Chapter 6

Tristan

"Where's Rhianna?"I repeat when no one answers me.

"We don't know," Azlan says, staring into my eyes.

"You don't know?" I spit. "You don't know?!"

"She disappeared in the midst of the battle," Rhianna's friend, Winnie, explains.

"You let her disappear?!" I hiss at Azlan, stalking towards him. "Why weren't you watching her, guarding her, protecting her?"

Azlan squares up to me. He's lost his dinner jacket, his shirt is ripped, and he's covered in cuts, bruises and soot.

"You want to explain to me, Tristan, why you all of a sudden have an interest in the welfare of my mate?"

I stare right into his dark, angry eyes. "Because she's my mate too."

"Yeah," he says, "your mate too. Something you never thought to tell me." He takes a menacing step closer to me.

"Azlan," Ellie gasps.

"Does your father know?"

"No," I say, not backing away.

Azlan glares at me. "You've treated her like shit." He turns his head and glares at Spencer. "You've both treated her like shit. I should beat you both to a fucking pulp!"

"You weren't exactly the perfect gentleman yourself," the professor says quietly from behind him.

Azlan glares at me harder still. "What happened to you? You used to be a nice kid. Then you grew up into this stuck-up asshole."

"Me, the asshole? You're the one who turned his back on his family. Who left his own sister all on her own to endure the shit our fathers hand out."

"Tristan," Ellie gasps.

"I look out for Ellie," Azlan says. "And I've been looking out for Rhianna. Which is more than you can say."

"Oh really? Because I seem to remember it was me that just took that fucking curse for her. Who saved her."

"But how about all the other bullshit you put her through? You think I've forgotten how you spoke about her to me?"

"I've been trying to put things right," I mutter. "I've been trying to make things up to her."

"Huh," someone snorts, and both Azlan and I turn our heads to stare at Rhianna's friend, her arms crossed, an extremely unimpressed expression hovering on her face. "And doing a pretty pathetic job of it," she says. "Honestly, both of you should have been groveling at her feet, begging her forgiveness and pledging your undying love to her. She is amazing and you," she points at us both, then points at Spencer and Stone too, "all of you have been giant, massive, humongous, unbelievable dickheads." I go to protest but she shoots me a warning look and I clamp my mouth shut. "Too busy with your own self-importance to realize just how amazing and wonderful that girl is."

Winnie's boyfriend scratches his cheek then nods his head. "Rhi really is awesome."

"I know that," Azlan snaps.

"Then what the hell are you doing standing around bickering? Why aren't we out searching for Rhi right now?"

"We?" the professor asks.

"If you think I'm going to stand back while my best friend is missing, you are sorely deluded, Professor Stone."

"I like her," Ellie says.

"Because she's also awesome," Trent says. Winnie nods with defiance.

"So what's the plan?"

"I'm going to go out looking for her," Azlan says, already turning towards the door. "Are you coming, Phoenix?"

"Don't you dare," Winnie says, wagging her finger in his direction.

He turns, slow and sinister. "Don't I dare what?" he says with a face full of thunder.

"Wander off," she says, looking just as stormy.

"Wander off?" he spits.

"What did I just say? You've been acting like dickheads. All of you. You need to snap out of it and get your act together for our girl."

"That's what I'm doing!"

"No, you're not. You're going off in a huff."

My huge cousin growls at Winnie Wence but Winnie Wence, to her credit and my surprise, holds her ground.

"You need to work together, we need to work together. Fate made you Rhianna's mates for a reason, and I'm guessing that's because you are clever, talented and powerful. You need to combine those talents and powers, and use them to find Rhianna, because she's special and it won't be too long before bad people figure that out and come after her."

"Bad people like your father," Azlan says to me.

"Bad people like the fucking chancellor," I snarl back at him.

"It doesn't matter who the bad people are, what matters is that Rhi is safe!" Winnie says with exasperation.

"Winnie's right," Ellie says. "You shouldn't be at each other's throats like this. We've … we've already lost someone dear to us tonight," she rests her hand on my shoulder, "let's not lose another."

Azlan peers at his sister and his demeanor softens, his shoulders slackening. "Okay, we can try to work together. For Rhianna's sake," he adds, throwing me a dirty look.

"Good," Winnie nods, "I think we should start with a bit of honesty."

"Honesty?" I say. "I thought we were looking for Rhianna."

Winnie looks around at us all. "I'm serious when I say Rhi's special, and not just in the I-love-my-best-friend way. Fated mates are freaking unheard of these days. To have one fated mate is rare. But to have four!"

"Four?" I say, peering at Azlan and then Stone. "There's another–"

"Me," Spencer says, stepping out from the shadows. He's naked except for a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and his body is even more busted up than Azlan's. "Rhianna Blackwaters is my fated mate."

"Fucking hell," Stone says, flinging his hands in the air. "You have to be kidding?"

Azlan ignores him, simply glaring at Winnie. "You knew about this?"

"Sort of," she says, looking less confident than she did a few minutes ago.

"Rhianna knows about this?"

"Sort of," she repeats.

"Sort of?" Spencer says.

