Her father finally stepped forward and unlocked the chains holding her in place. “We were worried that someone had placed a spell on you to hurt you, but Helena assures me that there’s nothing to worry about, sweetheart. You’re all good.” He pulled her into a hug.
“Oh, thank God! But who would have done such a thing?” she asked. “Who would target me and why?”
“You know I have a difficult campaign coming up, dear. I’m afraid that one of my opponents is up to no good and hoped to get to you in order to destroy our family.”
“What! Are you serious? How is that even allowed? Aren’t there laws against that?” she asked. Though her father had brought up the possibility of things like this happening when she was younger, she figured that as an adult, she would be in the clear when it came to being a liability for her father’s political career.
“There are laws against it and don’t worry, dear, we are working with the police department. But we wanted to make sure that no one had compromised you,” her father said.
“Thanks, Daddy.” Allie wrapped her arms around her father and returned his hug.
“I will always protect you, no matter what the threat is,” Alonzo said.
Allie knew in her heart that her dad would always protect her, even with their rocky past, even if they hadn’t always seen eye to eye on everything. She pulled back from the hug and rubbed her wrists.
“Clinton, what are you doing here?” Allie asked.
“I asked him over for dinner tonight, sweetie.” Her mom smiled at her.
“Oh. That’s nice. How’s your mom?” she turned to Clinton and asked.
“She’s great, as always. She wanted me to tell you to stop by sometime. She said it’s been a while since she’s seen you.”
“It has been. I’ll have to set something up to pop in one day after work.” It had been months since she’d seen Mrs. Hollingsworth. She used to stop in and have tea with her regularly, but ever since her husband had passed, Mrs. Hollingsworth had stopped seeing visitors during her time of mourning. Not that Allie could blame her. If she’d lost the mate she had spent the last fifty years with, she imagined her mourning would be profound as well.
There was a bang at the front door, pulling Allie from her thoughts. “Did you invite someone else?” she asked.
“No. Why don’t you let Clinton escort you to the dining room while I see who it is? I’ll just be a minute.”
Allie nodded, but something felt off.“It’s probably just the witch’s magic,”she said to her tiger, thinking that must have been what was affecting her.
I don’t know. There’s something strange about this whole situation,her tiger replied.
Allie shrugged it off, not knowing what to make of it, and turned to face Clinton. He held his arm out for her. “Always the perfect gentleman,” she said, smiling up at him.
SIXTEEN
MARC
He’d tried to contact her through their mating connection several times, but she failed to answer. Just as he rounded the block to her parent’s house, it felt like his soul had been ripped right from his body. He stumbled and instantly shifted back to his human form.
“Marc! What’s wrong?” His mom quickly shifted to her human form and helped him up off the ground.
“Allie! I can’t feel her anymore. It’s like my connection to her dissolved. Like she’s not even there. Like our mating connection is gone.”
“The witch. It has to be,” Gerri said, quickly shifting to her human form as well.
Marc stood, hanging his head toward the ground. It felt as if his heart had been ripped from his chest. Whatever he and Allie had shared was gone. He felt it. His wolf felt it. And it fucking sucked. The woman he loved, and he had mated … their connection had been erased as if it had never existed to begin with.
“The house is just on the other side of the trees,” Gerri said. “We have to …”
“Have to what? It’s done. I’m too late.” Marc felt like what remained of his heart was breaking into a million pieces.
“Listen to me, Marc. Allie is still your mate. Even if the connection has been broken by a witch, it can be re-established,” Gerri said. “Just because they want to keep the two of you apart doesn’t mean the fates will allow this foolishness to stand. Everyone knows you can’t fight fate. Now, pull up your big boy panties and quit pouting. You’ve got a mate that needs saving.”
At that moment, something in his brain clicked. Gerri was right. He heard the truth in her words and felt that same truth even deeper in his bones. His tiger rallied inside his mind.
She is still our mate. Even if she no longer knows it,his tiger growled.