Chapter 27

Islammed my fist into the wall repeatedly, feeling the skin tear and repair itself with each strike. I needed the pain to make me feel anything other than hopelessness.

Crispin was pacing back and forth with his phone to his ear, speaking to someone on his team who was supposedly a tech genius. He had promised that if anyone could figure out who Kallista was, it would be him. I had no choice but to stand there, not even trying to fight back the despair that my mate could be lost to me forever.

One of his Sentinels came rushing in, his hand around the back of the neck of another of Hanover’s rejects. He looked terrified, his eyes darting around the room, looking for an escape. I snarled and stomped over towards him, ready to rip him apart with my bare hands, starting with his arms so I could make his torture last longer. The Sentinel raised his hand to stop me, making me turn my glare in his direction.

“Sorry, Valen, but you are going to want to hear what this guy has to say. I found him hiding in a closet upstairs. I didn’t even have to make any threats before he was spilling every secret the nest had.”

We all turned to look at the vampire, who was cowering pathetically. The Sentinel gave him a harsh shake, and the guy let out a whimper. “Tell him about the girl, now!”

“I-I wasn’t involved. I swear it! I just wanted a place to live, you know? I didn’t know it would be like this!” He turned to the Sentinel with tears and snot slipping down his face. “I just want to be human again.”

Crispin let out a sigh and told his caller to hold on while he stepped over to the young vampire. “Look, you’re a vampire now. There’s no going back. If you want me to end your existence, I can do that for you. But, you see that demon right there who looks ready to shred your flesh and eat your bones?” The guy darted a glance my way and paled dramatically. He looked back to Crispin, pleading with his eyes. “We need information on where your Master sent his mate off to. Do you know who bought her?”

The vampire swallowed and then nodded his head reluctantly. “If I tell you, will you kill me?”

Crispin frowned as he studied him. “Do you want me to kill you?”

“Y-yes,” he stuttered out.

“Fine, I will grant you that wish, but only if what you have to say is helpful. If it’s not, I will lock you in my dungeon and make you live the rest of your existence with only rats for sustenance. Do we have an understanding?”

His crying picked up in earnest, but at least he began to speak, even if I had to strain to understand him through his sobs. “The M-master sold her to some politician. Everyone was talking about it because this politician runs a big campaign on family values.” He swallowed, then chanced another glance my way as I took a step forward.

“Who was it?”

He cringed back at my threatening tone. “It was S-senator Hargrove. That’s all I know, I swear it!” His sobs grew louder as he shook.

Crispin immediately turned away, speaking rapidly into his phone. I frowned as something occurred to me that I missed at the time. I had been too focused on hurting the man who had stolen my woman. “Isn’t that the name the Master called Kallista earlier?”

I turned to Crispin as he glanced up and gave me a look I wasn’t sure how to interpret. “Senator Hargrove has a daughter who disappeared from the public eye a year ago. The family claimed that she was very sick at the time. Since then, the Senator has been garnering sympathy votes.”

He looked down at his phone and then held it up for me to see. On the screen was a younger Kallista standing demurely behind the Senator, who must have been her adoptive father. I wanted to grab his phone and study every feature of my mate. She smiled for the camera, but her eyes told the story of how miserable she was.

“That’s her,” I rasped out through a suddenly tight throat.

Crispin nodded, then exchanged a few more words before hanging up and looking at me. “Senator Hargrove chartered a plane early today. The flight plan indicated a round trip from Arkansas and back two hours later. It looks like he picked up your girl and took her back home.”

I walked straight past the sniveling vampire, not even caring about his fate. That was Crispin’s deal. I only had one thing on my mind. I passed the broken front door and stood on the sidewalk, suddenly at a loss for what to do. I needed to get to Arkansas, but I only had a motorcycle, and that was back at my warehouse. I tilted my head back to look up at the moon. The sky was an inky black dotted with tiny stars, and the moon was nearly full. But I saw none of it.

A hand clasped me on the shoulder. “I’ll take you to her. The Council has its own plane that can be here in the morning. If I’d known I needed it sooner, I would have kept it here, but one of the other Council members needed it for business.” He shook his head and sighed. “The amount of shit we have to deal with on a weekly basis is ridiculous. If I’d known most of my job on the Council was going to be mediating arguments between rich old vampires as if they were a set of kindergarteners, I would have thought twice about taking the job.”

I snorted, appreciating his levity. I looked over at him and saw that he was also staring up at the sky. “I appreciate it. I’m not sure how this whole thing would have gone down if you hadn’t been here. If I haven’t said it yet, I’m glad you’re still alive. Even if you are a bloodsucking leech.”

He grinned. “That’s Councilman Leech.”

“I’d really like to meet the kind of woman who decided to put up with your haughty ass.” We walked to the SUV and climbed inside, waiting for the Sentinels to finish up in the house while we caught each other up on our lives.

It turnedout that the plane Crispin had been waiting on ended up being delayed twice. The first time was because of a mechanical issue that was an easy fix, but it took an entire day before it could fly again. Then we had to wait for the other Council member to fly back to the vampire island since they were done with whatever had taken them out to begin with. I had to concede that since the plane was still there with them, it didn’t make sense to fly in circles. It didn’t mean that I wasn’t growing more impatient and furious by the moment.

The only thing that made it bearable was knowing she was with her parents. From what she’d told me, they were shit parents, and I didn’t trust them to keep her safe, let alone happy. But at least it wasn’t with human traffickers like I’d feared when I’d heard she’d been sold.

By the time I stepped on the small jet, I was nearly out of my mind. I settled into the large leather seat but hardly noticed the wealth and comfort around me. It wasn’t until the plane began taxiing down the airstrip that I remembered I’d never flown before and dug my hands into the armrests. I ignored the chatter around me as I hung on for dear life and wondered how much it would hurt if we crashed and if it was finally something my body couldn’t come back from.

“First time flying?” Jared grinned at me. I grunted and flipped him off, then immediately regretted taking my hand off the armrest.

I felt the plane level out, and everything became much smoother. It no longer felt like the entire piece of metal was going to fall apart, and I was finally able to pry my eyes open.

“You know, you’re lucky your first time was in this plane and not a commercial flight. Those are crowded, smelly, and shake so badly you can’t help but wonder if it lost a bolt or two during takeoff. These planes are so much smoother.” I wasn’t ready to say what I thought about their idea of smooth. I let my heart rate slow back to a somewhat normal pace as I gratefully drank the glass of scotch the flight attendant offered with a sympathetic smile.

It seemed like we’d only been in the air for a few minutes when the announcement came over the intercom that it was time to prepare for landing, which was no better than the takeoff. But at least I knew what to expect that time. It was when the wheels touched down that I nearly ripped the arms off the chair.

As soon as the doors opened, I was out of my seat and making a beeline for the door. I was happy to be back on solid ground but even more grateful that I was a short drive away from my mate.