“No,” she said. “I’m going after him. They probably have him at that horrible club. Oh, God they had those silver nets. They’ll kill him.”
“You need to calm the fuck down.” The savage tone of Ash’s voice slapped Tamaska across the face and her panic shifted from planetary meltdown to something manageable.
And she put her icy fingers to her hot cheeks as Channing backed away towards the basement door like they’d both lost their minds.
Ash let out a breath and took her hand and squeezed. “Panicking won’t help. We’ve been through a lot and you got thrown right in. But you know what? You proved yourself a worthy mate to Kodiak—”
“Mate?” Channing grinned. “That’s great!” Then he frowned. “I mean buck up, Tamaska, no way vamps took him. We’ll get to the bottom of this. I promise.”
“Just don’t,” Ash said, “fall apart now. I’m sure he’s here somewhere. Maybe he went for a walk?
But she shook her head. “He wouldn’t just leave. He’d let me know.” Tamaska looked at Ash. “He’d let kme know. After everything he wouldn’t just go.”
“Not unles he had a good reason,” Channing said.
“Like what?” she snapped. “Last time we wasted so much time and he nearly died. He can’t go through that again. He can’t.”
A muscle worked in Ash’s jaw. “I’m sure he’s around here somewhere,” she said. “He’s got nowhere else to go.”
“Take her downstairs and review all the security footage. I’ll run around the compound and see if I can find him,” said Channing. “Because she’s got a point. Last time we did just assume he was okay. I’m sure he is, but we should check. I’ll go, you both look at the footage.”
He took off and the worry grew on Ash’s features, even though she tried to hide it. “Come on Tamaska, down this way. Let’s see if we can spy on him. Because yeah, it’s weird, but he’s here somewhere.”
“Can you call out to him with your pack link?”
“Hang on.” Ash tilted her head as she stared past Tamaska a look of concentration on her face, one that grew the longer she stayed silent. Finally, she shook her head. “Fucking hell, the asshole’s blocked me.”
“Or maybe something happened—”
“Tamaska, he’s definitely blocking. It’s…it’s hard to explain, you’ll have to experience it and practice it, which we will, but I know he’s somewhere, and he doesn’t seem to be in distress, but he’s just not there, you know. Blocking me, that’s what he’s doing.”
But Tamaska wasn’t so sure. They hadn’t picked up on stress when he was taken by the vampires, so maybe if they had him again, they’d done something.
Or maybe he’d taken off.
But the moment that thought came she dismissed it. He’d never shirk his responsibilities. This pack and his role as alpha mean too much for him to do that, and he wasn’t that kind of person, anyway.
With a sigh, Tamaska followed Ash down the steep stairs into the basement, which was full of security devices and monitors.
“Wow,” she said, momentarily stunned out of her now low-key panic mode.
“This is our most recent upgrade, where all of our money went,” said Ash. “The best of the best.”
Ash sat on a swivel chair, motioning for Tamaska to sit beside her.
“It’s impressive.” But her anxiousness made her unable to sit still. Yeah, it was impressive, but it was hard to care when the man she loved had gone missing.
Her heart kept coming apart and smashing back together.
Ash typed away at the keyboard, and computer screens flashed between scenes. “Let’s start here.”
The screen showed the hallway outside Kodiak’s room. Tamaska shifted uncomfortably in her chair. At least there wasn’t a camera inside their room. Nothing seemed private around the pack.
What was she thinking? He was gone and her brain worried about modesty?
All she wanted was Kodiak back. If she got him back she’d pitch a tent in the living room and reside in that with him. Because he was all that mattered.
“We’ll find him, don’t worry.”