But it didn’t help. Not really. Not when I needed my mate.
But no matter how far I ran, how long I looked, I couldn’t find her.
Tessa was gone.
Someone took Tessa.
Someone stole my mate.
My wolf was panicked. I was panicked.
From one second to the next, night turned to day, and a part of me knew that losing time was a bad sign. A very bad sign. I didn’t know what I was doing anymore. I wasn’t in control anymore. I was going feral.
I was feral.
But I couldn’t stop moving. I couldn’t stop the wolf’s feral frenzy.
In the end, the only thing that stopped me were my former friends hunting me with tranqs.
And then there was nothing but a cold cell and empty darkness.
Chapter Five
Dastien
Three Days Missing
* * *
It’d been three days.
Three days.
Three days since she was taken. Three days since Michael, Lucas, and the two teams of Cazadores that were staying on campus shot me full of tranqs. Three days I’d been locked in a cage.
I’d lost too much time. Time that I’d never get back.
Stupid. It was so incredibly stupid to lose control like that. Especially when every minute Tessa was gone decreased our chances of finding her.
Michael finally let me out last night with the promise that I wouldn’t go anywhere without him, but I wasn’t sure how long I could keep it.
Panic was an ever-present noose around my neck. It would tighten and release as my panic ebbed and flowed, cutting off my airways whenever I reached for her and found our bond missing.
My head was too quiet. I’d gotten used to the comfort of her thoughts and feelings, but now it was just me.
I wasn’t grieving. I truly wasn’t. I hadn’t cried. I’d done a lot of things, but not that—because Tessa wasn’t dead. She was out there. Somewhere. Waiting for me to find her.
When I couldn’t breathe, I tried to remind myself that I had hope. It might be scraps of hope, but it was better than nothing. Tessa was alive, and I had to hold on to that.
My wolf was beating at me to run, fight, find her, but there was no sign of her anywhere. There was nowhere to run to, no one to fight, no way for me to find her. The bond hadn’t come back. Claudia couldn’t find her with magic, and nothing had popped up through her network of witches. The fey were denying anything to do with it. No one demanded any ransom. Which meant we didn’t have any clues as to who took her or why.
She’d just disappeared as if she never existed.
But she did. She was alive somewhere. She had to be.
I had to find her, but instead, Michael left me here all night, alone, to watch over Axel in the infirmary. It felt like the least important thing to do. Everyone else was doing something better, but my control couldn’t be trusted.
They’d gone on patrol without me.