Page 85 of Dark Sold Mate

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Worry coursed through his body.

“Because you already have enough to cope with. And I can work through it. I simply have to overcome the pain.”

“Elle, no. When you are hurting because of your magic, we must discover why. We need to—”

“I can manage it—” she placed her hand on his forearm. “I’m not a fragile vase that’ll break at any slight pressure. I have endured more than a headache.”

If it were up to Silas, he would make her sleep or find some means of silencing whatever was making this ringing in her head. But he knew Elle. He knew that nagging her when she was adamant would never accomplish anything.

“Okay,” Silas said carefully. “But should it get worse, you tell me. Promise?”

“I promise.”

A couple more minutes passed as they held each other, lost in thought. Silas was mentally counting how long they might hold Carter in custody, how they could cross-check his story, and what they should do next.

That is why he was not ready when Carter crashed through the office door.

The boy had somehow broken free of his bonds and overpowered the guards. He looked wild-eyed and desperate, heading straight for one of the windows in the sitting room.

“The fuck?” Silas immediately got up, looking to intercept, when Elle grabbed the hem of his shirt.

“Let him go.”

Silas stopped, confused. “What?”

Carter did not wait. He jumped through the window, breaking the glass, and vanished into the darkness.

“Elle, what the hell—”

“The ringing,” Elle said, her eyes wide with shock. “As soon as he ran, it got quieter. Not gone, but definitely quieter.”

Silas looked at her, his brain going crazy to figure it out. “Your magic was tracking him?”

“I think so. I do not know how or why, but when he came closer, the ringing got loud. And now that he is farther off, it is calmer.” She looked up at him with a smile. “Silas, I think I can track him. It is my magic, I believe, that is pointing me to where he is.

Silas felt hope blooming in his heart. “Are you sure?”

“No. But there’s one way to find out. We follow him. From a distance. If the ringing changes as we get closer or farther from him, then we’ll know my magic is working as a tracker.”

Silas’s wolf howled in approval. This might be the key to the success of their investigation. If Elle could track people with her magic, they could trace Carter back to the one who hired him. They could get answers.

“Alright. Let’s test it.”

They hurriedly rounded up Rael, Javi, and August and told them what had happened as they prepared to follow Carter’s trail. The boy had a head start, but shifters were fast at picking up after trails, and with Elle using magic to show the way, they could be even faster.

As they went out into the night, Silas was getting a feeling that he had not had in weeks.

Hope.

Elle’s powers were evolving into something they could make use of. She was not worthless or defective or inept.

She was extraordinary. And Silas was going to make sure she knew it.

Chapter 22 - Elle

The ringing in Elle's head pulsed like a living thing, acting like a compass to where Carter had wandered and with a precision which had been unthinkable a few weeks ago.

“How's the signal?” Silas asked quietly, his voice controlled despite the urgency of their pursuit.