by Aileen Erin
So I stayed, and two years later, Tessa showed up.
I’ll never forget the day I saw her peeking through the screen door of her parents’ house. Her hair in a messy bun. Wearing a pair of tight jeans, flip-flops, and a loose tank that had a smudge of Cheeto powder on it. So tiny and beautiful and fragile.
From that first look between us, I’d felt the start of our bond. It was a barely there whisper of what it would turn into, but it’d been enough to give me a peek into her emotions.
In that moment, I was torn between wanting to talk to her, picking her up and carrying her away, and biting her on the spot. But I didn’t get to do any of that.
Michael knew what was happening. He warned me to court her slowly. She was human, and he wanted me to be careful.
But my wolf had other ideas.
I had other ideas.
I couldn’t stop myself from patrolling her house while she slept to make sure she was okay because the bond was stronger when I was closer. I couldn’t stop myself from following her wherever she went. I was addicted, and every time she spoke—every time she revealed a little more about herself—I knew she was the one for me. From the second I saw her to when she sang her favorite Nine Inch Nails track, to seeing her strength as she learned to fight, to when she learned the depth of the magic within her, to when she fought against unspeakable evil—every day I learned something new about Tessa, and every day I fell more in love with her.
“Did you see this happening? Did you know that she was in danger?” I asked again. I had to know if he’d kept this from me. I had to know if this was something that I could’ve stopped or prevented or protected her from.
“No. Dastien. No. I never had visions like Tessa does, but I know things in my gut. It’s more than instinct. I knew something bad would happen that night, but I thought the vampires…I thought that was it. I went to look for more because it didn’t seem like it was enough for the feeling that she was in danger. I patrolled the area for signs of another attack, but by the time I came back to tell you that something else was coming, you were already gone.”
He didn’t know. That was something at least. I wanted to blame him, but there was no one to blame except the people that took her.
“But I know Tessa will come home. It might take some time. Just don’t make me lock you up again. I need your help finding her.”
I knew I needed to get control again, but it was so hard when I couldn’t feel anything but the emptiness where my mate bond had been. I needed something to focus on. “I need a plan. I need hope. Because I don’t—I can’t—”
“Then, if you’re done freaking out, we have a job to do. I have a list of places we need to go.” Michael stood from the floor. “Helen is first.”
Cosette’s mother was the queen of the Lunar Court, the most powerful of all the fey courts. But we weren’t exactly on the best of terms with the fey right now. “And if she doesn’t know anything? If she won’t tell us anything?”
“Then we keep looking, and we never give up. I don’t have this school anymore. I don’t have students. But I have you.” He squeezed my shoulder. “I know I’m not your father, but you are my son. I’m here. I won’t leave you until we find her.”
I rose from my spot on the floor. Michael had a plan. I’d focus on that. “When do we see Helen?”
He stared at me for a second, as if he were studying my level of control.
What control? I stood and stared back at him, trying to ignore the destroyed room around me. I’d lost control again. I’d done exactly what Tessa told me not to do. But that ended now.
I would be strong for my mate for as long as she needed me to be.
“Good.” Michael nodded. “Go eat. I’ll keep watch on Axel. As soon as he wakes up, we can—”
“I don’t need to eat. I’ll get Lucas to watch Axel. If Van is ready, we can go—”
“A hungry wolf doesn’t think straight. Doesn’t act right. You need food if you’re going to deal with the fey.” His lips firmed as he stared at me. “I can make it a command.”
“No.” I didn’t trust myself. If he forced my compliance, my wolf would fight. My other half wanted a target. Any target would do. Even Michael.
I got up and went to the dining hall. And I ate.
I ate for fuel.
I ate so I’d be ready for a fight.
I ate so that if my mate needed me, I would be strong enough to help her.
Because I was getting her back. I didn’t know how or when, but I would find her. If not in this life, then I’d find her in death.
Chapter Six
DASTIEN
Four Days Missing
I’d hoped that after I ate breakfast yesterday, Van would come, and we’d head to the Lunar Court to talk to its queen. But that didn’t happen. Van was still trying to get assurance that we wouldn’t be harmed if we showed up there.
Axel finally woke up last night, but he didn’t have any leads. He didn’t remember why he was at the warehouse or even how he got there. It was normal after a trauma, but that didn’t make it less frustrating.
He spoke to his parents, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have anything to tell them except that I’d failed. I’d failed their daughter. I’d almost failed their son. I wasn’t sure I could ever look them in the eye again, and I certainly wasn’t up to talking to them now. What would I even say?
I spent the night pacing the infirmary, and by the time morning came, I knew I couldn’t hang around campus anymore. I had to do something.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized the fey must have some part in this. I trusted Cosette, and there were more fey at the Sanctuary. Someone there would know something. They had to. So, Michael, Axel, and I packed up and went to visit Chris and Cosette at their Sanctuary.
I needed to talk to Cosette. I needed to look her in the eyes when I asked my questions.
We’d been on the road for hours, but we still had an hour left on our drive. I’d have answers soon.
