Page 97 of Sinful Mates

“She is alright. I’m trying to get to your father. What happened?” I growl before the phone is snatched from my hand by Theo. I growl again, ready to attack him when I hear my mother's voice come through the phone.

“They are both fine, but your father is not. Imogen is protected. Now tell me what happened.” I relax hearing she has a plan, and that Imogen is okay for now. I relax in my chair as Theo tells her of the events that took place. We have been driving for about two hours. We would be there by now if Theo let us run. But he thinks it best to drive instead of letting instinct take over, worried we might tear apart the entire council in a rage and we don’t need that. In the third hour, I feel it. I feel the bond stir to life, only we are driving away from her. Theo slams on the brakes as fear runs through both of us like a freight train, knocking the air from my lungs. Something is wrong. I open the door only to be flooded with every emotion she feels, then searing pain, forcing me to double over. Theo, too, is clutching the side of the car.

I peer over at him. He needs to go. He is faster. That kills me knowing he will get to her before me, but he has to try.

“Find her,” I growl in pain and he takes off. I drop to the ground, giving into the warm feeling rushing over me, feeling my bones snap as I shift. I let instinct take over as I take off toward her, using the bond to tell me what direction to run in. Getting distracted by her emotions as they shift between fear and pain. I howl agonized at what she is going through. My paws hit the ground at extreme speeds, pushing me faster and faster to get to her.

When I felt it. My tether snapping, I feel my soul drop somewhere dark. Somewhere cold and unrelenting. I howl before feeling Theo scream through the link. His feelings rush over me, making the unbearable pain I felt worse. It is hard to breathe. My lungs feel like they are constricting. I follow Theo’s link until coming across a small cottage. We have been past this place many times yet never noticed it, never even picked up her scent. I shift back, enjoying the pain of my bones breaking in place, anything to stop the pain in my chest. But that all changes when I walk in the door.

No sounds come from the house, save the noises Theo makes. No heartbeat, no breathing, just dead silence.

My heart breaking, Theo’s agonized scream can not only be heard but felt, as he clutches her lifeless body against his chest. Her small frame completely limp in his arms drenched in her own blood. Her hair spilling over Theo’s arm and onto the floor, as her head lolls in his arms. I drop to the floor at the sight, my legs losing function. She’s dead, gone. We weren’t fast enough. I feels like we cry and scream in agony for hours, our souls being ripped from both of us repeatedly every time we look at her.

“I can’t hear crying, can you?” I whisper, my voice breaking. Theo stands, Imogen in his arms, Theo not willing to let her go. I turn away from her, not being able to bear the sight of her dead. My soul is being crushed into dust, my heart breaking beyond repair. This is my fault. I let this happen by not supporting her. We should have been here; this never would have happened if we were with her.

“Where’s our baby, Theo?” I say, shoving everything out of my mind. Forcing myself to focus on anything but her.

Theo places Imogen in my arms, forcing me to take her lifeless body. I cradle her and breathe in her smell that is faint, nearly gone. Her body is cold in my arms as her head lolls against me. I brush her hair out of her face. Theo disappears inside somewhere, and I can’t tear my eyes away from her face. I kiss her cold lips, tears running down my face onto her porcelain skin.

“There is no baby, Tobias, where is our baby?” he asks, panicked. He stares down at Imogen’s angelic face before collapsing beside me.

“I need her back, I want her back, please. I will do anything,” he whispers and begs. I don’t know who he is praying to, but hearing his broken voice breaks me even more.

“We need to find our child, if not for us, for her,” I whisper, gazing down at her face against my chest. We owe her that much.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I can’t believe she is gone, dead. Tobias looks as broken as I feel. Imogen lay in his arms drenched in blood. I pull her shirt down, not being able to stare at her belly torn open. The damage to her body is haunting. Seeing it makes me remember her pain and fear. I’m sure it is going to haunt me forever, feeling how much she wanted us and how helpless she felt in that moment. Could literally feel her begging with everything she had for us to get to her. We failed her and that I know will drive me insane with guilt.

“Take her, we need to leave,” Tobias says almost angrily. I know he is hurting, but I hate the way he said it. Dumping her in my arms and tearing his eyes away from her. I start toward the path we came up, his voice echoing through the wind over to me.

“What are you doing, Theo, we need to find our child,” he growls harshly.

“I’m not leaving her here,” I spit back at him, clutching her to me, refusing to let go. I can’t leave her. I can’t leave her here alone in the cold.

“We don’t even know who took the baby. That’s our priority now. We can come back for her, we don’t even know how far whoever took the baby is. You carrying her will slow us down,” he growls, stepping toward me. He goes to take her and I shove him away, growling at him threateningly.

“Fine, I will go by myself, then.” He shifts, taking the form of his beast. He shakes out his fur, turning away from me and heading back up toward the house, obviously looking for any scent. I continue down the path. The storm is still raging around us, yet I don’t feel its rage. I can’t feel anything. I’m numb.

Completely empty, dead inside. I kept trudging, pulling Imogen closer, trying to shield her from the storm. It makes me feel warmer having her in my arms. I have been walking for around five minutes when I notice a gold light coming from somewhere. I glance around but can’t see anything that would cause the light that is on the ground in front of me. Adjusting Imogen, I notice the glowing gold light s coming from her wrist. I pick up her limp hand and realize the light is coming from the strange bracelet that sits on her small wrist. I run my fingers over the pendant that is glowing. I recognize the intricate pattern woven around it. But I can't remember where I’d seen it before.

I inspect the bracelet closely before I hear her gasp before jumping forward, coughing like she has been under water and is taking a breath after holding her breath for a long time. Her eyes open to a magnificent gold color the same as her bracelet, glowing before she looks at me.

“Imogen,” I gasp, clutching her tighter. She is rigid in my arms, stiff like a board. She glances around, confused, before looking at me, her hands going to my face as if to see if I’m real. Before her hands clutch onto her belly. Her hands claw at her shirt as she pulls it up. She abruptly thrashes in my arms, screaming, forcing me to drop her. She lands on the ground with a thud but springs to her feet faster than I can imagine.

“Where is he?” she says, peering around frantically.

“Tobias?” I ask. Her eyes dart to mine. I take a step back from her, her eyes are blazing with something I can’t decipher. I’ve never seen eyes like hers before, never seen that expression on her face. I know every one of her expressions, made mental notes of all of them. Yet this look I’ve never seen before.

“My baby, where is he, Theo?” I shake my head, not knowing how to answer when I didn’t know. She takes off up the path back toward the cottage. She run so fast I can’t keep up with her. I make it back to the house to see her barge through the door. I hear Tobias barreling up behind me, before digging his claws into the earth and sliding into me.

He looks at me with his black obsidian eyes with a hopeful look on his face, wondering if he felt it right. The bond is surging alive with Imogen’s anger. He shifts, and we both chase after her. We hear doors opening and closing upstairs before she races past us, screaming for the last name, we thought we would hear it coming from her lips.

“Bianca, Bianca.” She comes running back out and stops next to us before staring down. She sniffs the air, before dropping to the floor, her hands running over all the blood on the floor. She wipes at it with her hands clawing at the floor, digging through it looking for something.

“Where is he, where is my baby?” she says, peering up at us with a look of pure fear and desperation on her face. Tears run down her cheeks. I glance at Tobias, he looks just as shocked as I feel at seeing her.

“We aren’t sure, we got here too late,'' I whisper. Her face crumples up and my guilt hits me saying it. She wails and screams loudly at my words and rocks back and forth, her hands becoming drenched in her blood that is congealing on the floor. The bracelet on her wrist glows brighter and brighter, flashing like a beacon.