Page 39 of Fae Devoted (Fae Touched #3)
“She is protected.” Tucker’s guttural reply rang hollow in his ears. He’d stranded Jo in the middle of nowhere and then closed off their bond. And he’d done it without discussing it with her first.
“I apologize for my beta’s…circumvention of protocol, but finding Jeremiah was something that couldn’t wait on bureaucratic paperwork.
Clan Walker is willing to pay the standard bounty for the unavoidable insult,” Samuel offered while Tucker’s control slipped another notch, arms dropping to his sides and hands fisting.
“You’ll pay double the normal fee.” The king’s tone flat and final.
“Done.”
“Tell me where your she-wolf is, and I’ll send the Guard to pick her up.” Anand’s superior tone chafed like a sandblaster on raw skin.
Like hell you will.
“Wait.” Ethan rubbed his clean-shaven jaw. “Maybe it’d be better if Joh—Lieutenant Tucker’s female stays off the grid for a while longer. The odds the Fae is lurking in this area are small, but what about the Athair?”
“From what you’ve told us, they were after Beta Tucker…not a harmless she-wolf.” Anand spoke again. “And the pack would know if rogue vampires were in town.”
“That still leaves the local Untouched and Anwyll Colony, if—”
“Do not be a jobbernowl.” Lady Rose glowered at the young witch.
“A jobber…what?”
“Our girl may not be a trained warrior, but she is smart and resourceful, Ethan. I realize you do not know her well, but it is an insult to imply she cannot take care of herself. Have you forgotten Chess?”
Tucker’s heart thumped while Ethan’s ears turned red. They’d all been at the club the night of the attack. Had seen Jo face down a blood-crazed vampire to save a human woman. She hadn’t been reckless, just determined to do what needed to be done.
Jo was smart. She wouldn’t place herself in danger without good cause.
He should have known that.
Tucker reopened the bond, and the chunk of his heart torn out after leaving Jo behind turned into a fucking crater.
His she-wolf wasn’t just angry. She was furious. But that wasn’t what had him crawling out of his skin, his wolf rising. Her rage was mixed with a sense of urgency and fear. Why was his mate afraid? Where was Kincaid?
Samuel jumped to his feet, sensing his beta’s worry—his panic. “Tucker, what’s wrong?”
“Jo—” He closed his eyes and braced his hands on the edge of the table.
Remington flared his nostrils again and stood up slowly. “What do you need?”
Tucker blocked out the voices, his booming heart, the ringing in his ears, and the howl of his frantic wolf, concentrating solely on the bond.
The cabin was too far away to get an accurate location on Jo, but he’d be able to tell if she’d been moved farther away.
If someone had taken her from the park grounds.
His heart stopped, and his eyes popped open, staring at the door. A moment later, the queen cocked her head, and every Ferwyn turned to the muffled commotion taking place outside the conference room. The tattoo underneath Ethan’s left ear blazed to life.
“What’s going on?” Lydia asked, the only one still in the dark. The grandmaster didn’t have the rune for enhanced hearing. It didn’t matter as the doors burst open, and his mate stumbled in. She was followed by a pair of harried-looking Ferwyn guards and the king’s Anwyll secretary.
“Alpha,” Jo gasped, her beautiful hazel eyes cutting to Tucker for less than an instant and then back to Samuel. “Alpha, I have to speak with you right now. It can’t wait, I—”
“I’m sorry, milord.” The petite witch wrung her inked hands. “I explained that Príoh Walker was in a meeting and couldn’t be disturbed, but she insisted. Quite vehemently, I might add. Said it was a matter of life and death.”
“It is.” Jo’s face was flushed, her cheeks smeared with old blood and dried mud. “I think it really is. I hope it isn’t, but…I’m afraid it might be.” Her hand covered her trembling mouth, eyes filling. “We have to do something before—”
“Jo, breathe.” Relief knocked the air from Tucker’s lungs and the strength from his knees. He hadn’t moved since she barreled into the room.
She inhaled through her nose and out through her mouth but didn’t glance at him.
“So you’re Beta Tucker’s female?” Remington asked Jo, bypassing the Mating Dance’s tradition of introductions. Tucker could hardly take offense under the circumstances.
