“I’m sorry.” Faye pulled away, trailing a hand under her eyes and wiping away the stray tears that had collected there. “I’m not used to being held anymore.”
“Why?” he whispered, vaguely aware that Bex and Reagan had stopped their own whispering in order to pay attention to his and Faye’s exchange. He didn’t take his eyes off Faye’s though, he didn’t want her freaking out by thinking that her sister was listening, even if she was.
“I can’t touch my mate. I don’t want anyone else to touch me, so it kind of leaves me lonely.”
“Oh Faye,” Bex said, rushing forward and pulling her youngest sister towards her, wrapping her up in her arms. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You had your own things going on. You were with Robert, and planning the wedding, and really it’s not new that I can’t touch Reese. We’re kind of used to it by now.”
“That doesn’t mean that you needed to have gone through that alone. We would have been there for you the moment you needed us.” Bex smoothed a hand along Faye’s back and the blonde woman let out a sob before regaining her composure.
“Can we talk about this later?” she asked, sniffing. “Let’s figure out where Mia’s got to first.” The worry in the pit of Felix’s stomach took hold again now that the focus was back on his mate.
“We need to find her,” he said, a finality in his tone that really couldn’t be denied. Or it could be, but it wouldn’t end very well for anyone that tried. Which surprised him, he wasn’t normally so bloody minded, but this time he was.
“I agree. Something is really not right,” Reagan added.
“I thought you said I’d stop this by marrying Robert?” Bex probably should have sounded angry at that, but she didn’t. Instead, it just sounded like she was sad.
“I think it will help, I just don’t know how,” Reagan tried to explain. “But for now, I think we need to follow Felix.” All three women looked at him, and he was suddenly rather self-conscious about himself.
“Why me?” he whispered.
“You’re her mate, you feel a bond right?” He nodded. He wasn’t quite sure what he felt was a bond, but there was definitely something, and he was pretty sure it connected him to Mia.
“I can follow it?”
“You should be able to,” Reagan answered. “Just focus inwards on it and let instinct do the rest.” He did what she suggested, and honed in on a slightly glowing centre within himself. To his surprise, he found a pale blue ball of sparks marking up a lattice of willow leaves. Outwardly, he smiled. He supposed that was the perfect combination of him and Mia. It made sense that that was what their bond looked like. Guess there was no doubt that they were truly meant to be.
Chapter Seventeen
Mia tried to kick Skyler in the shins but struggled. While she may have agreed to go with him, she hadn’t expected for him to grab her around the waist and all but hoist her over his shoulder, it was a wonder that no one had noticed him doing it. Then again, there were other things about him that made her think that he had some kind of magic of his own, or at least access to someone that did. It probably wasn’t too difficult to have someone else making potions for him, but the other stuff seemed little more implausible. Yet he gave off no sense of magic, and she’d certainly not seen anything that looked like him using it.
“Let me go, Skyler.” She tried to draw on her magic, but something was blocking it, confusing her all the more. No one had the power to do that as far as she knew. Not even necromancers, and their magic worked differently than witches and other paranormals, something to do with the life and death magic, she didn’t really understand if she was honest.
“You said you’d come with me, Amelia.” Eurgh, she hated that he was using her full name. Why was he doing that? She hardly ever used it herself, her friends definitely called her Mia, as did her family unless she was in trouble.
“Where are you even taking me?” She was still trying to kick his shins, and started wriggling around in order to try and loosen his grip too. Not that it was working, he was surprisingly strong.
“Nowhere that concerns you.” She shivered, not liking the sound of that at all, and began chanting Felix’s name in her head. She knew it wouldn’t do anything. Not even mates could communicate telepathically between themselves, never mind ones that had only known each other less than twenty-four hours. Even so, the sound of his name in her head was helping her cope with the situation, and giving her a little bit more strength to carry on. Not that it was doing anything to solve the magic issue. She still couldn’t access it, which was increasing her worry by the second.
He bundled her into the trunk of a car, her arms and legs scrunching up in the small space, and she struggled against him more, failing miserably as her magic refused to come yet again. Without it, there was no way that she could fight against his larger size and strength. As the trunk slammed shut, leaving her with a lingering view of Skyler’s sadistic grin branded in her head, Mia tried to avoid the panic that was about to set in. She couldn’t let it. If she did, then she was as good as dead. Or drained. Or whatever the hell else Sklyer wanted with her. At this rate, he’d be tying her to a stake and preparing to burn her. Well that was a cheery thought. Mia scolded herself, hating that she was having such dark musings. A tear began to slide down her face as she considered her sisters, and Felix, who’d she’d left behind. What if she never saw them again? No. She wasn’t going to go there. She couldn’t go there. No way was she one of those people who found and lost their mate within a day. She refused to be that helpless.
She breathed in and out slowly, trying to regain her composure. Mia was not a damsel in distress. It wasn’t a role that suited her in the slightest. The car started to move, the low rumbling of the engine vibrating through Mia. She crossed her fingers and hoped that he wouldn’t go far. She’d heard that mates could follow the bond between them, but didn’t know how far that bond would stretch. And she definitely didn’t want to test it. She’d just have to hope Felix wasn’t far behind. If he even knew that she was in trouble. No. Stop it. She couldn’t think like that if she was going to get through this.
The journey seemed to last forever, but it was probably only a matter of ten minutes, probably even less. She had no way of telling without her phone, which was abandoned in the clutch bag she’d left somewhere at the reception along with her Grandma’s necklaces. Horror filled her as she realised that she hadn’t put hers on yet. And now that she was sure that it had something to do with meeting her mate, she really wanted to be wearing it, she thought that it might make her feel closer to Felix and the bond that the two of them already shared. Well, hopefully already shared. Weird how she’d gone from not recognising what was between them, to wanting the bond to be real enough that she could touch it.
At a complete loss for what else to do, Mia focused inwards, trying to centre herself on the place that her magic lived, or at the very least where she imagined it lived. It was all very complex and, for some reason that completely baffled her, witches just didn’t talk about their magic. Just like they didn’t talk about their familiars, the loss of which was really stinging Mia at the moment. She was alone, and she was in trouble, Squeak should be here and yet he wasn’t. A sure sign that something was very very wrong.
The trunk of the car opened, letting the cold night air surround Mia and chilling her to the bone. She shivered, and it was enough to distract her as Skyler hoisted her into his arms. Once she was there, she began to struggle again, but like before, Skyler had to upper body strength not to be fazed by it. Though she did wonder where he got it from. Maybe he wasn’t as human as she thought.
He carried her through the corrugated iron door that led into what looked like a warehouse. A warehouse that looked worryingly like the ones that always seemed to show up in horror movies whenever someone was kidnapped. Great, she was going to end up murdered in a warehouse on the day of her sister’s fake wedding. Not the end that she’d ever had in mind.
The interior was dim, lit only by a few waning light bulbs that seemed not to be getting enough electricity to actually be making any light. All it did was add to the ominous feel of the place. She really hoped that Felix came soon. Or that her magic returned. Either of those possibilities would make her feel less alone and more like she could get out of this alive.
From her position in Skyler’s arms, she could make out desks, and even what looked like an operating table, no
t a good sign. He turned left, his footsteps echoing in the otherwise silent warehouse. Don’t panic. Panicking would get no one anywhere.