by Aileen Erin
“I think that’s right,” Michael said. “We all have access to the pack bonds. Although the level of control we can exert over them depends on the strength of the werewolf. That’s why some can command, and some must obey.”
“But you all have access to the bonds that tie each wolf to another, no matter the power level?” Kyra asked.
I looked at Michael. God. We were so stupid. “I just assumed if they were going to overpower her like this and for this long that we were looking for someone very alpha, if not an actual pack Alpha. There are enough of them that are mad at her, and a few that have made it clear they want her gone. It made sense that it had to be one of them.”
“Yeah. That made sense when we thought a werewolf took Tessa,” Adrian said. “They’d have to be strong enough to overpower her. Which takes some serious claws to do.”
“But it wasn’t a werewolf that took her,” Van said. “We know Helen was behind the attack. So, it could literally be any wolf. Although I might add a caveat that it’s probably a wolf that’s familiar with your bonds. Most likely someone of loose connection or someone who left your pack.”
I was glad to narrow it down some, but putian. The betrayal was a sharp burn in my soul.
Someone I knew did this?
“Think about who hates Tessa,” Van said. “Who else had access to and knowledge of your bonds and hates her? A close friend? Maybe an ex of yours who—”
Chris’s raspy laugh came through the phone, and I knew—I knew—what he was going to say because I was thinking the same damned thing.
“Anyone know where the hell Imogene’s been?” Chris asked. “She hates Tessa, and she knows our pack bonds. She knows all of your bonds, Dastien. You grew up with her. You dated her. She’s top of my list.”
“Anyone talk to Shannon?” Michael asked. “She’d also be at the top of my list. And possibly—”
“I’ve talked to Shannon,” Meredith said softly, but we all heard her.
Everyone was quiet as we waited for what Meredith would say next.
“I talked to Shannon last week. I…I don’t think she’s involved, but I didn’t really believe Tessa when Shannon was being a jerk to her. I don’t think I’m the best person to read her.”
No. Meredith really wasn’t. “Do you know where Shannon is?”
“Look, I…she hates Tessa, but Shannon asked about her. I thought it was from guilt over what she’d done and what had happened, but now I’m not so sure.”
My hand tightened around the phone, and the screen cracked. I dropped it into my lap before I could do any more damage. I wasn’t going to like whatever Meredith said next, but I needed to hear it.
“Shannon asked about what we knew. I thought she was coming around—caring about someone other than herself—but I could be very, very wrong. She could’ve been asking to find out if we knew she was involved. I hadn’t talked to her in months. I thought…I was just happy to hear from a friend. I didn’t think about—”
Meredith’s rambling was getting on my nerves. She talked to Shannon and felt bad about it. Fine. But I needed the facts. “What did you tell her exactly?”
“Everything I knew. Everything.”
I was trying to be patient. Trying and failing. “How much everything? I need to know exactly—”
“I’m so sorry. I told her how you’d gone to a bunch of different witches trying to break the magic hiding your bond. I told her you’d been to the Lunar Court and talked to Helen. That we knew Helen was involved somehow. She already knew we’d questioned all the Alphas, but she doesn’t know about Samantha, Dastien. I talked to her before I knew you were heading that way, and she doesn’t even know that Samantha exits. Hell, I’ve never even met her and…” She was quiet.
I wanted to scream at her for telling Shannon so much, but it wouldn’t solve anything.
“I’m so sorry,” Meredith said it so quietly, but I could hear the pain and guilt in her voice.
I didn’t want to blame Meredith for talking to her friend. Meredith hadn’t been around in a while. I knew she still trying to sort out the mess of the Irish pack with Donovan, and I knew—I knew—she would never do anything to hurt Tessa. But this still felt like she’d betrayed us. Betrayed my mate.
After a minute, I realized that everyone was waiting for me to scream or yell or get upset, but I knew that wouldn’t do any good.
Meredith was always too kind, too giving. Even as angry and frustrated as I was, I knew she wasn’t the bad guy here. She didn’t actually hurt Tessa. And she didn’t mean to give information to someone who might have participated in her kidnapping.
“We don’t know anything for sure yet. So, don’t beat yourself up. Just send me Shannon’s address if you have it. We’ll go there next. And if anyone else starts asking about her—if any of you have anyone that comes to you that makes you feel the least bit—”
“It gets a little worse, Dastien,” Meredith said. “Please, don’t get mad.”
I couldn’t promise her that. I was doing my best to not be upset already, but I wasn’t about to promise anything. “What?”
“She’s living with Imogene.”
Michael reached out, gripping my shoulder, feeding me power to keep me calm. “Breathe. We didn’t know, but this is good. We have so much more than we’ve had.”
It took me a second to realize that I was growling. It took me a while longer to make myself stop.
I wanted to yell at her for not telling me this sooner, but we discussed who could’ve pulled this off. When Tessa was first taken, we all agreed that if there was a werewolf element in play here, then it had to be one of the Alphas. They had the power and the motivation to pull off something like this. Meredith couldn’t have known.
“Where?” The word was more growl than anything else.
“Miami with a few others that got kicked out of St. Ailbe’s. I’ll send you the address.”
