Lover Uncloaked (Stealth Guardians #1) - By Unknown Page 0,99
be punished—and severely, if he had a say in it. But what was more important now was to find Leila. “What does Finlay want with her?”
Pearce’s look turned to stone. “Trade her to the demons. He’s crazy, Aiden.” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it himself. “He thinks the demons will crown him as their leader if he brings them this prize. He wants the power.”
“I won’t allow it. We’ll get her back!” Aiden felt his anger rise. Nobody would take Leila away from him. He’d get her back even if he had to follow the demons into their lair and rip her from their claws. “She’s mine!”
Three pairs of eyes stared at him.
“Well,” Manus said deadpan, “that clears that up. I would extend my congratulations, but considering the bride is absent, I’ll postpone that.”
Aiden lashed a furious glare at Manus for his flippant remark.
Manus immediately lifted his free arm in a show of surrender. “No harm meant. We’d better get to work on finding your mate.”
Manus’s last word sank deep into Aiden’s chest. Even though he’d never used it when thinking about Leila, he knew it was the truth nevertheless. Nothing had ever felt so right. There was no denying that rasen had finally caught up with him and delivered the only woman who could ever be his. Now all he had to do was get her back.
He nodded. “We have to figure out where Finlay took her.”
Pearce motioned toward the stairs, his arms around Manus’s and Hamish’s shoulders for support. “Let’s go to the command center. Your father can get us access to his file to see where he owns property, who he knows, where he goes. If somebody can bring me his cell phone, I might be able to trace where he’s been before. Maybe we can find his meeting place with the demons that way.”
As Aiden made a motion to follow his friends who assisted Pearce in negotiating the stairs, he heard a sound coming from the corridor leading to the portal.
He turned and saw Logan and Enya come toward them. He waited for them.
“We dropped off Deirdre with the council guards and came as fast as we could,” Logan announced.
Aiden gave both a grave look. “Leila is gone. Finlay took her; he’s the traitor.”
“Shit!” Logan exclaimed.
“Well, let’s go trace them and ambush him,” Enya said and headed for the stairs.
Aiden felt the hopelessness of the situation crash over him once more. “We have no way of tracing Finlay. He’s left his cell behind.”
To his surprise, Enya grinned.
“What the—?”
“Just as well that I lent her my jeans then.”
Confusion roiled through him, but before he could voice it, Enya put a hand on his forearm.
“No offense, but I didn’t trust her, so I put a tracker into one of the metal buttons on the jeans. If she’s still wearing them, we’ll find her.”
He didn’t believe his ears at first, but when the words sank in, he couldn’t help but hug his compound mate until she pushed against him, wanting to be released.
“You can let me down now!”
He let go of her and took a steadying breath. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
Enya grumbled under her breath. “It’s not by groping me, that’s for sure. Try that again, and you’ll find my dagger in your gut.”
At any other time, Aiden would have started a fight with Enya about what was considered a friendly hug and what constituted a grope, but at this moment he couldn’t care less. His thoughts were with Leila, the only woman he wanted to touch for the rest of his life.
THIRTY-SIX
The sun had already set when Finlay had kidnapped her from the compound, but after hurtling through the portal and emerging at the other end, Leila saw the glow of late afternoon sun. It had to mean that they were somewhere on the West Coast. The portal behind them was hidden in a hillside, heavy brush disguising its location. Looking down the hill, Leila noticed the trees surrounding them: mostly pine trees, mixed with other varietals she didn’t recognize. She inhaled, taking in the dry air. While it was still warm, it wasn’t humid, another indication that her captor had transported her to the West Coast rather than the South or East. California, if she had to guess.
“Let’s go, no time for sightseeing,” Finlay ordered gruffly and clamped his hand harder around her upper arm.
“Where are we going?”
“Meeting your new master,” he snarled and tugged on her arm, dragging her