Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“Then where is he?”
“How the hell didn’t we know?” Danny asked. “We felt it when Beau found his mate. Both times.”
Beau jerked beneath me.
I stared at Danny as the words played over and over in my head.
“We need to find him,” Mattie said fiercely. “We need to find Ezekiel’s mate.”
“We’re already working on it, Mama,” Ambrose replied gently.
“He could be in danger,” she muttered frantically, looking at her husband. “He could be hurt somewhere.”
“We’ll find him, Mattie,” Erik soothed.
“You need to take that back and have it analyzed,” Chance told Ambrose as Danny handed him back the picture. “We might be able to figure out where it was taken.”
“Where was Zeke in the last year?” Beau asked.
“South America, mostly.”
“He went to Europe to meet that old friend,” Danny said as he sat back down. “He was there for like two months.”
“It had to have been pretty recent,” Ambrose declared. “He knew as soon as he’d found his mate he was required to resign.”
“He should’ve immediately,” Mattie spat angrily. “What in the world was he thinking?”
“Their mission was active,” Beau said calmly. “He probably didn’t want to leave his team short.”
“We could speak in circles all day and never get closer to an answer,” Erik announced gruffly. “Unless Ezekiel had begun writing a journal, I doubt we’ll ever know what led to his decisions.”
We felt it when Beau found his mate. Both times. Both times. Both times.
Danny’s words played on a loop. What had he meant by that? Had Beau found me before that day at the bank? I knew for a fact that I’d never seen him before. It wasn’t every day that you came into contact with the most beautiful man you’d ever seen. Or Vampire, as it were. If Beau had found me earlier, why hadn’t he approached me? The bond had snapped tight the moment I was within three feet of him. I didn’t understand how he could’ve forced himself to wait. Had he just been dealing with the effects on his own, or did I have to feel it too before they started for him?
“I have to bring this back in a couple of hours,” Ambrose said. “We’ll run facial recognition and test it for particulates.”
“Then we should know something soon,” Erik soothed Mattie.
Heat started building, and I surreptitiously slid my hand inside the collar of Beau’s shirt so I could press my palm to his skin. Talk about terrible timing.
“We’ll head back with you,” Chance announced, glancing at Danny.
Ambrose nodded.
Beau tensed. “You’ll keep me updated?”
“Of course,” Ambrose said sympathetically.
“You should go, too,” I murmured.
Beau looked at me like I was crazy.
“You should.”
“Not happening,” he replied flatly, holding me in place as the others left the room.
“It’s important,” I said softly, running my fingers through his hair.
The pain in his eyes was staggering. I’d known that he’d lost a brother, but I’d had no idea how recently, and I hadn’t really had any frame of reference for what that truly meant. His family was so extremely close. When they were all in the same room, it was almost as if you could feel the missing piece. The fact that Zeke had died horribly just added to the anguish that layered the space.
“It would be so incredibly painful for you,” Beau murmured, lifting my hand to place a soft kiss in my palm.
“I could hack it.”
“There’s no way on earth I’d ever be the cause of that.”
“He’s your brother.”
“You’re my mate.”
“You don’t even like me.”
“I’m a fucking idiot.”
“I won’t argue with that.”
“There are plenty of things that I like about you.”
“Name three,” I sputtered sarcastically.
“You’re tenderhearted.”
“I am not.”
“You cut open your arm with a kitchen knife because you thought I was dying.”
“I didn’t think you were dying.”
“You didn’t even wait for help to get there.”
“They don’t have the right blood!”
“They could have told you what to do.”
“I don’t like being told what to do,” I hedged.
“You’re so full of shit.”
“I am not.”
“You’re funny,” he said begrudgingly, making me snicker.
“I thought I was obnoxious.”
“You are.”
“Okay, what’s the third thing?”
“You don’t wear underwear.”
“That’s a bullshit third thing!”
“No, it’s not.”
“That one doesn’t count.”
“I think it does.”
“Your entire family can hear this conversation,” I reminded him.
“They’re not paying any attention.”
“I am,” Ambrose called loudly from the kitchen.
“Oh, great,” I mumbled. “Now they all know I’m not wearing underwear.”
“Who cares.”
“Um, me?”
“Ambrose picked his nose until he was in his twenties,” Beau informed me.
“I did not, you asshole,” Ambrose yelled.
“My parents used to go out every Friday night—”
“Don’t you dare,” Erik thundered from somewhere in the house.
“One time, they decided it was a good idea to get busy in the family car—”
“Beaumont!” Mattie screeched in warning.
“But my father forgot to put on the parking brake, and one of them accidentally knocked the gearshift into neutral.”
I could hear Ambrose laughing.
“That was bad enough,” Beau whispered, leaning close. “But what was worse is they didn’t notice it until they’d rolled down a hill and plowed into the side of some poor family’s house.”