Chapter One #3
Wylder was fast. Partly because his enhancements allowed him to move faster than a normal human but more from fear. The harder he tried to push himself, the farther away that Theo was getting! Wylder knew in his heart that he wasn’t going to reach his mate in time.
Theo had spotted them.
Wylder’s little shifter looked to be yelling at him, for him, Wylder couldn’t tell as he was so far away.
Theo was too far.
Something was not right!
And then he was gone.
Wylder was still running when Theo disappeared. He stumbled as time seemed to speed up or maybe caught up. Wylder was in the place where his mate had been seconds before. No Theo, no Garrett, and no tree.
Nothing made sense.
Wylder had been so far and was now right there?
“No!” Josh screeched. He patted the ground where Theo had been. “Theo! Garrett!”
On his hands and knees, Wylder panted. “Where did they go?” he croaked out. “Where?”
Josh turned to look at him. “They were summoned.”
“Summoned?” Wylder repeated. He didn’t even know what that meant. Josh really needed to give him more information. He tried digging his fingers into the grass as if he could find Theo somehow. “How? Why?”
“Dark magic,” Josh whispered. “It reeks of the unseelie.”
Dark magic? And Wylder’s mate was gone? Just gone?
He slammed his fist into the ground.
It wasn’t fair!
Wylder slammed his fist down again.
Not his sweet little Theo. Theo had never hurt anyone in his entire life. No matter what had been done to him Theo had never quit, never given up, was the sweetest and most innocent being in the entire world.
“Take me!” Wylder screamed as he pounded the ground. “Take me!” Not his sweet Theo!
Wylder should have been the one!
He should have died in the military. During the experiments. Hell, Wylder had volunteered to be tested on! Theo would be so scared. Terrified. He’d looked terrified in the moment his and Wylder’s eyes had met before he’d disappeared.
“Take me to him!” Wylder demanded. “We need to find him!”
“What is happening?” Alek’s thick Russian accent sounded behind him then the vampire plus was by his side.
“He’s gone,” Wylder told him. Was he crying? When had he started to cry.
“Wylder?” Dario wrapped an arm around him.
“The unseelie,” Mitch growled out.
“He’s gone,” Wylder said again. “Just…gone.” What would they do without their little shifter?
Would they ever see him again? What would the unseelie do to Theo?
Theo couldn’t fight back against something like that.
He was a precious cat that stood no chance fighting evil.
That wasn’t supposed to Theo’s duty. He was the smart one, the sweet one, the glue that held all of the mates together. Their reason for living.
“It’s not possible,” Dario said. “Theo is a shifter. He can’t be summoned.”
Wylder turned his head. “I saw him!”
Dario was pale and shook as he glanced around, his gaze never settling. Like he would be able to see Theo.
“Dark fae blood magic,” Mitch announced. “It is powerful. I haven’t sensed this much magic in decades and never used in the human realm before.”
“Was it the dark elves?” No! They couldn’t get their hands on Theo.
“I don’t think so,” Mitch said. He stood where their tree had once been. “They are workers for the unseelie. Followers and not leaders. I’m not sure they could even harness the amount of power that it would take to summon a shifter from another realm.”
“Who else would be after Theo?” Wylder asked. “We’ve been the chosen for like five fucking minutes. We haven’t even had time to make enemies yet. And we’re bonded. It’s not like they can stop that from happening now.”
“I can barely feel the bond but it is there,” Alek said.
“We need to follow him!” Dario declared.
“Yes!” Wylder climbed to his feet with the help of Alek. That was what he’d been trying to do.
Dario rose to his feet. He was dressed in a suit and tie. Had probably been at some important meeting or something. Nothing was more important than their little shifter.
“Open a portal,” Wylder told Mitch.
“Wait.” Alek squeezed his shoulder. “We need to make a plan.”
Fuck that! They could make a plan later or— “The plan is to follow Theo wherever he is and bring him back home.”
“It’s not that simple,” Mitch replied with a grimace. “Alek is correct. Theo could be miles away from where he was summoned to. Or in the hands of someone expecting us to come to him. We can’t go after him and put all of us in the hands of the unseelie.”
“I don’t care.” Wylder stomped to his demon warrior mate. “You can open a portal, so take us to Theo.”
“I don’t know where he is,” Mitch said quietly.
“I thought you could portal to us! That’s what you said. You said if we needed you, then you could get to us!” Wylder couldn’t help the way his voice rose. This was about saving Theo.
Dario was wringing his hands as he paced. Why was he not backing Wylder up here?
