“There’s no question of me breaking my heart.” The pang in it betrayed Diego’s lie.
His mother’s look turned sharp before she went back to the chilaquiles. “You let me be the judge of that. You’re thirty-two, Diego. It’s time you started seriously looking.”
“Mamita wants grandchildren,” Xavier said, his grin back.
“And don’t you laugh at your brother, Xavier Escobar. It’s time you started looking too. Enough with you two pretending to be bad boys. You don’t play the parts very well, and you need someone to look after you.”
“Oh, man,” Xavier said, shaking his head. “Now my own mother’s telling me I’m not macho.”
“You’re not,” Mamita said. “Neither of you has ever had a serious relationship. You’re both afraid to commit, and you’re both lonely. I’m your mother. I know.”
She had a point. But Diego refused today to be dragged into the perpetual why-don’t-you-find-a-nice-girl-and-settle-down argument.
He hadn’t found a nice girl and settled down because, first, there hadn’t been time for it, and now, his job had him jaded. Women either wanted something from him—leniency, protection—or they shied away from marriage to a cop. Being a law enforcement officer was dangerous, the hours and pay were crappy, and the divorce rate was high. He’d gotten around the problem by simply not thinking about it. Xavier, the same.
Diego pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll call Cassidy and make sure she’s all right. Happy?”
He’d planned to do that anyway but not while his mother and brother watched him and listened to every word.
Diego turned away to seek some privacy, but before he could, his cell phone rang. He blinked in surprise at the readout before he flipped it open.
“Hello?”
“Diego. It’s Eric. We’ve lost Cassidy.”
Diego went still while something cold and painful clenched inside him. “Lost her? What the hell do you mean, lost her?”
Eric’s tone held rage, ferocity, and fear. “Brody told me she went back into your apartment, and then she vanished.”
“What are you talking about? How could she have vanished?”
“I don’t know, but it stinks of Fae all over your damn apartment. What the hell, Diego?”
“Dios, Eric, I don’t know. Cass ran off before I could stop her. Weren’t your trackers supposed to be protecting her?”
Eric growled—a wildcat growl, nothing human. “We can point fingers all day, but we have to find her.”
“No kidding. I have an idea where to start looking.”
“Yeah, so do I. Meet me out there, all right? Bring as much backup as you can.”
Diego shut off the phone, his heart racing like crazy. He turned around to find his mother and Xavier staring at him, having heard every word.
“Go find her, Diego,” Mamita said.
“I intend to. Xav, can you help?”
Xavier didn’t even cast a longing glance at the chilaquiles. “Sure thing. Let me get my stuff.”
Diego put his hand on his brother’s shoulder, walked him out of the house, and spoke to him in a low voice. “Do you still know how to make pipe bombs, like you did when you were in that gang?”
Xavier looked offended. “I told you, I wasn’t in the gang—” Xavier broke off as Diego shot him a don’t-bullshit-me-now look. “Yeah. I remember.”
“Good. Put something together.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Diversions and a damn good scare. And firepower if we need to take this guy down.”
Xavier grinned. “You got it, Diego.” And he went to get ready.
Cassidy woke to find herself flat on her back on cold, hard stone. Her hands were bound and stretched above her head; her feet were likewise bound. She was naked and in her human form.
She had no idea where she was. She could tell only that it was a dark place, cold, smelling of stone and mud. And Fae.
There he was. Across the room, backlit by a few candles—why candles?—was Reid. Tall, thin, but with black hair and dark skin. Fae, definitely, but like no Fae she’d ever heard about.
Cassidy clenched her hands. The chains were solid but she was strong, and if she could shift to her wildcat…
She relaxed her body and summoned the shift.
And screamed as her Collar went off. But not just the Collar. Electric pain shot through her from wrists to ankles, wrapping her like white-hot bands of wire. They would slice her in half, and she would die in so much pain she’d welcome the darkness.
Dimly she saw Reid turn to her, eyes glittering black in the candlelight. Cassidy forced herself to calm.
Diego. Think about Diego. His warm smile, the way he spoke in liquid tones, the things he whispered to her as he lay with her, touching her, kissing her.
The strong warmth of the mate bond. The mate bond that shouldn’t exist.
Cassidy took a deep breath. When she exhaled, the arcs of pain slowed, then stopped.
The mate bond warmed her, tried to soothe her hurts. It wouldn’t be able to completely—nothing would. The only thing that would calm her thoroughly was the touch of Diego, her mate.
Reid came to her. He’d changed to more casual clothes than he’d been in when they’d confronted him in his apartment—jeans, a gray hoodie jacket, and no shirt underneath. He looked like an ordinary human, except for that smell of Fae.