The king waved the flustered guards and secretary away while inspecting Jo’s disheveled appearance. He grinned, the first one to appear on the gruff male’s face since they’d arrived.
That stubborn chin Tucker adored lifted high, her freckled nose wrinkling. “That remains to be seen, milord.”
Well, shit.
Jo gathered herself together, then approached the king with a confidence and grace that made Tucker’s heart overflow with pride.
Covered from head to toe in muck, she executed an abridged curtesy, the filth caked on her shoes leaving streaks on the braided rug.
Johnnie brushed her messy hair from her face and plucked free the thickest strands clinging to her neck before shoving them behind her ear and formally greeted the king.
“Joan Long, Walker Pack. Clan Walker, East South Central, milord. But everyone calls me Johnnie. I’m sorry to interrupt, but it’s an emergency.”
“Where’s Kincaid?” Tucker asked carefully, sensing his female was on the verge of breaking down despite the brave front.
Jo bit her cheek yet still wouldn’t look at him.
“How did you get here, Johnnie?” Samuel used his most soothing tone. A focused Alpha bond would read her heightened distress as keenly as Tucker’s more intimate one.
“I drove.” Her voice small, chin quivering.
“Alone?” Tucker’s knuckles went white where he gripped the table.
Her jaw firmed.
“Jo—”
“Don’t you Jo me.” She whirled and stomped to his side, the tiny flecks of green in her light brown eyes snapping with emerald fire. “You left me.”
“I thought—”
“Oh, I know what you thought…you stupid, stubborn male,” she screeched, then sucked in a breath, remembering their audience. Her horrified gaze swept the room’s occupants, doing a double take when she noticed Ethan Hall before landing on the queen.
She bobbed a quick curtsy, face flaming. “Milady.”
“Joan.” Lady Rose inclined her head, lips twitching.
Jo raised a single finger. “Excuse us for one second?” Her voice was high and strangled as though she’d swallowed a rock, and it was still stuck in her throat.
“Take your time.” Remington settled in his seat and hid another grin.
Jo grabbed Tucker’s arm and dragged him to the farthest corner.
“Where’s Kincaid?” he asked again, a low rumble vibrating in his chest. Why would the shifter allow Jo to travel in the open by herself? Anything could have happened on the way to town.
“Dealing with a horny bobcat,” she whispered through her teeth, too angry and upset to realize the effort was wasted. Everyone but Lydia would hear every word no matter how quietly they spoke.
“And he let you drive here by yourself?” Tucker was going to kill him.
“He didn’t let me do anything. Dylan doesn’t know I left.”
“Then how?”
“I hotwired his car.”
“You stole…” His head fell back on a sigh. Of course, she did.
Smart and resourceful.
“Borrowed,” she hissed. “What was I supposed to do, Tucker? You took my phone.”
Tucker. Not Jacob.
He flinched, the knife she drove into his heart leaving a gaping hole.
“It’s not like I could call an Uber,” she whisper-shouted. “Was I supposed to walk?”
“No,” he said, hands going to his hips, head hanging low, “you were supposed to do as I asked and stay at the cabin until I came back for you.”
“Right, the note.” Her freckled nose wrinkled as if smelling something foul.
“I needed to know you were safe.”
“Why couldn’t you just talk to me then?” The hurt in her voice widened the stab wound in his heart.
“I was…” Worried he wasn’t strong enough to deny Jo anything?
“Stupid?”
“Stupid,” he agreed. He should have trusted his mate to hear him out.
Unable to go another second without touching her, Tucker pulled a brittle leaf from her tangled hair and let it fall to the floor, then cupped her chin. He wiped a dirty smudge from her cheek with his thumb, letting her feel his remorse through the mating bond.
Jo expression didn’t change, but she didn’t pull away either. The anger pulsing through the link faded to irritation and a bitter disappointment that wounded his soul and broke his heart. The censure well deserved.
She sighed, shook her head, and pulled her chin from his hand. “We don’t have time for this right now.”
“Jo, what’s going on?”
“I think,” the scent of her fear resurfaced, burning his nostrils, “the facility has kidnapped the twins.”