Page 84 of Fae Devoted
“Lieutenant,” Ethan said smoothly, the queen’s personal bodyguard sprawled on the office’s worn couch. “Dude’s good. He’s got this.”
“I’m better than good,dude.” Garath didn’t look anything like a stereotypical computer geek. He was built like a professional bodybuilder, the standard uniform t-shirt of the ENC Guard stretched to the max across his wide chest, his thighs straining the seams of his green cargos. “I used offline software and highjacked GPS satellite signals to triangulate your female’s cellphone to within twenty meters of her last known location.”
“Show us.” Samuel leaned on one side of the witch, Tucker moving to hover menacingly over his shoulder.
“I should be able to get a near-time footage within four or five meters since she’s on foot—”
“What?” Tucker felt his heart stop beating then race like a runaway freight train. Why would Jo leave the safety of the truck? Samuel’s palm landed on his upper back, the Alpha’s touch and his bond compelling him to remain calm.
“This area here,” the tech said, using the eraser on a pencil to point to the screen and the blinking icon on the map, “is too densely forested for a vehicle as large as your pickup to navigate.”
“Zoom in so we can see her.” Tucker made it sound like a demand, which it absolutely was. He needed to verify Jo was unharmed before he lost his shit. Again.
“Now, that’s what’s strange,” Garath said, the scent of his frustration infiltrating the air like a bad cologne. “As I was saying, Ishouldbe capable of obtaining recent images of your she-wolf, but there’s something messing with the satellite feed.”
“Messing with it how?” Ethan came over and joined them, his placating attitude of a moment ago gone.
“I don’t know. I haven’t come across anything like it before.” Garath used his mouse to zoom in. “See here?”
“What are we supposed to be looking for besides trees?” Samuel asked, all four males staring at the aerial view on the monitor.
“Your female should behere, Lieutenant Tucker.” His pencil tapped on the teardrop-shaped symbol. “But she’s…not.”
“Could Johnnie have dropped her phone?” Samuel squinted at the screen.
“Not unless it grew legs and learned to walk. The signal is moving, albeit slowly.” Gareth shook his bald head. “It has to be a camera malfunction, but—”
“But what,” Tucker snapped, his patience gone.
“It’s like…she’s hiding under an umbrella painted to mimic the forest.” He scraped his palm over his smooth head in obvious frustration. “If I didn’t know it was impossible, I’d say we are looking at a gigantic—”
“Concealment ward.” The curse under Ethan’s breath was long and vicious.
“I want the coordinates of the area with the…anomaly.”
Samuel spoke when Tucker could not, his mouth full of sharp canines. Dread for what Jo may have stumbled upon overrode his control.
“Of course, sir.” Gareth clicked and the office printer whirred to life.
“Thank you for your help. I’ll let Commander Baxter know—”
The icon winked out, and the mating bond snapped.
Tucker’s legs buckled, howling in agony before his knees hit the floor.
Hours later, Tucker’swolf lifted his muzzle, sustaining a steady trot through the wooded terrain with his mouth slightly open so he could breathe and follow Jo’s scent at the same time.
“Lieutenant, stop,” Ethan called, retaining a fistful of Tucker’s fur as he kept pace beside him. The battle witch employed the dual wards of concealment and privacy while they ran, making lowering his voice unnecessary. No one could hear or see them as long as Ethan maintained the casts, and they stayed in physical contact.
But Tucker couldn’t stop until Jo was in his arms, and the mating bond once again throbbed in his chest.
The shock of the perceived severed connection had triggered an instant conversion, his wolf destroying Garath’s office in a fit of mindless rage and grief. It’d taken the full brunt of Samuel’s dominant influence and Ethan trapping him in a confinement spell to bring him back from the brink. Once he could think clearly again, Tucker realized Jo wasn’t dead, and neither was their bond. It had been abruptly smothered. A lit candle placed under a dome of glass. But unlike a flame that would eventually extinguish from lack of oxygen, nothing could truly snuff the secondary bond except death or an extended time apart. And no way in hell was he allowing either of those things to happen. Tucker was getting Jo back, or he’d die trying.
“Whoa, big boy.” Ethan tugged hard on his gray’s thick ruff. “Whoa, there.”
Tucker snarled as he came to a disgruntled stop, then converted to his human form.
“I am not a damn horse, Hall.” A shifted Ferwyn could carry two grown males without effort, but by using a combination of activated Anwyll tattoos, Ethan didn’t need the ride to keep up—and Tucker wasn’t offering.
