Page 87 of Those That Don't Exist
I hold his gaze, forcing some of the warmth I used to feel into my eyes using my magic. It’s not a lie because the affection is still there, it’s very much not dead yet, but it’s suffocating with each hour I’m trapped here.
The key is indeedunder a sofa cushion. I slide my arm out, fingers gripping around the small metal item. I pause for a second like I expect some alarm to go off, but everything stays quiet and dark. Stalking on silent feet towards the door, I take extra care not to make any sounds. Ty is sleeping deeply in the bedroom, I’d made sure of it before I’d slipped out.
Fitting the key into the lock silently is no easy task, and neither is turning the mechanism so slowly it makes barely a sound, but I manage both. My heart is thumping hard in my chest as I ease the door open and slip out. It's only as I find thestairway I let some of my supernatural speed take over. On bare feet I fly down the flights of stairs in mere seconds.
Once outside I slip on my heels and take one last look back at the apartment block. A sick feeling settles in my stomach which I ignore. Turning toward the city I stride away from Ty, and start heading home.
CHAPTER 31
TY
Iroll over in bed and immediately spring awake. Something's off.Have we been discovered?I reach out to my shadows, they don’t alert me to any intruders.
They’re still agitated with me. Normally they feel like an extension of my senses, but I have to truly concentrate to get their response this time. Not that I blame them.I fucked up big time with Red. I’m aware, trust me.
I hadn’t intended to snatch her from the gala but fear doesn’t lead to rational decisions. Even after I’d got her here, to the flat I quickly rented as we left the venue, I had let my baser instincts entirely control my actions. It was only as I saw fear cross her face, fear I’d caused, some rationality came back to me.
Should I have let her go in the days since? Maybe… But whilst I was willing to reconsider my original plan of running away I was not going to let her run out of my life without forgiving me first. She was still mine. And I could tell she hadn’t fully trusted me again so I forced her to stay.
My stomach plummets as I realise what’s wrong. The apartment is too quiet. I leap up, dashing to the main room. It's empty. I burst into the bathroom next. Empty also.Fuck.
I dart back into the bedroom and throw open the closet door. It's empty as well. Every room is empty. She isn’t here. I quickly grab my trousers, shoving them on with shaking fingers. My shirt follows. I’m striding back through to the lounge area as I attempt to button it up. I throw myself down in front of the couch, thrusting my hand between the cushions, my hand touching nothing but the fabric.Shit, shit, shit.
My breaths come fast and hard as I stand, swinging myself towards the main door, pausing for a fraction of a second to slip my feet into my shoes. I’m out of the apartment and into the stairwell before I stop to think.
Her scent is very faint but still clinging to the air. She can’t be too far. I inhale deeper as I descend the steps. She hasn’t touched the stair rail or the walls. She’s being clever, trying to leave as little scent as possible. If I didn’t have it so well ingrained in my brain I wouldn't be able to track it as I burst out of the entryway to the flats and onto the street.
Would she go home? That seems the most likely place but how would she do it? She has no money and no phone. I’d seen to that. Maybe if she found a taxi they’d take pity on her and allow the fair if she promised to pay for it at the other end. She would need to find one though. And a taxi would probably take longer than darting through the city where cars are banned.
I’d taken one here so we could mask our scents once we’d crossed out of the pedestrian zone. Would she try to do that?
I waste precious seconds trying to decide what Red would do, where her brain would go in this situation. In the end I take off running towards the centre.
With so many streets criss-crossing and the open air I quickly lose her scent. I rely on instinct alone to guess the path she might’ve taken.
As I jog my mind runs wild. Thoughts of the night of the gala plague me. As soon as I saw Red staggering off the barstoolI knew something was wrong. Her scent was covered by some potent narcotic. I’d scanned the room, zipping my eyes around every area, clocking every face.
I’d spotted Mitch standing near a stage curtain. He’d mouthed one word to me as I’d reached Red’s side.
“Go.”
I’d dragged Red from the room, telling her we needed to leave, to get out of the city. She’d argued with me. Pleaded with me even. But she was drugged, she couldn’t understand the full extent of the danger we were in.
I needed to get her to safety. We couldn’t go anywhere where they might find her. I’d quickly opened my phone, found a flat for short rent and booked it. Followed by tickets on a ferry out of here before discarding our phones as we crossed the suburbs. I thought when she came round she would understand.
I’d been so wrong. My fear had coloured everything and I had betrayed her. Now I might lose her forever.
My feet pound the pavement faster as I send shadows in every direction searching for a trace of her. They comply as if knowing the danger Red might be running into. Would the pack still be out in the city searching? It had been a couple of days but I knew Adicious wouldn’t be giving up. If they hadn’t found any scent trails of us, however, the pack may have already widened the search, crossed to the continent. I had to hope they had because if the whole pack were still here searching tonight, I didn’t stand a chance. Red didn't stand a chance.
What if she’d already run into them?
I couldn’t go there, I couldn’t contain the rage building in my chest at what I’d do if they had.
I reach the start of the inner section of the city. Crossing the final road and into the pedestrian zone. I have to make another choice. Would she skirt the busy centre, where bars and clubs would still be open? They would give her the protection of acrowd. Or would she stick to the quieter residential streets to make her way back to the campus buildings and her house? I close my eyes momentarily with the anxiety chewing at me, I’m paralysed for a few precious moments. My shadows don’t detect her in the immediate vicinity.
Something deep in my gut tells me to head towards the bars but what if I’m mistaken? I take off again, praying my intuition isn’t doing me wrong.
CHAPTER 32