My knuckles popped, and I looked down at my hands. They were shifting. I was losing control.
“Stop. You can’t change now. We’ve got to get on a plane.” Michael fed me more power to fight the wolf. Power to control the wolf. And I took it because I needed to think.
“This is good news,” Michael said.
Right. Michael was right. I had something to go on. That was more than I had yesterday. I wouldn’t think about all the time wasted because I hadn’t wasted it. Everything we’d done led me to here. A place where hope lived.
“Any of our kind could help with the magic hiding her,” Kyra said, breaking the silence. “We have a long history of stealing people. Moving them to places. Changing their memories and clouding them in magic to hide them away.” She shook her head. “If they’ve made her a changeling, she could be anywhere. But there’s hope in that.”
“Why?” God, I needed more hope.
“Because if that’s the case, then she’s probably fine wherever she is. She probably has no idea that she’s missing or who she really is or that anyone is looking for her.”
I wasn’t sure if that broke my heart or gave me hope.
Hope. I’d take the hope.
“Shannon is friends with the fey.” Meredith’s voice was soft and sorrow-filled. “The entrance to the Lunar Court’s underhill is basically next door to our pack’s castle in Ireland. Which means that she has contacts. They know her and could’ve used her. I’m not sure what role she had in it, or if she had any at all, but she has access to the fey, and—”
“No one is blaming you, Meredith,” Chris said. “It’s okay.”
“No. It’s really not.” There was pain in her voice now, and I knew I should say something. I should fix it. But I couldn’t make the words come out.
“There’s one more thing,” Cosette said. “Changelings are usually infants or toddlers when they’re taken. The magic they’d need to create this…it’s not easy. Not just any fey could do it.”
That was good. That was better than good. “Who?”
“My mother, among
others. Which we knew, but it would definitely take more than just my mother to pull it off. Changling magic isn’t her forte.”
Great. The one fey we couldn’t go after mixed in with more fey.
“If I can find who else participated, I might be able to track Tessa,” Van said quickly. “I’m going to court. I have—”
“We can’t go back to Helen. Not again. We don’t want a war with the fey.” Michael dropped his hand from my shoulder. “I’m not sure who would win. We have to find Tessa while keeping the peace.”
“We’ve got power on our side. Major archon power,” Chris said.
The fey on the call started arguing with werewolves over who was more powerful, but it was all bullshit. Total bullshit that didn’t matter.
“Be careful,” Claudia said, and the argument dropped off. “Whoever is involved in taking my cousin, they’re dangerous.”
“We’ll be at the airport in a minute,” Michael said.
I looked out the window, seeing—really looking—at what was out there.
He was right. I recognized the oil pumpjacks on the hills. We were ten minutes away, give or take. “I’ve got to go. Send me the address, Meredith.”
“Just sent it. Service is slow here, but it should come through in a sec.”
“Thanks.” I hung up before all the awkward goodbyes and well-wishing could start.
The fey had taken her. My ex had helped. They were answers, but dark worries kept filtering through my mind. “What if they’re hurting her? What if—”
“You can’t think of the ifs. Only what is.” Michael was using his calm, soothing Alpha voice with me, but I wasn’t sure it would work. “Tessa’s missing, but she’s alive. Someone who knew how to navigate your pack ties let the fey access them. The magic that took her from us is something only a very powerful fey could do. This is all great information. We have a real destination now. Shannon and Imogene hate Tessa and have the means to access your bonds. That’s a starting point. That’s the best news we’ve had in two weeks.
“It might not feel like it, but we’ve made a lot of progress in just two weeks.” Michael’s reasoning was starting to get through to me. “With missing supernaturals, it can take a lot longer to find someone than if this were just a human kidnapping. And her chances of surviving this are still very high. Okay?”
He was right. I knew it. I wanted to find Tessa now, today, immediately, but it could take time. The fey magic we were fighting against was powerful. “Okay.”
My cell phone pinged, and I grabbed it from my lap. There was a text from Meredith. An address and another apology. “I have their address.”
It’s okay, I sent back to her.
And then I texted the pilot with our destination. We’d be in the air soon. Five hours—give or take—to Miami. Maybe forty minutes from the airport to Imogene’s condo.
Then I’d find some answers.
I could take six more hours.
I could hold on to hope for that long.
Chapter Nine
DASTIEN
Fourteen Days, Eight Hours Missing
* * *
It was late morning when we landed in Miami. We went straight to their condo. I didn’t see the city or the drive. I was a robot, letting Michael drive while I rode along on autopilot. I’d gotten texts throughout the flight that my friends were there for support, no matter what happened, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer any of them. I wasn’t sure what to say because there was really nothing to say that they didn’t already know.
I was scared and frantic, and I needed to find my mate. Now.
But I was afraid that if I got there and didn’t find Tessa that I would lose it again. Because I’d heard what my friends said on the call. If this doesn’t lead anywhere, then we were well and truly fucked.
No one would be stupid enough to go after Helen. No one wanted a fey war. And no one could force Helen to tell us more than she already had without winning a war.
Which meant if Shannon and Imogene didn’t know where Tessa was being held, then we would be left with a whole bunch of nothing.
