Page 61 of A Wolf's Treasure
But he wasn’t wrong. She was gone. He’d frightened her off with his heartless brutality. Shame weighed heavy on his shoulders, but he shook it off. He would bellow his sorrows and beat himself up later. Right now, he needed to find her and make sure she was safe.
Punching in the code, he cut off the alarms and cracked open the front door. Carefully, he looked out, scanning the immediate area just in case he was wrong in his assumptions. When no one jumped him, he opened it wider and stepped out onto the porch. He caught the slightest whiff of primroses lingering in the air. Backing up, he smelled the wood of the doorframe right about at the level of her head. The scent was stronger there, like her riotous hair had brushed it on her way out. “Damn it!” His fist punched the wall, leaving a hole, and he slammed the door.
But what if she’d been taken? Someone could’ve come to the door and tricked her…
He immediately dismissed the idea. His Ryanne was a smart lass. She would never fall for something so obvious. And if that had been the way of it, the outside alarm would have sounded as soon as someone crossed over onto the property.
Back in his room, he found his boots and a dark, clean shirt. A light raincoat hung in the closet, but he left it there. It would help keep him dry, but the crinkling sounds of the material would only give him away. Besides, he didn’t mind the rain. The only bad thing about it was that he needed to hurry before it completely washed away her trail.
Outside, he locked up the house but didn’t reset the alarms in case she came back. A busted door could be replaced. The alarms would alert anyone within a few miles and would draw unwanted attention, especially with the sun coming up soon. Though the house was located at the very tip of the island, there were humans just south of them. The safe house hid in plain sight, surrounded by enough woodland to hide them if needed, but close enough to the regular population to be overlooked by those who might mean them harm.
At his Jeep, Duncan pulled out a burner phone. He started dialing Cedric, stopped, backed out of the call, and put the phone in his front pocket. His lass had a good head start. Even on foot, she could run at a speed that rivaled only the vampires, but there was no way in hell he wasn’t going to find her.
Leaving his Jeep where it is, he searched for her trail. The rain was letting up, but it was still falling in a nice drizzle typical of this part of the country. Rain be damned, he found her footprints near the water and followed them for a good mile or so. When he had a good idea of where he was going, he ran back to the house and got in his Jeep.
Ryanne was following the water’s edge. She probably thought it would help cover her scent, and it did. But not enough to hide her from him. And she was obviously in too much of a hurry to think about the trail she was leaving in the soft ground.
Knowing the direction she went, he now had a good idea where he would find her. She could outrun him on foot. But she wouldn’t outrun Vina.
Fifteen minutes later, as the sunrise was sparkling on the water, he pulled up to the ferry that would take him back over to Seattle. Leaving his vehicle in the line waiting to board, he walked up to where those without a car were waiting, looking for her dark curls.
But Ryanne wasn’t there.
Fighting down the panic, he backtracked the way she would’ve came. There was no sign that she had made it this far.
He’d been positive this was where she had headed. Was the lass hiding on the island somewhere? But that didn’t make sense. If she’d wanted to escape him, she knew he would look for her, and she also knew he would sniff her out if she was anywhere nearby.
Rushing back to his Jeep, he pulled out of line, drove over the curb and went back the way he’d came, using the roads that hugged the coastline as best as he could this time. Every few minutes, he’d pull over and walk to the water, searching for some sign of her.
His gut was beginning to ache, tied up in ropes as it was. What if he’d been wrong? What if she hadn’t run but been taken right out from under his roof while he’d been hiding in the bathroom like a coward?
No. He couldn’t think like that. He would find her. And she would only be hiding as he’d thought. Perhaps she only thought to scare him. To teach him a lesson.
A few miles up the road, he finally thought he caught her scent on the bark of a tree in a wooded area mostly hidden from the houses. He walked south along the coastline a little ways and lost it. Turning back north he picked it up again and followed it back toward the road. He lost it again before he was free of the trees.
It was like she’d disappeared into thin air.
That icy feeling came back to his chest. There was only creature he knew who came and went through time and space on nothing more than a whim.
The Faerie prince.
Duncan’s vision blurred as the world spun around him. Bracing his hands on his knees, he forced air into his lungs. When he could breathe enough to speak, he pulled out his phone and dialed Cedric, still bent over. “He’s got her,” he told him as soon as his alpha answered. “He’s got my lass.”
Rising to his full height, one hand pulled at his hair as his teeth ground together. “It’s my fault, Cedric. It’s my fookin’ fault.” His voice broke on the last sentence.
A few seconds later, he snapped the phone in his hand and tossed it on the ground. A howl of pain and rage boiled up within him, and he covered his face with his hands, releasing it all into his palms. His wolf prowled beneath his skin, its teeth bared, aching to rip into the prince for taking its mate.
Slowly, Duncan straightened and ran his hands through his wet hair. He hadn’t felt the rain that was now coming down heavier, cold and wet on his head. He didn’t hear the water lapping against the shore. Nor the distant sounds of the humans as they left their houses and headed off to start their days.
Mine. The lass is mine.
His wolf growled in agreement as Duncan’s jaw clenched. Och, aye. Why had he not seen it before?
Because he’d been too caught up in what happened in the past and blaming her for it. For something she hadn’t participated in or even known about.
He moved his head from side to side, stretching the muscle and easing the tension. With purpose now, he strode back to his Jeep.
Ryanne needed him. And he would not let her down again.
