7 yrs, Gone and Forgotten

Chapter 30: They are after her

Xander’s POV

     Driving on the road to get Tess I couldn’t stop my mind from wondering to my past. My life had been so many different directions, but they all seemed to lead back to the same path, much like the road I was driving on. I grew up loved, I grew up with friends, I trained hard and led my people fiercely, so why in the world could we not find a human girl. We had all the connections, all the tools in our reach, but almost two weeks now and nothing.

     I was beginning to get worried that she was planning something, and attack on the wedding, or the land. Something, how else would she be able to just get away like that and no one know where she is. Or even know where to start looking.

     The phone ringing broke me from my thoughts, “Speak.” I grunted as I answered it.

    “Now is that anyway to talk to a friend with news?” Luscious’ voice rang out over the speaker in the car. I looked over at Jake and he just rolled his eyes.

    “What news and then I will tell you how I decide to speak.” I was feeling antsy and on edge and couldn’t quite control it.

    “First of all, found three of the vamps.”

   “That’s good news, man, were you able to capture and interrogate?” Jake spoke up before I had a chance to.

    I heard Luscious’ breath hitch through the speaker before he cleared his throat, “Here’s the thing, they were dead by the time I got to them.”

    I slammed on the brakes and swerved off the road, “What do you mean dead?”

   “They encountered Lee before I got to them, she took care of them and left.”

   Jake and I stared at each other wildly while I watched the color drain from his face. I cleared my throat, I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing, “That can’t be right, tell me you are joking and tell me you didn’t let her get away.”

      “No jokes here, she got away while I was cleaning up the mess. However, the good news about the whole thing is, no more guessing what they are after. They are after her.” He rambled out as fast as he could.

     I smacked the steering wheel as I pulled back out on the road. Nothing was making sense and we were only chasing our tales. “Fine, get the cleanup done and head back. We should all be back in time. I plan on picking Tess up and going straight back.” I didn’t wait for a reply as I just hung the phone up.

      Trying to not focus on my rambling thoughts I decided to use Jake as my sounding board, “Tell me how a human girl comes to the states with no training and manages to take out a hoard of me and then myself without even breaking a sweat. She then disappears into thin air and reappears plum across the continent and takes out three vamps and once again disappears. We have the best trackers on her and as well as the coven using locators for her whereabouts, but zip, nothing, zilch. Tell me?”

     I heard him take a deep breath, “I can’t. All I can tell you, like I have been telling you, leave her be. If it’s meant to be we will see her again.” He sounded agitated but I just couldn’t seem to let it go.

     “Okay so say we leave her be, what if something happens to her? What if she plots against us and someone gets hurt? What if man?” The scenarios in my head were going buck wild and I was itching for a shift and run.

      “Look man, for the last time I am telling you, she won’t attack unless provoked. Right now, the worse that could happen to her is you, you either want to catch her, make her submit and use her or imprison her, or you want her dead. She isn’t bothering anyone so leave her be.”

        I found myself scratching the palm of my hand on the steering wheel and immediately felt my nerves calm. “You and I both know I can’t do that Jake. If you were in my shoes, you would do the same thing. But I will drop it for now.”

     “I will take that.” He laughed. “You know you used to be a lot more fun.”

     That was enough to get a laugh out of me, “So I have been told, but then I grew up and took over my father’s throne, so you know I don’t have much time for fun?”

    “Yea, yea, yea. Now you drive, I am napping.” He pouted as he leaned the seat back and closed his eyes.

     I rolled my eyes and concentrated on the road ahead. Tess was not far now, and I couldn’t wait to hold her in my arms, I only hoped that maybe this time I would feel a spark of interest. She was a beautiful girl, had a smart head on her shoulders and she was fierce; everything a man could hope for. But no matter how much I tried I could never forge a connection, she told me she loved me a hundred times, but I could never reciprocate those feelings. I was pretty sure me being lonely for so long fed my anger and irritation but even having Tess in my life didn’t fill that emptiness.

    I was counting the days down until the ceremony where bonds would be broken, the coven reassured us that as soon as the bonds were broke, we would feel an immediate connection with each other because we had chosen to be together. Somewhere deep down inside me though wasn’t so sure.

    I had tried to talk to her about it, but she only agreed everything would be okay. So here I found myself driving across the country to pick her up and hope there was a bond forming.