“Futu-te. Matters not. It cannot take. She will lose it and we will find a closer match.”
“And does Fialko have our talent now?”
Ivar cursed again. “I have called for my best men to take care of the problem.”
“Make sure you do. No more fuck-ups. You should have taken care of her as I instructed, then Fialko and his people would not be an issue. Now we have the possibility of an all-out war with the American clan.”
“She’s looking for her long lost family. We will help her with that, no?”
“Ha. If only she knew. What do you suppose she will do when she finds out you’re her father’s brother? Her loving uncle?
“It is a good joke, is it not?” Ivar laughed without mirth, but perhaps he would manage to keep his fingers. “My niece is getting cagier, Gregor. It’s not my fault she found help with the Iesco clan.”
“You are wrong, Ivar. She has always been clever and you have underestimated her. I won’t let this abomination continue. It has to end here. That vortex is ours and ours alone. Do you understand me?”
“Da. What we will do with another vortex in our line, eh? We will be rich beyond our dreams.”
Ivar sighed and hung up the phone, relieved he didn’t have to explain about the Afghani girl that he’d also lost to the East Coast clan.
Chapter 35
Zoe rolled onto her side, careful not to pull on her IV and reached for her phone. She’d been admitted for observation, but no one was giving her any clear answers. All she knew was that she was stuck in the hospital at least for the night.
The silence was driving her nuts.
Scrolling through her texts and voicemail, she frowned. No new messages. Olivia still hadn’t returned her call, and she tried not to notice that Jack hadn’t messaged either. She’d thought about calling him, but what good would it do? Olivia, Hands, or the doctor surely would have told him by now.
Fresh tears surfaced and she blinked them away. She was so emotional lately. She knew he was mad, butshewould’ve calledhimif he was in the hospital.
She knew he was pissed off, but even if he didn’t care about her, his concern for his baby had always been his primary focus.
What right did he have to be angry with her anyways?
Sure, she had trouble connecting with emotions, but at least she’d tried to show him she cared. Hadn’t she given up everything to mate with him? Help protect his clan? He was the one that said that love wasn’t involved in mating–the one holding back.
His last words echoed in her ears.That’s what’s wrong with you. Zoe. You won’t take anything from me except my cock.
When had he ever offered her anything else? As soon as the thought raced through her mind, she knew she was wrong. He’d offered her a life. A family. Protection for both herself and their baby.
Could she really be angry at him for not loving her? It wasn’t like love was a choice. Would she really have chosen a warrior witch to fall in love with if it was?
Her phone pinged with a new email notification. Zoe frowned when she read the subject line. It was a response from her post on the popular ancestry site.
“Very good to be meeting you, cousin Zoe. My name is Roxana. Our grandmothers were sisters. I would like to be speaking with you more, but maybe we should be finding a better way. The sister of our grandmother remembers well the letter she writes for you, so many years ago, and does cry in happiness that you are writing in email to her. She says that she has much to share for you. If you make phone number, we can talk soon.”
At the end of the email was a phone number with a Romanian country code.
This time Zoe did burst into tears. It was all too much. She was overwhelmed and exhausted. Her hormones were playing tricks with her emotions. Even if she could see past the blur of tears, she was too tired to respond.
Zoe curled on her side and tried to numb herself to the chaos that was her life. Her phone remained silent when the sky turned from reds and oranges to the dark purples. The fluorescent light hummed above her. Noises outside her door jolted her awake just as she began to doze. It seemed as if she hadn’t slept at all when a nurse tried to wake her to take her vital signs. God, she hated hospitals.
She moaned loudly. “What time is it?”
“Six.” The nurse attached a cuff around her arm and stuck a thermometer in her mouth. “Can I get you anything?”
Zoe took the thermometer out her mouth. “About eight hours more sleep.”
The nurse chuckled, finished taking her blood pressure, and stuck the thermometer firmly back under her tongue. “You’re being released later this morning.”
