Page 117 of Master of My Heart

“Maybe she went for a walk?” Ethan said slowly, but his frown told Chase he didn’t believe it, either.

Chase placed his fists on his desk and hung his head. “If only I hadn’t said...” He sighed and looked up. “That’s the problem. I don’t know what I said. I don’t know what I did. I have no idea why I upset her.”

“It may not have been you. Abuse victims have all sorts of demons in their heads. You may just have triggered something in her mind.”

Chase slumped into his chair. “I wish she’d talked to me instead of running away. I shouldn’t have let her go.”

“You were respecting her wishes. She would have resented it if you’d forced her to stay.”

Ethan was right. Chase couldn’t have foreseen her not making it home. She wanted to be away from him and he wasn’t about to force her to do anything she didn’t want to do.

When the doorbell rang downstairs, Ethan hopped up to answer it. Earlier, Chase had called his whole team to help out. Matt and Lance taught classes at Fort Devens and had already arrived, been briefed, and were out looking for clues. Corey, who lived in New York, was expected any minute. Casey had brought Chase’s mom over as soon as he’d called, then went out with Matt and Lance. Jayson and Liz had called everyone they knew, but no one had heard from Sabrina. They stayed home, just in case she showed up.

When Chase found out where Sabrina was, he was prepared to launch a full assault on the place and whoever had her. No mercy.

But they had to find out where she was first.

Ethan returned a few minutes later, followed by Richard, who had a sympathetic look on his face. The two men embraced briefly, then Richard sat down in the chair across from Chase’s desk. “What’ve you found out?” Chase asked eagerly.

Richard shook his head. “Not a thing, unfortunately. There aren’t any cameras on her street, so there’s no way to find out who took her that way. You’ve looked over her phone, right?”

Chase nodded. “Nothing. She barely uses it.” Though the texts from Aiden had increased his blood pressure while reading them. The man was lucky he was on the other side of the country or Chase might have gone to visit him.

“I could sense her up until shortly before you called. But now...” Richard sighed. “Nothing.”

“You could sense her?” Chase repeated.

Richard shrugged. “It’s part of being an Elder. I can sense it when anyone with Immortal blood comes into my city.”

Chase knew Elders had special abilities, but he hadn’t realized they could sense Immortals. “Did you know when she arrived?” Chase leaned forward in his chair. “Did you know she was here?”

“No. Jayson said she got here the night before the auditions, but I didn’t feel her until almost two weeks later.”

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know, Chase. Maybe she knows what she is and was somehow hiding it.”

“They can do that?”

Richard frowned. “Normally, no, but she’s... different than the other Elder-Mistresses I’ve met.”

“She’s not an Elder-Mistress,” Chase growled. Elder-Mistresses were possessions of the Elders. Demi-Immortals were not under the control of anyone but themselves. Richard had mentioned a few times that if things didn’t work out between her and Chase, the United States Elders would gladly take her under their protection. It was a point of contention between the two men. “How can she hide herself?” Was that what was going on? Had Sabrina hidden herself and run away from him? But why would she run away from Jayson and Liz, too?

Richard put his hands up. “It’s possible, but not certain. We know precious little about her.”

Chase huffed. “I’m trying to get to know her.”

“I know you are.” Richard sighed. “We’ll keep looking. We’ll find her. I talked with Theo earlier and he’s searching, too.”

Chase’s heart turned to stone and he swallowed hard. “But what if we can’t find her?” That was his deepest fear. That he’d lose Sabrina all over again and not be able to find her. “I’ve failed her again,” he whispered, hanging his head. “I swore I’d protect her, and I failed.”

Richard gave him a sympathetic look. “Chase, as good as you are, you cannot keep everyone you love from harm. You’re only human.”

“I hate being human sometimes,” Chase muttered.

“I know.”

He closed his eyes. His head was starting to ache.

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