The important thing is that she said something strange to me yesterday. It sounded something like I shouldn't have come back, which didn't make much sense. I thought maybe I had misheard her or something, but now..." "She could have been the one feeding the vampires information about the pack," I concluded. I didn't think Julie hated Remy enough to sell her out to the vampires, especially after Remy and Blade saved her life, but she was the closest thing to a suspect that we had, and I trusted Harper's instincts. If she thought something was off with Julie, then there was a good chance she was right.

"Okay, this is great and all, but if Remy is in danger, we can't sit around and do nothing. We have to find her. Do you know where Julie could have taken her?" Blade asked. Despite his stone-like demeanor, I could hear the panic in his voice. It matched the same level of panic I felt in my chest.

"I'm not sure," I said. "I didn't really know her that well. I put the warriors on high alert, so if any of them see Remy, they are supposed to inform me immediately."

"Good," Harper said. "We should also split up and go look for Remy. Blade's right. We can't just sit here and hope someone else finds Remy."

I looked at Harper, and my chest tightened. I didn't like the idea of splitting up in the slightest. I wanted to keep her by my side. "You and I should look together."

Harper stepped towards me and cupped my cheeks. "I'll be okay. I promise. I am going to stay on the territory where there are plenty of others, and I can handle myself, especially if it's Julie we're talking about."

"And what if it's not just Julie?" I didn't want to be away from Harper for another second. Her mate bond hadn't kicked in yet, but I knew it would at any moment. I wanted her by my side when that happened, and I wanted to make sure she was okay, too. "Then I won't engage. I love you, Caulder, but Remy needs our help. Three groups searching gives us a better chance to find her than just two. I've got this, okay?" Harper smiled at me and then lifted onto her toes to give me a kiss.

My hands wrapped around her waist, and I got lost in her touch. It made me want to separate with her even less.

It was only when Blade cleared his throat that we finally parted. "I'll go north," he said.

"I'll take the east side," Harper said, still looking at me.

She looked so confident, and as much as I wanted to protect her, I knew I couldn't control her. Reluctantly, I said, "I'll take the west side. Update us immediately if you see either Remy or Julie."