by Karen Lynch
She stared at him as if she didn’t recognize him. “So after all that, they suddenly decided to come here to get me themselves. Why?”
He looked away from us at the far wall. “They asked about your uncle…and I told them he was human again. They wanted to know how, but I didn’t know how it happened. That’s when they told me I had to bring you to them or Matthew would die.”
A needle of ice stabled my chest. If they knew Sara could make vampires human, they’d do anything to get their hands on her. I had to take her away from here as soon as possible.
I’d take her to Miroslav. It was the most fortified stronghold in the world, and the Master would have no idea where we were. It was a bit early to introduce Sara to my parents, but –
“No!” Michael’s screams pulled me from my thoughts. “He’s alive and now he’s going to die because I couldn’t give them you. This is all your fault. Why couldn’t you just leave? You killed him, Sara! You killed my brother.”
Sara’s eyes filled with tears, and she backed away from the bed with her hand covering her mouth. Two healers ran past her and sedated the crazed boy.
I started toward her, but she shook her head.
“What will you do with him now?” she asked Tristan hoarsely.
“We have a facility in Mumbai where they’ve had some success rehabilitating some of the older orphans we’ve found. I’ll contact Janek and have him take Michael there.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Sara, what he said…”
“He’s delusional, I know.”
Celine stood. “Please tell me it’s not that easy to get to our children and turn them against us.”
Sara turned to glare at her. “He’s sick and they used that against him. How about a little compassion?”
Celine huffed. “You expect me to show compassion to the person who betrayed us?”
“The welfare of the boy was our responsibility, Celine, and we failed him,” Tristan said wearily. “I don’t believe our young people are at risk. This was a special case. And I think we should continue this conversation elsewhere.”
“I’m done here,” Celine said, striding from the room.
Sara followed her out. I stopped Tristan before he could do the same.
“Michael told the vampires what Sara did to Nate. This changes everything.”
He looked back regretfully at the unconscious boy. “I know.”
I lowered my voice as we left the room. “If they know what Sara did to Nate, they will stop at nothing to get to her.”
“I’ve already spoken to the rest of the Council. We are doubling our force here and bringing in five special teams to hunt this vampire.”
“It’s not enough,” I argued. “You saw the small army he was able to assemble and send against us. One child Hale witch brought down half our sentries without blinking. I’m shocked it hasn’t been tried before. You can be sure they will try to use them again now that they know how effective they are. And the only person who can go up against a Hale witch is the one we are trying to keep safe.”
Tristan stopped walking. “What do you propose?”
I looked at Sara who was waiting for us in the main ward. She wasn’t going to be happy with my plan, but she’d see it made sense once she had time to think about it.
“We need to move her to a new location, somewhere known only to a handful of us. Overseas would be best.”
Shock crossed her face, but she quickly recovered. “Hold on. I’m not moving again, especially not to some strange place where I’ll be on lockdown twenty-four seven.”
“Nikolas makes a good point, Sara,” Tristan said in a conciliatory tone. “It would not be permanent, just until we deal with this Master.”
She crossed her arms. “That could take years. I am not going to spend the rest of my life running and hiding while you two hunt this vampire. Forget it.”
“Actually, I will be coming with you.” As much as I wanted this vampire dead, I couldn’t be away from her that long. I didn’t want to, and my Mori would never allow it.
My words were meant to reassure her, but if anything, they made her angrier.
“So, I’ll be back to having a bodyguard again. Why don’t we invite Chris along, too, and it’ll be just like old times?”
Ah, so that was it. She’d hated us watching over her back in Maine, and she thought it would be like that again. She had no idea how different it would be.
I tried to diffuse her anger with humor. “We can bring Chris if you’d like. He likes to travel abroad.”
“What if I don’t like to travel abroad?” she shot back.
“You can hardly say that when you’ve never left US soil. I’m sure we can find plenty of places you will enjoy. We can even bring your two beasts if you want.”
I’d travelled all over the world, and there were hundreds of places I wanted to show her. We could spend years travelling and never visit the same place twice.
Tristan laid a hand on her arm. “This would be the best way to keep you safe. I promise we will do whatever we can to end this and bring you home soon.”
“But what about Nate?” she asked desperately. “I just got him back. I can’t leave him like this, especially if he’ll be in danger here.”
Tristan smiled. “I’ve already told Nate he has a home with us as long as he wants to stay. But if he wants to go with you, he has that option.”
Her chin quivered. “How can you expect me to run away like a coward and leave everyone else here to face this? Please don’t ask me to do that.”
“No one here would ever call you cowardly, Sara, especially after what you did last night,” Tristan said. “But being a warrior means you must also know when to retreat. This is one of those times.”
She gave a jerky nod, but I saw the hurt on her face as she turned away. God, I’d handled this all wrong. I should have waited until we were alone and explained it better.
“Sara, please understand,” Tristan said to her retreating back.
“I’ll talk to her. She’ll come around,” I said.
