Page 51 of Bite the Power
Bjorn and Elora stood in the corridor, their faces etched with the kind of concern that made Tessa's stomach drop. Bjorn's usually composed demeanor had cracked, while Elora's pale blue eyes held genuine fear.
"Missing how?" Kaidan's voice carried the lethal calm of a predator preparing to strike. "Elaborate. Now."
"I checked on him last night, like I always do before I go to bed," Elora said, her words tumbling out in an unusual rush. "He was in his guest suite, working on those seismic readings. But this morning—" She spread her hands helplessly. "Gone. Bed not slept in. No note, no explanation."
Tessa's mind raced with possibilities, each more disturbing than the last. "He wouldn't have gone out alone, especially not in that blizzard. Eli's too smart for that—he understands Arctic conditions better than most people."
The mate bond carried Kaidan's surge of protective fury, so intense it made her breath catch. His hand found her lower back, a possessive gesture that grounded her even as her own panic threatened to spiral.
"Someone took him," Kaidan stated with deadly certainty. "No other explanation makes sense."
"Magnus," Tessa whispered, the name tasting like poison. "After last night's council meeting, after you publicly claimed me as your mate—he must have snapped."
Bjorn's brown eyes hardened. "The question is how he got inside the palace. Our security?—"
"Is compromised." Kaidan's voice could have frozen the Arctic Ocean solid. "Someone on my staff betrayed us."
Tessa's analytical mind kicked into overdrive, sifting through recent interactions. "That server from our private dinner—the one who kept staring at us with that disgusted expression. He had access to the guest wing."
"I remember him now," Elora said grimly. "Henrik. Been with the palace for three years, always seemed resentful about the research station."
Kaidan's hands clenched, his control hanging by a thread. "I'll fire every last one of them if I have to. Tear this place apart until I find who?—"
"Later," Tessa interrupted, surprising herself with her firmness. Through their formed bond, she felt his need to protect, to control, and to dominate the threat. But right now, action mattered more than retribution. "We can deal with palace security and staff after we find Eli. If Magnus has him..."
She didn't finish the thought. Didn't need to. They all understood what Magnus was capable of—the lengths he'd go to prove his point about humans being a threat and Kaidan being a terrible king.
"He's using Eli as leverage," Kaidan growled, his protective instincts now focused like a laser. "Trying to force my hand."
The irony wasn't lost on Tessa. The night she'd officially become Kaidan's mate, gaining the ultimate protection of an Alpha king, someone had stolen away the man who'd brought her here in the first place. The peaceful afterglow of their completed mate bond felt like a lifetime ago.
"We need to move," she said, already heading back into the chamber to grab her clothes. "Every minute we waste gives Magnus more time to?—"
"To what?" Elora's voice carried the same deadly edge as her brother's. "What's his endgame here?"
Tessa pulled on her thermal pants with quick, efficient movements. "Probably wants to prove that the king having a human mate will bring nothing but danger. If something happens to Eli while I'm 'distracting' Kaidan..."
"The clans will blame me for putting desire before my duty," Kaidan finished, his voice rough with understanding and fury.
The political implications made Tessa's chest ache. Magnus wasn't just threatening Eli—he was threatening everything she and Kaidan had built together. Their mate bond. His kingdom. Her place in Frosthaven.
"We get everyone," Kaidan commanded, shifting into full alpha mode. "Every clan member who can track. Bjorn, mobilize search teams—I want this kingdom scoured from border to border."
"Already calling them in," Bjorn confirmed, his phone pressed to his ear.
Tessa laced her boots with trembling fingers, the mate mark on her hip a constant reminder of what she stood to lose. "The storm will have covered any tracks, but maybe we can find where they took him. Magnus isn't exactly subtle—he'll want us to find some trace because he would love a public fallout."
"This is about intimidation," Kaidan said grimly, helping her into her parka. "He wants me to come looking for him and publicly humiliate me, like my father publicly humiliated his."
The fury radiating through their bond made Tessa's skin tingle. Her mate was ready for war, and part of her—the part that was now permanently linked to his polar bear—relished the deadly promise in his movements.
"Then let's not disappoint him," she said, meeting his fierce gaze. "But we do this smart. We find Eli and get him to safety first. Then we end Magnus for good."
Kaidan's smile was all teeth and danger. "Now you're thinking like a queen."
They rushed from the palace into the aftermath of the historic blizzard, the unstable terrain reflecting the dangerous stakes of their desperate search. The peace and unity of their mating night lay shattered like the ice and snow around them, replaced by the crushing weight of responsibility and the terrifying possibility that they might already be too late.
Tessa gripped the dashboard of Kaidan's Jeep as they navigated the treacherous post-blizzard terrain. The vehicle lurched over chunks of ice and debris, but Kaidan's hands remained steady on the wheel and his eyes fixed ahead with laser focus. Even in crisis mode, her mate radiated that raw commanding presence that made her pulse stutter.
