“What about you?” she asked, her eyes growing wide with dismay.
Kane shook his head. “I’ve lost too much blood. I’ll only slow you down. Besides, I’m hoping they won’t go after you since it was me they wanted.”
“You can drink from me,” she offered, thrusting her wrist toward him.
Kane licked his lips, his eyes flashing red before he wrestled himself back under control and shook his head. “I’m grateful, I am, but it wouldn’t be enough. I’d drain you.” Nor would he drink from any woman other than his dragon. Taking another woman’s vein, even when injured, would feel too much like a betrayal of Sophia.
Nicky’s eyes glittered with panic as she slowly shook her head back and forth. “I won’t leave you here.”
Gripping her shoulders, Kane looked her dead in the eyes. “You will. I need you to go to Destin Jourdain,” he said, giving her the address. “Tell him what’s happening and everything you saw. Tell him how to find her and then, I need you to go home. The pack is worried about you.”
Her eyes flooded with tears and in a small, almost childlike voice, she asked through trembling lips, “They were?” she shook her head and swallowed. “When no one came, I thought…”
“That they had abandoned you?”
She nodded and Kane lifted her chin with his fingers. “They didn’t. They just didn’t know where to look.”
Nicky let out a broken sob, her shoulders shaking, and Kane allowed her a moment to expel her relief through tears before he prompted, “Are you ready for this?”
Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and nodded.
Kane mentally crossed his fingers and pounded on the door.
A minute, and then five, and then ten minutes passed before Kane lowered his fist that was now swollen and bruised from the force behind his pounding. No one was coming, he realized with chagrin. They either couldn’t hear him, which he doubted, or Evangeline and her little vampire minion had left. He’d give it a little more time and try again, in case they were still in the building and choosing, for the moment, to ignore him. After all, Evangeline didn’t seem like the type who would patiently tolerate such a ruckus disturbing her beauty sleep for long. But if theyhadleft, all Kane and Nicky could do, was wait.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sophia threw herself into her training with vigor and determination that was impressive, even if she did say so herself. Every target was that woman’s face, taunting her, smug in her assurance that she’d ripped Kane from Sophia’s arm. On every tree and bush in the distance during her run through the bayou, she saw Kane, walking away from her and leaving her behind, prompting her to increase her speed if only to catch up with him.
Unfortunately, her control had regressed to the point of nonexistent. She’d blown up the temporary shooting range in a burst of fiery rage, nearly bit Jamie when the vampire had put her hand on Sophia’s shoulder, and she’d snarled “Get away from me,” at Morgan, her voice more dragon than human, when the Born had attempted to calm her. Thus, why she was now training alone.
She didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to answer their questions or see the pitying expression when she told them what happened, nor did she want to hear the equivalent of any ‘I told you so’s’ when they attempted to explain away Kane’s behavior. As for Travis, she’d been avoiding him. He’d comforted her last night, both of them in their dragon forms, his wing over her back as he nuzzled her cheek with his snout. That was enough. She didn’t need her brother to get all riled up on her behalf. Sophia was angry enough for both of them, not to mention the pain… Oh, such pain. Let Travis think she had simply lost control because she was in a crowd and something had startled her. It would be better for all involved.
Sweat was dripping off of her when she finally collapsed at the base of a tree, her breath leaving her lungs in heaving pants, and she had a nasty stitch in her side. She’d overdone it, she knew, but at least now she was semi-confident that she had expended far too much energy to accidentally shift, so, that was a good thing.
Was Kane with that woman right now?The thought, unbidden and unwelcome invaded her mind as she imagined the two of them twined together in his bed, a bed he had shared with Sophia just the night before.
Sophia released a scoffing snort. Had he even had time to change the sheets? The unfaithful wretch. That womanizing bastard.
“Soph?”
Ah, so her brother had found her anyway.
Turning to glance over her shoulder, she pasted a pathetic excuse for a smile on her face.
His hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans, he came closer. “Some of us were going to go down to the river, see if we can pick up any sign of that missing girl. Do you feel like learning to track?”
God, did she ever. She didn’t think she had ever needed a distraction quite so badly. “Give me a few minutes to shower and dress?”
“However long it takes,” he solemnly told her, both of them aware that that promise wasn’t simply about a shower.
Touching his cheek as she drew abreast of him, this time her smile was genuine. “I love you, big brother.”
“I love you too, little sister.”
The search down by the river was undertaken by four teams, dragons and vampires on one team while the other three were comprised of wolves. Each team had a grid section to clear, and all were given a sample of the girl’s scent to follow.
Sophia had raised a surprised brow when she saw Morgan breathe in the scent as well. Seeing the expression, Morgan grinned. “I have some odd genetic anomaly when it comes to my nose. A super sniffer.” She shrugged, “Comes in useful as a Hunter.”
