3

I 've always wondered why there aren’t more supernatural beings on the police force. These mere mortal men are so far out of their league, and they don't even know it. What's worse is that mortal laws and regulations are so fucked that there's nothing they can do because she has only been missing for an hour or so.

Apparently a college student won't even be considered a missing person unless it's been more than twenty-four hours. It doesn't matter that her bag and phone are here without her. It doesn't matter that there's absolutely no sign of her. Because no one saw her be abducted, she may not “actually" be missing.

Fucking idiots .

As much as I want to beat the two officers to a pulp, I know it's not their fault the system is flawed. I just try to keep my shit together until they’re gone.

Once they finally take their leave, they hand me and Zoey their worthless contact information.

Zoey is still yelling at them, and I barely stop her when she picks up a rock and pulls her arm back to throw it in their direction.

This little human is a fireball, and she loves my Leera. Their friendship runs deep, and that means there will probably be a lot of her in my life moving forward. That is, assuming I can find my mate and my life isn’t over. Right now, I need her to calm down and go inside so my men and I can figure out a game plan.

Convincing Zoey to go inside isn’t easy either, and I'm quickly losing the battle with my restraint. Slate comes over—his cool and collected self—and convinces her that the best way she can help would be to stay in her dorm in case Leera shows up. He even walks her inside to make sure she listens.

I will burn this realm to the ground to find her if I have to. I know she's alive because, even though we haven't completed the mate bond, I would still know if something happened to her.

With the way our bonds work, you can feel very strong emotions in a closer space, but even someone who never met their mate would know if they died. The snapping of that living link would be excruciating. They’d be able to survive it, but living an immortal existence and knowing you can never find the other half of your soul is a miserable thought.

I can’t think straight. The terror of my reality is too heavy, and it's slowly crushing me. My men aren't in much better spirits, and all of our wolves are ready to go to war.

As soon as Benny got here, he was in full tracker mode and tried to gather any additional information but came up short. There are a lot of really impactful technological advancements in this current world, but it also makes things like tracking people harder. So many vehicles are so secure that scents don't filter out of them. So once they shut the doors, the trail goes cold.

Since this godforsaken college doesn't have security cameras on the parking lots, we have no idea what vehicle she's in or where they're headed.

Why did she have to drop her fucking phone in the car this morning?

Was it my fault?

Was it the kiss goodbye?

Who took her?

Why did they take her?

I feel my men approach, but I already know what they’re going to say. There's nothing we can do right now, and we need to go home and do what we can from there.

Slate is going to run her photo through facial recognition and screen all the traffic cameras in the area. If they have her in a car with regular windows, we might get lucky.

Eris and Dolos are going to use their spy skills from the army back home to track down our enemies and see if they can find anything out. It's naive to think that an ancient foe or rival wouldn't be involved.

Andrei looks as green as I feel. Seriously, is he going to throw up? Andrei, you good brother? He just shakes his head and walks away.

Well, okay then.

I walk inside to talk to Zoey before we leave. I knock on the door and wait as I hear her shuffling around the room.

She barely cracks open the door, and her eyes are red and puffy. “The guys and I are going to head out. Here's my number. Please let me know if you hear anything. Go ahead and text me so that I have your number, and I'll do the same.”

She accepts my phone number, but she doesn't look at me. She just nods her head a little and slowly shuts the door in my face. A moment later, my phone pings with the requested text, and I program her number into my phone.

I need to get out of here.

I need to go for a run.

I need to find my mate.

I burst through the door of the building, leaving my car on the lot for now. I have to shift. I need to let go and give myself to my wolf for a while. I've run all the way across campus when I finally hit an area wooded enough that I can let myself go.

I step behind the overgrown brush and stash my clothes for when I’m finished. Thick cream-colored fur replaces my smooth golden skin as a deep, mournful howl is ripped from my body. My wolf is livid. He's blaming me for dropping her off this morning because he just doesn’t get it. It's not like it was five or six hundred years ago. Hell, I don't even know how old my soul truly is. And no matter how much we want to, we can't just claim our women and keep them with us for every moment.

I run until it feels like my legs might actually fall off, and it still doesn't feel long enough. How the fuck am I supposed to do anything until we find her. We have an away game in two days and are supposed to fly out tomorrow morning. How the fuck am I supposed to give a fuck about hockey when she's all I can think about?

I've circled back to campus so I can grab my clothes and car I left here so many hours ago. I hate the sight of the campus and all these people carrying on with their lives like my whole world isn't crumbling. Like my reason for living isn't missing. Not missing. Taken.

I throw myself into the car and hope the guys have something—anything—when I get home.