Warrior (Relentless #4)(153)

Paulina folded her hands in her lap. “The girl and her friends came in asking to see Orias. They didn’t have an appointment, but he agreed to see them.”

“Friends?” Chris said.

She nodded. “There was another girl and two young men.”

My breath caught. I was right. Sara was here last night.

“Do you know why they wanted to see Orias?”

“No. They were in his office for about half an hour, but he never told me what they wanted. They were leaving when Stefan Price arrived.”

She smiled apologetically. “I couldn’t see much from over here, but I heard him say something about a child out without her protectors. He grabbed the dark-haired girl and threw one of the boys across the room. Next thing I know, there’s a werewolf coming through the door, and the girl has Stefan on his knees. Then Stefan was dead with a knife sticking from his chest. It all happened so fast.”

My stomach knotted. “Were any of them hurt, other than the vampire?”

Paulina thought about it. “I don’t think so. Orias gave the girl a towel, but that could have been to wipe Stefan’s blood off her hands. If she’d been badly injured, he would have healed her.”

Chris sat on the corner of her desk. “Did they say where they were going when they left here?”

“No. Oh wait. I think someone mentioned Los Angeles. Does that help?”

“More than you know.” I smiled at her. “As always, you’ve been a big help.”

“My pleasure.” She motioned for us to lean in. “Between you and me, I’m glad she killed him. I hate vampires, and that one always scared the hell out of me. Orias wouldn’t like to hear me say that about the clients.”

“About that,” I said in a low voice. “Do you know why Orias wouldn’t tell us about the girl? He didn’t care about you telling us.”

She frowned. “He’s been acting strange ever since they left. I don’t know what happened up in his office, but it’s almost like he can’t talk about it. I asked who they were, and he just shook his head and went back to his office.”

I looked at Chris, who shrugged. What could Sara and the others have said to the warlock to keep him from talking? He was a businessman above all else, but where would they have gotten the kind of money it would take to buy his silence?

I straightened and held out a hand to her. “Thank you, Paulina.”

“Anytime, Mr. Danshov. I hope you find your girl.”

“I will.”

Chris and I waited until we were a mile away from Orias’s before we said anything.

“Did you find that whole thing as strange as I did?” he asked.

“Yes.” I maneuvered around a large pothole in the dirt road. “But at least we know where the four of them are headed next.”

Chris made a sound. “I still can’t believe Sara took down Price. But if she hadn’t, we might never have known they were here.”

“That’s true.” She and I were going to have a long talk when I found her, but for now I was relieved she was okay and that I knew where to look for her next.

I glanced at the time. “It’s a good eleven hours to LA. We can be there by 9:00 a.m.”

Chris’s groan filled my headset. “Nikolas, we just drove for nine hours straight. I need food and a few hours of sleep before I hit the road again. So do you.”

“If Sara’s in LA, we need to –”

“Sara’s proven pretty resourceful so far,” he cut in. “And she has Jordan and two werewolves with her. She’ll be in better shape than you if you keep up this pace. Let’s stay in Albuquerque tonight and head out first thing in the morning. I’ll call the LA units and let them know to be on the lookout.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he said, “I won’t pretend to know how hard this is for you, but you’re acting with your heart now and not your head. You haven’t eaten since this morning, and you’ve barely slept since we left home. If you leave for LA now, you’ll spend tomorrow passed out in one of the safe houses. Not even your Mori can keep you going indefinitely.”

I ground my teeth together. Chris’s reasoning was sound, but that didn’t make me feel better about it. All I could think of was finding Sara. All my Mori wanted was for us to find our mate.

“We leave at dawn,” I told him.

“Dawn,” he agreed.

We ate and then went to the Albuquerque safe house. It was smaller than most and a bit crowded, but it wasn’t like we’d be there long. Chris bunked on a couch in the control center, and I took the couch in the living room. I made myself comfortable and closed my eyes, willing sleep to come. The sooner it did, the sooner I could wake up and get on the road again.

I was dozing off when my phone rang, jerking me awake. I reached for it where it lay on the coffee table and stared at the unfamiliar number for a moment before I answered.

“Hello?”

“Hello?” I said again when no one spoke.

There was a breath on the other end, followed by a hush.

I shot to a sitting position. “Sara? Is that you?”

There was no answer. I couldn’t sense her, but I knew it was her.

“Sara, talk to me,” I pleaded softly.

We hadn’t spoken since the morning in the medical ward, and my heart squeezed painfully from the need to hear her voice. I didn’t care if she yelled at me, as long as I could hear for myself she was okay.