Page 50 of Air of Seduction

She shakes her head slowly, before turning to look at me, her eyes filled with a combination of confusion and fear. “I… I don’t know.”

“Did he touch you?”

She shakes her head a second time. “No, I touched him. Just his arm, and it was like…” Her eyes close, and she tips her head forward. “It was like he rubbed his finger between my legs.”

My eyes become round as I stare at her. Did I hear her correctly? I must have. But how is that possible? Unless…

A lump forms in my throat when it hits me. True mates.They have a special bond.Ronan’s words reverberate through my head.

Noah and Olivia have a special bond, and Ronan and I don’t.

Pain stabs into my heart again, but I quickly push all thoughts of Ronan to the back of my mind. My focus needs to be on Olivia and her recovery. Nothing else is important right now.

Chapter 30

Ronan

Temple church has a special place in the history of London. Built in the twelfth century by the Knights Templar, it still stands as proud today as it did then. But these days the area where it’s situated is better known as a financial district than a place where pilgrims come for protection.

The tall southern stone wall of the church looks mostly the same as the last time I was here many years ago, and every time before that. The church hasn’t changed much, and that’s one of the reasons I can’t understand how someone can just disappear right outside its wall.

I’ve watched both videos Aidan forwarded, several times, and in each it looks like the person just disappears into the wall. However, all three of us have checked the relevant section of the stone wall, even nudged it with our magic, without finding any entrance or gap of any kind that can explain the disappearance.

“What are we missing?” Aidan turns his head and stares at us from where he’s sitting at the end of the bench outside the church. “If it was only one occurrence, I would assume something happened to the footage. But two? That’s not likely.”

“Unless powerful magic was involved.” My gaze wanders between Aidan and Lucas. “We don’t know anything about those servants. They might be witches or other supernaturals with powerful magic. We have no evidence they’re vampires.”

“True.” Lucas frowns and crosses his arms. “All the master’s servants back in the day were either vampires orhumans, but that might’ve changed. He might have discovered the usefulness of magic.”

“Which means we have to get someone with that kind of magic to check this place.” Aidan smiles. “And thankfully, we have someone available to us. Gawen. His magic is potent, and a lot more versatile than ours.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” I stand. “Let’s go get him.”

Perhaps I can shoot off for a couple of minutes to check on Payton when we get back while the others find Gawen. I don’t know why, but a nagging worry has settled between my shoulder blades, and it won’t ease no matter how much I reassure myself that she’s fine.

Aidan has just slid into the driver’s seat of the large black SUV when his phone rings. A smile stretches his lips when he looks at the screen.

“Trevor. You’re on speaker. I’ve got Lucas and Ronan in the car with me. How are you doing?”

“Great. How is mated life treating you?” There’s a smile in Trevor’s voice.

“Loving it. If only I could have more time to enjoy it. We’re too fucking busy trying to kill the master.”

“Yeah, I heard. So, we thought you might need some help. Jennie and I are leaving in half an hour.”

“If you can keep your hands off me long enough to pack, that is.” A woman’s snarky voice sounds through the phone that I assume is Jennie’s.

I chuckle. It sounds like something Payton would say, and she would be right. I’m eager to get back to her and take her back to bed. And I’m not sure that urge will diminish with time.

“Duncan and Julianne would have joined us, as well, if they hadn’t just found out they’re pregnant.”

My lungs seize in my chest. Trevor is still speaking, but I can no longer make sense of what he’s saying. One word bounces around in my head like a squash ball at a million miles an hour.

Pregnant.

We didn’t use any form of protection. And I pumped my seed into Payton’s womb twice. What the fuck was I thinking? Or rather, why the hell wasn’t I thinking at all?

I know the answer, though. Payton is my true mate, and being with her made me forget everything else. All that mattered was her and us and what we were doing.

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