“I’m hungry again.” Axel’s voice—soft and hesitant—came from the back seat.
I peeked at my rearview mirror. His eyes were still brown. No sign of the wolf, but he was pale. His hair had grown over the last few months. It was the same brown as Tessa’s. It had the same wave to it. Their eyes were the same, too.
Looking at Axel hurt.
My hands tightened on the steering wheel, causing it to crack under the strain. I forced myself to relax them a little and focused on the road ahead of me.
“Take a sandwich from the cooler.” I wasn’t stopping. Not again. We were almost there. Texas is a big state, and by the time Axel was awake and ready to move, we’d already wasted too much daylight.
“I used to think it was awesome that you could eat so much, but it’s really not great.” Axel dug through the cooler. There was a crinkle of plastic as he found a sandwich. “I’m not sure how many more roast beef sandwiches I can eat.”
I looked at Michael for a second and then back to the road.
There was a growl, and then a cracking sound from the back seat, followed by a muttered “Shit.”
“What?” Michael asked as he twisted in the passenger seat to look at Axel.
He was staring at his phone with his eyes wide. “I don’t know how I did that.” He glanced up at Michael and then back down at his phone. “I shattered it. There were a couple Tessa sightings, but I texted my dad, and he said they were both false, and I…I broke my phone with my bare hand.”
“You’re much stronger than you were before. It’s going to take some time to get used to your strength.” Michael was much more patient than I could’ve been in that moment. “Your sister shattered a glass bottle in her hand when she first shifted.”
Axel glanced up at Michael. “No shit?”
Michael huffed. “No shit.”
I didn’t laugh, but from the tone of Michael’s voice and the fact that those words sounded so strange coming from him—I almost laughed.
Axel was quiet as he ate, and I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel as I drove.
All I could think was that we were losing time. Maybe we should’ve flown here. There wasn’t an airport close to the Sanctuary, but maybe if I’d helicoptered or—
No. Stupid. I just had to be patient. But there had to be something I could do. “Maybe I should up the reward.”
Michael grunted, but it almost sounded like a laugh. That particular noise from Michael meant that he had a firm opinion about the matter that he wasn’t saying.
I gave him a side-eye look.
He raised a brow as if I’d said something ludicrous. “You’ve already upped the reward to half a million. I don’t think doubling it will do anything but get more people hoping to get rich calling in with false leads.”
Maybe. Maybe not. I had the money. I was planning on starting with millions, but Special Agent Ramirez countered with ten thousand. Which wasn’t enough. It was like offering spare change for the return of my wife. She was worth so much more than that. It was almost insulting.
We agreed on one hundred thousand, but I’d upped it this morning.
Tessa’s father was doing his PR thing and getting on every talk show and speaking on the radio about Tessa. Her face was all over the news. Between her dad and the FBI and the reward, the human side was supposed to be handled.
I didn’t really think we’d find her lost among the humans. But Special Agents Ramirez and Morgan were concerned that there could be a human element to the kidnapping. They’d been busy putting down some antisupernatural threats. Nothing big yet, but they said that a bigger attack was coming. The newness and fascination with supernaturals was fading, and in its wake was fear, hatred, and distrust.
If that had to be dealt with, I’d do it later. For now, I was focusing on getting to the Sanctuary. Cosette had to know something. She was a Lunar Court princess.
I gripped the steering wheel and focused on the road ahead.
I’d find answers. I had to.
An hour later, we were sitting on Chris and Cosette’s porch. They had a small round table on it with a few chairs. They’d been waiting for us here, but Cosette didn’t know anything. Or at least she wasn’t telling us anything. Cosette and I were currently having a staring contest across the table.
Cosette leaned back in her chair. I’d call it lazily reclining, but I’d just asked her to take me to see her mother. I wasn’t sure Cosette was ever lazy.
Chris was standing just behind her with a firm grip on her shoulder. I couldn’t read anything from Cosette—I wasn’t sure that if I knew her for twenty more years I’d ever be able to get a read from her—but I could tell from the way Chris was standing that she was mad.
Michael was sitting in the chair beside me. He’d been quiet but assessing.
Axel was leaning against the porch railing. He didn’t know enough about our world yet, and by the way he kept taking short breaths then pausing that he wanted to ask questions. But he was smart enough not to ask them yet.
We’d agreed that someone from the fey had taken Tessa. We didn’t have a shred of proof except that they’d been loud about their anger toward her. They blamed her for everything that they were going through.
And the last few days, they’d been silent. We couldn’t get any of the fey to talk to us. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
“If no one will come to us to talk, then we have to go to them.” I leaned on the table. “Van hasn’t come back yet, which means we have to go to them. Take me to Court.”
“No.” Chris’s voice held more power than it ever had before.
I glanced up at him. Chris used to be pretty easygoing. I wasn’t sure he’d ever said no, and I wasn’t letting him start now. “Yes.”
