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Ian cursed. “Maybe. It’s just a guess at this point.”
“How could I have missed the fact that Carter was mated?” Tarron wondered aloud. “Why did this not come to light before?”
Nick tried to soothe him because the guilt was already there, in his brother-in-law’s voice. “Listen, if that’s true, nobody knew it. Carter obviously kept Ivan in the background, maybe to protect him. Even as evil as he was, the need to protect one’s mate transcends everything else.”
“If Ivan was his mate,” Ian interjected. “I’ll get on that with Teague as soon as we get back to the stronghold, see what we can dig up.”
Tarron nodded, clearly shaken. “All right. If Carter was Ivan’s mate, I
van will stop at nothing to bury me. We need to find out what Graham passed along to him just now.”
“We’ll get into Graham’s account and find that out, too,” Ian promised.
“Should we take back his body?” Micah asked, still visibly disturbed by the grisly sight before them.
Tarron thought about that. “No. Should they come back, they’ll be suspicious if he’s gone too quickly. Let the traitor stay for now, and I’ll send some men out on a mission to ‘find’ my missing guard tomorrow. We’ll give him a proper burial, and keep this between those who need to know.”
Everyone in agreement, they loaded into the Rover again and headed for the stronghold. The mood was somber because Tarron was right. Revenge on behalf of a murdered mate was a fury nobody in his right mind wanted to face. It wouldn’t have changed Carter’s demise, but if they’d known Ivan existed, they would have taken him into custody right then to determine his threat to them.
Too late now. All they could do was gain more information.
Back in the conference room, they spread out as Teague tried to work his hacking magic. He found several accounts belonging to Ivan Cardenas of Barcelona, including two e-mail accounts and multiple bank accounts.
He also found a couple of bank accounts that had once been jointly owned by the couple before Darrow’s death. The joint accounts were linked to an address outside Chattanooga.
“Answers that question,” Teague said with a sigh. “Christ on a stick, we’re fucked.”
“Your confidence is overwhelming.” Tarron glared at the tech.
“Sorry.” Throwing his prince an apologetic glance, he went to work on getting into Graham’s e-mail. But as time ticked by, he sat back and stretched. “Damn. If Graham sent something important that Ivan wanted, he didn’t send it from his regular e-mail account. There are no attachments here at all. I’ll keep searching, but this could take a while. He must have another account under an assumed name.”
“Let’s get out of here and let Teague work,” Tarron said. “I’ll let you all know if he finds something.”
Teague grinned. “When I find it, you mean.”
Nick bid them good-bye and headed down the corridor. It took him a few seconds to realize he was instinctively heading toward Calla’s chambers. He wasn’t sure she would be there, but it seemed a good place to start. He had missed his mate.
He hoped she let him show her just how much.
* * *
Calla roamed the hallways, trying not to let herself worry. She’d learned secondhand that Nick had left the building with her brother, and the guard she asked didn’t know why. Nick hadn’t bothered to communicate with her to tell her that he was leaving, and that bothered her the most.
He was the commander, and a busy man. He was also used to being alone. She understood that, or her head did. Her heart ached a little.
As if to punctuate her melancholy, a cramp seized her stomach. She got up and made her way to the bathroom, planning to splash some water on her face, but a wave of dizziness nearly sent her to the floor.
“Damn my stupid pride,” she muttered. “Should’ve just told him I needed his blood instead of expecting him to figure it out.”
And there was no doubt he hadn’t learned yet that his was the only blood she could take. This wasn’t something he would let go unattended.
Bracing herself against the bathroom wall, she wobbled to the sink and turned on the warm water. Splashing it on her face felt good, but the reprieve was temporary. The room tilted at a crazy angle and she gripped the counter as she started to fall sideways.
Her strength deserted her and she fell. The counter slipped from her grasp and she hit the floor with a weak cry, bumping her head on the tile. Lying there, she tried to clear the fuzzy webs from her brain. Nothing doing. She couldn’t focus, or think.
Well, she couldn’t think of anything except the burning in her stomach that demanded sustenance. She needed her mate’s blood, fast.
Nick, she thought. Even though he couldn’t hear her, she called out.
