“I don’t know, but we’ll figure something out.”
That was vague and unhelpful. We’d figure it out? How?
How?
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened.
I stepped inside and closed my eyes, wondering if I’d ever feel in control of myself again. If I’d ever find her. If I would make it if I never found her.
The answers in my head scared me more than the questions, and I
pushed that all away.
I would keep looking and never give up. Not until she was back with me.
No matter how long that took.
Chapter Ten
DASTIEN
Fifty-Five Days, Twenty-Three Hours Missing
* * *
We were on Chris and Cosette’s Sanctuary grounds. After Miami, we went back to St. Ailbe’s for a bit, where Claudia and Lucas were staying with Axel, but I couldn’t stay there for long. There were too many memories. Too many ghosts of Tessa that haunted me. So, all five of us left.
Chris and Cosette had plenty of room for us at the Sanctuary, and nights on the school grounds had been quiet for weeks. Which meant we didn’t have to stay there. The Cazadores could deal with anything that came up there on their own.
At the Sanctuary, I had help, friends, support, and—most importantly—all kinds of supernaturals with magic that could help find Tessa.
No fey outside of the Sanctuary could help us without starting a war. Claudia, Beth, Shane, and River had tried everything they could. We’d done spells and crystals, and I’d burned pounds of sage—so much that I was sure the scent of the smoke was now embedded in my skin. I’d taken salt baths to clear myself of magic, but nothing was working.
But tonight, everyone in the new council gathered together to do one more spell.
It was three in the morning. It’d been almost eight weeks to the dot since Tessa was taken, and we’d made zero progress.
The FBI was looking for Tessa in every hospital, every Jane Doe, every homegrown terrorist group capturing magical creatures.
So now, together, we were trying something different. At least that’s what Claudia said. She’d been working on this spell for two weeks. The other fey in the council had been helping her, along with the witches. They thought that since it was witch and fey magic that did this, then witch and fey magic had to be able to undo it.
I wanted to have hope, but if I was being honest, the only thing keeping me going was that I was still alive. Which meant she was still alive. So, I’d keep trying different things until something worked.
Tessa used to say that belief in a spell sometimes was enough to make it work. I hoped all of them had enough faith to cover my portion tonight.
I was lost and alone and terrified that I would never see her again.
Please let this work.
Michael had taken Axel out on a run tonight. Axel wasn’t handling any of this very well. Every time we hit a dead end, he ended up losing control of his wolf. He’d destroy something or shift and be unable to shift back to human for days, or start a fight for no reason. The last was the most problematic. If he didn’t get control and keep it, then…
I didn’t want to think about what would happen to him.
I couldn’t think about that. Not right now.
I was lying in the center of a ring of salt. Candles burned around me. Eleven of the strongest werewolves, fey, and witches held hands. The new council was together, but it felt broken without her. She was our center. She was the tie that unified us. She was the key to it all. And if she wasn’t here, was there even a council?
They said the words together. They’d been practicing this for days, and in order for it to work, their power needed to hit me and my bonds at the same time. If they timed it right, then the dark, sludgy magic that had infected my bonds would go. And if that worked, then maybe the magic that hid my mate bond from me would thin or even break.