Page 44 of Elusive Mate

“Yes,” Zaiden said, slowly nodding his head.

“You were right. She lulled me into a contented belief that she had accepted her place as my fated mate, all the while plotting her escape.”

“What do you mean?” Zaiden asked in a surprised voice. “You mean she’s gone?”

“That’s precisely what I mean. Get anybody who’s still sober to start looking for her. I’m going to shift and see if I can’t start tracking her.”

“Can you feel her down the bonding link?”

“Barely. I chalked it up earlier to my being drunk. I’m sober now, and there is nothing. Her little ploy gave her time to get away. I swear to the gods, I’m going to chain her to our fucking bed.”

He had men working on trying to find some trace of her all through the night. They had dispatched men to the airports as well as the bus and train stations in Kodiak and Anchorage. They’d also tried to cover the train and bus stations in some of the smaller cities.

When they’d come up empty, Lucian had told his men to take shifts. If she wanted to leave Alaska, she was going to have to do so on foot. He’d gone into his study to try finding some inkling of where she might have gone or who might be helping her, but that too had proved fruitless. He remembered sitting back in his chair and closing his eyes for just a minute.

Several days passed, each one making Lucian more anxious than the last. Each night it took more and more good scotch to help him pass out.

“Lucian,” said Zaiden, sticking his head into Lucian’s office. “There’s been an incident.”

“What kind of incident?” he said, coming awake. “Is she hurt? Alive? What?”

“From what I can tell, she was picked up by a group of vampires…”

Lucian felt his heart fall into the pit of his stomach. Was he going to have to destroy the creature she would have become if they had turned her? There was no way he’d let the evil that it was to be a vampire destroy the beautiful creature that had been his mate. He would not let her be condemned to such a fate. He loved her far too much to allow that to happen.

He stood up, wearier than he’d ever been in his life. It wasn’t just his body, which had been taxed by the alcohol and worry about Zenya’s safety. Now it was his heart and soul as well. Maybe if he had listened to her and allowed her to be free…

“Lucian, don’t go there. They didn’t turn her.”

He snapped his head up. “They didn’t?”

Lucian grinned. “No, you can let the guilt go and go back to being angry with her. She got picked up and taken along with a group of others to the old mill. Cullen Manchester and Colby Reynolds, working separately, attacked the mill and got them out. Manchester took them all to Ghost Moon Manor to start and then flew part of them to Windsong.”

Lucian stood up, leaning on his fists on the desk. “Where is your misbegotten sister?”

“Have you ever noticed that when she’s behaving, she’s your beloved mate, and when she isn’t she’s my misbegotten sister—although the adjective on that one changes depending on what she’s done and your mood?”

“Why are you in such a cheery mood?” Lucian snarled.

“Because she isn’t dead and she isn’t a vampire. Had she been the latter, you would have sacrificed yourself to save me from having to kill her. She’s alive, Lucian. Let’s take a little comfort from that.”

Lucian slumped back into his chair. “You’re right. Forgive me. So do we know if my misbegotten mate is at Windsong or Ghost Moon Manor?”

“We do,” said Zaiden, sitting down in one of the chairs opposite Lucian.

“Judging from the look on your face, it’s Windsong.”

“Would you rather it was Ghost Moon?”

“Yes. If it was Manchester, we could just take a small group of men, hit them hard, and get her out. With Reynolds, I’ll have to negotiate and be diplomatic.”

“Is Windsong really that well-fortified?”

“I think it is far better able to defend itself than any of the rest of us realize. Reynolds is smart and a hell of a lot more dangerous than most people think. He’s got an intelligence network to rival any government, soldiers of his own and several mercenary units he keeps on his payroll. He’s also part of the Resistance, and they need him far more than he needs them. Trying to get her out of Ghost Moon Manor would be far less difficult.”

“Doesn’t Reynolds have ties to the Shadow Sisters?”

Lucian nodded. “He’s been bankrolling them and giving them safe haven for years. There’s also a rumor that his fated mate is their leader. Get the plane ready to leave for Windsong. I want four of our best men to be ready and waiting at the plane.”

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