I woke up alone in Silas bed. At first I was surprised that I had woken at all. My body ached and my head throbbed painfully but there was something off about the pain. It didn't match with how alert and alive I felt.

I sat up slowly. The room tilted and swayed but after a moment everything stayed in place. I moved to my feet just as slowly. The room stayed steady and I carefully began making my way out of the room and down stairs.

"Rylan?!" Emily sounded as surprised as I'd felt upon waking. She abandoned the knife and vegetables on the cutting board and turned all of her focus to me.

Aaron and Matthew looked up at from their seat at the counter. Each of them had their mouths slightly open and their brows knitted together. Surprise and concern. I didn't have the patience for either.

"You shouldn't be up yet." Emily said.

'Did they take her?' I asked. The empty high chair and silent house was enough of an answer on it's own but I needed to hear it. I needed to know that after everything Drake had taken Amelia away from her home anyway.

"Silas will get her back." Emily said firmly. Her voice held so much belief and reassurance that I was almost tempted to believe her. Unfortunately, her words were confirmation of my worst fears. Not only was Amelia gone but Silas too.

"You should sit down." Matthew said offering his stool at the counter to me. I shook my head. There was no time for sitting. I needed to do something. I needed to find a way to help Silas find our daughter. I needed more information.

'How long?' I asked.

They all exchanged glances. Aaron and Matthew looked like they didn't want to answer at all.

"Two days." Emily said.

Two days. If Silas had a two-day head start there was no way I would be able to catch him. My head throbbed harder as I tried to think of something I could do. The room began tilting and twisting. I steadied myself with one hand on the counter.

"Ry please sit down." Aaron said standing up as well now. He positioned himself strategically closer with one arm out toward me. I recognized the positioning. He was concerned that I was going to faint.

'I'm fine.' I signed shaking my head. Just because I was a little dizzy and achy didn't mean that I was useless. Matthew and Aaron exchanged a concerned look but neither chose to argue.

'Has he checked in?' I asked turning the conversation back to Emily since she was the only one that would answer my questions.

Emily shook her head no.

'Do we know where he went?' I asked.

Emily looked at Aaron and then Matthew. Each of them gave a small head shake. Despite their reluctance to tell me anything I could tell that they truly did not know where Silas had gone.

"He wanted to be here, I'm sure, Ry he just..." Emily shook her head.

I shook mine as well.

'No, I get it. I'm glad he didn't wait...' A wave of pain and fatigue washed over me cutting off my sentence. My legs gave out. Aaron caught me and sank down to the floor with me.

"Damn it Rylan." He hissed.

Matthew and Emily swarmed closer. Matthew's hand automatically went to my wrist to check my pulse and Emily hovered uncertain of exactly what to do.

"Is this because of the mark?" Emily asked.

"The marks set." Matthew shook his head.

"So..." Emily started. Her eyes widened suddenly and shot to Aarons.

"It's..." She started to ask.

Aaron's jaw ticked and he shook his head cutting her off.

'It's what?' I signed.

Aaron and Matthew shared another secretive glance. Both seemed to agree that they didn't want to tell me what was going on.

~Just tell me!~ I demanded through the link.

Matthew cringed from the force of my command. Aaron's brow creased and he shook his head again. Matthew shifted a look of discomfort flashed across his face. It was followed by a subtle cringe and then he spoke.

"Your mark is set and you are not injured so any pain you are feeling is probably just an echo." Matthew said.

Aaron's eyes widened and he tilted his head at Matthew.

"She used a command." Matthew shook his head.

~An echo?~ I asked.

"An echo, a reflection or faint repeat." Aaron said. "If you close the link the pain will stop."

I knew the definition of echo. Aaron was just being difficult with these half truths and lack of explanations. I wanted to growl at him and command him the way I had managed to do with Matthew but something in his glare told me the command wouldn't work on him. Before I could piece together what was going on and what I was missing that the others were not another wave of pain crashed over me. This one was a sort of shocking pain that shot out through my entire body. I gasped and choked on air like I couldn't breathe. I curled in on myself trying desperately to relieve some of the pain. Aaron let out a colorful stream of curse words. He wrenched one of my hands away from me. There was sudden burning sting along my palm and then all of the other pain seemed to vanish.

I blinked up at Aaron and the knife he was holding. Blood dripped down my fingers from the cut he had created. It still stung but it was nothing compared to the all over pain I had felt seconds ago. Aaron tossed the knife on the counter and leaned away to allow Matthew closer.

"You didn't have to make it so deep." Matthew said as he inspected the cut on my hand.

"I didn't want to do it twice and obviously she doesn't know what's going on so there's no way she could do it herself." Aaron said.