“No.” He released Cosette’s shoulder to cross his arms. “You can’t go to the Lunar Court. Helen’s too powerful. She can control you. She’ll turn you into her slave. She’ll—”
The fuck she will. “If she had anything to do with Tessa—”
“You’re not listening.” He widened his stance a little—as if he thought I would attack. “You can’t go there. Helen will turn you into a slave. She—”
Like hell he was going to stop me from finding my mate. “She didn’t control you! I’m stronger—”
“I died! I fucking died to cut my lunar tie. Your tie is still there. You—”
Cosette stood. I’d never seen her looking anything less than regal—makeup, hair, clothes—but today her face was bare, her hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing joggers and a tank top. Very not like Cosette. But when she looked at Chris, my heart ached. She looked at him like he was her whole world, and I couldn’t stop myself from being jealous.
I had that, and now it was gone.
Tessa was gone.
I reached for her and found that empty space where our bond had been and—just like every other time during the last four days that I reached for her and found her gone—my heart physically hurt. It was a pain in my chest that spread through my body to my soul and left me wanting to give up on everything. But I couldn’t give up. That feeling was a lie.
She was out there somewhere. It’d been four days—an excruciating four days that felt like four years—and I had to do something. Even if it was stupid.
The fey took her.
And if the fey took her, then Helen—the queen of the most powerful fey court—knew something.
I would make her tell me.
Cosette sighed, and it sounded like wind chimes tinkling in the distance. “Van. Come back, please.” She crossed her arms, and I wondered if she realized she was now standing in the same way, with the same attitude, as Chris. They were like mirrors of each other.
A second later, the fey warrior stood in front of me.
Axel startled—slamming into the wood railing behind him and snapping it. He muttered something, but I ignored him. My focus was on Van. Finally, he was here. He would take me to see the queen.
I’d never spoken to Van before. Not really. We’d fought demons together and were bound together by the magic of the new council we’d formed, but I didn’t know him. Not even a little bit. But I knew enough to respect him.
His long white hair was tied back. There was something splattered on his clothes, and by the scent alone, I knew it was blood. Not his, but another fey.
Cosette’s eyes widened just a bit. “What have you been doing?” If I wasn’t mistaken, she almost sounded amused by the fact that he was covered in blood.
“It’s best if you don’t know the exact details.” He turned to me, and his overflowing pity was plain on his face.
I could’ve lived without the pity.
“I was trying to come to an agreement with Helen to have you visit, but she wasn’t hearing me. So, I moved on to searching for Tessa among the courts,” Van said.
The teak chair scratched against the porch floor as I stood. “What did you—”
He held up a hand, stopping my question before I could finish. “Nothing yet. I’m not giving up, but I ran into some trouble at the Solar Court.” He looked down at himself, motioning toward the blood. “Seems they’re very upset about losing one of theirs to us.”
Cosette groaned, and I turned in time to see her shake her head in disgust. “They’re always upset about something. They didn’t care about Kyra seven months ago. And now they can’t survive without her? It’s beyond absurd. She’s part of our council now, and that’s that.”
“Yes, well, their anger isn’t helping my search.” Van turned to me, facing me fully. “I don’t have anything concrete, but I have a guess and a suggestion.”
“I’ll take both.” And I’d be thankful for them, but I wasn’t saying that part aloud. Although if he found Tessa, I would gladly bind myself in a bargain with him. I would do anything to get her back.
“The person most angry about us and our magical binding, but also hurt by deeply, is Cosette’s mother.”
“You think she did this? Personally?
” Cosette asked. “No. What am I saying? Of course, she did this. She told me to get out and never come back, but revenge was in her eyes when I left.”
“Yes. I saw it, too. And I believe this is the first of their plan to weaken the wolves. But it’s not just the Lunar Court that’s upset. It’s all the fey who stayed in hiding.”
“All the fey?”
“All.”
That was bad. There were way more fey than werewolves, and some of those fey were beyond powerful. If it came down to war, I wasn’t sure we’d win.
“So what do I do? I can’t fight all the fey, but I need Tessa back. She’s my mate. I can’t lose her—” I couldn’t think like that. She wasn’t gone forever. Just for now. Just until I found her. “I need her back. So, what do I do?”
“We confront Helen.” Van said that as if it were an actual plan instead of insanity. “I can’t guarantee your safety as I’d hoped, but if we ask her plainly, depending on what she tells us or gives away, we can make some real choices. But there’s going to be a battle ahead with the fey.”
He turned back to Cosette. “They won’t stand with what you’ve done.” His gaze slid to Chris. “What the three of us have done. We’ve insulted their strongest queen, and even with the threat of the archons, they will try to find a way to take us down. And not helping is the fact that the courts are upset at being confined to their underhills.” He looked at me. “They blame Tessa for that, and she was the easiest target in some ways. Cosette and I still have some allies among the courts.”
It always seemed like we were doing the best for everyone. We were fighting against evil without their help. We sacrificed our lives to protect this world. And they took offense how we did it?
It seemed crazy to confront the queen, but if that’s what would get me Tessa, then I was down for a good dose of insanity. “What do you think?” I asked Michael. He was old and experienced. If he said don’t go, I’d think twice about my decision.
