23. Jess

I sat in my car, parked in front of the bar, looking at my phone. No texts. No calls.

It was seven o'clock. Where the hell was Gravod?

I'd texted him earlier, saying I had big news I wanted to tell him in person. My day, which started out so badly, had turned into a huge win for me.

Before giving Kevin the press release, I'd sent it to Harriet "for review." That way there'd be a record if Kevin altered it. I honestly never anticipated she'd send it out. But she forwarded it to every email list, blog, and social media account in her vast network. And her response back to me?

Thank you so much for your diligence, Ms. Smith! Mr. Wilson contacted me directly to compliment you; he was very impressed at your meeting. You deserve recognition for all the preparation you did to secure this collection.

It was amazing how that short note boosted my confidence. And it wasn't controversial at all. The release just said the library was being gifted the Wilson archive, and I was listed as the contact. My phone had been ringing non-stop.

Kevin's name wasn't on any of it.

I knew he was angry. Word got around that he'd been shouting in his office. Then he went home early.

There was a not-so-small chance that he would try to retaliate, but I wasn't going to dwell on it. I had a treasure trove of papers to sort through, from one of my favorite authors, and Kevin couldn't stop me. I was feeling pretty awesome.

Then Gravod didn't show up at my place after work. He didn't answer my text. After a while, I changed into jeans and fixed myself a sandwich for dinner, my emotions bouncing between worried and pissed off. Then I got in my car.

Had I been wrong about him? Were all males just assholes?

I blew out a breath. I'd justified driving out here for two reasons. One, maybe something was wrong. He had alien stuff going on. Maybe he'd been legitimately delayed. Two, if he had actually been lying to me this whole time, getting me to believe we had some special connection, that we were mates… I was going to find out. I was not going to be the last to know he was a liar.

It still shocked me how many people knew Kevin was cheating on me and never said anything until after we broke up.

And if Gravod had lied about me being his mate? If it had all been some bizarre story to get me into bed?

I liked to think I would do something fierce. Something badass. Not sob and eat ice cream for a week.

No. I refuse to be that pathetic.

Lifting my chin up, I got out of the car and headed for the bar. Then I caught a flash of motion by the edge of the parking lot.

Gravod?

It was already dark, so I couldn't tell for sure. The figure moved farther away from the dim light of a lamppost, then disappeared into the tall grass of an adjacent field.

That's odd. I frowned. There wasn't much out there. Just overgrown weeds and some dilapidated farm buildings.

I had a split second to decide whether or not to follow before I lost sight of them. If it was Gravod, I wanted to see him, to find out what was going on. And even if it wasn't, I was curious to know what was so interesting out there.

Was tailing someone into a spooky field a bad idea? Maybe. Fuck it. I came here for answers.

My legs carried me quickly across the pavement. The figure ahead of me was just visible in the distance, moving fast, and I pushed my way through the grass to catch up.

Something kept me from calling out, and as I closed the distance, I was thankful. Because it wasn't Gravod. The male I was following had a shock of red hair. My steps slowed, and I swallowed hard.

It was the guy who had acted so strangely the other day, telling me Gravod was out with his girlfriend. What was his name? Thylor?

A barn appeared ahead, apparently his destination. As I got closer, the size of it became more obvious, and hairs stood up on the back of my neck. It was gigantic. Way too tall, wide, and long to be a regular barn, even though it had that recognizable shape.

I had a pretty good guess about what was in it.

The guy stopped moving, and I crouched down just before he looked over his shoulder in my direction. My heart was beating wildly.

This didn't seem right. Gravod needed to know where this guy was.

Still crouched, I turned quietly to go back, to find Gravod and tell him what I'd seen. Then a strong arm banded around my waist and lifted me off the ground. I started to scream, but a large hand covered my mouth.

"Well, isn't this convenient. Just who I wanted to find."

I kicked my legs in the air, but I couldn't get away. He carried me toward the barn as if I weighed nothing.

"Shh. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not the villain here."

Yeah, right. Pretty sure kidnapping makes you the villain.

But when he opened the barn door and I saw what was inside, I stopped thrashing. All I could do was stare.

It was breathtaking.