I expected an angry rebuttal from my mother, but instead she smiled and nodded. “About time you grew up. I told your father a trip abroad was just the thing to shake you up.”
It took much longer to get checked into the private boutique hotel and escape the waiting press and paparazzi than I wanted,but by midday, I was showered and changed and headed back to campus, but this time, with a discrete team following me.
I needed to find Stacia. I needed to talk to her. My wolf had surged to the front, prickling against the inside of my skin. The one-bloods were still a threat, getting bolder and harassing the campus. They didn’t think highly of humans and had been known to even traffic human women to degenerate packs. And my Stacia was all too human.
The main problem, of course, was that I had no bloody idea where to find her. We’d never made it back to her apartment, and even if I had her phone number, her broken phone was back at my hotel suite.
Without any better options, I headed back to the Wolves’ Den, hoping against hope that she might still be there.
The place was all but dead that early in the day, and the fading scent of ripe peaches dashed my hopes thoroughly. She wasn’t there.
Ty, one of my fellow Dire Wolves and soon to be alpha of his own newly formed pack, came out of the back with a tub full of clean glasses to start restocking the bar, so I rushed over, practically crossing my fingers.
“Hey, man,” Ty greeted me. “What can I get you?”
I raked a hand back through my hair, my wolf all but pacing inside my chest. “Is Stacia here? Anastasia?”
Ty frowned, giving me a look over. “No, sorry man. She called out for the day. Said she wasn’t feeling well.”
“Ah.” Was that because of me? The thought was gutting. “Do you know where she might be?”
Ty gave me another look over, something a little too close to sympathy crossing his face before he shook his head. “Sorry, man.”
It had been a long shot anyway. I gave Ty a tight smile and moved away from the bar.
She wasn’t there. She was somewhere. My mate was out there, a bunch of one-bloods were circling the campus, and I didn’t know where she was or if she was safe.
My wolf surged again, a low snarl building in my throat. I couldn’t change, not there, not in broad daylight. The Wolf Tzar would not be amused.
There was one more thing I could try. Bonded mates could share thoughts. It even worked on humans, or at least that was the rumor. If she wasn’t too furious at me for lying to her and then leaving her like a cad, even if it hadn’t been my choice.
Stacia, I thought, forming the words carefully.Stacia, where are you? Please, I can explain. Just tell me where you are.
I waited, barely daring to breathe. A minute passed, and then another.
Stacia?
Every second waiting felt like a knife in the chest.
She didn’t answer.
STACIA
There was only so long I could mope around, at least that was the rumor.
Okay, so the hottest guy I’d ever met, with the yummiest accent, and who had actually made me see stars last night, and into this morning if we’re being real, might have secretly been a prince, and he just never bothered to tell me.
I mean, I couldn’t blame him after he’d heard me gushing about, well, him. Just remembering how I’d gone on about the royals made me want crawl into a hole and then pull it shut behind me like something out of a cartoon show.
And then he was gone, poof. Sure, I knew he was an exchange student and that we weren’t going to have long together, but that had still been pretty shocking. One second, we’d been cuddling, totally blissed out. The next, the room was full of strangers, one of which might have been Bash’s, sorry, Ruslan’s mother, the queen.
Thank whatever fates were listening that Bash had thought to toss his sweatshirt over us, or every jiggly inch of me would have been on display in a room full of judgy strangers.
A plate clinked against the table, and I lifted my head out of my arms to Charlize putting some drink that seemed to be atleast fifty percent chocolate drizzle and whipped cream in front of me. The Moon Bean’s coffee shop was always good for a decadent little pick-me-up.
“Come on, it’s not that bad, is it? I mean, nothing’s official yet, right?”
I blinked at her, confused. No, Bash and I hadn’t been official. I mean, I’d hoped to see him a few more times but… wait, how would Charlize have known that? She hadn’t even seen Bash and I together. “Huh?”
