CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE || BRYAN
T he walls around me pressed in, abruptly too close together. The motel room Tobias and I had occupied for the last several days had seemed almost cozy and safe before. But now, it was barren and unfamiliar. Every piece of furniture looked like it might reach out and strike me at any moment. Or else tear another hole in my chest.
I stared at the half-packed duffle on the bed for a long moment, without really comprehending it. Clothing was scattered all around it. It was mostly my things, but they looked like they belonged to a stranger. And there, on the floor, next to the foot of the bed, there were drops of fresh blood.
Tobias’s blood.
When my gaze landed there, fury ignited somewhere deep within me.
I had been many things since I woke up from the spells Giles had placed on me. I had been horrified. I had been wracked with grief and guilt. I had been afraid of what I might do, if I let my guard slip for so long as an instant.
But I hadn’t really been angry. Part of me had just accepted that this was the sort of thing that happened to me. But this wasn’t what was supposed to happen to Tobias.
And that caused rage to ignite in the pit of my stomach. It set my teeth on edge. In the back of my throat, I let out a low snarl of fury that sounded far more animal than human.
For the first time in months—or maybe even ever—I wanted to hurt someone else. I would tear through the hunters if it meant keeping Tobias safe. I would rip them both apart with my bare hands if I had to.
I wrenched my phone from my pocket and dialed Tobias’s number. It took me three tries, because my hands were shaking so badly.
On the other side of the room, a phone began to ring. My eyes snapped to the sound. Tobias’s jacket was slung over the back of the chair next to the window. His phone must have been in his coat pocket.
I let out a hiss of frustration and ended the call.
Gritting my teeth, I dialed Ethan next. He had insisted on plugging his number into my phone in the days following his defeat of Giles. He had told me that he thought I might want to talk sometime.
I hadn’t called him, because the last thing in the world I wanted to do was talk about my feelings with the warlock I had almost murdered, who was best friends with my mate.
The phone rang long enough that I almost gave up hope that he would answer. But then the line connected.
“Bryan?” Ethan asked, sounding baffled. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“The hunters took Tobias,” I said, without any sort of preamble. “I need you to help me find him.”
In the background, I heard Poppy’s thunderous: “The hunters did what ?”
Ethan must’ve had me on speaker phone.
“Poppy is here, by the way. It’s movie night,” Ethan let out a breath. “Yeah, I was kind of worried about this. The mirror showed me—”
“I know what it showed you,” I cut in, striving for calm. “I overheard everything. I need to know where my mate is, right the fuck now.”
Ethan let out a long breath. “Um, I could ask the mirror?”
“Oh hell no,” Poppy snarled, sounding louder this time. “We don’t have time to play games with a magic mirror whose idea of good time is—”
“It did help us save the city,” he pointed out.
“And now those fucking asshats have my brother,” Poppy hissed. She added, “I’m going to do a locator spell. We’ll text you an address. Be ready.”
With that, the line went dead.
Tension coiled through me as I waited. The minutes passed and each one was worse than the last. How long would it take for Poppy to cast a spell to find her brother?
And why would the hunters have taken Tobias and not me, if they knew where to find us? Was my mate okay? Would I get a chance to tell him that I had chosen him, after all? That I wanted to start a life with him?
If they had hurt him, neither one of them would live to see the sunrise.
Why hadn’t I fed from him and sealed the connection when I had the chance? If I had, this wouldn’t have happened. He could have called out to me for help. And I would have been able to find him without even really trying. My reasons for not sealing our bond seemed so laughable and pathetic, in the face of what might be happening to Tobias right now .
I might never get the chance to set things right between us.
What if—
No. I forced myself off that mental track. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—allow myself to imagine a world where Tobias didn’t exist in it.
If— when —I rescued him, I would put everything right between us.
I would trade away everything I had for him, if that was what was required. I would choose him every single day. I would prove to him that he was both wanted and needed. I would be his lover, his closest friend, his confidant, and his partner in all ways. I would make room for him in my life. And, really, I had always been able to do that, hadn’t I? I had just been so blinded by my own pain and fear that I hadn’t been able to see the simple truth that was right in front of me, all along: Tobias and I belonged together, always.
Then came a strange sound. Like someone knocking on a door.
But it didn’t come from the only entrance to the room, which was behind me.
Instead, it came from the direction of the bathroom.
I frowned and lurched off the bed and across the room, using vampire speed.
The knocking continued, becoming more insistent.
It was coming from the mirror hanging on the wall next to the bathroom door.
As I stepped closer to the glass, it began to fog over.
I watched, entranced, as letters began to form in the fog.
It spelled a message: don’t go.
My blood ran cold, and I blinked in surprise, stepping away from the mirror. I stared at the letters in the mirror, feeling dread fill me. I had no doubt at all about who had drawn that message.
Teresa Dames.
“I have to,” I said aloud. “You don’t understand. They took him from me. I have to save him. I can’t do anything else.”
For a split second, I saw Teresa Dames in the mirror, standing right behind me. She was close enough to touch. Her spectral eyes bored into mine. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.
I whirled around, but no one was there.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
Was she still watching me?
From the bedspread where I had left it, my phone buzzed.
Casting a wary look around me and confirming that Teresa was nowhere to be found, I crossed the room and snatched up my phone. It was a single text message from Ethan’s number. It was the address where Tobias was being held.
Tobias, if you can hear me, I sent through the bond. I’m coming for you. Please hold on.
Then, without waiting a single moment longer, I tore out of the room. I didn’t even bother to shut the door behind me. If someone wanted to steal any of my meager belongings, they were welcome to whatever they wanted. That didn’t matter.
Tobias mattered.
I ran through the streets of the town as fast as my preternatural body was capable of. Anyone watching me would have only seen a blur, moving so quickly that I probably seemed like nothing more than a trick of the light. Something impossible that they couldn’t have really seen.
I didn’t even pause long enough to come up with a game plan or a strategy.
Instead, when I reached the address—a massive paper factory on the outskirts of town—I hardly even slowed down. I kicked the front door in with every bit of strength I possessed, tearing it off its hinges.
I could think of nothing else now except for saving my mate.
Even if I had to kill anyone standing in my way to do it.