She spun back to us, her eyes blazing. “I will never be okay with this or having no control over my own life. If you don’t know that, then you don’t know me at all.”
Tristan heaved a sigh after she left. “That went well.”
“I should have known she’d react like this. She blames herself for the attack and her friends dying.”
His brows drew together. “Why would she think that was her fault?”
“Because the vampires were after her,” I said as we left the medical ward and walked toward his office.
“I’ll talk to her.”
“No, I’ll go see her.” I had to be the one to talk to her and explain. “She’s upset now. I’ll give her a few hours to cool down.”
Tristan shook his head. “I think this might take more than a few hours.”
“I know.” I rubbed my eyes. “I screwed up. But it doesn’t change what we have to do.”
He opened his office door and I followed him inside. I sank into a chair as he went to his desk and fired up his computer.
“I’ll start making arrangements,” he said. “When do you think you’ll leave?”
“Day after tomorrow. I don’t think we can wait longer than that.”
He tapped several keys on his keyboard. “Are you going straight to Miroslav?”
“Yes.”
“Does Irina know you’re bringing Sara there?”
“Not yet.” I smiled, imagining my mother’s reaction when I told her. She would be ecstatic to hear I was coming home with my mate. I already knew she’d love Sara.
Tristan chuckled. “Well, if anyone can get Sara to forgive you, it’s your mother. No one can resist her for long.”
“I hope so.” I rubbed my jaw. “I’ll need all the help I can get on this one.”
Chapter 28
I closed my apartment door with a weary sigh and walked into the bathroom, pulling off clothes as I went. I needed a shower an
d a clear head before I went to see Sara again.
I’d spent the last two hours with Tristan, making plans for Sara’s and my departure from Westhorne tomorrow morning. We were leaving nothing to chance. Instead of driving to Boise, a helicopter would pick us up here and take us to the airport. Chris and Erik would accompany us, and six more warriors would be waiting for us at the hangar. Sara and I were taking the jet to Saint Petersburg where a heavily armed escort would to take us to Miroslav.
The plan was perfect except for one thing. Sara still wasn’t talking to me. I’d gone to her room twice, and though I knew she was inside, she refused to answer the door. This morning she came out to see Roland and Peter off, but she’d disappeared again before I could catch her. I knew she was hurting and angry, and I wished I could give her time to accept what had to be done. But the longer we stayed here, the more dangerous it was for her.
The first thing I had to do when I saw her was apologize for being an insensitive ass yesterday. She blamed herself for the vampire attack, and I’d basically told her she wasn’t strong enough to stay and fight with everyone else. My fear for her had overridden my judgement, and I’d said all the wrong things. Sara was one of the strongest people I knew, and I’d tell her that as many times as I had to until she believed me.
I left the bathroom and walked into the bedroom, toweling my hair dry. I pulled on a pair of jeans and searched the dresser for my favorite blue T-shirt. Strange. I was sure I’d seen it there this morning. Frowning, I grabbed a gray one instead, pulled on a pair of shoes, and turned to leave the bedroom.
I came up short when I spotted a white envelope laying on my pillow. I stared at it suspiciously as I walked over to pick it up. When I saw my name written on the front, my suspicion turned into foreboding. I didn’t need to know Sara’s handwriting to know this was from her.
With a sinking feeling in my gut, I took out the single sheet of paper and unfolded it.
Nikolas,
I know you’ll be angry when you read this, but please try to understand why I have to do this. I don’t blame you and Tristan for being worried about me, but I can’t just run away and hide this time. If the Master can’t find me, he’ll hurt someone I care about. I can’t live with that.
I know where Madeline is, and I’m going to make her tell me what she knows about the Master. I’m not going alone, and I have people helping me. I promise I’ll call you as soon as I talk to Madeline.
I hate leaving with things the way they are between us, but please believe this has nothing to do with us or our bond. I don’t want to leave at all, but I have no choice. I won’t bother asking you not to come after me because I know you too well.
I’ll miss you.
Sara
P.S. Please tell Seamus and Niall I’m sorry.
I read the letter a second and third time before the meaning of it really hit me. Sara had taken off to find her mother. Half the vampires in the country were hunting her, and she was out there alone.
Fear slammed into me, and my legs threatened to give out. Sara, what have you done?
I ran from my place and burst into Tristan’s apartment without knocking. He and Chris were having dinner, and they jumped up in alarm.
“Sara’s gone.” I held up the letter. “She went to find Madeline on her own.”
Tristan came over, and I handed him the letter.
“Oh, dear God,” he breathed as he read it. “How could she know where her mother is?”
“I don’t know, but we have to stop her,” I ground out.
“I left her with the twins no more than half an hour ago,” Chris said. “They were going to the menagerie.”
He read the letter over Tristan’s shoulder. “What does she mean by ‘tell Seamus and Niall I’m sorry’?”
I turned to the door. “I think we’re about to find out.”
