Page 47 of Rauf: Minotaur Mates

Our bedroom door stood open. Both beds had been stripped of their blankets. Julia’s side of the wardrobe hung open, and her clothes lay across the mattress and floor. One of her shoes was in the hall. I couldn’t tell what was missing.

15

RAUF

A pulse of anger I couldn’t explain raged through me and I had to grit my teeth as I waited at the edge of the cave for Korfas and his do-gooders to finish their investigation. We’d been here all day and if there was anything to show for it, I hadn’t been told. I’d led Korfas to the spot where I’d found Jason pinned beneath the rocks.

The rocks were still there. So was the lamp.

I should have sent the men to search the area yesterday, but I’d been distracted.

As if Teresa was a distraction and not everything.

Someone called to Korfas from farther inside. I couldn’t make out the words, and for a moment I considered going back to see what they’d found. Then I heard the same argument they’d been having for the last hour about where to look next.

Fuck that.

I moved closer to the entrance. Water dripped down the rock beside my head, and I shifted away before it could run beneath my collar. My shirt was already damp. I was tired, hungry, and sick of standing around while Korfas kept sending men back through parts of the cave we’d already searched.

I’d lean against the wall, then push away from it before I’d even settled my weight. Each time someone moved behind me, I wanted him out of my way. There was plenty of room. I still wanted more.

I’d never cared for tight spaces, but this felt like something different.

I wanted to go back to town now and put my eyes on Teresa, to assure myself she was fine.

It was madness. She didn’t want me there, chair and blanket be damned. I’d messed things up between us too much to be mended. I had no right to ask for more.

But I would protect her. I could do nothing else.

The screech of brakes reached me through the cave mouth. I stepped out onto the rocks and looked up the opposite bank. Through the brush, I could see a truck stopped near the others. Dezan jumped down from the cab and came toward the stream without shutting his door.

He spotted me and raised his voice. “Get Korfas.”

“He’s in there.” I pointed at the entrance. I wasn’t Korfas’s errand boy.

“There’s been an incident. Someone attacked the bride dorm.”

For a moment I couldn’t hear the water. I could see Dezan’s mouth moving, but all I could think of was the door I’d watched all night and Teresa asleep on the other side of it.

I’d left her there.

I splashed across the stream and pushed past him. He caught at my arm, but I was already running up the bank. Korfas could hear the rest from him.

The truck door slammed against its stop when I hauled it open. I climbed in, started the engine, and threw it into gear before I’d pulled the door shut behind me. The wheels spun in the loose dirt, then caught hard enough to wrench my head back.

If that bastard laid a hand on her, he wouldn’t see daylight again.

The first bend came too fast. I hauled the wheel around and felt the back of the truck slide toward the ditch. For a few breaths I couldn’t make it go where I wanted. Brush scraped down the side before the tires bit and dragged me back onto the road.

“Fucking roads.”

I hit a rut and nearly lost the wheel. The truck bounced toward the verge again, and I stamped on the brake before I could put the whole thing on its side.

I slowed enough to take the next turn, then caught myself pressing down on the accelerator as soon as I could see the straight stretch ahead.

Why hadn’t I made Dezan tell me whether she was hurt? I kept seeing Julia’s bloody face from yesterday, except every time I tried to push the image away, it became Teresa’s.

The buildings of New Knossos finally came into view. A male carrying a sack stepped back from the road as I came through, shouting something after me. I barely heard him. I turned toward the dorm and braked hard enough that the truck skidded to a crooked stop in front of it.