"The kind that make me think he's not planning to go quietly.Keep your people safe, son."
As state medical units began arriving to assist with the werewolf children, Tim realized that the convoy had succeeded beyond his wildest hopes.They'd delivered the medical supplies, exposed systematic corruption, and triggered federal reform of supernatural medical access.Everything he'd worked toward for fifteen years was finally happening.
And Ali wasn't here to see it because he'd been too terrified to trust her with making her own choices.
His phone rang, displaying a number he didn't recognize.He answered it with the reflexive wariness of someone who'd spent decades avoiding official attention.
"Mr.McGraw, this is Deputy Attorney General Sarah Martinez.I understand Ms.Franklyn is no longer with your convoy?"
"She left."The words came out flat, emotionless, because feeling anything right now would break him completely.
"Mr.McGraw, we have reason to believe Sheriff Cottonmouth may attempt retaliation against convoy members and key witnesses.Ms.Franklyn's documentation of his activities makes her a particular target.Do you know her current location?"
Tim's blood turned to ice water in his veins.The mate bond, which had been a constant ache since Ali left, suddenly exploded into sharp panic that wasn't his own.Somewhere, Ali was afraid.Somewhere, Ali was in danger.And every instinct he possessed was screaming at him to find her.
"What kind of retaliation?"he asked, though his body was already moving toward his truck.
"The kind that makes witness protection necessary.Sir, we need to locate Ms.Franklyn immediately."
Tim was already climbing into his truck, his hands steady on the wheel for the first time since Ali had left.The panic coming through the mate bond was getting stronger, more urgent, and he could feel her terror like acid in his veins.
"I'm on my way," he said, ending the call.
"Tim," Luna started.
"Keep the medical operation running.I have to find Ali."Tim started the engine, the familiar rumble settling into his bones like coming home."She's in trouble."
"You don't even know where she went."
Tim was already moving, his enhanced senses reaching out for any trace of his mate's scent, any whisper of the bond that connected them.She couldn't have gotten far, not with the mate bond pulling at both of them like a stretched rubber band.
"I'll find her," he said, and for the first time since she'd left, his voice carried the absolute certainty of a legend who'd never failed to complete a delivery.
Because this wasn't about protecting Ali from choices she might regret anymore.This was about protecting her from a corrupt sheriff who saw her as a threat to be eliminated.
And Tim would level mountains before he let anyone hurt his mate.
***
ALI
Ali sat in the airport bar nursing her third bourbon and trying to pretend the constant ache in her chest was just heartbreak instead of the mate bond slowly ripping her apart at the cellular level.
The alcohol wasn't helping.Nothing was helping.Her magic had been misfiring since she'd left the convoy, shorting out her phone twice and causing the airport security scanners to spark and smoke when she'd walked through them.The TSA agents had been polite but firm about the additional screening, and Ali had submitted to the pat-downs and bag searches while trying to ignore the way her hands shook uncontrollably.
Three drinks should have been nothing.She'd been drinking since college, had a tolerance built up from years of photographer parties and gallery openings.But without the mate bond to stabilize her system, even a small amount of alcohol was hitting her like a sledgehammer to the brain.Her coordination was off, her vision kept blurring, and she felt like she was coming apart at the molecular level.
Which she probably was.
"Rough day?"The bartender, a middle-aged woman with kind eyes and the weathered patience of someone who'd heard every sob story in the book, refilled Ali's glass without being asked.
"Rough life."Ali took another sip and immediately regretted it.The bourbon tasted like ashes and regret, and she was starting to suspect that nothing would taste right until she got back to Tim.
If she got back to Tim.If there was still a Tim to get back to, considering she'd walked away from him like he was just another controlling man instead of her biologically destined mate.
The TV above the bar was tuned to CNN, where a breaking news banner was announcing federal investigations into systematic medical discrimination against supernatural communities.Ali watched footage of the werewolf community receiving medical assistance, of federal agents arresting Sheriff Cottonmouth, of the convoy that had started as a simple medical delivery and become a national civil rights movement.
She'd been part of that.Her photographs had helped expose the corruption, her documentation had provided evidence for federal investigators.But instead of being there to see justice served, she was sitting in an airport bar getting drunk on three drinks and feeling sorry for herself while her mate dealt with the aftermath alone.
