Layla Nash - A Valentine's Chase (City Shifters: the Pride) (10 page)

R
uby went
with Rafe to Meadow's apartment as the rest of the Council got their people searching throughout the city. When Rafe could focus through the panic of losing his mate, gratitude that all of the shifters would immediately drop everything to help find Meadow almost overwhelmed him. But then he would remember that she was missing, and BadCreek probably had her, and everything else would fade away. Only rage remained.

When he knocked on the apartment door, his fist dented it. Ruby gave him a sideways look and muttered, "Dial it back. Let me do the talking."

The door opened with the security chain still engaged, and a perky brunette peered at them through the three-inch gap. "I'm not interested in buying anything, thanks."

"We're not selling anything," Rafe growled.

Ruby scowled at him and smacked his arm. "We're friends of Meadow. We're trying to find her."

"Jesus," the roommate said, then shut the door and fussed with the chain. The door opened again and she stepped back to let them in. "Everyone's looking for Meadow today."

"What do you mean?" Ruby took the lead, trying for friendly even though she towered over the petite girl.

"Some dude this morning came by and wanted to know where to find her." The roommate shrugged, but her head tilted as she looked at Rafe. "You're really familiar. Are you... Holy shit, no way! You're the guy from the matchmaker? The one Meadow met. Damn. If I'd known you were actually as good-looking in person as you were in the picture, I might have stuck around." And she winked at him, as if the date were a shared joke.

He hated her. Hated her so much he wanted to destroy the apartment and her car and everything else he could reach. And he wanted to drive to the matchmaker's office and give Paula a piece of his mind for thinking he would ever get along with the vapid little wretch standing in front of them.

She didn't notice his anger, but Ruby did. His sister patted Rafe's chest and focused on the roommate. "What did he look like? The guy who wanted to find Meadow."

"Oh, tall dude. Black hair, really gnarly scars on his face. A little creepy, but you know." She shrugged and headed into the kitchen to retrieve a bottle of diet soda. "Meadow goes for creepy."

A growl started in his chest before Rafe could swallow it back. He would send his people over to pack Meadow's things, and she would never deal with that horrible girl again. Ever. Meadow would live with him over the bar before she'd go back to that apartment.

The roommate blinked and he tried to stop the wolf from snarling at her. Ruby gripped his shoulder until she nearly broke the skin through his sweater, and tried to smile at the girl. "Sorry, he's had a stomachache for a bit. If you saw a picture of the guy who asked about Meadow, would you recognize him?"

"Probably." The girl eyed her. "How do you know Meadow?"

"From the bookstore," Ruby said, flipping through her phone until she pulled up the surveillance photos Smith had obtained of the various BadCreek pack members. "Start from here and keep swiping right. Tell me if you see the guy."

The girl frowned at the phone as she paged through the photos. "Is Meadow in some kind of trouble? No offense, but she doesn't get this kind of attention much. Or ever."

"She's gone missing," Rafe managed to say.

"Missing? Figures." The girl sighed and handed the phone back to Ruby. "The rent is due in two days and she still owes me half. This is the guy who asked about her. I told him she was working and he said he'd meet her at the bookstore."

The wolf raged and almost broke free. The scarred face and dead eyes of one of the BadCreek betas stared back at him from Ruby's phone, and Rafe thought his mind might break and he would be stuck as the wolf forever. Ruby took one look at him and shoved him toward the door. "Thanks. We'll be in touch."

"Cool." She shrugged and rolled her eyes. "Tell Meadow she owes me four hundred bucks."

Rafe couldn't take it. He spun on his heel and dodged past Ruby as his sister tried to drag him out the door, and instead he confronted the roommate. "You told that guy where to find her. He kidnapped her and now we don't know where she is. She could be hurt or dead. Because of you. Because you don't give a shit about anyone but yourself."

The girl's face drained of color. "What?"

"Yeah." His fists clenched and he could feel his teeth getting larger in his mouth. A dangerous sign even as they caused a hint of a lisp. "Some friends of mine will be here in an hour. They will pack up all of Meadow's things, and then you'll never have to see her again. And here." He had just enough cash in his wallet to throw on the table to cover Meadow's rent. "That should cover what she owes. Don't ever call her again."

