I try to will my body to rise up off the ground, the way it did before.
No luck.
If anything, my mate bond to Victor feels like an anchor on me, tethering me down. The pull definitely wasn’t this strong when Nate was here. Now that he’s gone, it’s like the rocks I was hiding under are still on top of me, weighing me against the sand. I’m almost surprised I’m not being pressed into it, leaving an indent where I sit.
Damn Victor!
I can’t believe there was ever a time when I wanted him of my own free will, when I actuallyhopedthat he and I would be chosen for one another. It’s the worst thing I can imagine now. Even if he wasn’t going to literally murder me, even if he actuallywantedme and had never rejected me because I wouldn’t go back to him. Not for anything in the world.
I stare up at the moon overhead. It’s waning now. It was full the night of the mating ceremony—we always like to mate under the power of the full moon. But now that power is disappearing.
I don’t know whether to be glad about that or not.
What does a waning moon mean for the Moon Casters who have their covens in this city?
What does it mean for me?
These are the answers I need, and I’m not going to stop until I learn them.
Chapter 22
NATE
“Allright,”ItellPaul, finishing my third drink.
I’ve been at the bar for hours, working on the fix for the barstool Paul was worried about, nursing my last two drinks, but now I don’t have any way to justify staying here any longer. I’m out of drinks, and Paul doesn’t need any more work done.
It’s enough to convince me of the fact that I need to take matters into my own hands. If there’s a line of liquor credit to be had, I need to get my hands on it.
And maybe it’s a little easier to make this decision because I’m already pretty drunk. I can’t deny that that might be a factor here.
Paul, who has been wiping down the bar, looks up at me.
“All right what?” he asks.
“All right, I’m going to collect the bounty,” I tell him.
He rolls his eyes. “You have to bring in the girl first. You can’t justsayyou’re going to collect.”
“I know that,” I tell him indignantly, but I can hear my own words slurring—doI know that? I’m not really sure what I know at the moment. “I’ll go and get her. I can find her. I’m just telling you that you can stop handing those flyers out.”
“Yeah, that’s not how this works,” Paul says. “I like you, Nate, but I’m going to keep handing these out until someone hands in the girl. That’s what I told that wolf pack I was going to do, and I don’t need them as my enemies.”
Fine. Whatever. Let him hand out flyers to the whole city if he wants. I still have a leg up because I know Emlyn. I know herintimately. True, we were only together for a couple of days, but we got damn close in that time. I think I can use what I know about her to help me track her down now.
I put my glass down on the bar. Maybe I do it a little harder than is strictly necessary—Paul lets out a cry of exasperation. But he’s used to it. I know that. Everyone in the city comes to Paul’s to get their drinks, so he sees the worst drunken behavior that any shifter has to display. Banging a glass down, not even breaking it—that’s nothing to Paul.
I get to my feet and head out onto the street.
Which way would she have gone?
The best thing I can do to start my search is to go back to the last place I saw her, which is easy enough. It was only a few blocks away. I retrace my steps until I reach the intersection where we separated from one another.
My stomach turns over as I approach, remembering how angry she was the last time we saw each other. Howdisgustedwith me she was for daring to lie to her to get myself out of that cage.
Well, really, what would she have done in my position?
Emlyn is smart and capable. She’s not the kind of woman to leave things to chance, or to let herself be pushed around. If she was locked in a cage, she definitely would have moved heaven and earth to get herself out of it. She would have done whatever was necessary. Telling a little lie—that would have been nothing to her.