Page 20 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Underworld

“If you have questions like this, I think you should direct them to him,” she replies. “To Evander and his wife.”

It turnsout Evander is the owner of this vineyard, as well as the alpha of the shifter pack on this island. He’s also a werewolf, making him a rare hybrid mix of both wolf species. I find out all of this by asking a few people at my table about the guy after Zara gets pulled away, and then I spend some time quietly Googling his name on my phone in between the wedding speeches.

“Jesus,” I mutter under my breath, seeing the dollar amount attributed to his name, an article from the beginning of the year valuing Evander’s wealth at upwards of two hundred million NZD. Another article discusses the vineyard and his wife’s involvement, focusing on howEllie Hinewai Livingston— or Ellie Harding, the name she still operates her own landscape design business under — draws on her Maori culture when it comes to her garden designs. The accompanying photo of her is an artistic black and white image of her staring off into the distance, and I swear I’ve seen Rose make that same face before when deep in thought.

I shake my head, scrolling through further search results. Evander’s parents are billionaires, and —

Livingstons’ Worst Nightmare: Youngest Daughter of American Billionaire Drowns in Northland Mansion Pool

There’s a sick feeling in my gut as I look at the publication date, doing the maths quickly.Twelve years ago. I click into it, skimming through paragraphs, heart sinking as I read about his youngest sister. She was only six when she died. There’s an aerial photo of the mansion in question, the outdoor pool circled, and then a paparazzi photo of a little girl with tanned skin and curly black hair holding the hand of a beautiful woman that I assume must be Evander’s mother, looking sophisticated in dark oversized sunglasses, a designer handbag tucked under her arm.

I jump at the sound of a chair scraping over the polished floor, flipping my phone over and looking up as the man himself takes a seat across from me. He smiles, but it’s the kind of smile that saysmy wolf will eat your face off if you come near my mate, and I lean back in my chair instinctively.

“Hey,” I say. “I’m Zak.”

“Zara said.” His American accent is as smooth as I expected it to be. “I noticedsomethingcaught your eye earlier, so I thought it’d be best if I came and had a chat.”

All it takes is a whispered,“Does your wife have antlers? Because my mate does, and she’s in trouble,” for Evander’sI might just kill youvibe to completely fizzle out, replaced by one of extreme — and genuine — concern.

“Are they here? Your mate?” he asks quietly, his jaw clenched and his dark brows furrowed. Sitting this close, I cantellhe’s an alpha; there’s a quality to him that is similar to the way Josh is, some innate charisma, and maybe a little bit of magic.

I shake my head. “No, she’s not. That’s part of it. She’s trapped, or dead. It’s hard to explain.”

At my words he grows very still, gold eyes searching my face. “Did they take her?” he asks. There’s a growl in his voice he can’t quite disguise, and I see the way other guests turn their heads at the sound, watching us.

I ignore them, focusing on the fact thathe knows something.“I think so. Back in 1915.”

Evander leans forward. “What do you mean, 1915?”

I stepinside Evander’s small office, tucked away out the back of the vineyard’s original building, the setting sun lighting up the room in an orange glow.

In the span of five minutes, everything changed; I’d told Evander what I know and what I suspect about Rose, and he had listened, nodding woodenly at the end and saying,“Wait here,”before rising from his seat and taking off in long strides. I’d watched his wife, Ellie, react to his approach before he was even halfway across the event space, her brows turned down in a worried frown as she swung around to face him, and her expression had given me another eerie jolt of recognition because I’ve seen that same face on Rose before.

And now the three of us are here, having slipped out of the party as soon as the cake was cut. Ellie takes a seat next to her husband on the couch that lines the back wall while I sit on the office chair he gestures to. I’m impressed that it doesn’t creak under my weight, but then again, Evander is a fairly big manhimself — not orc-sized but definitely not small — and he’s rich enough to have all the fancy gear, that’s for sure.

“Van said you have a mate like me?” Ellie starts, and it takes me a second to realise she’s referring to Evander. I take a deep breath, nodding.

“Yeah. I mean, we’re not officially mated in any culture, but she’s mine,” I shrug, feeling the pull of my shirt on my shoulders. “Her name is Rose, and she’s wonderful. When I saw you today I got a shock, because for a moment I thought you were her, even though that’s impossible. It’s just the ears, and the hair, and I don’t know, there’s just a vibe about you both.”

“And she’s in trouble?”

I nod, and Evander says, “I haven’t had a chance to explain to Ellie what you told me. I didn’t want to say anything in a room with so many guests that we don’t personally know. Call me overly cautious, but you never know who’s listening or what their intentions may be.”

“Everyone here today should be safe,” Ellie interjects, placing a hand on Evander’s knee, before turning to me again. “There’s a ward around the vineyard,” she explains. “Those who have ill intentions towards us can’t pass through.”

“People are still gossips,” Evander states, and I glance between the two of them. There’s a slight tension between this couple that I didn’t pick up on at first.

“Iwant to hear fromyou, Zak, about what’s going on,” Ellie starts, “because Van hasn’t told me a thing except‘I’m going with him to the mainland tonight and you’re staying here where it’s safe,’” she says, mimicking his American accent with a surprising level of accuracy, “and quite frankly, I understandmy alpha husband’s instincts to keep me safe, but I am going to make an informed decision myself.”

Ah.

I clear my throat, crossing my arms over my chest, doing my best to ignore the way Evander opens his mouth and then closes it again, clearly thinking twice about arguing with his wife.

“When I first saw Rose, I thought she was a ghost,” I tell her. “And up until very recently I thought that she was already dead, but certain events have made me reconsider that. She was born in 1893, in Auckland. She was last alive in 1915.”

Ellie looks stunned, and continues to look more and more shocked as I explain everything. How she only appears at night, and how she was always so translucent at first, but now she’s more solid. How the moon seems to influence how long she hangs around for.

“She’s using her own magic,” Ellie says with absolute certainty, after I explain last week’s incident with the glowing mushrooms and Rose’s antlers. “She can’t be dead, surely, if she’s using magic like that. Likethis.” In an instant Ellie’s demeanour changes, her back straight and her eyes determined, and in the blink of an eye there are antlers on her head. I stare, shocked, becausefuck, they are exactly the same as Rose’s, down to the little flowers that bloom on them.

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