Despite that, I can’t just let her go. I won’t. I have to bring her home and find a way to get her to forgive me.
So, first stop: her mother’s old house. If she’s not there, we’ll check Ivy’s old apartment. But if we don’t find fresh signs of their scents there, I don’t know what I’ll do.
Tyson’s phone rings, and I see Greyson’s name on the screen. Grey, Linc, and Joel are working together to try to track them down electronically through bank or credit cards, cellular phone movement, if we can. Thankfully Joel has technology skills and Linc has skip-tracing knowledge, but it’s been a couple hours and they’ve picked up nothing so far. They’ve been trying to get ahold of the private eye lone wolf Jared who also has these skills.
I answer.
“Coffees just bought at a Starbucks with Ivy’s debit card.”
“Where?”
“Marblehead, Massachusetts.”
My gut clenches. “What the fuck?”
“Yeah.”
“Call the witches,” I say. “Look ‘em up. Uh… Enchanted Enterprises. They’ve got a website. Tell them this is not fuckin’ on. If any of them helps my woman sever our bond…”
“I’ve already called. No answer.”
“Find me their address.”
“I have it. Jared got it for me, he knows them. You ready for it?”
He tells me where the Young sisters live and says it’s within a couple miles of the Starbucks the girls were just at.
“Fuck. That’s a good hour and a half from where we are now. Keep tryin’ them, Grey.”
“Absolutely.”
“Faster, Tyson,” I clip and let Grey go.
***
We pull up to a colorful Victorian mansion on the waterfront. There are wildflowers everywhere and it’s painted like it’s a dollhouse. There’s an old-school VW hippie bus outside, parked beside the minivan I know belongs to Amelia’s mother.
Another scent hits me. River and pain. Fuck.
“Rye’s mate,” I say.
“Shit,” Ty mutters.
But there’s only a weak sense of Amelia and Ivy, that makes it seem like they’re no longer here. This sets my senses on high alert, because where did they go if the van they drove is still here?
Ty’s phone rings. Greyson again. I don’t answer it. Instead, I’m out of the truck before it’s come to a complete stop. I stalk up to the front door and rip the screen door off its hinges. I toss it and pound my fist on the door once before I kick it in. About half a dozen cats run away from the porch, a couple of them hissing and spitting at me.
A redhead I’ve never seen before, but whose smell I recognize as Riley’s mate answers. She’s wearing a long dress and she’s got big eyes. They’re filled with fear. Stark fright, actually. She stretches out her neck and I look over my shoulder and see her eyes are on Tyson coming up behind me with his phone to his ear.
“What the fuck did you do?” I demand.
She blinks and keeps looking past Tyson and then her shoulders relax marginally.
“What the fuck did you do?” I move in. “Where is she? If you’ve fuckin’ taken her away from me in any way, shape or form, I’ll rip your fucking throat apart.”
She backs up.
I say this but I know I can’t do that. I can’t rip Riley’s mate apart. She doesn’t need to know that.
As she backs away some more, I hear footsteps. Multiple sets of them coming up some stairs.
Amie and her sister. And Vivica. And another brunette. Amie’s eyes land on me and go wide.
I see her. I can’t smell her. And I can’t fucking feel her.
I growl as I prowl over to her, haul her up over my shoulder and turn to leave.
“Mase!” she screeches.
“Mason,” Tyson calls out.
I feel the blood trickling down my cheek. “Find out,” I snap in Ty’s direction.
“It’s gonna be all right, brother,” he replies, but I keep going, stomping down the porch stairs and heading for the waterfront. There are no close neighbors and it’s all open space, so I head toward the hill that leads down to the water.
“Mason put me down!” she shouts from over my shoulder. “I need to talk to you.”
Once we’re down at the bottom of the hill, right near the water, I dash the blood off my cheek as I put her down in the grass and pin her.
“They took you from me?”
“Took me?” she asks.
“You took yourself from me? You fucking did, didn’t you?” I shout.
Fuck. Fuck!
“With dark magic!” I snarl.
She shakes her head. “No. It wasn’t… no… I was…”
But nothing feels right. She’s different. Everything is wrong. Very very fucking wrong.
I can’t wait a second longer. I grab her, grinding my hard-as-steel cock against her, ripping her black pants down fast. I need inside her. I need to show her. Show her. Feel her.
I can’t feel her in my head. Her emotions, her feelings aren’t there. I can’t believe she locked me out. I barely pull scent from her. It’s so faint, it’s like my nose isn’t working.