I turned on him. “He is my mate,” I shouted. “I love him, and nothing you do will ever change that.”
“Time changes all things,” he said, unaffected by my outburst.
In that moment, I got my first real look at the unfeeling, ruthless monster that hid beneath the good looks and charm. All he cared about was a pretty face at his table and a vessel for his future children. And he’d hurt anyone to get what he wanted.
I lowered my gaze, unable to stomach looking at him for a moment longer.
“I don’t feel well. Please, take me back to my room.”
“You need to eat,” he admonished softly as if we’d been talking about nothing more serious than the weather. “You’ll feel better after we dine.”
The last thing I wanted was to go back to that room with all those happy, innocent girls fawning over the male who had already sentenced them to die.
“I’d rather be alone.”
Adam released an impatient breath. “You are going to be my mate, so you’ll dine with me tonight and every night after.”
I didn’t respond. Nor did I pull away when he took my arm to lead me back to the drawing room. I was too numb to feel anything.
I sat beside Adam through dinner as he smiled and charmed everyone else at the table. I didn’t speak unless spoken to, not caring if anyone thought my behavior strange. A small army of mox demons served us, placing course after course in front of us. Adam had spared no expense, and the food looked delicious.
My mouth watered, and my stomach ached with hunger. But I didn’t eat a single bite.
Chris
“What do you mean it’s a dead end?” I hit the top of the conference table as the rage that had been boiling beneath the surface for days threatened to erupt.
Five days. That was how long it had been since I’d last seen Beth. Five days since I’d held her and kissed her, not knowing it might be the last time I’d ever touch her. I never should have let her go out that day, and now she and I were both paying the price. The Lilin had Beth, and I was a hairsbreadth away from losing my sanity, imagining what he could be doing to her.
“Most of these leads are dead ends,” David said calmly from the phone’s speaker. “Demon archives are all over the place, and they only started creating their digital library two decades ago. Kelvan has a network of demons helping him track down data, but some of it is still only in written form and not always reliable. But if anyone can make sense of it, it’s him. I promise you, this is our only priority right now.”
I dragged my hands through my already messy hair and let out a ragged breath. “I know. I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’d probably do the same in your place.”
Nikolas leaned forward on the opposite side of the table. “David, have you had any luck with the property search?”
“Nothing in California. I found a building Jonathan Wells owned in New York, but that was sold ten years ago. Based on what we’ve found so far, he creates a new identity every thirty years, so he could have property under a different name.”
My eyes met Nikolas’s, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. The Lilin created a new identity whenever he came out of hiding to breed. That meant it would be even harder to find him, unless David and Kelvan somehow managed to discover a link to his new name.
I picked up my tablet and opened the photos he’d sent days ago. “What about these pictures Kelvan found from New York?” I asked, desperate for something, anything, to keep me from coming apart. “Do we have a positive ID on Jonathan Wells?”
“No. I’m sorry, Chris. I wish I had more for you.”
I had to stop myself from throwing the tablet across the room. I’d always considered myself easygoing and even-tempered, until Beth disappeared. Now it was a constant struggle to keep it together. I didn’t know how much more of this I could take.
“You’re not going to throw that at me, are you?”
I looked up to see Jordan approaching us cautiously. She’d been here constantly since Beth was taken – when she wasn’t out running down leads with Raoul. Like everyone else, she was working around the clock to find Beth.
I laid the tablet on the table. “You’re safe.”
She pulled out the chair beside me and picked up the tablet to scroll through the photos. “What’s this? Hey, I know this guy.”
My body jerked like I’d been shot. “You know one of these men?”
“I don’t know him well. I’ve seen him around a few times. He’s actually a friend of Beth’s.”
My body froze for several seconds like it was encased in ice. Reaching over, I tapped the face of the dark-haired male in the photo. “Beth knows him?”
The last word came out as a growl, causing Jordan’s eyes to widen.
“No. I mean…not that one,” she stammered.
She pointed to the blond male who was in all the pictures with the male we thought might be the Lilin.
“Him.”
I fought to control my breathing. “How do you and Beth know this man?”
“Beth met him at Luna the night we went to the rave. We saw him a few days later while we were out shopping, and she introduced us. He was at Suave the night we all went there, too.”
I remembered the blond man kissing Beth’s hand that night at the club, and how she and Jordan had seemed to know him. Red tinged my vision. He’d been there. The bastard had been in the same goddamn club, and we’d had no idea. And he’d touched Beth.
“Chris,” Nikolas barked.
I looked at him, and he shook his head in warning.
He turned to Jordan, who was watching me warily. “Can you remember the man’s name?”
“Adam,” she replied instantly. Her brow creased. “Adam…Woods, I think. No. It was Woodward. He said he was a student at UCLA.”
“Jesus.” I pushed back from the table and began pacing as a new realization hit me like a punch in the gut. “He was stalking her this whole time.”
“Who?” Jordan asked. Her eyes went from me to the photo, and an expression of horrified disbelief crossed her face. “This is the Lilin? Adam is the Lilin?”
David’s voice came from the phone before anyone could answer her. “You guys want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Jordan recognized the blond man in the photos you sent us,” Nikolas told him. “He’s going by the name Adam Woodward, and he’s passing himself off as a UCLA student.”
“Shit,” David said. “Okay, let me run that name. I doubt he’d give her his real name, but you never know.”
I stopped pacing. “How long?”
“Two hours at the most if there’s anything to find,” David replied. “I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”
I gripped the back of a chair and stared at the phone for a few seconds after he hung up, trying not to get my hopes up. If this turned out to be another dead end, I wasn’t going to handle it well.
“You okay?” Nikolas asked.
I shook my head. “He was under our noses this whole time. Christ, he spent time with Beth. He got to know her before he took her. Why?”
“I don’t think he’ll hurt her.”
Nikolas and I looked at Jordan.
“How do you know that?” Nikolas asked.
She cleared her throat. “The few times I saw him, he seemed really taken with Beth. I think… I think he took her because he likes her.”
The metal in the chair buckled under my hands.
Nikolas looked at Jordan. “Contact everyone, and tell them to be ready to move on my word.”
“On it,” she said, almost running away.
He turned back to me. “You going to be able to hold it together?”
“I will for Beth.”
“No one is better at this than David. Give him the time he asked for, and he’ll find them.”
I inhaled deeply and let it out. “Just promise me one thing. The demon is mine.”
Nikolas nodded. “He’s yours.”
Chapter 22
Beth
I rubbed at my ankle under the shackle. Even with padding, the thing started to chafe after a day, and I’d been wearing it for three now. The only time it came off was when Ree brought me my meals or to bathe, or when I was required to join Adam for dinner. The rest of the time, I was chained in my room. And they say romance is dead.