“I’m telling you something is wrong,” Mrs. Hubbard wailed.
Never underestimate a mother’s gut feeling. Nimway knew better, but she still had a duty to ask the right questions. “Is he the type of child to prank?”
The mother shook her head. “Not for something like this.”
Stefan, though, rolled his shoulders. “You can’t be sure, Mom. I mean look at the trouble you’ve had with him. The dope smoking. Vaping. The drinking.”
“Teenage stuff. Experimenting is normal.”
“Fine, I’ll give you that, only he’s also getting into fights at school, and he got caught shoplifting.”
Mrs. Hubbard looked miserable as she whispered, “He says he meant to pay for it.”
“You don’t put stuff you’re planning to buy in your pockets, Mom, and you know that.”
The woman’s head drooped. “He’s acting out, yes. But he’s a good boy. He wouldn’t do something like this.”
For some reason, Nimway believed her, and if it were true, and he’d been taken, then time was of the essence. “How long since he went missing?”
“I don’t know exactly. It wasn’t long after he got home from school.”
“And you say he went in the woods?”
Nanette nodded. “With his bike. He does it all the time.”
“We should be able to track him then.”
“That’s what Dom and Maeve are doing. They got here five minutes before you and took off right away. Raymond was going to use his drone but then started yelling at his computer. Apparently, the internet is down.”
“Which is why he’s freaking.” Raymond relied on his network to be his eyes and ears.
A car pulled into the driveway, and two pack members spilled out. Nimway waved at them and shouted, “Are your phones working?”
“No.” Dayna was in the lead. She waggled her handheld device. “Been trying to contact hub, but our lines are down. We happened to see you flying by during our turn on watch, which is why we came to see what’s up.”
“Tyson might be missing. Have you seen him?”
Dayna shook her head. “Not on our stretch of road. We did see a few school buses go by, though.”
Nimway’s lips pursed. “We need to find him. He was last seen going into the woods wearing...” She glanced at the elder Hubbard.
Nanette composed herself enough to say, “Red hoodie, black jeans, and his Sens ball cap. His bike is fluorescent green.”
“Do you have something he’s worn recently?” Nimway asked.
“His gym bag is in the front hall,” Mrs. Hubbard replied, wringing her hands.
“That would be perfect.”
Stefan ogled Dayna and Jack as they stuck their faces right into the smelly bag of clothes. Without saying a word, they trotted off for the woods on two legs. They knew what to do. She’d join them in a moment.
“Are you staying here with your mom in case he comes back or coming with me?” she asked her husband, given he showed no signs of moving. “You don’t have to. If three wolves can’t track one boy, then we shouldn’t call ourselves hunters.”
He looked tense as he said, “You’re going to change into wolves?”
“We’ll scent better and move faster in that shape. If you’re coming, I suggest you do the same and shift into your tiger.”
“Change? Like fuck.” He shook his head. “My tiger would be useless. I can’t control it.”
“So you’ve insisted before. It’s probably because of the catnip. You can’t drug yourself and expect to run the show. It’s like being drunk.”
“I can’t morph without it.”
She wrinkled her nose. They really did need to discuss his belief that only catnip could shift him. But not this instant. “If you’re not going to shift, then I guess that means you’re staying here?” She might have sassed the last bit.
“I don’t see what you think running around the woods will accomplish if he’s been taken.”
“It’s better than bitching about it and doing nothing.”
He pressed his lips into a line. “You think I’m useless.”
“I think it’s a miracle your family has lasted this long,” she snapped, not sure why she was angry. She stalked off, feeling his burning stare against her back.
So much for their marriage lasting a day. At this rate, they’d be divorced by the morning.
15
Nimway strode off, angry and stiff. Stefan almost followed her. Instead, he lit a cigarette, while his mother scowled at him.
“That was rude of you. She is trying to help.”
“Condoning returning to the addiction I finally have under control isn’t helping me.”
“Is catnip that much of a drug to you?” his mother asked, brow creased in concern.
“It’s insanely addictive. And terrifying because you never know where you’ll wake up. You don’t know what you’ve done.” Only dream-like memories that resembled nightmares if focused on too much.
“I never realized,” his mother mused aloud.
“You weren’t supposed to.” Because he’d never told a soul. He’d tried to keep his demons bound tight.
“I wish I had known because you shouldn’t have been alone suffering,” Mom pointed out. “Which is why you should talk to your siblings about it. It might help them to deal with their own changes, and you never know; maybe it will help you, too.”
“I don’t know if I can.” Dredging up the worst moments of his life. Admitting the lows he’d sunk to just for a high. He couldn’t. Couldn’t stand to see the revulsion and pity in their gazes.
“No matter what, we’ll always love you. We’d never abandon you.” Mom pressed her hand on his arm. “When will you realize you’re not alone?”
He knew he wasn’t. Not only did he have family he should have trusted with his secret, he also had a wife who’d gone into the woods looking for his family because he was scared. Scared because he had something within he didn’t understand. A beast he couldn’t control.
Maybe it was time he tried.
“I should get some soup ready for when they come back.” Mom bustled off, needing to keep herself busy lest she collapse in panic.
Stefan lit a second cigarette off the first and stared at the woods, thinking. There was no point in another person running around inside those woods. If Tyson had been taken, they wouldn’t find him. Meaning a search was kind of useless. They needed to figure out where he’d gone.
Usually, he would have had Raymond track Tyson’s phone like they had the last time he went missing. But his cell still showed no service, meaning Raymond couldn’t do much. All Stefan could do was hate his impotence.
Daphne emerged from the house, hugging a ragged stuffed tiger that Stefan had won for her the time she skinned her knee at the county fair. He’d cured her tears by throwing enough darts—and paying five dollars each round—until he could overpay for the striped critter, because only a tiger would do. A lucky guess, or did his baby sister know more than she let on?