I dropped into the chair across from him, shaking my head. “Fucking hell, Beaumont. You could’ve died.”
“I’m quite aware of that, yes.” He took another sip of Elena’s brew, then set the mug on the side table, nearly dropping it in the process. “But here I am. And worry not; when I came to, I had the wherewithal to call for a clean-up.”
“But not the wherewithal to stick around, where you were safely out of the sun?”
“My associates don’t require supervision.”
“No, but apparently you do,” I said. Anger pulsed through my veins. We could have lost him.Graycould’ve lost him. “What the fuck were you thinking? Why didn’t you call us?”
“I did. Many times.” His voice had turned cold, but it couldn’t hide the concern in his eyes. “I couldn’t reach either of you.”
Emilio and I checked our phones. Neither of us showed any missed calls or texts.
“We’ve been texting you all morning,” Ronan said.
“I also left voicemails,” Emilio added. “We assumed you were sleeping.”
Darius pulled out his phone, staring blankly at the screen, jamming his finger into it and growing increasingly frustrated.
Taking it out of his hands, I read the notifications. “Seventeen missed texts, four missed calls. Yeah, that’s us.” I swiped over to his call and text log, seeing the long list of phone numbers that he’d obviously entered manually—and incorrectly. “I sure as hell hope you didn’t leave anything incriminating in those messages, because you didn’t leave them for us. You really need to learn how to use this thing, Beaumont.”
I tossed it back to him. He caught it with one hand. At least his reflexes were improving.
“Nevertheless,” he said, “the important thing is that we’re together now and all accounted for, save for our missing companions. I don’t suppose you have news?”
“We’ve… got nothing,” I admitted. The words hurt on the way out. After working things out with Elena’s wolf pups, we all decided it was better to wait until dark before Emilio and I made a move. Her men were supposed to be setting up stake-outs on some of the known locations of the hunters who’d recently moved to the Cape, but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure we could trust them yet.
With no sign of the victims and no solid leads, there wasn’t much we could do but wait, anyway. I knew that, logically. I’d agreed to it. But I couldn’t help feeling like we were failing Gray and Ash. They’d been gone nearly two days already. Who knew what kind of fucked-up torments Jonathan had subjected them to?
My only solace was that my witch and my best friend were in it together. No matter how much they pretended to hate each other, I knew there was a bond forming there. As long as it was within their power to do so, they’d do whatever they could to keep each other safe.
Darius finished the rest of his brew, then held the cup in his lap, tapping the rim with his fingers. He seemed to be considering his next words.
“I don’t know how exactly to explain this,” he finally said, “but I picked up on her presence today. Through our blood bond.”
“And?” I was out of my chair, my heart pumping new blood into my veins.
“Her magic called to me, in a way. She’s definitely alive, Ronan. But she’s not in the Cape. She’s not evenhereat all.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Where the fuck is she?”
“Another realm, perhaps. Maybe her own. Maybe someone else’s.”
I hated the question that slithered into my head next, but I let the words fall out of my mouth anyway.
“Then how do you know she’s even alive?”
I looked into his eyes, everything in me silently begging him.Please convince me. Convince me our girl is okay. That we’re going to find a way to bring her back to us. That we can end her suffering, end this nightmare before it’s too late...
Darius was soundless. Not just quiet, not just silent, but utterly fucking soundless.
Until he exploded.
The mug shattered on the hardwood floor, and he had me against the wall before I could even blink.
“Bloody hell, demon. I canfeelher. She’s very much alive. But if we don’t figure out how to get her out of whatever mess she’s in, she won’t stay that way much longer.ThatI can promise you.”
“I’m afraid the vampire is right.” Unperturbed by the whole scuffle, Liam slid Elena’s book back into place on the shelf. Then, with a sigh so heavy I felt it land on my shoulders, he said, “You two... had better sit down.”