I closed my eyes and reached for my bond, but it was still gone. Still missing. And I was still empty without it.
I was unable to focus on anything but getting there. My wolf was too close for me to do anything but hang on.
And then Michael parked the car. “This is it.”
We got out in front of a tall, round building with balconies on each level. We walked in through a too-small revolving door that smelled of sweat and sand and salt. Inside, the floor was gleaming white marble, and there was a chandelier hanging in front of the security desk. It was large and glittering, and I would’ve thought it looked chic and elegant, but I’d been to the Lunar Court. This one paled in comparison to the throne room’s chandeliers, glowing walls, and magical floors.
A security guard waited at a desk in front of a bank of elevators. I wasn’t sure I could speak without growling—which would do no good. Michael gave our names and who we were there to see, and the guy stood up.
“Oh! Laurent, Dastien. Ms. Hoel said he’s to be let right up.”
“We appreciate that,” Michael said. He’d hidden any hint of his surprise flawlessly, but I was stunned.
The guy swiped a card across a security pad and pressed a button. “I’ve programmed the elevator on the right to take you straight up.”
The elevator dinged as it opened, and Michael pulled me inside.
My name was on a list? She thought I would come here?
Because of Tessa. It had to be because she knew where Tessa was and knew I’d figure it out eventually. She couldn’t really think that I’d come back to her if Tessa was out of the way. That would be…insane. Complete and utter insanity.
Because it wasn’t stupidity. It couldn’t be.
No. She wasn’t that dumb. I’d known Imogene my whole life. Her father always made it clear that it had been agreed that Imogene and I would marry, but Michael was always against it. He never said why, but maybe now I knew.
Imogene was insane.
If she had anything to do with Tessa’s disappearance, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. I knew that’s what we came here to confirm, but if this was all some ploy to get rid of my mate so that I would marry her? I was pretty sure I’d finish what Tessa started in the hallway a year and a half ago.
If she’d taken Tessa from me, I’d rip out her throat and enjoy watching the light fade from her eyes as she bled out.
My wolf was on the verge of a rampage, and I wasn’t sure there were enough tranqs in the world to put him down.
“Are you okay?” Michael stepped closer to me, and I wasn’t sure if he was going to feed me more of his power or readying to move if I lost it completely.
I wasn’t okay. Not even close, but the elevator dinged, saving me from answering him.
The elevator doors opened up directly into the unit. The floors gleamed with giant glassy white tiles. The walls were white. The sofa was white. What wasn’t white was either chrome or glittery or mirrored. White was supposed to be clean and bright and vibrant, but this place felt like it had no soul.
Or maybe that was just Imogene.
Either way, I wanted to shift and tear up the place. But I wasn’t going to do that. Not right now. Not when I had important questions for her.
We stepped farther into her condo and listened. I could hear the refrigerator humming, the air conditioning, and sounds from the condo below us, but that was it.
Damn it. “I don’t think anyone is here.” It was more than frustrating. I was ready for answers, not more waiting around.
“Good.”
I turned to Michael. He had to be joking. “Good?”
His eyes were his wolf’s bright green. Michael wasn’t as calm as he was letting on. That made me feel a little better.
“It gives us time to search. There will be something here.” Michael moved deeper into the condo. “Bedrooms first.”
Clearly, Mi
chael didn’t care that our scent would be all over the condo. If he was this sure, then I wasn’t waiting.
I strode down the hallway after him, following Imogene’s scent to her room. From there, we moved to Shannon’s bedroom. The bathroom. Two more bedrooms—guest rooms—that smelled faintly like werewolves I didn’t know, but no one had stayed in them for at least three or four days.
We looked in every drawer. Opened every closet. I wasn’t sure what we were looking for exactly—something that smelled like my mate or something that gave me a clue to the fey or some bit of magic—but whatever it was that we wanted to find, we didn’t find it.
There was nothing in the condo that we could use to prove that Imogene had anything to do with Tessa’s disappearance. That didn’t mean it didn’t exist. Or that when I asked her, she wouldn’t tell me. But now I had to wait for them to come back.
Part of me had been hoping to avoid seeing Imogene. I was pretty sure I’d lose control if she had done something to Tessa.
“Stop growling,” Michael said as he followed me out of the final bedroom. “There’s nothing we can do now but wait. She’ll be back.”
“I feel like I should leave.” I didn’t want to. I wanted to be here to question Imogene, but as I looked down at my hands that were now more wolf than human, I wondered if I could stop myself from killing Imogene on sight. “I don’t think—”
“I’ll help you, but you’re not leaving.” He gripped my shoulder a little too hard and gave me a shake as he shoved power at me. Again. “You walk out that door because you’re afraid of what’s inside you, then you’ll never forgive yourself.” He pushed me toward the kitchen. “Come on. We haven’t eaten today, and that’s not helping your control at all.”
I sat at the counter while Michael cooked. He’d taught me to cook, but I couldn’t cook anymore. I’d never forget how surprised Tessa was that I could make just about anything. I’d been teaching her, but she was lazy about it. Every time I dragged her into the kitchen, she wandered off. Having her help me got to be a joke between us.