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Chapter 1
Fenris
Fenris’s Private Villa
Isla Lobo, Panama
Time Until the Eclipse: 30 Days
Shit. Shit. Shit!
I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Celeste was gone, that she’d beentakenfrom me. Her presence remained close, then was only a distant pinprick. If we weren’t fated mates, I wouldn’t have felt her at all. Even now, I couldn’t begin to guesswhereshe was. It took all my strength to keep my wolf from springing free, an angry, snarling beast insistent that his mate was in danger. The only thing stronger than his rage was my fear that he was right.
Still, snarling at Val or biting at Walter would get me no closer to Celeste. I’d roused Walter at once, just as I’d told my mate I would, and Walter was already on the phone with Delila Devins. The trick would be convincing the persnickety old witch to transport me to Abu Ghurab.
Even if we persuaded the witch that her help was urgently needed, we’d still have to travel to Egypt. I was grateful Celeste had at least mentioned the name of the city, but I had nothing else to go on. Depending on the size of the area, we could end up being miles away.
I could hear Walter still speaking in his room and growled softly to myself. If he was still talking, then Delila was still resisting.Do I have to do everything myself?I thought bitterly, wheeling around to storm out of my house and get down to the docks. I swung down the hall and hurried down the stairs in a few bounds, nearly slamming into Val as I beelined toward the back door, then onto the patio.
“Oh!” the witch gasped. Her face was white. “I’m so sorry, Fenris,” she said, refusing to meet my gaze as she brushed her dress. “I wasn’t paying attention. I thought I felt…” She trailed off, looking up past me.
“It’s fine,” I said, about to maneuver around when my mind caught up to Val’s words. I turned back to the witch. “What did you feel, Val?”
She licked her lips nervously, blinking a few times before she finally tore her eyes away from the stairs. “I…” She took a deep breath. “Someone used dark magic here.”
I inhaled sharply, and somehow Val went paler. “It was Celeste, wasn’t it?” I asked.
I could barely say the words. After Celeste had transported us to the deserted island Lyka had been on, I’d thought she wouldn’t use it again. She hadn’tpromised, but she’d insisted thatmy welfarewould be the deciding factor. I didn’t have complete control over that, especially with Sabine and the Solar Sovereign lurking about. But this?
“She vanished,” Val said, and I forced myself to take a breath. “She was insisting the dream she’d woken up from was a vision. I told her we’d go at once, but…”
My nose wrinkled, and I ran my tongue over my teeth, barely able to contain my rage. Val at least had the sense not to question me any further.
Before I could get myself together and get out the door, Walter came trotting up behind me. “Delila has agreed to help,” he said, a bit breathless. My assistant looking so frazzled, with his gray hair a mess, only solidified the disaster of this situation for me. “She’ll be here momentarily. She wanted to make sure you had something of Celeste’s?”
I fought the urge to growl at Walter—if anything, I should be thanking him for wrangling the troublesome conjurer. Instead, I kept my mouth firmly closed, trusting myself only to nod as I turned about to hurry back upstairs.
It didn’t take me long to find her grimoire. Celeste had hairbrushes and various articles of clothing, but she seemed to value the grimoire more than anything. It was associated with the other Handmaiden witches, after all, and she was the only one left.
Delila was standing in the entryway when I got back down the stairs, the heavy tome tucked carefully under my arm. The witch had the audacity to look as if I’d interrupted her beauty sleep. “Lord Fenris,” she said with teeth-grinding irritation, barely restraining a glower.
This time, I didn’t stop my wolf. I snarled and practically thrust the book at her. “Find Celeste,” I growled, doing everything in my power not to let my wolf rely on our alpha command. If I did that now, she’d refuse to help me ever again.
“Egypt?” she said, taking the book with grace. “That’s all Walter said.”
“Abu Ghurab.”
“Ah. The catacombs,” she said. She looked thoughtful, and for a moment, I felt a brief flash of relief.
As Delila muttered to herself, I glanced at Walter. “Call our allies out in Egypt, whoever you trust. Just make it quick. I want the area secured, and I want whoever Celeste found there captured at once.”
“Of course,” Walter said, hurrying away. Val went after him.
As I turned back to Delila, I motioned toward the book. “That is sealed to the Handmaiden witches,” I warned her. “Do not—”
“Do not insult me, Fenris,” she snapped, her eyes glowing. “Do I look like a petty thief to you? Now quiet yourself,Lunar Lord,and pray I don’t end up at the wrong tomb.”
I jerked. “The wrong—”
