I could barely contain my wolf from coming out and tearing him to pieces. “What have you done with her?”
Merrick looked me straight in the eye, a ballsy thing for one male wolf to do to another. Then he cast his gaze downward, a sign of respect from a pack member to the Alpha. “Nothing. I would not hurt your mate, Travis. But I think I know who has her. Does the name Griffin Pharmaceuticals ring a bell?”
The blood in my veins went ice cold. The CEO who had killed Daphne’s co-worker. He was here? On Darkaway? Which meant that he now had Daphne.
“Come on,” he said. “I think she’s at the marina on his private yacht.”
As we dashed through the streets down to the waterfront, Merrick explained what he knew.
“Lavinia has been acting strangely lately. Stranger than normal, so I followed her to her cousin’s place in Wickedville, where she met up with Griffin.”
Her cousin? Wickedville? Then it dawned on me, and I nearly tripped on an uneven cobblestone. “Your wife is a Crutchfield?”
Merrick looked like he had just bitten into a lemon. “Unfortunately, yes. I’m not sure if our...our father knew. He wasn’t exactly of sound mind this last year. I certainly didn’t know until after the wedding a few months ago.”
“How does Griffin fit into all this? Daphne worked for him.”
“From what I’ve been able to piece together, Lavinia cyber-stalked all the Date-A-Wolf contestants, and she contacted Daphne’s employer.” At the confused look on my face, he added, “She wanted to rig the contest so you’d choose Sarah, a distant cousin of hers. Who, by the way, does not know she was a pawn in all this. From what I can tell, she’s completely innocent.”
I flexed my fists, wanting desperately to punch something. As if sensing my ire, Merrick moved further away from me as we ran. “So that’s how Griffin knew Daphne was here. He must be a magical creature to have found his way to the island.”
Merrick gave me a grim nod. “He’s a dark wizard.”
“Who wanted his spell book back.” At Merrick’s confused look, I added, “I’ll fill you in later.” It must’ve been his scent and Lavinia’s at Daphne’s villa after the break-in. And when Griffin either couldn’t find the spell book or it wouldn’t go with him, he had to kidnap Daphne to get it.
When we got to the marina, Merrick pointed to where the yachtshouldbe, but the slip was empty. And it was nowhere in the harbor either.
I nearly fell to my knees.
Daphne was gone.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Daphne
The ocean air had a real bite to it as the boat headed toward the magical fog bank shielding the island from the outside world. Wind whipped through my hair, down the neck of my t-shirt, and swirled around my bare legs. But unlike when I first arrived on the island, I didn’t care to go inside the main cabin to get warm. I knew where we were going.
We were headed to the mainland.
Away from Travis.
Away from Darkaway.
Away from everything else I’d come to love.
If I weren’t wearing this bracelet with my moonstone charm, all my memories of Travis would be gone once we went through the island’s magical barrier, and I didn’t want to lose a single one. I hoped with all my heart that Cassie’s spell worked. If it did and I made it through this, Travis wouldn’t be the only one I’d be kissing.
I swore under my breath and wrapped my arms around myself. I had no business being hopeful right now.
And what about George? Last I saw him, he was lounging on a triangular piece of sun coming through the window at the Big House. If my memories failed, at least he was happy since he totally adored Ginnea.
Movement through the window drew my attention. Pharma-Douche was motioning for me to come inside. He was trying to pilot the boat with one hand and open the latch of the evil spell book with a butter knife. I gave him the bird.
As soon as he’d shoved me aboard and motored out of the harbor, the book had appeared in my hands, even though it was squirreled away at the Big House. Just like it had when it reappeared in my book bag after I thought I’d given it to Deanne. And what it tried to do at Dismal Devices. The thingknewI was being taken away.
Pharma-Douche had been elated. “It has an affinity for you, just as I suspected. Otherwise, it never would have left me.”
As the island grew smaller on the horizon behind us, so did my hopes of Travis coming after me before it was too late. The wall of mist loomed before us, rising from the sea and stretching to the sky. As soon as we crossed through, that would be it. I grabbed my wrist with the charm bracelet and held it to my chest.
