Because if she didn't...
I leapt into the daylight, uncaring that we broke all the rules we set ourselves years before, leaping across levels until we scoured the alleys for her scent.
I’ll find you.
****
News fucking flash: we didn’t find her.
I padded my street grimed kitty ass back into the apartment eighteen hours later none the wiser of how or where our mate had gone. She hadn’t left the building at all but her scent lingered around it, though neither of us could understand why for the first hour. But as time passed it became increasingly clear that both of our original assumptions were wrong.
She hadn’t left alone. Someone stole our mate.
Gray was inconsolable. And by that I meant everyone who crossed the panther’s path met with a flash of claws and teeth before a naked and furious giant of a man accosted them with his fists.
After eighteen hours of hunting and searching and grieving, he followed me back to the apartment, tail low, paws bleeding like mine. Defeated.
Both of us suffered enough minor cuts during our search that not all of them would heal with the shift. Not fast, at least. We were both running on empty. Me more than him, though we both knew why. And neither of us would be able to find Lottie in our condition.
“Sweetness?” I pushed the front door open, scenting for her the moment I walked into the apartment.
But the scent was faint, this morning’s Lottie, no later than that.
“She’s not here.” Gray crossed the threshold and locked the door behind us, his voice flat.
Anyone else might think he’d given up but I knew him better. The longer she stayed away, the worse he’d be until he killed someone. I liked it better when I was the one we worried about.
“Where do you want to try next?” I asked, afraid of his answer.
Gray ran his knuckles through his hair. “I can only think of a few places,” he acknowledged. “We go back to the Gin Room, wait and see if she turns up at her old haunts. Stalk the boyfriend if we can find him, but I don’t think that’s the asshole we need to find. He’s not of this world. Just—”
“An asshole,” I supplied.
“Yeah.” Gray scratched his claw across his scruff. “Or...”
“The NYC Claw,” I finished softly, hating the option. The reliance.
The group might be able to scent what we couldn’t. They might know why someone came into our apartment and took what belonged to us. They might know who would be stupid enough to risk Gray’s wrath. He was right not to trust them.
Every instinct agreed with him. Shifters weren’t meant for city life, especially not our kind. I ached to swim in cold water, submerged to the neck with Lottie’s arms around me as I towed her around. Put her up on the jetty to a bayou cottage, watch her dry her naked body in the sun, my mark on her delicate skin as I paddled around like a total dick and showed off for her.
Brought her something fresh I killed for dinner. Loved her until she could barely keep her eyes open that night under a star-filled sky so bright she could read under its light if she chose, well away from civilization. Wake her every time she drifted off and love her some more with Gray.
Fuck, I needed her back so damn bad.
The player in me died the moment I set eyes on her.
“Fuck,” Gray muttered, reappearing by my side. I zoned in my daydream. I hadn't realized he had left me alone in the entrance hall. “Eight missed calls.” He listened to voicemail after voicemail, holding up a hand to silence me until he was done.
I shifted on my feet, too impatient, though my exhaustion slammed into me as I leaned against the wall.
Gray’s frown annoyed me but he had plenty of energy. Lottie wore his mark and they bolstered each other regardless of the distance between them. I didn’t have that luxury, wouldn’t until she let me give her my mark.
If we ever fucking well found her again.
It was like finding her for the first time set off a ticking clock in me. Losing her already? It was a fast lane to a useless panther who couldn’t protect the man I used to call brother, who had been my lover for the last years as we traveled together, pretending we weren’t looking for the one impossible creature who evaded us as they did almost every panther shifter.
Our mate.
