He dressed quickly in dark jeans and a navy henley that emphasized the breadth of his shoulders, every movement efficient and purposeful. When he was fully clothed, he returned to the bed and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her forehead.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised, his voice carrying undertones of both command and plea.
As he turned to leave, Maple felt an unexpected ache bloom in her chest—a physical manifestation of how wrong it felt to be separated from him, even temporarily. The mate bond, it seemed, had very definite opinions about distance. The bedroom door had barely closed behind him before she was already counting the minutes until his return.
Hours crawled by with no word from Rune, each minute stretching like an eternity as Maple wandered the labyrinthine corridors of his mansion. She'd started in the main living area, admiring the ancient weapons mounted on stone walls and running her fingers along the spines of leather-bound booksthat looked older than entire civilizations. But restlessness had driven her deeper into the vast estate, through rooms filled with artifacts that would make museum curators weep with envy.
How long does it take to give a police statement?
From the main living area, she could hear Kade's restless movements—the soft creak of leather as he shifted on the sofa, and the rustle of newspaper pages being turned with increasing frequency. He'd been prowling the space like a caged predator since Rune left. Every few minutes, his phone would buzz with what she assumed were updates from clan members, but none brought news of their Alpha's return.
The library had become her sanctuary, a cathedral of knowledge that spoke to every fiber of her archaeologist's soul. Floor-to-ceiling shelves stretched toward vaulted ceilings. Ancient texts in languages she recognized—Latin, Greek, Sanskrit—sat alongside others written in scripts that made her fingers itch with curiosity.
She was examining a collection of illuminated manuscripts when her phone's shrill ring shattered the library's peaceful silence.
Ben's name flashed on the screen, and relief flooded through her. "Hey, Ben," she answered, settling into a leather chair that had probably witnessed centuries of dragon conversations. "Please tell me you have good news about?—"
"Maple." His voice cut through her greeting like a blade, high and tight with panic. "I'm in trouble."
Her blood turned to ice. Ben never panicked. Ben was the steady one, the voice of reason who talked her down from dangerous ledges and reminded her to eat when she got lost in research.
"What happened?" She shot to her feet as adrenaline flooded her system. "Where are Zarik and Caius?"
"I don't know!" The words came out in a rush, punctuated by the sound of running footsteps echoing through what sounded like an urban environment. "I was following Serena today like we planned, staying back, keeping it casual. But she spotted me—I don't know how, I was being careful—and suddenly there were men everywhere."
Maple's heart hammered. "Men? What men?"
"I think they work for that Elias guy. They came out of nowhere, started chasing me through downtown. Zarik and Caius tried to intervene but there was this whole scuffle, and I couldn't see what happened to them. So I just ran."
The raw terror in her best friend's voice made her stomach clench. Ben had been in dangerous situations before—unstable dig sites, territorial disputes with local authorities, that memorable incident with armed tomb raiders in Egypt—but she'd never heard him sound like this. Desperate. Hunted.
"Where are you now?" she demanded, already moving toward the library door.
"Heading for our lab. It's the only place I could think of with decent security." His breathing was ragged, like he was running full-out. "Maple, these guys aren't playing around. They were asking about you specifically. They want to know where you're hiding."
Her blood ran cold. This wasn't just about Ben stumbling into the wrong place at the wrong time. This was about her, about the claim marker, about the dangerous web she'd unknowingly walked into when she'd followed those dragon rumors.
"Get to the lab and lock the doors," she ordered, her mind already racing through possibilities. "I'm coming to get you."
"Hurry," Ben gasped, and the line went dead.
Maple stared at the phone for exactly three seconds before her protective instincts overrode every ounce of common sense.Ben was in danger because of her choices, because she'd dragged him into this dragon world where humans were collateral damage in ancient power games.
She ran through the corridors toward the living area, her footsteps echoing off stone walls lined with centuries of dragon history. Kade looked up from his newspaper as she burst into the room, his green eyes immediately sharpening at her expression.
"We need to leave now," she announced without preamble.
He folded the paper with deliberate precision, his posture shifting into something more alert. "Rune wants you to stay here."
"My best friend Ben is in trouble and he needs us now."
Kade studied her face, and she could practically see him weighing options—loyalty to Rune's direct orders versus the reality of a life hanging in the balance. His jaw worked silently as some internal battle played out behind his disciplined exterior.
"Fine," he said, rising from the sofa with fluid grace. "But you follow my lead, and don't get yourself killed. Rune will have my head if anything happens to you."
Fifteen minutes later, they were racing through desert highways in Kade's black SUV, the speedometer pushing dangerous numbers as Phoenix's skyline grew larger ahead of them. Maple gripped the door handle, her knuckles white as she watched the landscape blur past. Every minute felt like an hour, and every mile stretched like a marathon.
Please let us be in time,she prayed to whatever gods watched over reckless archaeologists.
