Chapter 18 #4
“It is that serious now, Frankie?” he asks quietly.
I run a hand over my face, tugging at my short beard as I lift my head to the dark sky.
There’s too much light pollution for me to see the stars, but the moon is there, a thin crescent that’s easily covered by the clouds rolling by.
The soft sound of footsteps has me stepping further away from the entrance of the eatery as a young woman in athletic wear, her blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail, walks up the sidewalk.
She gives me an appreciative look before heading inside, a coy smile on her lips.
“Yeah,” I finally reply. “It’s serious. He’s the one for me.”
If Vincent says no, if he tries to force me to leave Seth, I don’t know what I’ll do. I doubt my father will let me walk away. I know too much about the organization. Not to mention, he’d lose face if one of his own kids ran away after officially coming out of the closet.
Shit, did I just do that? I’ve never been shy about who I slept with, but they’ve never been serious. I’ve never had an actual relationship, and certainly not one that I would tell my father about.
“Very well. Just know, I expect to meet this young man at some point. Does he know we are attempting to find his uncle?”
“He knows. I don’t think Seth fully understands what could potentially happen if he is found, but he knows we are looking for him.”
Vincent hums, and I can hear the flipping of paper on the other end of the line. “And what have I heard about you telling Lirael’s crew to keep an eye out for a snake shifter?”
I grit my teeth, but I can understand why he’s asking questions. I don’t put my men on alert without reason.
“Seth’s ex has been making a nuisance of himself. He’s also attacked Zeke and destroyed one of our properties.”
“Keep me updated. And get with Gio in the next few days. He should find something by then.”
I hang up after that, my skin prickling with unease. I scan the street, but I can’t see anything out of the ordinary. Something has my wolf on alert, an almost physical tugging on my chest that is insisting I go back inside the eatery. Quickly.
Stuffing my phone into my pocket, I head back inside, but the table I had left Seth at is empty. Brows furrowing, I look toward the bathroom, but the door is partially open, and the light is off, he’s obviously not in there.
While not something I’d normally consider suspicious, what is a red flag is that it’s empty in here. The blonde woman isn’t in here, and I know she didn’t leave through the front door. But Meryl isn’t behind his counter either, and that simply doesn’t happen.
Reaching behind me, I flip the deadbolt on the door as I scent the room. “Meryl?” I shout out, my voice echoing oddly in the cramped space.
Shouts come in reply from the back hallway, and I race in that direction, my heart hammering in my ribs. Panic unfurls in the back of my mind, an ever-changing scenario of what it could mean that Seth is no longer at that table.
I turn the corner to find Meryl by the back exit, his hands covering his gray head as the blonde woman shouts profanities at him while smacking him.
“Whoa, what the hell is going on here?” I demand, striding up to the two humans.
The blonde woman immediately stops what she’s doing, her hands falling to her sides.
She tilts her head to the side, turning to face me, and my wolf is instantly on edge.
She stares at me silently, her blue eyes vacant, and the feeling of uneasiness intensifies.
Where is Seth? If he’s not in the seating area, nor the bathroom, where did he go and why? And what does this woman have to do with it?
As if awakening from a deep sleep, the woman jerks, her eyes blinking rapidly as she sways on her feet.
Those blue eyes meet mine in confusion before she looks around herself, her eyes widening even more.
Clearly, she has no idea where she is, even though she seemed completely lucid when she walked through the front door.
“Is there someone you can call?” I ask, looking over at Meryl, who’s leaning against the wall, rubbing the side of his head as he glares at the petit women.
She shakes her head, swaying slightly before she stumbles away from me, back toward the front of the building. I only briefly watch her walk away before I’m beside Meryl, looking him over as he swats at me with one liver-spotted hand. “The man I came in here with? Do you know where he went?”
Meryl gestures to the back door. “Taken out back. Woman jumped me before I could get a look at the man.”
Fury shoots through me, my wolf snapping its jaws, but I keep my composure.
Meryl is just as much a victim in this, even though he doesn’t mean nearly as much to me as Seth.
“Make sure the woman is okay, she’s clearly been bespelled, then close up shop and take care of yourself. Call the doc if you need to.”
I pat Meryl’s shoulder before I throw open the back door, my phone already in my hand as I dial Lirael’s number.
The darkness in the back alley is damn near complete, no streetlights illuminating the concrete this far from a main road.
But there’s still enough light to catch upon the small keychain on the pavement, the Cheshire cat grinning up at me as if it knows all the secrets of the world.
The line clicks as Lirael finally answers. “Get the crew. It’s time to skin a snake.”