Page 121 of Enchanted

Two more minutes and we’d scoured the entire hospital.

Three more and we’d searched a mile radius with the café at the centre.

Ethan was nowhere to be found.

“Did you feel anything from the mark while we were in there?” Noah asked when we landed back at the gaping hole that once held the windows of the café. “Fear? Anxiety? Anything?”

I swallowed down my own terror. “No…I don’t think so? There was so much happening, I could’ve missed it.”

Oh god. What if I’d missed it?

“Don’t think about that now,” Micah ordered, as if such a thing was easy to do. “The police are on their way. Let’s head back to the compound.”

Red filled my vision. My hands were around Micah’s shirt collar before he’d finished speaking, lifting him bodily from the ground. “I’m not fucking leaving without Ethan!”

Fire licked at my wrists, but I ignored the burn. Micah was the one to address it. “Nox, back off. Now.”

The flames disappeared, replaced by Micah’s cool grip. He didn’t try to remove me, just held me like he was offering me comfort. Or trying to ground me. “Ethan isn’t here, Rami. He’s been taken—probably by Damien. This was all a trap.”

A trap.

A trap.

The truth of it slammed into me. Of course it was. How else would Damien have snatched Ethan if we weren’t all fully distracted?

Fuck.

I couldn’t believe this was happening. How had Damien even known we’d be at the hospital today? Or that we’d stop by the café?

I wasn’t going to get any answers staying here. Wouldn’t find my mate, either.

Numb, I released Micah, letting him drop to the ground. I didn’t try to hide my fear as I faced our leader. My friend. My brother. “We’re going to get him back, right?”

My soft plea was heard by the Seraphim. I felt them draw nearer, hands gripping me wherever they could reach.

Micah touched my face. “Yes. We’ll get him back, Rami. Together.”

It was all I needed to hear. There was hope. With my family surrounding me, we could do anything.

Including saving my mate.

Damien’s sons burst into the conference room less than two minutes after we entered. Their expressions ranged from shocked to sympathetic to grim.

Ezra spoke first. “Is it true? He captured him? How?”

Because I wasn’t paying attention.

Because I was distracted.

Because I failed him.

All those thoughts echoed through my mind, just as they’d been doing since we realised Ethan was missing.

Missing.

My mate was missing.

Sitting here, knowing he was out there somewhere, possibly being tortured, was fucking killing me. But I knew this was necessary. If we were going to find Ethan, if we were going to save him, we needed a plan.