Warrior (Relentless #4)(148)

The plan was perfect except for one thing. Sara still wasn’t talking to me. I’d gone to her room twice, and though I knew she was inside, she refused to answer the door. This morning she came out to see Roland and Peter off, but she’d disappeared again before I could catch her. I knew she was hurting and angry, and I wished I could give her time to accept what had to be done. But the longer we stayed here, the more dangerous it was for her.

The first thing I had to do when I saw her was apologize for being an insensitive ass yesterday. She blamed herself for the vampire attack, and I’d basically told her she wasn’t strong enough to stay and fight with everyone else. My fear for her had overridden my judgement, and I’d said all the wrong things. Sara was one of the strongest people I knew, and I’d tell her that as many times as I had to until she believed me.

I left the bathroom and walked into the bedroom, toweling my hair dry. I pulled on a pair of jeans and searched the dresser for my favorite blue T-shirt. Strange. I was sure I’d seen it there this morning. Frowning, I grabbed a gray one instead, pulled on a pair of shoes, and turned to leave the bedroom.

I came up short when I spotted a white envelope laying on my pillow. I stared at it suspiciously as I walked over to pick it up. When I saw my name written on the front, my suspicion turned into foreboding. I didn’t need to know Sara’s handwriting to know this was from her.

With a sinking feeling in my gut, I took out the single sheet of paper and unfolded it.





Nikolas,





I know you’ll be angry when you read this, but please try to understand why I have to do this. I don’t blame you and Tristan for being worried about me, but I can’t just run away and hide this time. If the Master can’t find me, he’ll hurt someone I care about. I can’t live with that.





I know where Madeline is, and I’m going to make her tell me what she knows about the Master. I’m not going alone, and I have people helping me. I promise I’ll call you as soon as I talk to Madeline.





I hate leaving with things the way they are between us, but please believe this has nothing to do with us or our bond. I don’t want to leave at all, but I have no choice. I won’t bother asking you not to come after me because I know you too well.





I’ll miss you.

Sara





P.S. Please tell Seamus and Niall I’m sorry.





I read the letter a second and third time before the meaning of it really hit me. Sara had taken off to find her mother. Half the vampires in the country were hunting her, and she was out there alone.

Fear slammed into me, and my legs threatened to give out. Sara, what have you done?

I ran from my place and burst into Tristan’s apartment without knocking. He and Chris were having dinner, and they jumped up in alarm.

“Sara’s gone.” I held up the letter. “She went to find Madeline on her own.”

Tristan came over, and I handed him the letter.

“Oh, dear God,” he breathed as he read it. “How could she know where her mother is?”

“I don’t know, but we have to stop her,” I ground out.

“I left her with the twins no more than half an hour ago,” Chris said. “They were going to the menagerie.”

He read the letter over Tristan’s shoulder. “What does she mean by ‘tell Seamus and Niall I’m sorry’?”

I turned to the door. “I think we’re about to find out.”

“Why is she with Seamus and Niall?” Tristan asked as we ran across the lawn.

“I asked them to stay near her until we leave. I didn’t want to take a chance of someone sneaking past our security again.” I think a part of me also worried she might try something like this.

The menagerie was dark when we reached it, and we could hear the twins yelling and swearing before I opened the door.

“Get us out of this goddamn thing,” Niall bellowed when we found him and his brother locked in the wyvern’s cage.

Chris went to the office to turn on the lights and release the cage locks.

“Where is Sara?” I demanded, afraid I already knew the answer.

“The lass got the drop on us,” Seamus said as the cage door clicked open. “I’m sorry, Nikolas.”

“Bloody hell.” Niall grunted in disgust as he tried to wipe something from his pants. All he succeeded in doing was making green streaks of what I suspected was wyvern dung.

“She and that blonde hellion played us,” he griped. “She used that faerie magic on us, took our radios, and dragged us in here.”

“How long ago?” They couldn’t have gotten far on foot, and we’d know if they’d tried to take one of the vehicles.

Seamus glanced at his watch. “Thirty minutes.”

I turned to Tristan, but he was already on his phone.

“Dax, alert all the sentries that Sara and Jordan are out in the woods,” he ordered. “And send whoever you can find out here to help us search for them.”

The four of them followed me outside and into the woods. We spread out to search, and I used my Mori speed to run toward the road. There was only one road in and out of Westhorne, and the girls would have to take it to get to town.