“I don’t know that it would’ve changed anything. She’d seen it. She showed me. I knew why she got out of the car, I just—it’s magic. Someone took my mate. Stole my bond.” I looked up at Michael then. “What do I do now? How do I find her? I have to have a plan, or I’ll go crazy.”
“Okay. That’s something I can help with. As soon as Axel wakes up, we’re going to start our search. We’ve got everyone on the planet looking for her, but there’s one place they can’t search. The fey courts. Cosette is aware and is trying to find out what she can from the Sanctuary, but she can’t go back to court, or there will be war. If you can hold it together, Van’s arranging for us to meet with her mother. She can’t lie, but she—”
“And if the fey don’t know anything?” I was pretty sure they wouldn’t tell us anything. They’d been assholes for months. They were still holding us accountable for the strife in their courts, and Helen blamed us for the instability within the Lunar fey.
We tried talking, negotiating, being diplomatic. But as the months passed, it seemed like war among the fey was going to break out, and if we weren’t careful—we’d get drawn into it as well.
“If Helen doesn’t know anything or refuses to tell us anything, then we’ll keep looking. It might take some time, but Tessa’s strong. She’ll hang in there. The important thing to remember is that the bond you two have can’t be broken by anything other than death, and I know that hasn’t happened.”
“How?” How did he know she was still alive? I didn’t even know that. I couldn’t sense where she was. I couldn’t feel what she was feeling. I couldn’t hear her thoughts. She could be—
“Because you’re not dead.”
I held my breath as his words sank in.
How had I forgotten?
Tessa was my True Mate.
It was different for us than it was for other mates. Once bound, our souls were one. If she died, my soul would follow hers.
Michael reached out, gripping my knee. “You’re alive and breathing, and so is she. I don’t know where she is or if she’s okay, but she’s alive.”
“She is.” A tear slipped free, but it wasn’t grief. Not yet. Not now. It was one tiny drop of hope. “You’re right. Of course. She’s my True Mate. She’s there. Somewhere. She’s okay.”
“She is. You need to hold on to that. Keep telling yourself that if you’re breathing, so is she.” He was quiet for a while.
Long enough that I knew he was about to say something I didn’t want to hear.
He did that whenever he had bad news. He was quiet and waited. I wasn’t sure if he knew that I needed time to prepare myself for the bad or if it was a technique he used for everyone.
“Just tell me.” I was sure I’d regret knowing. I had this newfound sliver of hope that seemed fragile. But I had to know what he was thinking. “It’s bad.”
“I…I can’t lie to you.” He braced his elbows on his knees as he looked into my eyes. His face was grim but determined.
I knew he wouldn’t lie to me. He wouldn’t pad the truth with niceties. That wasn’t what Michael did. That made it easier in some ways, but not when I was afraid of the truth.
“I don’t know anything except that she’s alive.” His hazel-green eyes studied me as he said his truths. “I wish I could leave it there, but I think that would do you a disservice. I’m quiet now because I’m not sure if I should tell you what I really think. I’m not sure you can handle it, and I really don’t want to lock you up again.”
I couldn’t promise him that whatever he told me wouldn’t affect me. “I’m scared for her. So scared that I’m going out of my mind. But keeping things from me now?” I met his gaze then. I met it with the force of power that was in me.
“Good.” His eyes flashed to his wolf’s green, and he straightened. “You need that power. You’re going to need every ounce of control I taught you. We trained for years because I knew you’d be bound for great things. Powerful things. There’s a power in you that I haven’t seen in anyone in a long time.”
“I…I’m not sure what you want me to say.” I was strong. Very alpha. I knew that. It’d been something that I struggled with until I met Tessa. She balanced me when I didn’t even know I needed balancing. And now that she was gone, I was lost. “I’m trying to keep a grip, but my control…” It was shit right now.
Michael glanced down for a moment. When he looked at me again, I knew that he was about to rip the floor out from under me.
“You need to prepare for what might come, Dastien. I can’t promise you that Tessa’s okay. She could be hurt. She could be tortured. Any number of horrors could be done to her from the second she was taken until the second that we find her, but we will find her. I will promise you that. It’s only a matter of time. As long as she’s breathing, we have a shot. But once we find her, you have be sure you’ll love her the same no matter what she’s been through. Even if she’s not the same.”
The air was suddenly gone from the room. I pressed my fist to my chest, certain that there would be a hole where my heart should’ve been. The pain…
A hot tear rolled down my face, and this time it wasn’t hope. “You think they’re hurting her.” My voice sounded distant.
He was quiet for a long time as he watched me. I didn’t realize I was holding my breath while I waited for him to say something else until my lungs were burning.
My breath was shaky and shallow. “Please. Just say it.”
It was as if the weight of what he was going to tell me pained him. The look on his face—I hadn’t seen that look since he told me that my parents had been murdered.