Page 27 of Blades of Ice

“Carleigh, Chloe isn’t answering her phone. If I give you the number, can you pinpoint the location?”

“I can try. If it’s turned off, I may get close to the last place she was when it was on.”

Beck rattled off the number, and clicking came from Carleigh’s end of the line. “Okay, that’s all for now. Let me get to cracking, and I’ll holler back in a bit.” Carleigh disconnected, and Lydia tapped her fingers against her thigh. Something about the coded message was niggling at her brain.

“I’m sorry,” Beck said.

Lydia angled her head, studying her mate. “For what?”

“Getting you caught up in my family’s drama.”

Lydia placed her hand on Beck’s nape and squeezed. “Well, My Bear, this isn’t unusual when my Clan finds their mate, but the drama is usually on our end. At least with the last coupleof generations. Our retired King’s mate, Kaya, tried to arrest him for murder before they got together, and Kaya was shot at and abducted. Connor, the one with the vision of the wolves in South Carolina? He was taken as a child. That’s where he met his mate, Alyssa, when she was also kidnapped. Carleigh’s mom was wrongfully arrested and thrown in a Super Max prison. Cailín’s dad was poisoned and left for dead. I told you about my grandparents being kidnapped. When my mom went after them, she ended up in a Cairo jail. Those are a few instances, and there are plenty more. What we’re going through? It’s our initiation into the fated mates’ club.”

“Damn. Has any of your Clan found their mate without issue?”

“Sure, but their stories aren’t nearly as exciting.”

Beck glanced over at her, his mouth turned up on one side. “You think this is exciting?”

“I probably shouldn’t, but when you grow up with Nikolas and Sophia Stone as parents, you kind of want that same epic love story. I would like to stay out of jail, though.”

“I wouldn’t know what that’s like. With Amara being Queen, there was no love in her relationships. She wanted offspring, not someone to rule alongside her. Males like Boyd go into the relationship thinking they’ll be the one to change her mind. When that doesn’t happen, they either move on gracefully or stage a coup.”

“What about your father? Is he in your life?”

That got a grin out of Beck. “We talk often, but I haven’t seen him since I moved to Alaska. He was one of those who moved on gracefully. Last time I spoke to him, he mentioned a human female he’s smitten with.”

“Can he choose her as a mate? Or is that something bear shifters don’t do? Choose humans?”

“We can, but when you live for hundreds of years, taking a human as a mate is hard because their lifespan is short in comparison. Our mating bite isn’t the same as a Gargoyle’s.”

Lydia almost told him about the serum her Aunt Lucy developed that prolonged the lives of human mates, but since it sounded like early days in his father’s relationship, she kept it to herself.

“Maybe once this is over, we can take a trip to visit him. Have you ever been to Canada?”

“Nope. When Carleigh called about the cryptic messages, Cailín and I rock-paper-scissored for Alaska, but we decided going on this quest together was safer than going alone.”

“Yet there you were outside Boyd’s rental. Alone.”

Lydia wiggled her bracelets. “I am armed at all times.”

“Like I said before, unless those magical weapons of yours turn to ice instead of steel, all they’ll do is piss a bear off.”

She hadn’t tested whether they would turn to ice, but Luna said it was all about intention when it came to the weapons. Maybe she should call the witch and ask.

Beck’s phone rang. Since it wasn’t connected to the Bluetooth, he told Lydia to see who was calling. “It’s unlisted,” she told him.

“Same as last night. They didn’t leave a voicemail then. Let’s see if they do today. If it’s even the same caller.” Lydia stared at the phone, waiting. After a few seconds, the voicemail indicator chimed. “The code is 9173,” Beck instructed. Lydia lowered the volume on the radio, typed in the code, then hit the icon to listen.

“Beck, help.”The female’s voice was barely above a whisper. If Lydia hadn’t been a Goyle, she wouldn’t have heard it. She turned the volume all the way up, but there was nothing but static. She pressed the arrow to play the message again.

“Is that…?” She was going to say Amara, but Beck asked her to play it one more time.

“I can’t tell. Amara, Chloe, and Delaney all sound similar when they’re speaking in a regular tone, but whispering? Fuck, that could be any one of them.”

“Are you sure it isn’t Delaney? I mean if they all sound alike…”

“I’m assuming it’s not since she isn’t missing. And how the fuck am I supposed to help when I don’t know where they are?”

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