Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
I stare at the bag. “I think it’s probably better if I don’t ask where you got this.” I take it anyway.“But thank you.”
“Of course.” She beams. “The guy said they’re two milligrams each, so you might want to break one in half.”
“That is very useful information.” I’m already planning to Google the numbers stamped into the pills before I take anything. Hopefully, they really are Xanax because all I want right now is to relax and fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. I shower, change into pajamas, and eventually convince myself the pill probably isn’t poison.
I take half of one, crawl under the covers, and open my laptop. Trying hard not to think about Claire, Vaelric, wolves, Reapers, Vivian, or literally anything else happening in my life, I log into Netflix and put on a comedy.
About an hour later, I finally fall asleep. And for the first half of the night, I sleep hard.
Then I dream. It’s strange enough, vivid enough, that I wake with my heart pounding. It isn’t the first time I’ve dreamed about my mother. But this time, she isn’t simply there. She’s warning me.
I have to get to Claire before Vivian does.
Not only to save Claire’s life.
But to keep Vaelric from gaining access to a power he was never meant to wield.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
“Guys!” Leo shouts, startling me. I’ve been sitting on the family room couch, absentmindedly shuffling my tarot cards for the last twenty minutes. I eventually fell back asleep last night, but tossed and turned until Xavier came home sometime before sunrise. I surrendered to him.
Being underneath him, feeling nothing except the pleasure sex brings me, gave my brain enough of a reprieve that I finally fell asleep again wrapped in his arms. I’ve been awake for several hours now, trying to distract myself while he and Theo deal with business in his office.
“I just got a hit on facial recognition for Claire,” Leo says. “Paired with the police report, it’s definitely her.”
“Where?” I sit up so fast one of the cards slips from my hands.
“A bus station in Pittsburgh. She was trying to buy another ticket heading east, but the woman selling tickets recognized her from the alert. When she tried to confront Claire, Claire ran.”
“We need to get there.” I’m already on my feet. “Now.”
“That’s going to take us hours,” Antonio says. “Driving from Charlotte to Pittsburgh? We could miss her.”
“Oh, we’re not driving.” I look at him. “Xavier has a plane.”
“Of course he does,” Antonio mutters. Then he gets to his feet. “Well, what are we waiting for?”
“You’re just going now?” Devon asks.
“Yes.” I know part of the reason he’s asking is because this feels sudden. The other part is obvious. It’s the middle of the afternoon. The vampires can’t come with us. Technically, they could be driven to the airport, loaded onto a light-tight plane, and transported there. But when it comes to running around Pittsburgh looking for a missing teenager, they won’t be much use until sunset.
“We don’t have time to waste,” Leo says. “If we want any chance of finding her before she gets out of the city, we need to move.”
“I’m calling Marie.” I bend down to pick up the card I dropped. Death. Of course. Out of all seventy-eight cards in the deck, that’s the one I drop. Already dressed in black athletic pants and a white crop top, I call Marie as I head toward Xavier’s office. It goes straight to voicemail. She must be inside the Covenstead. I stop outside the office door and pause. Xavier and Theo are on some sort of video call. I don’t want to interrupt. I raise my hand to knock anyway.
The door opens before my fist touches the wood. Xavier stands on the other side. No matter how many times I see him, I don’t think he’ll ever stop being an impressive sight.
“How quickly can you get the pilot to fly me to Pennsylvania?” I ask. “Claire was just spotted in Pittsburgh.”
He stares at me for a few seconds. Then he steps forward, pulling me with him as he closes the office door behind us. “Unless the pilot is on a pre-booked vacation, he can meet us at the airport within an hour.” His eyes search mine. “You want to leave now?”
“Yes.” I twist my engagement ring around my finger, a nervous habit I don’t think I’m ever going to break. I told Xavier about the dream as soon as I woke up. My mother warned me to get to Claire. He knows how important this is to me. And he knows what’s at stake.
“I can do this,” I tell him. “We’re just going to find her and bring her back.” I flatten my hands against his chest and look up into his pale blue eyes. I want to get lost in them. I want him to lift me up, kiss me, press me against the wall until there’s nothing between us but skin. I want to stop thinking. But I also don’t want to lie to myself. “You have to stay.” The words hurt as soon as I say them. I’m somehow finding the courage to say what he hasn’t. “I don’t know how you pulled everything off last night, but I know it’s nowhere near over. You can’t just pick up and leave.”