He couldn't breathe until he stood outside and the door shut behind him. Ruby shook her head as she started down the stairs. "Maybe not the best idea to threaten the girl."

"It wasn't a threat." He sounded too grim. Almost as dead inside as that BadCreek beta looked. Rafe snarled and grabbed the banister, wrenching at it in his anger until it splintered and fell apart. "We have to find her."

"We will." Ruby strode to the car, her phone to her ear as she issued orders to the rest of the pack.

"Ruby," Rafe said, but stopped as he pulled his door shut and stared out the windshield, a sudden possibility tilting the world and shaking him to his core. "What if she isn't the same? They could be doing anything to her."

He cut off and gripped double fistfuls of his hair, wanting to tear it out at the roots as a hundred awful possibilities occurred to him. BadCreek would hurt her in order to hurt him. They might experiment on her, pump her full of chemicals and God only knew what.

"Brother." Ruby faced him across the console as she started the car, though she didn't put it in gear. Instead she smacked his cheek to get his attention, even though Rafe felt wild-eyed and almost halfway toward shifting. Her voice dropped, steely and controlled. Confident enough he believed her. "If she is hurt, we will heal her. If she is scared, we will reassure her and protect her. If she is... different, we will cherish the memory of what she was and love what she has become. She is your mate. She is our family. We will get her back and you will be fine. You will both be fine."

Rafe met his twin's gaze and took a deep breath. She was right. Of course she was right. The wolf retreated slightly, content that Ruby was also on the hunt. "Okay."

"Okay," Ruby said. She put the car in drive and peeled out, headed for the bar and the rest of the pack. "Smith is meeting us at the bar with whatever his people found. The sooner we find her, the better."

He concentrated on Meadow, on the tentative thread that connected them. The wolf wanted to hunt, nose to the ground, and search until they found her. Search until they found that scar-faced bastard who drugged her at work and dragged her away. His hands clenched again and he had to roll down the window until the cold air knocked the rage back a level. He had to be clear-eyed and focused to find her. Anger only clouded his judgment. Rafe took a deep breath and sent a promise into the universe, so Meadow would know, wherever she might be.
I will find you and bring you home.

He hoped she heard him.

T
he hours ran together
until I had no idea how long I'd been in the facility. They brought meals even when I wasn't hungry. Dr. West came back a few times to discuss my delusions and whether I'd gotten to a point where I could acknowledge the hallucinations as hallucinations. I struggled to play along and tell him what he wanted to hear, because deep down I couldn't think for a moment that Rafe wasn't real. That what we'd shared was just a product of my imagination.

The third time West returned, he brought someone else with him: a tall, dark-haired man who looked just close enough to Rafe that my heart leapt and I thought I might have been saved. But it wasn't Rafe, just a handsome man with a couple of scars on his face. West smiled as he approached the bed. "Do you remember Nick, Meadow?"

Nick. I searched his face and my memory for any hint of a connection to the stranger, but came up empty. I shook my head slowly, paralyzed by the fear of what West would do because I didn't remember the tall guy. Nick didn't even blink, watching me with a small degree of interest. The doctor sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Nick is your boyfriend, Meadow."

"Boyfriend?" I bit my lip to keep from laughing or crying. The impassive giant looked about as cuddly and comforting as a brick, and I couldn't imagine him stroking my hair or kissing my neck or waking me up with gentle snoring. "I don't think —"

"You met earlier in the year, when you were still at school. Before you tried to hurt yourself."

"I
didn't
—"

"The first step towards healing is acknowledging the difficulties you've faced," West said, unmoved. He was the worst damn psychiatrist I'd ever talked to. I wanted to punch him right in the nuts, and wished I had my taser to back it up. "Meadow, Nick helped you heal. He stayed with you after you left the facility, and helped you move in with your roommate. He's been here every day for the last week, since you arrived."

I shook my head, clutching at my temples. At least they'd removed the restraints, though I only wore a set of scrubs and socks under the thin sheet. It couldn't be true. Nick didn't look like someone I would trust. He didn't compare to Rafe. "I appreciate it but I don't know him. I don't love him."

West's eyebrow arched. "But you love this Rafe character?"

