41. Chapter Forty-One
~Evalina~
Calista and I were still exploring the map of my world when she trailed off mid-sentence and her eyes glazed over. I’d noticed that happened when the werewolves communicated telepathically, so I waited anxiously to see what news she received.
“That was Vaughan,” she announced when her eyes cleared, focusing back on me with a trepidation that quickened my pulse. “Felix has disappeared.”
The words hit me like a blow, and I clutched the edge of the desk to keep myself upright. “What does that mean? They can’t find him?”
“I’m not entirely sure. He said he literally disappeared.” Her lips pressed together into a frown, as dissatisfied with that answer as I was. “Vaughan’s on his way here right now, he’ll tell us more.”
Each second we had to wait felt like an eternity. I wanted to jump out of my skin, to do something, anything , rather than sitting there and waiting, but without knowing the details, I had no idea where to start.
Finally, Vaughan burst through the door, his expression grimmer than I’d ever seen. A loose pair of pants covered his lower half and he wore nothing else, as if there hadn’t been time to put anything more on. “They took him. I got there just in time to see them vanish.”
“Who took him? Where?” Somehow, I ended up standing right in front of him though I couldn’t even remember getting to my feet.
“Those damn fairies. Elves? I don’t know.” He raked his hand through his hair, his fingers tangling in the curls as he did. “He linked me and said he’d found the intruders. I was on my way to him and I saw a tall, thin man talking to him. One second, they were right there, and the next, they disappeared into thin air. The others with them scattered back into the trees. I chased them back to the portal and they all went through.”
“What were they talking about?” Calista asked.
“I was too far away to catch what they were saying, and the wolves with Felix could only hear his side of it. Apparently, he said something about kidnapping, circumstances, and a dress code. It doesn’t make any sense without the other half of the conversation.”
Calista’s eyes moved to me, full of just as much concern as Vaughan had. “Do you have any idea what he might have been talking about?”
I wished I did, but the words didn’t make any sense to me. “I don’t even know what a ‘dress code’ is.”
“How did they disappear?” Vaughan asked me.
His intense stare could have cowed me, but concern for Felix overrode any other considerations. “Some elves can transport themselves instantly, but it takes centuries to master. It’s likely the same man we met earlier.”
“And he could take Felix with him?” Calista’s voice tightened with concern.
“Yes. The most skilled can move other people or objects with them.”
“Where would he take him?” Vaughan growled. “And why?”
Those questions, I had no answers for, but Calista stepped in.
“After our conversation this morning, I reached out to some hunter acquaintances of mine. The one who sent me the map gave me some information about elves as well. He said they’ll generally mind their own business unless there’s an incentive for them to intervene. I don’t know what they would want with Felix, but we know that the prince from Evalina’s kingdom wasn’t happy that he escaped. Maybe he offered the elves something in exchange for bringing Felix back, which would mean that we would need to look for him in Etta rather than Exteria.”
Vaughan slammed his palm against the top of the desk in frustration. “I don’t care about fae politics; I just want my Beta. Talk to me like I’m five: what do we need to do to get him back?”
Respecting her mate’s impatience, Calista wasted no time in laying out our options. “The way I see it, we have two potential moves. We can’t use the portal on the Vermillion pack land because I disabled it, but Evalina thinks there’s another portal into Etta, and she has a rough idea where it leads. Using the map, we can try to locate it in our world and cross back to find Felix.”
Vaughan nodded as he considered that. “And the other strategy?”
“We could try negotiating with the elves through the portal here, but if they’re aligned with Tarron, it’s a gamble. We’ll need an incentive big enough that they want to help us instead.”
“There are risks both ways,” he mused. “And I don’t like the idea of putting all our eggs in one basket.”
I didn’t know what eggs and baskets had to do with anything, but Calista seemed to understand him. “You want to try both?”
“Yes, but I want to go along with both teams.” His grimace made it clear that he hated the idea of sending any of his team into danger without him.
He was exactly what a leader should be. Unlike Tarron.
I straightened my spine, determination hardening my voice. “I’ll go to Etta. I know the land and the residence. I’ve worked there most of my life. You should meet with the elves. Protocol and status are important to them and they might be insulted if anyone less than the Alpha attempted to negotiate with them.”
“That makes sense,” Calista agreed before Vaughan could say anything. “I’ll go with Evalina and we’ll take Leo and some of the warriors. Darius and his lieutenants can go with you.”
Vaughan’s jaw tightened, his displeasure at the idea of being separated from his mate visible in every tense muscle. “If there is any sign of trouble, you get out of there. We’ll find another way of getting to him. We don’t even know for sure that’s where he is.”
I didn’t respond to that, but the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that Tarron must be behind it, even if I still had no idea what he wanted with either Felix or me. The prince might be a poor excuse of a man next to my werewolf mate but he had power in Etta.
Leaving Felix to Tarron’s whims was out of the question.
“I promise we’ll be careful,” Calista said, and the two of them shared a fierce kiss that had me blushing to the tips of my ears before Vaughan pulled away.
“Get your team together and go,” he instructed, his eyes returning to me with grim determination. “Good luck.”
“And to you.”
We were all going to need it.