Reed POV:
By the time I got back to the city, the blood had dried under my fingernails.
It wasn't hers.
That thought kept repeating in my skull like a taunt. It wasn't her blood. It wasn't her scent in that cage. Eleven humans saved, and it still wasn't enough.
Because she wasn't among them.
My mate.
Clause.
I tasted the name on my tongue like ash. Every second she was missing, the tether between us pulled tighter. Snapping wasn't an option. Not anymore.
I was going to find her.
And if I had to burn the bones of every goddamned supernatural to get there, I would.
The door to the boarding house was already open when I arrived — Blaze's scent thick in the air like crushed roses and smoke. I hated that I could tell his mood by scent alone. It meant I was paying too much attention.
He stood in the common room, shirt unbuttoned, blood on his collar, hands clenched around a piece of broken wood.
He didn't even look at me.
"You reek of witches," he muttered.
"They're dead."
