Page 19 of Fated to the Dragon King (Alpha Dragons’ Fated #4)

Alaric

“She stole my truck.”

I raged over my cell phone from the rear seat of a taxi. True, I felt anger that Hayley had taken off with my pickup. I also felt a terrible fear. Why had she gone? Where was she? Most of all, the question of whether Damon and Fiona had anything to do with her disappearance sent me into a panic.

“Your truck is here,” Willow said calmly. “In the parking lot.”

Her words failed to allay my frustrations and worries. “At the office? Is Hayley there?”

“No, she isn’t.”

Willow’s voice spoke to me of her own worry. “She didn’t call, and if she’s not with you, then where can she be? What happened?”

I dragged my free hand down my face. “We had a fight. A bad one.”

Conscious of the driver’s ability to listen in, I simply said, “She left sometime last night. She doesn’t have a car. So if she left the truck in the lot, where’d she go from there?”

“Anywhere by cab.”

“Oh. Right.”

“Look, just get here. We’ll talk then.”

Willow clicked off without saying goodbye, and I shoved my cell into my pocket. I bit my thumbnail as I stared out the window, mentally kicking myself for not paying enough attention to Hayley’s emotional needs. We fought. We had sex, but angry sex. That’s not to be confused with make up sex.

And now she’s gone.

I don’t know where, nor do I have any way of finding her. She has no cell phone for me to call, no place she’d call home. Wait . Maybe she went back to Roxanne’s house. A glimmer of hope trickled into my heart. That’s the only place Hayley could go.

Home is where your family has to take you in. Right?

Yet, knowing Roxanne, she’d turn Hayley away.

I bit my thumbnail harder, unable to speculate where Hayley may have gone.

I jumped from the cab before the driver halted it completely. I tossed him some cash, not knowing exactly how much. But since he didn’t yell after me as I trotted across the parking lot, I guessed it was enough.

My pickup did indeed sit in my usual spot. I opened the driver’s door and found my smart key in the cupholder. I supposed I could yell at her later about that, but I’d need to find her first. With my key safely in my pocket, I locked the truck and headed inside the building.

“She could have easily stayed at a hotel,” Willow said when I explained my theory of Hayley returning to Roxanne’s.

“But without a car?” I demanded, pacing my office. “Should I start canvassing taxi cabs to find out who might have taken her somewhere?”

“No.” Willow gave me that look that said she thought I was acting stupidly but that she would tolerate it. For now. “You need to give her some space. I know you. You treated her like shit last night. Didn’t you?”

I stopped pacing and drooped into my desk’s chair. “Yeah. I guess I did.”

“Shock of all shocks you admitted it.” Willow folded her arms over her bosom, scowling. “And you’re in an uproar that she dared become independent. Independent of you, her sister and even that dipshit ex-boyfriend. She has money now, have you forgotten that? She doesn’t need you, me, this job.”

Wilting inside, I hung my head. “I can’t tell her how I feel.”

“And how do you feel? Like a dominant ass determined that she jump through all your hoops in a specific order? You taught her how to be herself, for Pete’s sake. And now you’re pissed that she’s shaken free of your harness.”

“No.” I sighed deeply. “Not pissed. Well, okay, I was. Now I’m just scared. She’s out there, alone, with Fiona, Damon on the loose, and her ex on the warpath. Hayley is so little and timid and –”

“Married to a dragon,” Willow snapped. “She’s not stupid, and she’s tougher than you’ll ever be.”

I slapped my hands flat on my desk. “I’ll not tolerate these insults from you. You have no right to speak to me like this.”

Willow leaned toward me, her eyes flat, her mouth a tight, pale slash. “I have every right, nephew,” she growled, her face inches from mine. “I owe you my allegiance, you will always have that. But I will speak my mind when and where I wish.”

Standing, my fury roaring through me, I stalked past her and out of my office. Both Richard and Bertie eyed me with alarm, yet neither spoke as I stormed through the main door. Grumbling bitterly under my breath, I unlocked my truck before I’d crossed the parking lot to it.

Once inside, I dug my cell phone from my pocket and clicked Henry’s number. He answered on the second ring.

“Mr. Desjardin.”

“Meet me at the Rio Lounge at Sixth and Guadalupe,” I barked. “You know where that is?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Right now.”

***

Sitting in a booth in a quiet corner, I’d just ordered a beer when Henry strode in. He glanced around until he found me, then crossed the bar amid the few afternoon drinkers at tables. As my fury had abated during my drive, I greeted him with a smile and a handshake.

“Thanks for coming,” I said, motioning him to sit across from me. “We need to find McMillan and St. Claire as soon as possible.”

“Did something happen?”

I took a deep pull from my beer as the waitress took Henry’s order, waiting for her to leave.

“They’re here in town,” I went on. “They set a false trail for you leading to Mexico.”

Henry nodded. “I discovered that a few days ago and flew back. I’d just started searching again when you called.”

“As we know they’re here, it may be easier for you to discover where they’re staying. Fiona demands high end residences, and she’s currently driving a silver Rolls Royce Wraith.”

Henry’s brows rose. “Where would she get that? There aren’t Rolls dealers in this city.”

