Liam’s face went red. “Alexander, you’re being an ass.’


    “No need to get defensive just because you’ve been caught in the act.” I leaned back in my chair. “But since you asked so nicely, I’ll give you the answer you want to hear. No, I’m not marking her. E will be single after the divorce. Congrattions.”


    The words tasted like poison in my mouth, but I forced them out anyway. Because it was the truth. E had made herself perfectly clear when she told me she had no intention of letting me mark her. She just wanted to get through our contract and get divorced. She hated me.


    Why should I care if she ran to her childhood friend once our marriage was done?


    Before Liam could respond, amotion suddenly erupted near the back of the restaurant, toward where the bathrooms were. I heard raised voices, followed by the sound of squealing tires in the street outside. Other diners were turning to look and murmuring amongst themselves.


    “What the hell?” Liam muttered, craning his neck to see what was happening.


    I turned, and saw… her.


    Lilith. She was stumbling through the restaurant her silver hair disheveled and blood trickling down from a gash on her temple. She was crying, her face streaked with tears and dirt, looking around frantically.


    My heart stopped.


    “Lilith!” I shot to my feet with Liam right behind me. We pushed through the crowded restaurant toward her.


    “Alexander!” Lilith’s face crumpled with relief when she saw me. “Thank the Goddess you’re here!”


    “What happened?” I demanded, taking her by the shoulders. Up close, I could see that the cut on her head was deep, and her hands were shaking. “Where’s E?”


    “She’s gone,” Lilith sobbed. “He took her.”


    “Who?” I demanded. My wolf began to roil with ear and fury. If someone hadid a hand on my mate….


    “The man. The man who bought her the drink.” Lilith wiped at her eyes, smearing blood across her cheek. “We were having dinner here, just the two of us. This man at the bar sent E a cocktail. She epted it, and I… I should have stopped her, but she seemed so happy to feel normal for once.”


    My blood went cold, my wolf angrier than ever. But I maintained myposure, if only to get


    the precious details that could lead me to my mate. “Go on.”


    “I went to the restroom. When I came out, I spotted the man practically dragging her out the back door.” Lilith’s voice broke. “She was stumbling and he was holding her up. I knew something was wrong. I tried to stop him, but he shoved me against a wall and hit me. Then he carried E out into the alley and drove off.”


    The restaurant around us seemed to fade away as realization washed over me like a bucket of


    cold water.


    E had been drugged. Kidnapped. While I was sitting right here.


    “Did you call the police?” Liam asked.


    “It just happened. I didn’t have a chance.” Lilith fumbled with her phone. “But I got a picture. When he was putting her in the car, I managed to take a picture.”


    She handed me her phone, and I looked at the screen. The image was too blurry to read the license te, but clear enough to make out a red convertible speeding away from the restaurant. There was a man’s silhouette behind the wheel.


    But it wasn’t the kidnapper that made my heart stop.


    It was the car.


    I knew that car. I’d seen it countless times over the years, parked in driveways during pack events, racing down country roads when its driver was in one of her moods. I didn’t have to see the license te to know that…


    It was Sophia’s car.