The Lycan King’s Mark (Nevara) by Tiffanie L. Campbell novel Chapter 64

Chapter 64 – Burn the Map

Thoren

I crouched beside the bedroll and inhaled deeply.

Under the layer of fading Nevara… something else. Masculine. Sharp. Like pine needles crushed under

boot leather and something darker beneath it–familiar in a way that made my teeth ache.

I closed my eyes, tracking it through memory.

And then it hit me like a blade to the ribs.

“Tobias.”

Michelle looked up sharply. “You’re sure?”

I nodded, jaw tight. “I’d know his scent anywhere. He was here. He took her.”

My claws extended without thought, gouging into the tent pole until the wood cracked.

C

“He was just here,” I ground out. “Her scent hasn’t faded. He waited until she was asleep. Waited until st

was vulnerable.”

Michelle was already scanning the ground. “There’s a second trail here. Drag marks. Heavy bootprints. They go northwest. Through the ravine.”

My chest heaved. Everything in me screamed to run. To rip through the forest, track him down, and tear

him limb from limb.

But I forced myself to stay still for one more second.

“She was taken alive,” Michelle said, crouching again. “The wolfsbane dosage wasn’t lethal. Just enough

to incapacitate a wolf quickly.”

“She would’ve fought him,” I said. “Even drugged.”

Michelle nodded. “Which means he had help. Or he caught her completely off guard.”

I took one last look at the tent–the half–buried blanket, the kicked–out fire pit, the subtle scrape of claws

across the packed dirt like she’d tried to shift before the cloth took her under.

“She’s been gone at least thirty–six hours,” I said, my voice like gravel as I scanned the ruined camp again. “Maybe longer”

Michelle looked up from where she crouched near the collapsed tent. “You sure?”

I nodded once, jaw tight. “Based on how far she got and the decay on the kill site, I’d say she was taken sometime night before last.”

We picked up her trail from the back of the camp. For the first few hundred yards, it was strong–her scent still clear even with the wind. She’d fought. Or at least tried. There were drag marks, half–covered

< Chapter 64 Burn the Map

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“I know it was,” I said, voice low and lethal. “I smelled him. But I don’t believe he took her back to his pack. That’d be suicide.”

Kael’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not going after him?”

“No,” I said. “I’m not giving him the satisfaction of seeing me rage at his doorstep. That’s what he’d want-

if he was stupid enough to keep her there.”

Michelle nodded. “He’s a lot of things. But he’s not careless.”

“That’s why I’m sending Lark,” I said, turning to one of the waiting runners. “He leaves within the hour.

Quietly. He’ll approach as a scout, not a soldier. If she’s there–which I doubt–he’ll signal for a retrieval

team. If not, he gathers intel and returns. Clear?”

“Yes, Alpha,” the runner said, already backing away.

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