~So tell me.~ I said.

Aaron sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. The hand clinched and he closed his eyes. I'd seen the move enough now to recognize it as his coping mechanism. Whatever was going on was bad, again.

"The pain you were feeling wasn't your pain." Emily spoke when Aaron wouldn't. "You're marked now so... if the link is open you can feel each other."

My stomach sank with her words. The pain wasn't mine. It was Silas's. The thought of Silas going through that pain made me want to puke. I pressed the back of my fingers against my mouth.

~So Silas is in pain?~ I asked. I had to be sure.

Emily tilted her head and nodded slowly.

~Why?!~ I demanded. ~Why would he do that? Why would he let them do this?!~

Emily cringed and Aaron's fist tightened in his hair.

"Rylan look at me." Matthew said gently. I turned my eyes to his.

"Silas has a very high threshold for pain. Whatever he's going through right now is deliberate and the second he wants or needs help he will let us know." Matthew said.

~How?!~ I demanded. He couldn't possibly let us know anything when he was so far away and in so much pain.

"Through you." Matthew said carefully.

My eyes widened and my stomach ached even more. We had a connection. A mating mark. We could communicate across distance and feel each other's needs, wants, and desires. He had been right there and I hadn't even realized it. I slammed my eyes closed and gritted my teeth. I felt like a clingy needy fool. Every part of me was screaming to be with my mate and I'd gone and blown the only connection we had right now. I wanted the pain back. I didn't care how bad it was if it meant being connected again.

~How do I get it back?~ I asked.

Matthews mouth opened and he turned his head to look at Aaron. Aaron squinted at me and shook his head.

"You can't." Aaron said.

My breath caught and panicked seized in my chest.

"He just means that only Silas can reopen the connection because he's the one that closed it." Emily corrected and back handed Aaron's arm.

Aaron held his arms out, palms up, in a gesture of confusion.

"You can't say things like that!" Emily said. "Look at her. Do you really not remember how bad it was the first few weeks after our marking? And that was... you know... complete."

Aaron's brow furrowed for a moment as he looked at Emily. When his eyes shifted to me they held a mixture of realization, pity, and concern.

~How bad what was?~ I asked warily. I focused on Matthew seeing as I had a guess to their meaning. The last thing I needed right now on top of everything else was to go into another heat.

"The desire to be near each other, connected, safe. It's a lot to deal with right after a marking." Emily answered before Matthew could speak.

It hadn't been what I was expecting. It didn't sound as painful as the heat had been but it did suck. I felt like I was missing a piece of me. Two pieces actually. There was just a hallow feeling in my chest. As I thought about it I couldn't help but wonder if this was a fraction of what Silas had felt for years. The thought of anything happening to him, them, made me ache all over.

I blinked back tears and looked back up at the others. Emily offered me a sad smile, Matthew was equally wary, and Aaron just looked pissed.

"I'm gonna kill him." Aaron grumbled shaking his head.

My breath caught and my entire body tensed at his threat. Even though I knew without a doubt that Aaron would never hurt Silas the un-rational part of my brain was furious at the notion. Emily reached out and popped him on the arm again. He turned his head to glance at her and she widened her eyes and shook her head. Aaron let out a huff of air and rolled his eyes.

"Exactly!" He said. "Out of all the shit she's dealt with, an absentee mate shouldn't be among them. Especially right now and especially with Amelia gone."

~I think he made the right choice.~ I said quietly.

"You don't get a vote. You were unconscious." Aaron dismissed.

~I'm not unconscious now and if I had been then-~

"Then you wouldn't have let him walk into the fire either. You would have tried to go with him and we all know it. So don't try to give me shit about me being pissed off that he left the way he did." Aaron said.

I sighed and shook my head. I didn't want to argue with him. I turned my focus back to Matthew instead. He was poking at my hand again. I looked down at the cut Aaron had caused a few minutes ago. It was already scabbed over. My lips parted in surprise and my eyes shot back up to Matthew's. He gave a small nod.

"Silas." He shrugged as if that some how explained something.

~What do you mean Silas?~ I asked. Was it because of his mark or something he had done before he left?

"With his mark you are linked in a lot of ways. Some of which..." Matthew nodded toward my hand. "Apparently includes your ability to heal and your new alpha command."

~Sorry.~ I said rubbing at the back of my neck with my free hand.

"Just surprised me." Matthew shrugged.

"But wait, why didn't Aaron and I feel the command?" Emily perked up.

"Maybe because they're siblings. With Aaron and Rylan being related it might alter your ability to with stand certain commands." Matthew said uneasily.

Aaron's fists clinched. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again.

"Lets just focus on one problem at a time." Aaron sighed.