Page 35 of Dragon King’s Bullied Mate

Fear twisted harder inside her. “No one’s seen him?”

“A few people have been looking.” She hesitated briefly before continuing. “That social worker friend of yours was here earlier asking questions, and there was another man too.”

Lyra froze instantly. “What man? One of the king’s guards?”

“I don’t think so.” The baker frowned. “Tall fellow. Dark coat. Wouldn’t give his name.”

“Did he have a scar across his cheek?”

“It was more like from his cheek to his eyebrow.”

Ice flooded through her veins so quickly she nearly lost feeling in her hands. Beckett’s father.

“Oh God.”

Her stomach lurched violently because the possibility had haunted her from the moment Beckett disappeared. Hearing confirmation that some unidentified man had already come searching made terror explode fully into life inside her chest.

If his father had found him first—

No. No, no, no.

She turned abruptly and rushed back outside before panic suffocated her. The icy air cut sharply against her face as she began frantically searching every place within the village.

The alley behind the tailor shop. The woodshed near the market square behind the blacksmith’s shop. She even went to the abandoned storage buildings near the frozen river where Beckett sometimes liked to explore.

Every stable. Every narrow side street. She called his name until her throat burned raw from cold air and desperation, but the village remained painfully silent except for distant wind.

No Beckett. Not even footprints small enough to follow. Nothing.

By the time she stumbled back toward the bakery again, exhaustion and fear had left her trembling so badly she could barely feel her fingers anymore. Through the frosted windows she spotted Sherrell already waiting inside.

Relief hit so suddenly it almost hurt.

The social worker stood the moment Lyra entered. She had worry etched heavily across her face.

“I came as soon as Maren called and told me you were back.”

“You knew they took me?” That surprised Lyra.

“One of the villagers who witnessed your arrest was a friend and called me immediately afterward.”

Lyra’s throat tightened painfully. “Have you found him?”

Sherrell’s silence answered before words did.

“No,” she admitted softly. “I’ve checked the bus station, the shelters, the train depot, and every place I thought he might go if he was frightened.”

Lyra stared at her helplessly. “He knows not to wander too far alone.”

“I know.”

“He hates loud places.”

“I know.”

Her breathing started shaking harder. “He wouldn’t leave with strangers.”

Sherrell stepped closer carefully. “Lyra, stop. I know all this.”