Page 80 of Protecting His Vampire Mate

In the background, I heard Poppy’s thunderous: “The hunters did what?”

Ethan must’ve had me on speaker phone.

“Poppy is here, by the way. It’s movie night,” Ethan let out a breath. “Yeah, I was kind of worried about this. The mirror showed me—”

“I know what it showed you,” I cut in, striving for calm. “I overheard everything. I need to know where my mate is, right the fuck now.”

Ethan let out a long breath. “Um, I could ask the mirror?”

“Oh hell no,” Poppy snarled, sounding louder this time. “We don’t have time to play games with a magic mirror whose idea of good time is—”

“It did help us save the city,” he pointed out.

“And now those fucking asshats have my brother,” Poppy hissed. She added, “I’m going to do a locator spell. We’ll text you an address. Be ready.”

With that, the line went dead.

Tension coiled through me as I waited. The minutes passed and each one was worse than the last. How long would it take for Poppy to cast a spell to find her brother?

And why would the hunters have taken Tobias and not me, if they knew where to find us? Was my mate okay? Would I get a chance to tell him that I had chosen him, after all? That I wanted to start a life with him?

If they had hurt him, neither one of them would live to see the sunrise.

Why hadn’t I fed from him and sealed the connection when I had the chance? If I had, this wouldn’t have happened. He could have called out to me for help. And I would have been able to find him without even really trying. My reasons for not sealing our bond seemed so laughable and pathetic, in the face of what might be happening to Tobias right now.

I might never get the chance to set things right between us.

What if—

No. I forced myself off that mental track. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—allow myself to imagine a world where Tobias didn’t exist in it.

If—when—I rescued him, I would put everything right between us.

I would trade away everything I had for him, if that was what was required. I would choose him every single day. I would prove to him that he was both wanted and needed. I would be his lover, his closest friend, his confidant, and his partner in all ways. I would make room for him in my life. And, really, I had always been able to do that, hadn’t I? I had just been so blinded by my own pain and fear that I hadn’t been able to see the simple truth that was right in front of me, all along: Tobias and I belonged together, always.

Then came a strange sound. Like someone knocking on a door.

But it didn’t come from the only entrance to the room, which was behind me.

Instead, it came from the direction of the bathroom.

I frowned and lurched off the bed and across the room, using vampire speed.

The knocking continued, becoming more insistent.

It was coming from the mirror hanging on the wall next to the bathroom door.

As I stepped closer to the glass, it began to fog over.

I watched, entranced, as letters began to form in the fog.

It spelled a message: don’t go.

My blood ran cold, and I blinked in surprise, stepping away from the mirror. I stared at the letters in the mirror, feeling dread fill me. I had no doubt at all about who had drawn that message.

Teresa Dames.

“I have to,” I said aloud. “You don’t understand. They took him from me. I have to save him. I can’t do anything else.”