“Why is she with Seamus and Niall?” Tristan asked as we ran across the lawn.
“I asked them to stay near her until we leave. I didn’t want to take a chance of someone sneaking past our security again.” I think a part of me also worried she might try something like this.
The menagerie was dark when we reached it, and we could hear the twins yelling and swearing before I opened the door.
“Get us out of this goddamn thing,” Niall bellowed when we found him and his brother locked in the wyvern’s cage.
Chris went to the office to turn on the lights and release the cage locks.
“Where is Sara?” I demanded, afraid I already knew the answer.
“The lass got the drop on us,” Seamus said as the cage door clicked open. “I’m sorry, Nikolas.”
“Bloody hell.” Niall grunted in disgust as he tried to wipe something from his pants. All he succeeded in doing was making green streaks of what I suspected was wyvern dung.
“She and that blonde hellion played us,” he griped. “She used that faerie magic on us, took our radios, and dragged us in here.”
“How long ago?” They couldn’t have gotten far on foot, and we’d know if they’d tried to take one of the vehicles.
Seamus glanced at his watch. “Thirty minutes.”
I turned to Tristan, but he was already on his phone.
“Dax, alert all the sentries that Sara and Jordan are out in the woods,” he ordered. “And send whoever you can find out here to help us search for them.”
The four of them followed me outside and into the woods. We spread out to search, and I used my Mori speed to run toward the road. There was only one road in and out of Westhorne, and the girls would have to take it to get to town.
My demon sight allowed me to see in the dark, and I reached the road in no time. I followed it for several miles, expecting to sense Sara at any moment, but I couldn’t feel her. Was it possible they’d arranged for someone to pick them up? What if someone had grabbed them? A chill went through me as I realized she might be miles away already.
I sped back to the stronghold. Minutes later, I tore down the driveway on my bike. The guard on the gate saw me coming and opened it before I reached it.
Butler Falls was five miles away, and the girls would have to go through it to reach the highway. Sara wasn’t going to stay in town long, knowing I’d be looking for her. There were no buses or taxis in or out of the town, so they must have had a ride lined up. I’d learned not to underestimate Sara when it came to making a getaway.
My hands tightened on the handlebars. Obviously I hadn’t learned that lesson well enough or I never would have let her out of my sight.
I had covered half the small town by the time Chris found me. Together, we searched the rest of town. It was soon apparent the girls were not here. I would have sensed Sara by now.
“Boise?” Chris asked when we stopped at a gas station to plan our next move.
“Yes. Let Tristan know where we’re going. I’ll call Dax.”
The security guy picked up immediately. “I take it you haven’t found them.”
“Not yet. I need you to monitor all the flights, trains, and buses out of Boise for Sara and Jordan.”
Dax laughed. “Is that all? I’ll need to pull in some help.”
“I don’t care how many people you have working on it. This is your first priority.”
“Got it. Anything else?”
“Check car rental places too. They might find a way to rent a car.”
I looked over at Chris. “Chris, you and Callum brought Roland and Peter to the airport this morning, right?”
He lowered his phone. “Yes.”
“Do we know if they got on the plane?”
Chris frowned. “No, we dropped them at the front entrance.”
I swore softly. “The four of them are together.”
“You sure? It sounded to me like Roland was glad you were taking Sara away.”
“This is Sara we’re talking about. Roland would do almost anything for her.”
“You’re right.”
I put my phone to my ear again. �
�Dax, can you find out if Roland Greene and Peter Kelly got on their flight today? Claire will know the flight number.”
“Sure thing.”
“Thanks. Chris and I are heading to Boise. Call me as soon as you have something.”
I hung up and called Roland’s and then Peter’s numbers. Neither of them answered, adding to my suspicion they were with Sara.
Chris reached for his helmet “You know what I don’t get? Why does Sara suddenly think she can find Madeline when no one else can?”
“I’ve been trying to figure that out myself. She said in her note that she had people helping her.”
I knew Sara had been involved in the online underworld community when she lived in Maine, but I’d assumed she’d given all that up when she came to Westhorne. Could she have been secretly searching for her mother all along? And if Sara did manage to find Madeline, did she really expect her mother to tell her about the Master when Madeline could have called her father and given him that information?
“Sara’s always been very resourceful,” Chris said. “No telling what she’s up to.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
It took us forty-five minutes to reach Boise. We spent an hour checking out places in the city where Sara and Jordan could be while we waited to hear from Dax. I drove by the train and bus stations and went up to the front entrance of the airport terminal, but I couldn’t pick up Sara’s presence at any of them.
Frustration and worry were riding me hard by the time Dax called to inform me Roland and Peter hadn’t boarded their flight to Maine. It offered some comfort to know Sara wasn’t alone. But Jordan and the werewolves could do little against the Master if he found them before we did.
“I’m going to text you the boys’ cell numbers. See if you can track their phones.”
Dax snorted. “If? Give me five minutes.”
