Earlier in the day...
Music: 'Get Ready' by Chase Holfelder (cool as fuck song - definitely listen to this one)
Chapter 26 –Race – Cage's POV
I could not possibly have heard Kieran correctly. I asked through clenched teeth, "What the fuck do you mean she is gone?!"
Kieran flinched as he explained, "I went to check on her this morning, as you asked. When I didn't find her in your personal suites, I checked the library. But she wasn't in any part of your domain. So, I found her caregiver, Ella. She told me that Queen Ileana summoned her."
"What for?!" I hissed.
"She didn't know. She simply left Raine at the door. She thought it was strange when she didn't see her return, but assumed Raine was probably spending time in the library. She did tell me that something was off about Raine's expression and that she had seen her tear pages out from one of the books."
I stopped him. "Back up...What did she mean off?"
"She could tell she had been crying," he supplied.
Fuck, I never should have left her last night. I knew she was upset. I would kill Vladimir if anything happened to her! But why did the Queen demand her presence?? I couldn't risk asking the Queen about it. If Armand knew she had fled, he would question her loyalty and our union. I wouldn't let that happen!
"Okay, get Ella to meet us at the library," I ordered. I needed to find the book Raine had extracted pages from.
..........
"It's this section." Ella pointed timidly to a section of books.
I examined the books carefully. Some had more dust than others signaling they hadn't been disturbed recently. But others had potential. "Pull all of the ones she touched," I told him as I began to do the same.
Kieran knew exactly what I meant and started to extract just the books it was obvious she had moved. We fanned the pages of each, looking for any torn pages.
The pile on the floor, where we threw the discarded books, was getting to be quite large. Something nagged at the back of my mind. She couldn't have read all of these books just this morning. No, she had to have spent a great deal of time here and it was obvious what she had been looking for – maps. I wondered for a moment if her leaving had anything to do with Vlad at all, or was he just the final straw to her escape plan. Fuck.
I forced the thought out of my head. I couldn't afford to be distracted if I was going to find her safe and unharmed. The terrain around our estate was not easy, to say the least.
"Here!" Kieran exclaimed, pushing a book in my direction.
I took it and examined the text right before and after the missing pages. I murmured out loud, "It had to be a topographically map. From what I can tell, I think it was of a section in the direction of the mountains."
"Shit," Kieran breathed, echoing my thoughts.
Suddenly, his phone rang. He held it to his ear, but I could easily hear Talia on the other end. She told him quickly, "I found it Northeast wing, section 18!"
I turned to Ella and ordered severely, "Stay in my quarters. If she returns, call me immediately. You are not to speak of this to anyone, do you understand?"
Her eyes were wide at my fearsome expression. She nodded quickly and scurried in the direction of my personal suites.
Kieran and I traveled as quickly as we could without causing suspicion, to the location Talia had provided. The slow pace drove me insane, but finally we were there. Talia stood at the end of the hallway, next an exit door.
"Shit. If she went out this door, why wasn't security notified?" I asked her in confusion.
"Because she didn't go out through the door," Talia replied and walked into the room closest to the door. When I saw the open window, I knew exactly what she meant. I inhaled deeply, tasting all of the scents in the room.
Kieran confirmed what I already knew, "She was alone."
"That's one good thing. At least we know another vampire didn't take her," Talia supplied.
My eyes were hard as I nodded. That just left the terrain and I couldn't search for her for another six hours. I growled in frustration, "Fuck!"
Both of them waited for my next order.
"We're going to your quarters to wait," I said as I looked toward Kieran.
He raised an eyebrow.
I knew he was confused that I hadn't chosen mine, but Ella was already there to notify me if Raine returned. And on the off-chance that Raine decided to come back on her own, she might seek out Kieran, not me. That thought made my eyes shift to crimson. I spun and walked away, leaving them to follow me.
.........
I had paced Kieran's living quarters for hours, cursing the sun the entire time. We had one hour left before we could safely leave. My phone rang, interrupting my furious thoughts. I snatched it quickly and was confused to see it was from an unknown number. For just an instant, I was hopeful that Raine had somehow found a phone and called me. However, in the next instant I recalled that she didn't have my phone number, because I hadn't given her a phone. Fuck.
I answered it, "What?!"
The voice on the other end didn't seem surprised at my aggression. It was a voice I knew well and had purposefully not programed his number into my phone. It wouldn't be a good idea considering he was a spy for us in the Hunter's territory. His words chilled me to the bone, "The Hunters are on the move. I don't know why or for what. But the atmosphere here is fierce. Hayden assembled a task force of ten and left. I don't have specifics but I did hear they were heading toward the Alpine Village."
He hung up without further details.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
The Alpine Village was the nearest populated town. It was in the direction of the mountains, but would still take days for a human to reach it on foot. But that wasn't the worst part, by far. This could not be happening. No, instead of just wild animals, now she had a task force of Hunters tracking her?!!
That thought caused almost paralyzing fear. I struggled to control the rage vibrating through me.
"How do the Hunters know?!" Kieran breathed in shock, having heard the conversation on the phone, without me needing to relay it.
I ground my teeth together, "Obviously, we are not the only ones with spies on the other side. And they have a significant jump on us."
"There are eleven of them, Cage. Will three of us be enough if we encounter them? Obviously, they are not going to abide by any treaty rules when it comes to her." Talia said worriedly.
"It's going to have to be enough. I cannot risk Armand learning until I know exactly what is happening," I replied tightly.
The next forty-five minutes were the longest in my life. We had gone back down to the exit Raine accessed and decided to use the same window, instead of the door, so that we also did not alert security. I wondered how she knew about the security. But obviously I had seriously underestimated her on more than one level.
The instant we could move, we shot out the window and into the woods. We followed her scent until it veered to the right, clearly not in the direction of the village. We slowed for just a moment. Talia asked, "Should one of us head toward the village while the other two continue with her scent?"
It was good strategy, but not when there were Hunters in play. The ratio of eleven to three was bad enough. And I was fairly certain we were going to run into their best fighters. I answered quickly, "No, we stick together."
We hit the water next and her scent ended.
Fuck, she was too smart for her own damn good.
If I didn't already know the village she wanted to get to, ending her trail could have effectively slowed me down. As it was, we cleared the water with an easy leap and then drifted along it. She had to get out at some point. Quick quickly, we had it again and continued inward toward the village.
As we drifted silently, I was amazed that she had had the endurance to get this far in such a short period of time. We were deadly quiet now as we moved, knowing it was likely we would encounter the Hunters at some point.
Suddenly, I smelled them.
And Raine's scent continued in the same direction.
Fuck, if they killed her already, I would slaughter them all!