“What do you mean she left? I didn’t see any vehicles leave.”
Flame rolled his eyes so hard it literally disappeared into the back of his eye sockets for a moment. If I hadn’t seen Eamon and other demons do the same thing, it would’ve creeped me out.
“Mateo set a marker in her apartment so they could get her back easier. Seth just opened a portal. She’s gone.”
“No. But I haven’t…”
“And why didn’t you? You’ve been here long enough.”
“Because I was waiting for everyone to leave so I could talk to her alone,” I ground out through gritted teeth.
“Too late, gargoyle. You had your chance, and you blew it. She left.”
Flame formed his smoky tail into a single large boot. I didn’t have time to get out of the way as it punted me away from the estate. He’d had the decency to make the sole of the boot nice and cushiony, but I knew better than to go back now. The next time, the boot wouldn’t be padded.
I landed in the park down the street. I picked myself back up and dug in my pocket for my phone. Luckily, it hadn’t been crushed by my weight.
I made my way home, fuming that I’d missed my chance. I gave Seth a call first to ask if he could do me a favor. He didn’t even let me ask what the favor was. The asshat wizard just said “No,” and hung up. So much for getting him to open another portal for me to go after my mate.
Mateo wasn’t much help either; he refused to give me her address.
The first thing I did when I got home was try to track her down. Desmon’s file hadn’t included an address, probably because he’d assumed I’d find her on the road. I scoured social media, but aside from a few photos of her with that asshole ex on a trip last year, there was nothing useful. She had a lot of acquaintances and colleagues but no real friends. That surprised me, since she’d made connections in Darlington so quickly. But online? She might as well have been a ghost.
The only solid lead I had was Karim. So I started there. His business was easy to find since it was where the egg had surfaced. With that information, I logged into the EA network as Eamon and dug up everything I could on the man. It took most of the evening, but I finally narrowed it down to an address I was certain was Meera’s apartment.
Along the way, I uncovered his other life: fancy dinners with his mistress, the jewelry he’d bought her, the promise to retire early with the profits they made from a very important trade. He never mentioned the egg, but that must be it. The fool had platinum in his grasp and went chasing after nickel instead. What an idiot.
I hadn’t exactly been a genius either. But that was over. I’d seen the truth now. Meera was my mate. I was done living in the past and letting it control me. Meera was my future. And if she was indeed my mate, then surely she was perfect for me in every way. That included loving me for me.
And if she didn’t, then I’d just have to spend the rest of my life convincing her.
I’d already landed at JFK in New York—yes, I’d grabbed the earliest flight—when Mateo called me.
“We have a problem, Graham.”
“Don’t expect me to help you when you didn’t help me.” I was still pissed off that he’d made me search for Meera’s address.
“That’s the fucking problem. You need to get to Meera. Now.”
Fear for her safety suddenly had my heart spiking. “I’m already on my way. No thanks to you. Why?”
“We hacked into her apartment’s cameras. And Owen, Karim’s friend, the cop? Well, he just showed up and bashed the cameras to pieces. Both of them. We didn’t find any juice on him before, but we know that Karim talked about a big deal with his mistress, so we were monitoring her calls. She’s with Owen. Something’s happening.”
Shit.
“I just landed. I’ll head over right now. Doesn’t Desmon have anyone here they can send?”
“No, but we are contacting the EA. They’ll want to question them. Just get there now.”
He didn’t need to tell me twice. I found the closest exit, dug the look-away spell I’d grabbed from the Redrock stash out of my bag—this one was in a paper and foil package and not canned since it wasn’t one of Seth’s—and tore it open. Then, without hesitation, I dropped my glamour and leaped into the air.
Chapter 29
Meera
“Andnowtheeggis safe and sound with its father,” I finished.
I scanned Maa’s face to see her response.
