His memories of the previous night came back in the same instant he realized her side of the bed was empty.
Harlan jolted upright. Spots exploded in front of his eyes as he swung his gaze around the darkened hotel bedroom. Joy bubbled under his skin, fizzy and hot and—
No, that wasn’t just joy. It wasmagic.
He pressed a clammy palm against his naked chest, astonished.Gods, I belong to her now.
Harlan had never had much by way of magic. Like most vampires, his m-paths were narrow and few, making the channeling of magic incredibly difficult. His skills lay mainly in dismantling wards without detection, which was something that required very little magic but extreme technical skill. It was the main reason Julius took an interest in him at all.
Butnow,it was like something inside of him had tripled in size. He felt internally expanded, his senses stretched. When he held his breath, he thought he couldfeela hum of magic in the air, connected to something deep, earthy, and welcoming.
It was luscious and heady and foreign and—
Harlan’s heart began to pound. He lurched out of bed, but found his legs hopelessly tangled in the sheets. All of his hard-won predator’s grace deserted him as he tumbled off of the high bed and onto the floor. Cursing, hissing, and laughing all at once, he tore at the sheets until he freed himself.
“Zia!”he called out, hoarse and overjoyed, as he scrambled onto his feet. He swayed, braced his hands on the bed, and called again, “Zia!”
He wanted to kiss her until he couldn’t breathe. He wanted to crush her against his chest. He wanted to know everything about this new connection they shared, the gift she had given him. He wanted to sink his fangs into her and give her the babies she wanted and watch her write her paper and justloveher until the day Grim swept him off to her riverbank.
But there was no reply.
Harlan stumbled toward the door, expecting to hear her padding around the suite in her fuzzy socks at any moment. The shower wasn’t running, so she wasn’t in there. Perhaps she had ordered some breakfast for herself and simply couldn’t hear him through the heavy door separating the bedroom from the living area of their sprawling suite.
Except, when Harlan threw that door open, the living area was empty.
It took him several seconds for his sluggish mind to catch up to what he was seeing. There was a room service cart by the couch, and their bags were exactly where he left them the previous night. The curtains were still drawn tightly over the windows, though he could sense that it was well past dusk. There was nothing amiss.
Nothing, of course, except for the notable absence of his anchor and her purse, which she had set on the table by the door when they came in.
His stomach dropped.
He spun around and charged across the bedroom to slam his fist against the bathroom door. Panic made his voice sharp when he called again, “Zia, answer me!”
Nothing.
His hand shook when he turned the knob and found the room dark and empty, just as he knew it would be.
Fear, as cold and painful as a sudden drop into frigid water, stole the breath from his lungs.
Harlan was across the room again in a flash. Dropping to his knees, he pawed at the discarded clothing on the floor until he found his cell phone. The only messages he found were a handful from Atticus and one from Adriana that read, “he slipped”with an attached photo of her brother facedown in a snowbank.
When he frantically called Zia’s phone, it went straight to her voicemail. Her cheerful voice told him to leave her a funny message.
No,he thought, vision blurring. His chest sawed up and down as he fought to get air into his compressed lungs.No. No, this can’t be happening.
His next call was to Damien. Hope threatened to choke him as he ran through every single possibility in the seconds between hitting the button and raising the phone to his ear.
She could be at the pool. She could be exploring the hotel. Maybe she decided to do a spa treatment while I slept in. Surely one of my men is with her. She’s probably forcing them to get a mud mask with her right now. Everything is fine.
“Hey, boss. Are we headed ou—”
“Where the fuck is Zia?” he snarled.
There was a dreadful pause. Then, slowly, “Isn’t she with you?”
The world spun out from under him.
“She said that she was calling the desk to request another night, since you were… ah, indisposed.”
