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Unfortunately, the time zones were against us now. I didn’t get a response to my good morning text until three hours after I sent it. By the time he called to let me know he and Denny were heading out onto the Strip to search for Melony, it was nearly noon.
It was hard to settle completely into my role as a mother when one of my sons was still missing. Doing it alone was even harder still. Kingston had stayed shut in the den the entire morning, with no signs of emerging anytime soon. Dylan must have left before I woke up. Even taking a shower meant leaving Rylan on his own, which I was reluctant to do.
As much as I enjoyed getting to spend time with Rylan, I found myself almost envying Xander. He was out there doing something, making progress—or so I hoped—while I was, once again, left to play the waiting game.
These last weeks had taken a belt sander to my patience. It was worn so thin I could have seen straight through it if I’d held it up to the light. My brain itched for information. Even sitting down to rock Rylan felt uncomfortable, like there were pins pricking into my backside no matter how comfy the seat beneath me was. And every few minutes, without even meaning to, I wound up anxiously checking my phone.
Xander’s call didn’t come in until after dinner—or, rather, when dinner should have been. I’d spent the day so alone and uneasy, my appetite was shot. I’d forgotten to eat.
When my phone finally rang, relief flooded through me.
It was short-lived.
“How’s she able to evade you like that?” I asked, exasperated after Xander’s abysmal report. They’d seen nothing. Heard nothing. They’d barely even smelled anything, which was the most disappointing news of all. “Isn’t tracking by scent supposed to be, like, Denny’s special thing?”
“We’re on the Las Vegas Strip on a busy weekend, Cheeks. Every sidewalk is shoulder-to-shoulder with sweaty tourists.” He sighed. His voice held a ragged edge of annoyance and exhaustion. “There’s a lot of funk in the air. It’s pretty overwhelming. Not even Denny can make sense of it most of the time. The few moments he smelled her, it was faint and got swallowed up by the crowd pretty quickly. Finding a trail’s not so easy when it’s being crisscrossed by hundreds of others, I guess—even for him.”
“But she’s definitely there?” I asked, desperate to scrape together any semblance of good news.
“She is. Ryder, too.”
My heart fluttered a little. “You’ve scented him?”
“I haven’t, but Denny has. He says he’s sure of it.”
“Oh my God.” It wasn’t much, but when you were starving, even the smallest bite of sustenance was a godsend. “Xander, you’re so close—”
“And we’re only gonna get closer,” he assured me. “Tracking her by scent hasn’t gotten us anywhere so we’re pivoting. A few days ago, Denny’s brother’s betas spotted her coming out of the Bellagio, where Mama Striga operates. She hasn’t been back since, which is annoying, so I’ve booked us an appointment with Striga for while we wait.”
“You think she’ll give you information on Melony?” It was a brilliant plan, if so.
“I don’t know what to think about her,” Xander admitted. “The Kerrys have little love for her, and Denny’s not placing any bets on her cooperating the way we’d like. But even if she won’t pass on any info, she might be willing to give a message to Melony. Let her know I’m around.”
“Denny still thinks Melony is going there to cure her blood curses?”
“He thinks she’s desperate enough to try. And while we’re there…” He paused. “I might ask her about curing Ma’s curse, too. Denny’s insistent that Striga’s a quack, but we’ve already got an appointment. If there’s any chance…”
“Then, you have to try,” I finished for him.
Thinking about Marianne Miller rarely brought me any joy. She had once tried to kill me, after all.
But then I remembered how terrified and desperate she’d been on the day I gave birth, tears in her eyes as she swore her love for Quincy Houghton—even when he used her as a human shield. I remembered Tony wasting away at her bedside while he waited for her to awaken from her coma, knowing all the while that even if she did wake up, she wouldn’t be the woman he’d fallen in love with.
As long as Marianne’s curse prevented her from feeling her mating bond to Tony, she would always be a liability. She would never be fully satisfied or entirely secure in her place with her own family or pack.
And even if Mama Striga was able to break the curse…
Would her family ever trust her again after all the damage she had done? Would the pack?
Those were worries for another day, though. Like so many other things, any redemption she could find would have to wait.
“I hope Denny’s wrong about her,” I said, keeping my musings to myself.
“We’ll see,” Xander replied. There was a pause, like he was keeping something to himself. His tone gentled. “I love you, Cheeks.”
My chest rose and fell, moved by how much those words still meant. “I love you, too.”
“Put the kid on for me, will you?”
