Page 73 of Dark Sold Mate

“I am fine,” Elle mumbled weakly. “You need to go. You need to hurry before it is too late.”

“You’re not fine.” Silas dropped to his knees before her, scanning her features. “You can hardly sit up.”

“But I got you a location. Factual, practical intelligence.” He grabbed her hand. “Don’t waste it because of me.”

Rael came forward. “Silas, Elle’s right. We may miss this altogether should we not act immediately. And the auction could be held without us present to collect intelligence.”

“More women will be sold, and we’ll have more victims,” Javi added.

Silas knew they were right. He knew that each minute they spent here was a minute closer to those women being sold, hurt, destroyed.

But the idea of leaving Elle in such a sick and vulnerable state made his wolf snarl with protest.

“Go, Elle squeezed his hand weakly. “I’ll be here when you get back. Sara can stay with me.”

“Elle—”

“Please, Silas. Let me help. Let this power be of help for once.”

The desperation in her voice got through to him. She needed this. She needed to know that her power, the visions that exhausted her, were working.

“Fine,” Silas agreed. “But Sara stays with you all day. And if you get worse, she calls me right away.”

Elle nodded wordlessly.

“I’ve got her, Silas,” Sara spoke up from the doorway. She had been there for some time now. “I’ll take care of her.”

Silas kissed Elle’s forehead and then her lips. “I love you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“You better,” she chuckled weakly. “Can’t stay alone for long.”

Silas gave her a tight smile and got to his feet.

The drive north was tense and quiet. Silas was seated in the passenger seat, while Rael drove. He held his phone in his hand, glancing at it periodically to see if Sara had called.”

“She will be all right,” Rael shot him a glance. “Sara will not allow anything to happen to her.”

Silas didn’t respond. His mind drifted back to the house. How Elle shivered under the blankets, and her pale skin. The bond between them throbbed with her pain and worry. It was almost impossible for Silas to think of anything else.

They arrived at the place Elle had told them about—an industrial area on the outskirts of a mid-sized city. There were deserted factories and warehouses, and the majority of them were covered with graffiti and in bad condition.

“This is it,” August pointed to a building that fit the description Elle had given them perfectly. “That’s the one.”

They parked a block down the road and walked down with the stealth their black ops training had drilled into them.

The house seemed like an empty building on the outside, but Silas smelled shifters. Lots of them.

“The auction is already going on,” Javi whispered. “We’re not too late.”

Relief rushed through Silas, followed by guilt. Elle had overdone herself to the extent of breaking down to provide them with this information.

They managed to get to the rooftop of an abandoned building next to it, where they had a perfect angle into the factory windows. Silas could see the auction process through the dirty glass. A stage, chairs filled with buyers, and women in dungeons, where they waited to be sold.

Silas felt rage bubbling up inside of him, but he suppressed it. This was reconnaissance. The plan was to collect data, find the leaders of the operation, and trace the buyers. Acting based on emotions would be self-destructive.

Rael had also provided some equipment, like long-range cameras and audio recording devices. They will help in providing them with evidence that they would need to exonerate their pack and nip this operation in the bud.

Silas pupils to concentrate on the mission—memorize faces, write down vehicle license plates. But he was always thinking of Elle. Wondering if she was okay, if her condition had gotten any worse, if Sara called and he had failed to see the message, despite glancing at his phone every thirty seconds.