"Of course." It slipped out before I could check myself, and I shivered and shook my head as his expression darkened. "No, I didn't mean that. I meant I love the idea of him. Not that he's real. He's not real."

"He isn't real," Nick said, and his voice came out deeper than I'd expected. A hint of empathy lurked in his dark eyes, but one of the scars pulled at the corner of his mouth until he sported a permanent smirk. He didn't try to touch me, at least. "Meadow, he's not real. We have a long road ahead of us. Just focus on getting well."

My breath caught as I stared at him. And again a seed of doubt grew in my heart. No one would go to the crazy wing of a hospital and try to convince a girl he was dating her unless he was
actually
dating her. I rubbed my forehead, wanting to curl up under the sheets. My voice came out too small. Too sad. "I don't know what's going on."

They exchanged a look and Nick edged close enough to touch my hand. "It's okay, Meadow. Just relax. Maybe in a week or two, I can take you home and we can start over."

"Are you lying to me?" I looked up at him, praying he would admit it was all made up or a big misunderstanding, and for a moment I saw something in his face that gave me hope.

But instead he squeezed my hand and said, "Just focus on getting well, Meadow. I'll visit you tomorrow."

Then he and West left, talking in low voices, and I stared at where the door shut behind him. I lay down with my back to the door and buried my face in the pillow. Maybe I'd dreamed Rafe up because Nick had all the warmth of a whetstone. I wanted the type of love that Rafe gave me, and when I didn't find that in the real world, maybe my brain took a vacation and made him up. I squeezed my eyes shut.

The tears snuck out anyway and I drew my legs up to my chest, struggling to breathe normally. I tried to hold on to Rafe, to my memories of him. The feeling of his fingers running through my hair, the warmth of his skin against mine, the taste of his lips. The ecstasy of making love to him and waking up in his arms stayed with me, warmed me even in that cold room. I held on to the thought, exhaled, desperate to maintain the illusion.

I needed Rafe. My chest ached as I drifted in a half-sleep, almost dreaming of him. It had to be real. He would come for me. He would find me. I cried as the world grew soft and hazy and muffled, and I whispered prayers against my pillow. I begged Rafe to find me, I begged Smith to get me, and I wished with all my heart that they were real and this was not.

I dreamed of Rafe, dreamed of him searching for me, of him begging me to tell him where I was, and somewhere Smith called out for me to give him a sign. It felt safe, finally, as I reached for Rafe and he reached back. I needed help. I needed them to help me. And I needed to help myself.

The dreams grew darker, more desperate, as fear built in my chest. I wasn't safe here. I wasn't safe at all. Something bad would happen and I wouldn't be able to escape. I had to escape.

I sat up in a cold sweat, sucking in a great draught of air, and stared around the dark room. Nighttime. It had to be nighttime. My heart raced and I concentrated on controlling my breathing as spots drifted across my vision. A little light bled from the window in the door, casting the foot of the bed clearly.

I froze as I stared at where my feet had bunched up the sheets. A long shadow lay across my legs, even in the light from the window. My hand trembled as I reached for it, and it wasn't until I held the shadow in my hand that I truly believed it. It was Smith's cane, the beautiful carvings swimming as tears filled my eyes. The cane showed up in the middle of the locked room in a mental facility, as they told me that Smith didn't exist. That magic didn't exist.

But it did. The cane found me. The magic found me. I reached for Rafe in my dreams and he reached back. Smith sent me the cane to protect me. It was real. It was all real.

A figure moved past the door and I shoved the cane under the sheets, pretending to sleep until the shadow disappeared. I held my breath for another few seconds, counting my racing heartbeats as jubilation threatened to spill out. I wanted to find that asshole Dr. West and cram the cane down his throat. But first I needed to plan. I had to escape and find Rafe.

The cane warmed in my hand and I took a deep breath as I struggled to remember what I'd read in Smith's book. I had the cane and myself, whatever muse powers I could remember and utilize, and that was it. I couldn't wait around to find out what Dr. West and the other people in the building had in store for me.

When fear crept in because I couldn't remember what the book said, I gripped the cane and smiled into the darkness. Magic existed. I was a muse. And Rafe loved me. Rafe. I needed to get back to Rafe, and nothing in the world would stop me.