"We talked about how she felt the pull towards you and Tristan. She was really confused about it. Especially considering the way you were treating her."

"Assholes," Stone growls.

"You were no better, Professor."

"Wait?" Spencer says to Stone. "You're her fated mate too? But you're her professor. That is seriously …" Stone scowls at him and Spencer trails off.

"Four mates?!" I say. "Four? What the hell does this mean?"

And how the hell do I feel about it? I knew about Azlan. I knew about Stone. But Spencer too. The way I feel about this girl is like nothing I've ever experienced in my life before. I'm aware I'm obsessed, infatuated, fucking insane about her. But can I share her? Share her with three other men? Would I want to?

I stare down at the floor. I'm in my socks. My shoes are missing, the floorboards hard beneath the soles of my feet.

Yes. The answer is yes. I could do anything for this girl. I would do anything. I've already given her my life. Anything else seems inconsequential.

I raise my gaze back up to Spencer. He's watching me with trepidation.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't tell me," he points out.

"I didn't know what to make of it at first. I was too caught up worrying about myself and my reputation to realize–"

"Just how amazing she is?" Winnie snarks.

"Yes," I say, meeting her eyes. "Yes."

"And what's your excuse?" Winnie turns and directs her attention at Spencer.

"Excuse? I don't have an excuse."

"You left the academy. Left your mate. You good as rejected her."

"She's better off without me. And I didn't reject her. She rejected me. She had her chance to stop me and she didn't."

"Are you surprised after the way you treated her? And what do you mean you're not good enough? You think any of these clowns are good enough for Rhi?" she says, sweeping her arm around us all.

Spencer peers at me, then Azlan. "I'm a danger to her."

"I think Rhi has done a pretty good job of handling you, Spencer Moreau."

"You don't understand," he says sulkily.

"Try me," she says.

"I think you should," Azlan says. "If we're going to work together to find Rhi, she's right. We need to be upfront and honest."

Spencer works his jaw as if he finds it difficult to say the words. "I'm a werebeast."

Ellie gasps and Trent curses under his breath.

Winnie Wence, however, strides towards him and thumps him hard on the chest with her fists. Spencer doesn't even flinch.

"You attacked her! You attacked Rhi! It was you!"

"I didn't attack her. It was the beast, and he wasn't going to harm her."

"Wasn't going to harm her?!" Stone spits. "You know how many grazes and claws marks I had to treat on her body?!"

"We're one being," Spencer says. "If I'm her fated mate, then so is he, and he would never harm his mate. In fact, we hitched a ride on the tail of a fucking dragon to ensure we got back here to protect her."

We're all silent taking in this piece of information. Then finally, the professor huffs out air through his teeth.

"Is there anything else? Any other bits of information or secrets that we need to know about? Kennedy – do you have a second dick for instance?"

"Only one on his head," Winnie mutters.

"Rhianna can wield crimson magic," I tell them all.

"Wh … holy crap!" Winnie gasps. It's one bit of information it seems her best friend hasn't shared with her, although neither Stone nor Azlan seem shocked by this news.

"That's … are you sure?" Ellie says, alarm in her eyes.

"She blasted me with it," Spencer says. "I'm sure."

"Who is this girl?" Ellie whispers under her breath.

"And where the hell did she go?" I mutter.

We're all silent a second time until Trent fidgets on his feet.

"Has anyone tried her phone?" he asks cautiously.

Immediately, Stone, Azlan and Ellie are pulling their cells from their pockets. I don't know where the hell mine is and I'm guessing both Spencer and Winnie have lost theirs too.

"There's no signal. The tracking device on her phone isn't working either," Azlan growls, practically crushing the device in his fist.

"Towers are probably down," Stone says. "First thing an attacking force would do would be to kill all communication networks."

"She probably doesn't even have her phone on her," I say. "How the hell could she just vanish? Can't you feel her through the bond?"

As I say those words, I unconsciously feel for her myself and the sensation I meet in my gut has my legs buckling. It's different from before. The bond is different. Despite how fucking weak I feel, the bond is alive – strong, vibrant, buzzing with energy. It's as if … as if …

But when? How?

The others are muttering around me but I don't hear the words. All my attention is now focused on that bond in my gut. The one that ties me to my mate, the one that despite its strength and energy feels stretched thin, like she's far, far away. Too far away, unbearably so. I need her here, by my side, in my arms.

Stone glances at Azlan. "I don't know about you, but one moment I could feel her close by – I knew she was there at the academy – and the next she was whipped away."

"You think she was bundled into a vehicle?" Spencer asks.

"Or on top of a dragon?" Trent points out.

"No." He scratches his fingers through his beard. "It wasn't like that. It was more sudden, more brutal. Like she'd been torn away."

"What the hell does that mean?" I say.

"She was at the academy one moment, and in the next she was somewhere else." The professor's fingers freeze in his beard and his eyes widen with horror. "Like she'd moved through space and time."

Alarm flashes across Azlan's face too.

"What?" I say. "What?"

"There's only one person we know with the ability to do that," Azlan says.

"Renzo fucking Barone," the professor growls. "He's taken her."