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“We’ll always be with you, darling!” her mother called as I made my way. “You’ll never be alone.”
I shoved my body against the door, arms full, heart left somewhere behind me in the building as I stepped into the blinding light. I faltered, stumbling over a few pieces of loose gravel as the door swung shut behind us.
I had no idea where we were. Texas? Oklahoma? Mexico? It was hot as sin and I recognized nothing. Bella whimpered in my arms.
I had no idea where we were going, either — but we had to go. We had to go.
10
ELI
Red Horse Ranch
Travis County, Texas
It had been six days. Six whole days since Iris disappeared, and outside of the texts Seff had managed to recover, we hadn’t made much progress. Remus and I had gone to check out the house at the address Demi had sent to Iris before meeting her untimely demise, but we hadn’t found anything of interest. It had indeed been sold, but no one had moved in yet.
When we knocked on the neighbor’s door, the human living there informed us it had been abandoned when the previous owner had suddenly moved out months ago. She was glad it had been purchased, but she hadn’t seen any moving vehicles arrive.
Another dead end.
So when I got a call from Maverick early this morning, I couldn’t pick the phone up fast enough. He had some information for me, and had texted an address for us to meet. I was surprised to learn he was nearby — not within Austin itself, but within the county. I had assumed he’d still be in the United Kingdom, but…those were questions I could ask when I saw him.
Remus had returned to his own home last night, and I couldn’t begrudge him that. With all the time he was spending trying to get to the bottom of this case, he hadn’t seen much of his mate or his children.
My father was supposed to come over later this morning, so I sent him a quick text.
Had something come up.Meet this afternoon?
I wasn’t goingto be here, even if he did show up. I was already in the car and well on my way to the address Mav had provided when my father answered. The car read out the text in its pleasant, if vacant, voice.
“Dad said: ‘Sure. Everything okay?’Would you like to reply?”
I sighed,going through the rigmarole of “Yes, I do want to reply,” and having to repeat myself twice before she finally got the correct words in the text.
Fine.Just a meeting. Their schedule changed so I accommodated.
It was partially true.I had no idea what Mav’s schedule was like, so I wanted to accommodate him. And it was a meeting. I was sure my father would assume it was a business meeting, but I hadn’tsaidit was. I wasn’t lying. I just didn’t need him to know I was breaking pack law by going to see a banished member of the pack.
Mavhadbeen banished. Officially. My father had been the one to do it, too — he was alpha of Longbow, after all. I knew he hadn’t wanted to — after all, he was the one who’d made sure our pack could take Maverick in instead of sending him back to the remnants of the pack he’d come from — but laws were laws. You couldn’t show favoritism, or soon everyone would start doubting your leadership ability.
I didn’t blame my father. I hadn’t even blamed him at the time. I’d been furious at Mav for going through with it because we all understood what this would mean for him (for me). The laws were always laid out, and Mav had made that choice. But I still didn’t want my father to know thatIwas bending rules.
This needs to be done. If my father doesn’t know, it’s never going to be a problem for him.
I pulledup to what could only be described as a ranch, though I wasn’t sure if it was still in operation. There was a sign swinging in the entryway. “Red Horse Ranch.”
Is this Mav’s place, or is he on some kind of vacation?
A bit of guilt flickered through me at the second possibility; I had no idea if Mav was even still with the British Army or if he’d left. If this was his valuable time off…I had no real right to ask him for that.
The feeling gnawed at me as I parked in front of the large house and stepped out of my car, glancing around. The front door opened a few moments later, and Maverick stepped out, standing on the porch with his hands shoved into his front pockets.
He was the same man I remembered. Dark hair. An inch taller than me. The same unreadable expression. But he looked older. It had only been nine years, but it could have been fifteen. There was a tiredness on Mav’s face I didn’t recognize. There was a large scar across his face, cutting through his eyebrow and across his cheek. I had to wonder how deep it was, given that it had still scarred even with a shifter’s healing ability.
Or maybe he was somewhere he couldn’t shift.
If he’d been stationed with all humans, there would be no way for him to explain his disappearance. Even worse, if someone saw his wolf. He probably just had to…deal with it. The thought made my chest tighten as I slowly walked up to the front steps.
