“It gives us time to search. There will be something here.” Michael moved deeper into the condo. “Bedrooms first.”
Clearly, Mi
chael didn’t care that our scent would be all over the condo. If he was this sure, then I wasn’t waiting.
I strode down the hallway after him, following Imogene’s scent to her room. From there, we moved to Shannon’s bedroom. The bathroom. Two more bedrooms—guest rooms—that smelled faintly like werewolves I didn’t know, but no one had stayed in them for at least three or four days.
We looked in every drawer. Opened every closet. I wasn’t sure what we were looking for exactly—something that smelled like my mate or something that gave me a clue to the fey or some bit of magic—but whatever it was that we wanted to find, we didn’t find it.
There was nothing in the condo that we could use to prove that Imogene had anything to do with Tessa’s disappearance. That didn’t mean it didn’t exist. Or that when I asked her, she wouldn’t tell me. But now I had to wait for them to come back.
Part of me had been hoping to avoid seeing Imogene. I was pretty sure I’d lose control if she had done something to Tessa.
“Stop growling,” Michael said as he followed me out of the final bedroom. “There’s nothing we can do now but wait. She’ll be back.”
“I feel like I should leave.” I didn’t want to. I wanted to be here to question Imogene, but as I looked down at my hands that were now more wolf than human, I wondered if I could stop myself from killing Imogene on sight. “I don’t think—”
“I’ll help you, but you’re not leaving.” He gripped my shoulder a little too hard and gave me a shake as he shoved power at me. Again. “You walk out that door because you’re afraid of what’s inside you, then you’ll never forgive yourself.” He pushed me toward the kitchen. “Come on. We haven’t eaten today, and that’s not helping your control at all.”
I sat at the counter while Michael cooked. He’d taught me to cook, but I couldn’t cook anymore. I’d never forget how surprised Tessa was that I could make just about anything. I’d been teaching her, but she was lazy about it. Every time I dragged her into the kitchen, she wandered off. Having her help me got to be a joke between us.
Tessa couldn’t really make anything—she could heat stuff or make a sandwich or scramble eggs—but we’d realized that cooking wasn’t her thing. That’s what I did. It made me smile every time she tasted something and smiled. I lived for that smile. She was strong and thought she needed my help, but she didn’t. Not really. But I could take care of her. And I did.
I had.
But taking care of myself—doing something like cooking—it wasn’t important anymore. My mind would wander. After the third meal I’d burned, I gave up cooking.
For the last two weeks, we’d grabbed stuff on the run. But the few times we were back in Texas, I let Michael cook for me like he did when I was a kid. It was comforting, and Michael knew that I needed all the comfort I could get right now.
And since I was at constant war with my wolf, I needed to eat more calories than ever before.
I’d gone feral once before. It felt like forever ago that Tessa stepped onto the coven’s land—to live with them—and it felt like she’d disappeared. I didn’t handle that separation well. Even knowing exactly where she was and what she was doing and that she was staying there by her own free will, I still went feral. But this was so much worse. I didn’t know where she was or how she was, and I knew she wasn’t there by her own free will.
I thought I knew before what losing it meant, but I didn’t realize the nature of the beast within me.
I was terrified of what I might become if I didn’t find her soon.
We ate in silence. I didn’t taste any of it. I did it so that my wolf would be satisfied for at least this basic need.
When we were finished, Michael went to the white leather couch and lay down, closing his eyes. I knew he wasn’t asleep. This was Michael’s thinking mode. We’d talked the whole flight out here. We’d made lists of what fey could’ve done this, and tried to figure out what we knew of each fey’s powers. If we could somehow undo their magic on my bond, then that might solve all our problems. But there was so much we didn’t know. So much we didn’t understand.
Until recently, the fey had avoided the packs. We stayed separate. But Tessa changed all that.
Tessa changed everything.
I paced in front of the elevator doors. Michael watched me with a warning in his gaze, but I couldn’t stop moving.
My wolf couldn’t ask Imogene questions. I had to stay human.
I told myself that Imogene would be home soon, and then I’d find Tessa. And I hoped that wasn’t a lie.
Because I had to find her.
A ping sounded, the elevator doors slid open, and I was waiting.
Shannon gasped and pressed herself against the back wall of the elevator.
Imogene smiled. “Hello, Dastien.”