Page 143 of An Enigma for the Lycan Crown Prince

“Maybe she is unconscious,” I say. “Or something is dimming the effect of the bond, but it is there.” I hate pushing him, and I wouldn’t do it in normal circumstances, but I need to find Flora! And Jace is my way to get to her, through Janice. Once we find her, we’ll know more. I need him to do this; I need him to succeed. He has to do it!

Jace takes a deep breath. “You are right, I can do it. She is my… she is everything.”

He closes his eyes, an expression of deepest concentration on his face. I stay silent, trying not to appear too impatient or anxious, while inside, I am raging at my mate being clearly kidnapped and deeply worried because I don’t know her whereabouts or if she is okay.

“I got her,” Jace blurts out, pulling me out of my thoughts. “I… She has just answered!”

“Where is she?” I ask breathlessly.

“In a small hut, not on pack grounds.”

“A forest?”

“Yes.”

“Then she is close by, like you said. There is only one forest that is close but not on pack grounds, and close enough that whoever took her was able to reach it in two hours. Try to stay connected to her while we head there.” I wave at Vincent. “Jace got a trace. Let’s take the jeep.”

We have a clue! Fuck, I am glad it worked. I try to keep it all locked up for now; my anger, my anxiety, my guilt. No one is allowed to hurt Flora. She is all I have. The only constant in my life that remained at my side, unwavering and strong.

I can’t lose her!

We briefly inform Calvin, who is about to drive by the factories on the road to retrieve video material. “I am going to catch up with you in an hour at the latest,” he says.

“Can you really get results so fast?” I ask.

“I can, but not in the most legal way.”

“Do what you need to do,” I say. “But I don’t want an innocent person to get hurt.”

“I promise you I will just use my gift,” he smirks. “These are humans. Manipulating them is going to be easy.” He rummages for something in his bag and hands an item to me. “That’s a mobile phone.”

“Oh, you finally got them delivered!”

“Yes, took longer than I wanted to, but they arrived today. They are charged and with a sim card. You know how they work?”

“I had a briefing last week,” I inform him.

“Good, I have saved my number in it already. If anything happens, or when you have reached Janice, please call me.”

“The same goes for you.”

“Got you,” Calvin says. He doesn’t waste any more time and rushes off, taking Vincent’s much smaller car since we will be using the Jeep. Jace seems to get more from Janice, now that he managed to push through with his mind link.

“She is still under the influence of wolfsbane,” he says anxiously after we get in the car and Vincent drives off. “Which is why her senses aren’t working, and she was mostly unconscious on the way there, but she did wake up a couple of times.”

“Did she see or hear anything?”

“Yeah, it seems they drove right to the hut and dropped her off there.”

“How stupid,” Vincent mutters. “I don’t want to sound like Calv now, but if he were here, he would say it’s stupid and reckless to abduct one girl, and drop another off somewhere so close by that’s easily reachable by car!”

“I agree,” I admit.

“How does that make sense?” he pushes. “Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that Janice is okay, but if their target was Flora, why even take Janice along and not just knock her out? Or why not take her along as well just to be safe?”

“Maybe to slow down Elden’s search?” Jace offers.

“But finding her is going to be helpful now,” I say. “Vince is right. It doesn’t make sense. Janice was able to hear and see things and will tell us about it. It would have been safer to wait for Flora to be completely alone.”