Page 12 of Dermot

“What’s going on?” Dermot asked. “Hamlin told me you can’t find your sister?”

Bastien’s gaze was a little wild as he looked at Dermot. “We were supposed to have lunch together. She didn’t show up.”

“Well, she’s an adult. She probably changed her mind.”

“She would’ve told me. She knows how on edge I am when it comes to her and her safety. We’ve talked about it.”

“She probably forgot. I saw her walking with Rose earlier. They were talking and laughing, so they might have gotten distracted.”

“She was with Rose?”

That had clearly gotten Bastien’s attention, and Dermot didn’t like his tone of voice. “Are you implying something?”

“We don’t know Rose. She might just be a Vila looking for a home, but she could also be working with Parrish.”

“Why would she? She’s a Vila. We don’t normally work with Kudlak.”

Bastien’s expression sharpened. “My sister never worked with Parrish willingly. He used their bond to force her.”

“But Rose isn’t bonded to a Kudlak.”

“You can’t know that. My sister isn’t the only Vila who has a Kudlak mate. Your best friend has a Kudlak mate.”

“And he shouldn’t,” Dermot snapped. “Look, I don’t know what your sister is up to, but maybe she just went back to Parrish. Even if she didn’t want to, you have to consider the bond between them.” And Dermot couldn’t be sure that if that was what had happened, Celeste hadn’t wanted it.

She’d said all the right things and looked distraught and in pain when they’d rescued her, but it might have all been an act. Who knew what Parrish had had her do over the years. Who knew how deep he’d sunk his hooks into her.

“I can’t believe this,” Bastien snapped. “My sister is gone, and you still think she wants to be with her mate.”

“I’m just saying that she’s been with him for a long time. She chose to be with him.”

“But she didn’t choose to stay with him. In fact, she chose to leave him.”

“And maybe she realized it was the wrong decision. Maybe all of this happened because Parrish wanted someone inside the village. I know she’s your sister, but she’s bonded to a Kudlak. You cannot trust her.” Dermot certainly didn’t, but he wasn’t sure he could convince Bastien to feel the same. After all, Celeste was his sister. Their bond might not be as strong as the bond between Celeste and Parrish, but it was very much present.

* * * *

BASTIEN WANTED TO STRANGLE Dermot. Surely, no one would blame him for that, considering the man just said that Celeste had left the village to return to Parrish voluntarily. Anyone would understand where Bastien was coming from, especially when those words had come from his own mate’s mouth.

Not that anyone knew that Dermot was Bastien’s mate. Bastien hadn’t told a soul, not even his sister. He’d known Dermot wouldn’t be okay with that, and he still had hope that things could somehow work between them.

He wasn’t sure anymore.

But now wasn’t the moment to think about Dermot and their possible future. Now was the moment to focus on Celeste, and Bastien had no idea how to do that. How could he find his sister when he didn’t even know the area around the village? He was sure that she wasn’t here anymore, because if she was, she would’ve come to lunch or warned him that something was happening. No, if he had to guess, she’d left the village, but she never would have done so because she wanted to. She had to have been forced, and Dermot had just mentioned seeing Celeste with Rose.

Yelling at Dermot wasn’t going to help Bastien get answers. Bastien took a deep breath, then another, trying to calm down. His sister was his priority. He and Dermot could fight things out later, once Celeste was back. “Where did Celeste and Rose go?” he asked.

Dermot frowned. Maybe he’d expected Bastien to continue fighting with him or to yell at him. Bastien was tempted, but he couldn’t. Dermot would understand that if he had siblings. He didn’t seem to, which might explain why he believed Celeste was gone because she wanted to be.

She wasn’t. If there was one thing Bastien was sure of, it was that.

“Just walking by my house,” Dermot said. “You don’t think that your sister dragged Rose into this, do you?”

Bastien hadn’t wanted to get into this with Dermot, but clearly, Dermot hadn’t gotten the memo. “Are you insinuating that my sister lured Rose back to Parrish?”

“We don’t know. It could be.”

“No, it couldn’t be. Celeste would never go back to Parrish of her own volition, and she certainly wouldn’t involve someone else. If she did go back to Parrish, she was forced to, and you just said that she was with Rose. We don’t know that Rose isn’t a spy sent in by Parrish.”