His Moonsilver Mate (Abby and Kade) novel Chapter 37

Chapter 37

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1:56 pm

W

Chapter 37

Rade

“I still can’t believe it. Liam sat across from me, one ankle resting over his knee.

I looked at him. “I know, Liam.”

He fell silent.

I leaned back and pressed my fingers against my eyes..

Sloane.

I could still see her standing in that corridor with the hood over her head.

I had known her almost my entire life. The three of us had grown up together. Trained together. Fought together. She had been there when my father died and when I became Alpha before I was ready. She had helped me. Stood

beside me.

Later, I let that friendship become something else. I had slept with her. Let her believe she would become my chosen mate. Let the pack believe it too.

Then Abby shifted, and everything changed. I had handled almost every part of it badly. Sloane had every reason. to be angry with me. But Abby had done nothing to her.

“I knew she blamed Abby,” I said. “I knew she was angry.”

Liam watched me. “But hiring a rogue to take her?”

“You still don’t know that.”

I looked at him. “No.”

He leaned forward. “But does a confession really change much at this point?”

I said nothing.

“She disguised herself, used scent suppressant, avoided the main halls, and went looking for the rogue we told everyone had been captured.” His expression hardened. “She knew what she was doing.”

“There could still be an explanation.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s the problem.”

I stood and walked toward the window. The picnic was over. A few blankets still lay across the lawn while guards gathered the last tables.

1:56 pm

“I wronged her.”

“You did.”

I looked over my shoulder. Thanks.”

“You want me to lie?”

“No.”

Liam shrugged. “You chose Sloane because she made sense. Then you found Abby and everything stopped making

sense.”

I turned back toward the window.

“That doesn’t make whatever Sloane did your fault.”

“We still don’t know what she did.”

Liam sighed. “You’re going to keep saying that until she confesses, aren’t you?”

“Until I know.”

A knock sounded at the door.

“Come in.”

Daphne entered with a thin folder in her hand. I knew immediately why she was there.

Liam stood. “Is that the result?”

She nodded.

I moved away from the window. “Is Sloane pregnant?”

“No.”

Relief came immediately. There was no point pretending otherwise.

“The repeat test was negative,” Daphne continued. “The first result was borderline. That can happen for several reasons, especially after stress or injury. But this one is clear.”

No baby. No child caught in the middle of everything that had happened between us.

I nodded. “Thank you.”

“Do you want me to tell Sloane?”

“No. I’ll do it.”

“Fine.” Daphne handed me the folder. “I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”

1:56 pm

Once she left, Idam looked at me. “You sure going yourself is a good idea?”

“She deserves to heart from me.”

“And after that?”

“We find out why she went downstairs.”

This time he didn’t argue.

We crossed the family wing together. Two guards stood outside Sloane’s room.

One straightened. “Alpha.”

“Open it.”

He unlocked the door.

1.stepped inside.

“Sloane?”

The room was too quiet. The bed was empty. The wardrobe stood open. Several drawers had been pulled out.

Liam came in behind me. “Fuck.”

My attention went straight to the open window. The curtain moved in the evening air.

I crossed the room and looked down at the narrow roof beneath it. Then the service yard.

“She climbed out.”

Liam was already checking the wardrobe. “Bag’s gone. Some clothes too.”

I turned to the guards. “How long has the door been locked?”

“Since we brought her up, Alpha.”

“Did either of you leave?”

“No.”

“Anyone enter?”

“No.”

Knox surged.

I reached for the pack link.

1:56 pm

W

Ryan.

His answer came immediately.

Alpha?

Sloane is gone.

What?

Quiet lockdown. Check every exit.

I turned to Liam. “Get the border patrols.”

He was already moving.

No one leaves the territory without being stopped, I continued. She may still be using scent suppressant.

Ryan swore.

Understood.

Within minutes, guards were moving through the packhouse.

By the time I reached the foyer, the girls from the garden were being brought inside.

My mother stood near the terrace doors. “What happened?”

“Security issue.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Kade.”

“Take everyone upstairs.”

The conversation around us quieted.

Then I saw Abby. She stood near the stairs beside Chloe. Her eyes found mine immediately. Worried. Questioning.

Every instinct in me pulled toward her.

Knox pushed.

Mate.

I took one step. Stopped.

Chloe had her hand. Abby was safe. That had to be enough.

“For how long?” my mother asked.

“I don’t know yet. I’ll explain later.”

V

1:56 pm

She studied me, then nodded. “All right. Everyone upstairs, please. We’ll stay together in the sitting room.”

A few of the girls started asking questions. My mother handled them calmly.

Abby stayed where she was for another second. We looked at each other. Then Chloe tugged gently on her hand. Abby went with her.

I watched until she disappeared upstairs. Then turned away.

Ryan crossed the foyer toward me. “East side is clear. No one saw her leave through the main grounds.”

“She didn’t use the main grounds.”

I told him about the window.

His expression darkened. “She knows the service yard.”

“She knows everything.”

That was the problem.

Sloane had grown up here. She knew the shortcuts, the blind spots, the old paths. We had found half of them together as children.

“Town first,” I said. “Then the woods.”

Ryan nodded.

“And assume she’s still masked.”

The search lasted into the night. Storage buildings. Training grounds. The cottages near the eastern road.

Warriors moved through town asking questions without telling anyone more than necessary. No one had seen Sloane. Or no one realized they had.

One border report followed another.

North clear.

East clear.

South clear.

Nothing confirmed west.

I stood beneath the trees with Liam and Ryan.

“She didn’t disappear,” Ryan said.

“No.”

1:56 pm

Jam looked toward the woods. “If she shifted, she could move faster.”

“She’d need to carry clothes somehow.”

“She’d find a way.”

He was right.

I stared west. Something bothered me. Sloane knew our patrol routes. She knew where we searched first. And she

knew exactly where the rogue had escaped before.

“The western border.”

Ryan frowned. “We already have men there.”

“Not all of it.”

Understanding crossed Liam’s face. “The old hunting trail.”

I nodded.

It took nearly forty minutes to reach the section of woods where Sloane had been found after the rogue escaped. The last time I stood here, she had been bleeding and bruised. I had believed everything she told me.

Now I wasn’t sure what parts of that night had been real.

We spread out. There wasn’t much scent left. Too many hours. Too much suppressant. Too many people had moved through these woods.

Knox searched with me. Then stopped.

There.

I froze.

“What?”

Liam turned.

I moved toward a patch of brush near the old trail. Inhaled. Almost nothing.

Then-

Sloane.

Faint.

“This way.”

Ryan came closer. “You have her?”

1:56 pm

“Barely