“I need to call my fathers,” Alek said as he pulled out his phone.
“Fuck that! You can call them later. We need to get to Theo!” Was he the only one that cared? They had to know how scared Theo would be right now.
“Wylder.” Mitch grasped Wylder’s shoulders and forced him to turn. “I know you want to go now but we must take precautions. Make a plan.”
“I’ll go by myself!” Wylder declared. “Open me a portal and I’ll go.”
“Not yet.” Mitch squeezed his shoulders.
“What do you mean not yet?” Wylder glanced from Mitch to Dario to Alek and then Josh. Too much time was passing. “We’re wasting time.”
“That’s another concern,” Mitch said, giving him a small shake. “Time works differently in the fae realm than it does here.”
Wylder shook his head hard, forcing himself to swallow down a whimper. He needed his sweet little shifter mate. They needed to go now. Just go. They could figure things out once they got to the fae realm.
“Listen to me.” Mitch lowered his voice, making it hard for Wylder to hear.
“I am.” They were the ones that weren’t listening to him. Theo. Theo. Theo. Wylder needed to protect his mate. Theo was all alone. He shouldn’t be alone.
“Wylder, I can’t sense Theo,” Mitch said quietly. “I can feel and scent the magic used but I can’t…feel him.”
Wylder’s knees went weak. Luckily Mitch was there to hold him up. “Is…is he…”
“He’s still alive.” Mitch placed his hand over Wylder’s heart. “If you weren’t so upset, you would be able to feel the bond is still in place. Like Alek said before, the bond is faint but there. That means that he is either far away from us or magic is blocking him. Neither is good.”
“Please!” Wylder fisted his hand in Mitch’s black T-shirt. No, he couldn’t feel the bond. Wylder couldn’t feel anything except the cold grip of fear that had a hold of his heart.
“We will get him back,” Mitch told him. “You have to trust us.”
“But—” They should always be able to find each other. Wasn’t that the entire purpose of their bond? Wylder should have asked more questions. Or read those damn journals with Theo. Theo had just been so obsessed with the journals and they had made him happy. Wylder had wanted Theo to have that.
“We are going to find him.” Mitch said the words like a promise.
Dario wrapped Wylder up from behind. “We are going to find him.”
“How?” If they couldn’t just portal to Theo, then how would they find him. Or how long would it take?
“He has to be in the fae realm,” Dario responded before kissing the back of Wylder’s neck. “But that realm is massive. Even if we portal to the unseelie side, it will take some work to track him. And we don’t know who summoned him.”
“It has to be the dark elves,” Wylder pointed out. “They already went after him once. They’re the only ones who have been after him.”
“Maybe the person that the dark elves are working for,” Mitch suggested.
Having no idea what Theo was going through was driving him crazy. Theo might still be alive but Wylder knew from firsthand knowledge that surviving wasn’t always a good thing. “Someone did summon him. Someone has the power and used it to take Theo from us,” Wylder yelled.
“It would take Theo’s blood and a whole lot of power. Very few creatures would be able to pull it off.” Dario hummed. “We need to come up with a list of who would be able to pull this off before we chase after Theo.”
“Then make the damn list!” Wylder wanted to shake Dario. He didn’t need Dario’s thinking face. He needed the Daddy part of Dario to come to the surface and get their mate back.
“My fathers are on their way. So is Evian.” Alek joined their little circle. “I’ll have Evian begin researching who might have done this.”
“We have to wait on them?” Wylder wanted to move now.
“They have been to the fae realm more than I have. They have contacts and can call in favors,” Alek explained. “Going up against someone powerful enough to do this means we need back up. We could be facing the entire unseelie army.”
“Josh can take me,” Wylder suggested. Why hadn’t he thought about that? Josh was a dryad from fae. They could get a head start. “We’ll start looking for him and you can join us—”
Alek shook his head. “No. It is too dangerous.”
“Too dangerous. Too dangerous! Theo is out there all alone! He’s in danger.” Theo, this was Theo they were talking about. Wylder didn’t care how dangerous it was.
“He has Garrett with him,” Josh said quietly. “At least he’s not alone.”
Wylder shrugged. That was good. “But—”
“I can only go home. Using the portal that Mahah set up for me. It wouldn’t do us any good as we have no clue where to start looking for him. And my realm has a very strict protocol that has to be followed. I can’t wander around the realm without permission. Especially on the unseelie side.”
Protocol? If anyone thought Wylder cared about protocol, they were going to learn real fast that he didn’t. The entire world could go to hell. Literally. Nothing was more important than saving his mate.