Heart of Stone (Part III)

III. Chapter 19 | Aubree

[Aubree. In my study. Now.]

The force of Stone's mental order snapped her awake and had her tumbling out of bed.

She hit the floor with a thud. Wincing, she pressed a hand to her face. [What's going on?]

[Sorry, Love, but I need you here urgently.]

She pulled herself up to her feet, her body screaming in protest. How in the world was she supposed to train with Gunner later like this?

[Okay, okay, I'm coming. Let me put some clothes on.]

Stumbling in the dark, she found Stone's dresser and pulled out one of his T-shirts and tugged it on before hurrying to the door.

"Do you think he'll be a threat to others?" Stone was asking Dom as Aubree slipped into the office.

The bright fluorescent light blinded her and she shielded her eyes from it. "What's going on?"

"My younger brother, Tiberius, went rogue," Dom said, leaning back in the chair across from Stone's desk, his head in his hand.

With her eyes slowly adjusting to the light, she dropped her hand and walked the few steps across the room and sat next to Stone. "He's the one that was cursed, right?"

Dom nodded, pulling his hand away from his face. "Since we share connections with you because of Lance and Gwen's bond, my father wanted me to inform you, but he doesn't want this to spread to other packs. At least, not yet. We don't think he'll cause problems, but we can only assume that he's either gone off to find the witch that did this to him, or he's gone off to find a way to cure himself. Either way, my father wants us to go and search for him. By that, I mean, Mari, Alec, Dane, and myself."

Stone was nodding his head while listening as Dom continued.

"My father already has a pair of trackers following him to California, but we can't afford to send more pack members out to look for him. Since the four of us want to journey around the country to find our mates, we agreed we will go and meet the trackers and continue the search."

"I don't mean to impose, but perhaps he needs this time to himself?" Stone suggested.

Aubree nodded in agreement, but Dom shook his head.

"You're a father. You know what it's like to worry about your pups, even if they are capable of looking after themselves," Dom said. "While we are concerned about his well-being, it's not just that. He hasn't been himself for some time. My father managed to squeeze a few answers out of him yesterday. Apparently, he'd been cursed for some time. At first, he didn't believe it because it didn't have any immediate effects. Then, shifting back into his human form started becoming harder and more painful each time until he couldn't handle the pain anymore and refused to shift back into his human form. When he tried to a year later, he discovered he was completely incapable of doing so."

He looked up and swallowed as his eyes met Stone's before darting away. His voice deflated to a whisper. "You know what we're like when we stay in our wolf forms for too long. Animal instinct starts to take over. He's losing sight of himself. We have to find him to make sure he doesn't hurt himself... or others."

"He won't want to be found," Stone said.

Dom nodded but didn't say anything at first. He chewed on his thoughts for a moment before sighing. "I want my brother back. He was never a bad guy, but now, we can't be certain. He would never willingly hurt someone, but what if he did? You of all lycans know the consequences."

Stone stiffened and avoided Aubree's widening gaze.

What kind of consequences were they talking about?