“What are you doing out here Elena?” Dante asked me as he saw me trying to sneak back into the house. I gave him a sheepish smile, “I needed some fresh air.” Dante gave me a disapproving look, “Mikhail told us to keep you inside the house. I’m sorry kiddo but what he says is what we do.” I cross my arms over my chest with a loud huff, “Well doesn’t anyone ever care about what I want? You know how much it sucks to be locked up in that place with no social contact? I want to talk to him.” I ordered.
Dante gave a weird expression as if he was feeling conflicted, “You can’t do that right now Elena.”
I narrow my eyes on him, “What do you mean I can’t do that right now? Why not? Where is he?”
Dante gave an even more suspicious expression and then changed it quickly, “Oh he’s around, but he’s doing his Enforcer duties. You know how it is—“ He says to me apologetically. Yeah, this is a load of bull. I continue to stare at him tapping my foot, “Uh-huh. So where around here is he exactly? I mean cause if you won’t get him to come here then I’ll just go find him myself.” I say determined to have my way this time. I had things that I needed to talk to Mikhail about, the least of which being that I was probably one of the reasons they had been hunted by the vampires and rogues. Someone really wanted me to be dead.
“Uh—He’s—uh, you know I think I saw him go into a meeting with the Elder earlier. So why not just wait and I’ll tell him you want to talk him when I see him next.” I ground my teeth together in frustration, “Listen I’ve been waiting for three days now and I’m done waiting. I’m not going back in that house until I talk to Mikhail.” Dante looks very nervous over that statement, “Elena, please just listen to me on this okay? He has a good reason for putting you in there. He wouldn’t do it for nothing. Trust me. So go back in the house and Mikhail will come talk to you soon.”
“What’s the reason then? Let’s hear it.” I say with raised brows.
He shifts from side to side, “The reason—I’m not—I can’t say.”
I open my mouth and a growl deep comes out as my eyes flash silver, “I’m over all the secrets got it?! So you have five seconds which is the remaining time left on my patience—to tell me what the hell is going on or I will seriously kick your ass—One—two—three—fo—“ He holds up his hands, “Okay, okay.”
I smirk a little apparently these guys were big softies when it came to me. Maybe it had something to do with Mikhail or maybe it really was just me. He looks around and then grabs me by the arm pulling me around to the side of the house that is hidden by shadows, “Why are you dragging me into the darkness?” I question. He shushes me as he continues to look around checking for people, then he stops letting go of me.
“Okay you’re starting to freak me out—“ I say rubbing my arm a little. Dante pulls out a cigarette and lights it. He takes a puff and I see him relax a little, “Elena, try to remain calm okay?” That’s definitely not something that I wanted to hear right now. You can’t tell someone to remain calm before you give them information that’s like say no offense before you say something offensive. I nod my head but I feel like I am holding my breath. He sighs taking another drag, “Mikhail is MIA.” My eyes widen and my heart drops into my stomach, “E-excuse me?” I stutter.
Dante’s forehead creases as his brow draw together, “He’s been missing for two days for sure now. He told us to keep you in the house and to keep you there until he came back then he took off.”
“And you guys just let him? Without as much as a ‘Hey were are you going?’” I question waving my arms around dramatically. He looks away from me, “You don’t know Mikhail like we do Elena. It’s not abnormal for him to take off for a bit because of—“ He stops himself from finishing the sentence. I wait expectantly for him to continue but when he doesn’t I roll my eyes, “Because of? What were you going to say?”
Dante runs his hand through his hair and takes a drag from his cigarette, “He’s going to kill me if I tell you…” He mumbles to himself looking a little stressed. I reach out quickly and grab onto his shirt, “And I’ll kill you if you don’t. So would you like to die now or later?” I question with a sneer. His eyes are opened a little wider and I let go of him shoving a little. “Damn it! Okay fine but just because you’re his mate and you would figure it out eventually anyway.” I wait feeling nervous about what he is about to divulge about my mate.
“Mikhail—shit—uh—He has trouble controlling his wolf when the full moon is near.” I stare him seriously all of this because of some control problems, “And? We all have a little trouble, what’s the big deal?” Dante shakes his head, “No you don’t understand. Mikhail’s problem is not like ours. I mean he literally can’t control himself—His wolf is too powerful. So he tries to let off steam before the moon in hopes of calming it down a bit. It’s been his way for a while now. He runs off for a day here and a day there to do whatever the hell it is he does.”
“The full moon is in like what two days?!” I proclaim thinking that my mate is out there somewhere trying to contain himself. Oh god, the last time we were together I thought he was being strange and now I know the reason. Dante nods his head, “Yeah and this time he said that its been a lot worse than any other time and he thinks you’re the reason. He was afraid he was going to hurt you which is why he had us keep you locked up in the house. The only problem is he’s never been gone this long…”
“Well why hasn’t anyone gone out looking for him?” I feel my body shaking. Dante puts his hand on my shoulder I think to try and calm me down, “We have Elena. He’s really good at covering his scent. He could be anywhere honestly but we don’t think his wolf would let him go to far from his mate even in a state like—that.” He finishes and his words do nothing to cheer me up. I feel like I can’t breathe. It’s like drowning. You want to breathe so badly but you know if you take a breath water is going to be the only thing you get. So you can hold you breath but either way you can’t breathe. It’s painful. I push Dante away from me trying to catch my breath, “What. Is. This?” I ask between breaths as I grip at my shirt as if that will help me to breathe easier.
“You’re having a panic attack Elena. Calm down okay? Just calm down.” He says to me as he let his cigarette fall to the ground, “We’re going to find him Elena. Brandt and Gideon are out there right now looking for him.” He tries to reassure me. The sinking feeling inside is making me feel like I’m about to lose control and my wolf is whimpering at me not understanding what’s happening. He’s alive Elena you would know if he was—dying. I need to get to him. My leg start pulling me away from the house Dante is falling beside me, he’s talking but he sounds so distant.
Mikhail. I think in my mind and my wolf starts howling when she realizes that something isn’t right. My legs start moving faster and before I know it I’m running full speed towards the woods. I don’t know where exactly I was planning on going but my body seemed to have a mind of it’s own and I didn’t care as long as it took me to him. I had to know he was okay. No, I needed to know he was okay.
Strong arms wrapped around me my leg popping up off the ground, “What the hell were you thinking?! Didn’t you hear the part where I said he thought he might hurt you?” He whisper yelled down into my ear. I struggled in his hold but I had no idea how to break out of the hold he had on me. I finally went limp and at this point tears were streaming down my face—Tears of frustration and sadness—I don’t know why I did it up I looked up into the sky and let out a loud howl to release the build up of emotions.
Dante continued to hold onto me telling me it was going to be fine and that Mikhail was fine. That when we heard it, in the distance there was a loud roar. My body froze and so did Dante’s we both knew who it was, “You shouldn’t have done that—“ Is what Dante whispers into my ear and for a single moment I agree with him then I remembered what I had just done for Victor.
“Dante this is going to sound crazy but I think I have an Idea.” I say softly to him, "You're really going to have to trust me..." hoping that I’ll be able to it again and that it wasn’t just some sort of fluke.