From somewhere inside, the patter of footsteps approached the door. They were too light to be Malakai’s, and he wasn’t surprised when a thin, brunette woman opened the door a few seconds later.
She held a rag in her hand as she peered up at him from sunken eyes surrounded by dark shadows. The bites on her neck indicated she was here for more than cleaning. Judging by her too-thin frame and sunken cheeks, Malakai was taking too much.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Is Malakai here?”
“No.”
When she started to close the door, he held his hand out to stop her. He pitied this poor, abused human, but nothing would deter him.
“Are you sure?” he demanded.
“He hasn’t been here in days.”
“Do you mind if I come in and look around?”
She started to reply, but Cole nudged the door open and slipped inside.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered as he strode into the foyer and stopped before the sweeping staircase.
Malakai’s coppery scent, tinged with hints of sandalwood, hung heavily on the air, but it was his home. The staleness of the aroma led him to believe the woman was telling the truth. Malakai hadn’t been here in a while.
Still, he would check every inch of this place before leaving. The woman trailed behind him as he climbed the stairs. He went through every room on the second floor, searched all the cabinets and closets before returning to the first floor.
If the woman wasn’t here, he would have torn the place apart to make sure Malakai knew he’d been here. But the woman would only clean it up, and he wasn’t going to make her life more difficult than it already was.
“He’s really not here,” she whispered as she trailed him into the kitchen. “I haven’t seen him in days.”
“Was he injured the last time you saw him?”
“He can be injured?” she breathed as she gazed at him with hope-filled eyes.
“Yes.”
“No, he was perfectly fine the last time I saw him.”
So, he hadn’t returned home since their fight. Where would he have gone?
Cole pondered this as he studied the kitchen, but he doubted the piece of shit had any friends, and if he did, Cole didn’t know them. Malakai had to be somewhere he believed safer than his home. Unfortunately, Cole didn’t have time to figure out where.
“You should leave here,” he said to the woman as she trailed him back through the home.
“I have nowhere else to go.”
“There are plenty of other places to go. It’s a big world.”
He didn’t wait to hear her reply before he walked out the front door and strode down the steps. The lycan part of him protested against leaving this realm without destroying Malakai first, but with no way of knowing where the vamp went, there was little he could do, and he had to return to the Gloaming for the trials.
Once in the Gloaming, he would send word to Brokk to tell him he hadn’t located Malakai.
Cole mounted Torigon and turned him in the direction of the Gloaming portal. It was time to become a king.
Chapter Nineteen
A little while later,Lexi found Brokk in the stable. Under normal circumstances, she’d be floating on cloud nine—Cole loved her too; it wasn’t just about the mate bond—but things were far from normal.
Brokk had removed his horse’s saddle and set it in the tack room. He was filling a bucket with soap and water when she entered. It would be difficult for her to slip away to see Orin while he was here, but she would figure it out.
