Page 115
Chapter Thirty-Six
Eli
We already know something is up when we get to work to find the entire building ablaze. Firefighters try putting it out, but all that is left is the burned debris. The entire place is gutted, leaving nothing behind but ash and soot.
“Who would do this?”
“God knows,” Cyrus says, sitting on the hood of our car.
We spend the next few hours giving statements and talking to officers and the fire department.
We drive home. We have been completely distracted by everything going on during the day, and neither of us bothered to pay attention to the bond. Pulling up, we can see tire marks on the driveway, like someone has done a burnout. The door is wide open. Cyrus is out of the car before I even stop, rushing inside. Yet she seems calm through the bond. I get out, heading inside, only to panic when I hear Cyrus racing around the house, calling her name.
“Addie, this isn’t funny,” I call out.
“Eli, I think I know who started the fire and where Addie is,” Cyrus says from upstairs.
I head for the stairs, following his scent. Walking into our room, Cyrus is in the walk-in. He has clothes in his hand, and he sniffs them.
He holds them out, and I sniff the clothes. A growl escapes me when I pick up faint traces of his scent.
She fucking ran from us, and with him of all people.
“This is my fault. I should have told you,” Cyrus says, chucking the clothes down and running his fingers through his hair.
“Told me what?”
“I wasn’t in the basement the other night. It was Addie. I was going to compel her this morning to forget what she saw, but you were in a rush.”
“You didn’t think to blurt that out? Now she has fucking run from us!” I yell at him before running downstairs.
I grab my keys, heading for the car.
“Eli!” Cyrus calls.
“What?” I snap at him.
How could he not mention that? He even covered for her the night I found them. I knew something was off. I should have listened to my instincts instead of taking his word. The one person I can trust has just lied to me, and because of that, she is gone.
“Just let her calm down. She will come back,” Cyrus says.
“And if she doesn’t?”
“She is with Sam, obviously. So where else would she go other than to her house or his?”
“Wait, he was escorted back, so why is he here? Did she ring him last night?” I ask Cyrus.
He seems to think for a second.
“Her phone was still in the room when I found her,” he says, shaking his head.
Something feels off. I turn to go to the car.
“Eli?”
“No, I am going to go get our mate, so either get in the car or shut up,” I tell him.
He gets in the car, and I tear off down the road to the highway. We are a quarter of the way there when I suddenly notice something. I can no longer feel her.
