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“She said that she would come to the hotel suite later and that me following her was putting us both in danger.”
Typical Abby response. And I might have let it go if not for the encounter I’d just had in the alleyway.
“Find her!” I hissed. “Go to the hotel and check there. If she’s not there, scour the streets. No one rests until I have eyes on my mate! Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry.”
“I’ll deal with you later,” I growled. “Right now, just find Abigail.”
I hung up and broke into a run, again winding through the downtown streets. Darkness had fallen over Pario City again, diminishing the traffic. All who remained on the street were tweakers, yelling at one another, then at me, but they were the least of my concerns.
Where the hell is Abby?
Insurmountable dread filled me as I again tried her phone, but it appeared to be off, and I realized I would have to confront Orson directly. He was the only one who could have her if she wasn’t at the hotel. I had been looking everywhere else for her.
I had proof now that she was in real danger, the stranger in the alley answering one more of those weighed queries that sat on my shoulders.
Abby had hidden Orson’s ugliness from me—including his promise to kill her if she didn’t choose his side. I had been an idiot to let her go off on her own. My instincts had been right.
I’ll check her house again, and if she’s not there, I’m going to Orson’s.
Apprehension grew like a tumor in my gut when I stepped onto Abby’s street. I could feel her, not through the pulse in my chest, but through the fear permeating the air.
“ABBY!” I yelled, not caring for once who heard me or what the repercussions might be. My only concern was bringing my mate to safety. “Abigail!”
Rushing toward the house, my head tipped upward for any signs of her. I heard and saw nothing, but the smell of terror was choking.
It made me afraid for her.
A light was on upstairs, one that hadn’t been lit earlier when I’d been by. Someone was certainly in the house, and when I flew up to the door, I saw it kicked inward. Rage overtook me, but I didn’t race through. It took all my willpower to stand down and listen, catching the positions of everyone inside.
“…little bitch!” Orson rasped, his voice further away from the front of the house.
A tiny woman stood with her back to me, her hands extended imploringly. I crept in behind them, no one wiser to my presence until I saw my mate in Orson’s hold, her eyes bugging. Red clouded my vision as Abby’s pleas met my ears.
“Orson, no!” she whimpered. “I haven’t done anything!”
I couldn’t contain myself, my fury overtaking me, any sense of planning falling out the window.
The sound of my footfalls turned both Orson and the little, dark-haired woman about, shock filling their faces in unison.
“I’ll kill you,” I hissed as my body transformed, frame falling onto all fours.
I rushed toward him as my former lieutenant shifted into his gargoyle body, wings extending from his back.
“You should have stayed dead,” Orson rasped, but he didn’t plunge toward me, the fear in his eyes obvious.
“Orson!” the woman whimpered again, falling back and out of the line of fire.
But I wasn’t here for her. I didn’t even know who she was, nor did I care. All I wanted at that moment was to end Orson as I pounced toward him.
His wings extended, and he leaped upward, but I anticipated his movement. He hadn’t changed his fighting style in two hundred years.
My fangs locked onto the stone of his calf, the impact cracking my tooth, but I held fast, dragging him back, and Orson howled violently, shaking the house with his cry.
“Oh, gods!” the nameless woman mewled.
Through my peripheral vision, Abby remained exactly where Orson had dropped her, frozen as if in shock, but that was fine by me. I didn’t want her in the way.
