Mathias was after information? But he’s in a right foul mood? Something must have gone wrong.
I pray that means Tabitha escaped.
Clinging to that glimmer of hope, I resolve to keep searching for her. I won’t rest until I find her…one way or the other.
“Well?” Bram prompts.
“Shock knows nothing.”
“At least nothing he’s willing to admit. With him, who knows?”
Who, indeed? I wander into what was once Tabitha’s bedroom and stop in the doorway—stricken. Rubble everywhere. Destruction. But not a single trace of her—not a shoe, not a ribbon. Not even a hint that she fought back.
Just…nothing.
Somehow, that guts me almost as much as if I’d found her body. The effect is the same.
She’s gone.
The thought is a stab straight into my bleeding heart.
Damn it, how can I be this grief-stricken over someone I don’t love?
Chapter
Two
“If Mathias had Tabitha,” Bram says, voice low, “he’d likely be taunting you with the knowledge.”
I clench my fists. “Why? As you pointed out, she’s not my mate.”
“But she is carrying your youngling, and her magical signature would tell him that,” he points out, referring to the visual “aura” around every witch and wizard that details their power and lineage. “He’ll start with the idea that you’ll do anything to protect your coming youngling…and the woman carrying it.”
A very good assumption.
My phone rings. I yank it from my pocket, peer at the display, and swear. My father. If Nathanial, the eternal manwhore, tells me that he’s scored two sisters and to come home immediately, as he did last week, I’ll throttle the man.
“What?” I bark into the device.
“Good evening to you, son. Are you…busy?”
In other words, am I already shagging someone tonight? I grit my teeth. How can a grown wizard hundreds of years into his magical lifespan still think like a rutting man-child? I’ve tried repeatedly to explain to him that since I’ve joined the Doomsday Brethren, finding a different woman every night no longer tops my priority list. Staying alive does. Granted, that’s likely futile. Seven warriors stacked against the most evil wizard in history and his growing army? The odds aren’t merely abysmal; they’re suicidal. But my twin, Ronan, is committed to this war and its noble cause. I won’t leave my brother to fight alone.
“Very.” There’s nothing more important than finding Tabitha. Hopefully, my terse reply will dissuade my father from calling for at least a few hours.
“Very well, I’ll tell your encinta that.”
My encinta. The woman carrying my youngling. My heart stops. I freeze. “Tabitha is there?”
“Indeed. Unless you’re saying you’ve impregnated another?—”
“No.” Is he mad? Tabitha is the only woman I truly want. “Is she all right?”
“Shaken and bleeding a bit. Small wound. But she’ll be right as rain in no time.”
Relief stronger than I’ve ever felt pours through me. Something in me died when I feared she’d perished. Now? My protective instinct awakens with a vengeance, along with others. Desire. Possession. Need.
I bark into my mobile. “I’m on my way.”
