Gretchen sat and waited to hear who Vita thought was behind the disappearance of Tristan’s body. Gretchen had her thoughts about it, but she wanted to hear Vita’s opinion. Her phone started to buzz; she pulled it out and frowned at the screen.

“What’s wrong?” Vita asked.

“It’s a message from my stepmother,” Gretchen answered. She clicked on the text message. Her heart started to palpitate, and her anxiety started to rise. She hadn’t heard from anyone from the coven since the battle.

Stepmom: I wanted to let you know Persephone has gone missing. It has been days since anyone has heard from her. I hope you’re happy.

Gretchen looked at her phone with her brows furrowed.

“Gretchen, what is it?” Vita asked.

“Persephone is missing. No one has seen or heard from her in days.”

Persephone missing? Who would take her and why? Unless she was… dead. And whoever took her or killed her took her body as they did with Tristan. Vita continued to speculate as she paced around the room. If Persephone and Tristan were dead, this might have something to do with Merga. Was this Merga’s doing? Did she not want people to know of her return? Or did they not do the job they were intended to do? Hurt Amanda.

Wait, Ophelia. Whatever happened to Ophelia?

“What’s going on in that head of yours, Vita?”

“Gretchen, you should call Colson and have him come over,” Vita suggested.

Gretchen did what Vita asked, and a moment later, there was a knock on the door.

“What’s wrong?” Colson asked the moment the door opened.

“Gretchen just got a text from her family. Persephone is missing,” Vita told him.

Colson’s eyes widened at the news. “Who would want to take Persephone?” he asked as he entered the room and went over to his mate.

Gretchen got up, walked over to his open arms, and hugged him. Colson took in the scent of his mate and sighed with contentment.

Vita smiled as she watched the two of them together. It made her think about Deak; her smile faded into a concerned look. She pulled out her phone and checked her messages; nothing. Vita let out a sigh and decided to text him and check-in.

Vita: Hey, is everything okay? You’ve been gone for a while and haven’t checked in. I want to make sure that you are okay. Let me know, please.

Vita sent the text and put her phone away.

“Colson? What did you decide to do about Ophelia?” Vita asked.

Colson looked up at Vita with a furrowed brow and then looked down at Gretchen, not connecting to why Vita was asking about his sister.

“I questioned her before I took Gretchen to the Mating Ceremony. She was talking gibberish and not making sense, so I sent her to the pack hospital to be on twenty-four-hour watch. Why?”

“Isn’t it odd that Tristan’s body disappeared and Persephone is missing? It seems like someone or something is trying to clean up the mess they caused. Your sister was associated with Tristan; he might have told her about Merga,” Vita explained.

A pang hit Colson’s heart when he heard his sister could be in trouble. She was all the family he had left. He was supposed to protect her. Colson stepped back from Gretchen as he pulled out his phone and called his Beta Zane.

“Hey, it’s me. Have you heard anything from the hospital about my sister?”

“Good to talk with you too, man. Yes, the pack is doing just fine under my care,” Zane answered.

Colson rolled his eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so formal.”

“Just giving you a hard time. No, I haven’t heard anything, but I was going to head up there and do a check for myself.”

“I would really appreciate it if you did,” Colson admitted.

Zane laughed. “It’s not my first rodeo with you; I know how much you care about your sister. Speaking about caring for someone, how’s it going with your mate?”

Colson turned to look at Gretchen and smiled. “It’s good, real good.”

“I’m glad to hear that and am happy for you. Listen, I need to get on the road if I want to make it before visiting hours are over. I call you once my back from my visit.”

“Alright, thanks again for going and checking on her yourself.”

“That’s why you appointed me as your Beta. I got your back,” Zane confirmed.

Colson ended the call and looked up at both Gretchen and Vita. “My beta Zane is going to go and check up on my sister,” he told them.

Vita let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully, they will get some good news. She pulled out her phone to check if she had any messages—still nothing from Deak.

Knock, knock.

Vita’s heart fluttered with high hopes that it was Deak, and he forgot his room key card. Vita walked over and opened the door. An upset Tabitha was standing on the other side.

Tabitha stormed into the room.

“Tabitha, where have you been this whole time?” Vita asked as she started to close the door and was stopped by a foot in the door. She opened it back up to find Marco standing there.

“Sorry, Marco, I didn’t mean to.”

Marco lifted his hand and said, “It’s fine. It’s been that kind of day.”

“Have you seen Deak at all?” Vita asked when she closed the door.

Marco nodded. “Yeah, we went down with him to talk with the faction council about the invasion at his house, where he disclosed to the council that he was the new Lycan King.”

Vita sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry, what?”

Marco cringed with guilt; he regretted saying anything about what happened at the faction council. He shook his head, him and his big mouth. “I’m sorry, Vita; I thought you knew.”

“I do. I’m just surprised he told people about that. I didn’t think he was ready to discuss it.”

Tabitha walked up. “He wasn’t. He didn’t mean to tell the council about it. He was angry about the invasion and about you getting hurt.”

“And then where did you go?”

“Deak needed to get a drink. Something was bugging him, but he wasn’t big on the details. I wasn’t happy about hearing that he was the new Lycan King and thought he had been keeping it from us.”

Vita shook her head. “No, he just found out. With everything else going on, he hasn’t had the chance to process what it all means.”

“That’s exactly what he said to us,” Marco confirmed.

“So, where is he now?”

Tabitha and Marco looked at each other, then back at Vita, and shrugged.

Vita grabbed her coat and keycard. “Gretchen, please update Tabitha and Marco about what we learned, and Madeline knows too. I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?” Gretchen asked.

Vita pulled open the door, looked back at them, and said, “I’m going to find my mate.”