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I close my eyes and look inside. I go with what my gut is telling me. “I’m running from a pack of cheetahs. The Alpha wants me. He wants to force the bond.” I open my eyes and look at him. His claws are digging into the top of the table. “I don’t want to be with him,” I add, just in case he was wondering.

“Who?” His guttural question drops into the tense air.

“His name is Grant.” He stiffens, and his head snaps to the door.

“What is that?” I don’t smell a shifter, but it’s weird the lack of scent.

“Vampire,” he snaps. “Bash, you have shit timing.”

A man opens the front door.

He’s beautiful. His presence is startling, from his bright white dress shirt, black pants, combat boots, and white hair. His faceis hard. What stops you in your tracks are his eyes—they are so light blue, they are almost white.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he says. “I had some information for you and didn’t want to do it over the phone.”

“It couldn’t wait?” Elijah snaps. He moved quickly to stand partially in front of me, his claws still visible.

“No.” His eyes flicker to me. “I talked to Laken. He informed me of your mate.”

“You had a burning desire to meet her?” Elijah sneers.

“I thought you would want to know two men came to ask for our services. They claim their sister, Saylor, went missing.” He drops the bomb and my heart jerks.

I stand quickly, knocking the chair over. I forget my extensive training to keep my body from reacting. I forgot a deadly vampire was standing feet from me. I forget everything. All I feel is the need to run.

Now.

I back up, almost tripping over my feet in my rush. My back hits the wall, and Elijah is in front of me seconds later.

“I have to go,” I say desperately. My chest heaves with every breath. I can hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears. I look down at my hands, surprised my nails have elongated without my urging.

Elijah cups my face with both hands, bringing my wild eyes to his face. “Saylor, you are not running.” He bends down. “Talk to me. Is it the Alpha?”

I was fooling myself—I can’t have him. It would kill me if he were hurt because of me. Grant will never stop coming for me. My mom has infused our life with fear of him. He will do everything he can to track me. I thought I covered my tracks so well this time. I did everything right. I try to think of all my moves and where I went wrong.

“It’s probably some guys from his pack,” I say, swallowing harshly. “He sends them out first. Grant doesn’t like to waste his time. When they have me, that’s when he will come.”

“I have a video.” Bash places his phone on the table. “We have surveillance in the office.”

I pull myself together and slip away from Elijah, and he tenses. “I’ll take a look.”

“There were two of them. But only the one said he was your brother,” Bash explains, pushing a couple of buttons on his phone.

I wait as the video plays. Bash meets the two men at the front desk. He leans back on it, confident, as if he isn’t facing two dangerous cheetahs. I guess a vampire is not scared of much. I would recognize the two shifters from the dinner anywhere. I don’t have to see their faces to know, but I wait until the camera captures them.

“That is two of Grant’s pack. Two of his most trusted. Most of the time, they are the ones following me.” Elijah is growling low at my back, watching the phone with hatred. “If they are here, they caught my scent. They won’t stop until they have me.”

“Fuck that!” Elijah explodes. “Did they give you a contact number or where they are staying?”

“Yes, to the number. Not where they are staying, but that won’t be hard to find out. They are the only other cheetahs in the area,” Bash says calmly in the face of Elijah’s fury.

“Good. I will need your help. Maybe Ryker, too. The use of his dungeon would be helpful.”

“What?” I ask.

“You will be going to Penny’s. The dragons will guard you.” He walks into the bedroom.

I glance at Bash before hustling after him.