Then Rack crashed beside me in a spray of dust. We both scrambled upright instantly.
“Did you see where he went?” My voice came out rough and frantic while I spun around what looked like an underground tunnel that had three branches ahead of us.
Three separate paths stretched into darkness underground. No Olivia. No hooded figure. Nothing.
Rack braced one hand against the wall while catching his breath. “No.”
Panic clawed viciously at my chest, and I desperately scanned the ground.
Footprints covered the dirt in every direction. Too many. All of them scattered. I couldn’t tell which ones were fresh, but then something caught my eye near the middle tunnel.
A shoe.
I snatched it off the ground and realized it was Olivia’s. The laces were still tied tightly. The back heel had been folded outward unnaturally, like she’d kicked herself free of it on purpose while being dragged away.
My chest tightened so hard it hurt. Even terrified. Even kidnapped. She’d left us a trail. She trusted we’d come for her.
Something fierce and overwhelming slammed through my chest so hard I almost laughed. God, I loved her.
“Rack,” I called out and he was beside me instantly.
I held up the shoe and his eyes narrowed immediately before a quiet huff escaped him.
“Smart girl.”
He closed his eyes, relief and pride flickering across his face for half a second before it disappeared beneath focus again.
“We’re rewarding her for that later.”
“Yes,” I muttered darkly while staring down the center tunnel. My pulse thundered violently beneath my skin.
“First, we get our mate back.”
29
CALIX
We moved through the stone tunnel, every step measured, while our ears strained for the slightest sound ahead of us.
Water dripped somewhere deep in the cave system. Pebbles shifted beneath our boots. Every now and then, distant echoes bounced through the tunnels, warped enough that I couldn’t tell if they were voices or just the cave playing tricks on us.
My thoughts wouldn’t stop spinning. Who the fuck was that hooded man? Why take Olivia? And that portal?
My jaw clenched hard.
It had to be tied to the distorted fae magic. Portals weren’t supposed to exist on the human plane anymore. Not real ones. Not stable ones. That kind of magic belonged to the land of Faerie.
Question after question kept piling into my skull, but none of them mattered right now. Not really.
The only thing that mattered was finding Olivia and getting her the fuck out of wherever this place was.
A rhythmic thump echoed faintly through the tunnel ahead, and I threw my arm across Rack’s chest.
“Wait.”
He froze beside me.
“Do you hear that?”