“A rental? As she’s driving a very distinctive car, any dealer or rental agency will have her address on file. With those cars so rare around here, you shouldn’t have much trouble in finding her. There’s a chance McMillan is no longer with her, however.”

“Even so, once we have her, we can squeeze his location from her mouth.”

I drank my beer, thinking that squeezing Fiona for information wasn’t as easy as Henry thought. “She’ll want to reside in a five star hotel, probably a suite. Or a large house in an upscale neighborhood. Follow the Rolls lead. She’s egotistical. She showed up at my house with it last evening.”

“Holy wow.” Henry glanced up to accept his beer from the waitress, then took a long drink. “You couldn’t have grabbed her?”

I set my bottle down. “There were complications. I had to let her go.”

“Got it.”

“Don’t approach her, Henry,” I said. “Just locate her address, then tell me. I’ll manage from there.”

“You’re the boss.” Henry hesitated, then asked, “Does this complication have a name?”

I sighed. “Hayley. She’s missing, too. Fiona and Damon know about her, and may go after her as a way of entrapping me. I’m trying to find her.”

“Does she have an address or phone number? Maybe I can locate her for you.”

“No. She’s in the wind.”

“That’ll be tough, boss.”

“I know. I’ll talk to her sister. Maybe Hayley went there.”

“Good luck.”

***

I’ll freely admit I entertained the wild speculation, and hope, that Hayley would answer the door. When Roxanne did, wearing dirty pajamas and her hair hanging in her face, I’ll also admit I was taken aback. Her upper lip curled in derision upon seeing who her visitor was.

“First her and now you,” Roxanne rasped, a cigarette between her fingers. “How I am blessed.”

“Hayley’s here?”

“She was.”

Indifferent, Roxanne shuffled across her foyer, trailing smoke. I followed, wondering what brought the high and mighty Roxanne to such a state of dishevelment. By the smell, she’d been drinking and smoking for quite a while.

“When was she here?” I asked as Roxanne dropped to her sofa.

“This afternoon. I think. No, this evening. A few hours ago.”

“Why did she come? Knowing how you’d never let her stay under your roof again.”

Roxanne shrugged. “Wanted to share her new address and phone number. In case I needed her.” Roxanne drew a long drag on her cigarette, then blew the smoke out through her nose. “Sanctimonious little bitch.”

I stifled my anger. “She left you that information?”

“In the kitchen, maybe. I don’t know. Don’t care.”

Leaving her to her smoke and booze, I crossed the big room and went into the kitchen. Sure enough, Hayley’s handwriting was on a note. Her address, her cell number. I jotted those down, and left the note where it was. Returning to the sitting room, I asked, “Did she come by cab?”

“Nope.” Roxanne smirked. “She drove a cute little Honda. I peeked through the window.”

“A new car? Used?”

“I dunno. Just that it was so typical of Hayley to buy practical.”

“You mean that she’s not like you,” I said, my lip curled. “Extravagant and excessive in every part of her life.”

If I thought to enrage her, I was wrong.

Roxanne continued to smoke and stare into space as though I wasn’t there.

If Hayley bought a car, a phone, and rented an apartment, she might very well be home.

I can talk to Honda dealers about a sale to her.

I had her number now, I could call her, talk to her.

If she’s at home, I could sit her down and talk to her.

Convince her of how wrong I was last night.

Maybe I might find the sand to tell her how I feel.

I started toward the front door.

“Hayley said she dumped you.”

I half turned, eyeing Roxanne over my shoulder. “That doesn’t mean I’m letting her go.”

***

My first call to Hayley’s number sent me directly to a voicemail box that hadn’t been set up yet. “Dammit.”

I followed MapQuest’s directions to a decent looking apartment complex with cement stairs wending their way among juniper shrubs to the upper floors. Hayley’s place was on the third floor.

Nor did she answer my heavy knock.

“Great. Just great,” I growled, trying her cell again.

Once more, I received the notification that her voicemail hadn’t yet been set up. I stared at her door, thinking that Hayley was by nature a homebody. So, why wasn’t she at home at nearly ten o’clock at night? Did she suddenly discover a taste for the bars and the dance clubs?

That’s not Hayley at all.

Frustrated, angry, I stalked down the stairs to the parking lot. Meandering up and down several rows of cars, I found several Hondas, but none were new. My fears grew with every car I knew wasn’t Hayley’s. Why had she purchased a cell only to keep it turned off?

I supposed I knew the answer to that.

She had no one she wanted to talk with.

Returning to my truck, I sat inside, fuming, scared.

I’d never been one to discuss my feelings.

I kept them bottled up, and only permitted my anger to show.

Anger was easy. Anger didn’t reflect the real me.

The inner Alaric. The Alaric who feared to love another, who feared to let anyone see the sensitive and tender Alaric.

Being sensitive and tender was to open oneself up to attack. A thrown spear entered soft flesh more easily than a steel shield.

My cell rang in my pocket. I yanked it out, nearly dropped it, and held it up.

Hayley’s number flashed on the screen.

“Hayley? Thank all the gods, are you all right?”

“Hello, Alaric.”

I froze. “Fiona.

“We have your little toy, dear. We won’t harm her as long as you play nice.”

“What do you want?”

“Listen.”

I listened.