Lone Wolf (Wilde Brothers Ranch #6)- Scarlett Grove Page 0,11

looked around the room. The bed beside him was empty and cold. There was no sound in the cabin, no one in the room. He climbed out of bed and walked over to the bathroom. He knocked on the door, hoping she was inside. But there was no reply.

“Annie?” he whispered more to himself than anyone else.

He pulled on his pants, noting that all her things were gone. No suitcase. No laptop. It was all gone. He looked at the clock beside the bed. It was already eleven in the morning. He groaned and rubbed his temples. He hadn't slept this late since forever. He hadn't even had that much to drink last night. Being with Annie must have exhausted him, and he'd slept through her leaving.

Now she was gone. He looked around for his phone then realized he’d left it back up on the porch near the kitchen. He was sure that Austin and the interns had been texting all morning. He pulled on his shoes and splashed his face with water in the bathroom before leaving the cabin and hurrying back up the trail to the lodge.

Luckily, the cooks in the kitchen had retrieved his novel and phone, and one of them returned it to him as soon as he arrived. He hurried through the parking lot back to the van and was driving down the road toward the ranch a few minutes later. He hadn't even checked his text messages. All he could do was get back as fast as possible and try to explain what had happened once he arrived.

But his mind was reeling. Where had she gone? She hadn’t even left a note. When he got back to the ranch, he hurried into the warehouse to find six angry interns awkwardly packing boxes.

“Dylan, where have you been?” one of them asked.

“I overslept.”

“Are you still wearing the same clothes you were wearing yesterday?” another asked.

Two of them chuckled under their breath and gave each other a knowing look.

“I had some business at the lodge that took my attention, and I ended up staying there last night. But I didn't have my alarm set, so I overslept. That's the end of it. What are you working on? Let's see where you've gotten so far today,” he said, trying to take back control of the situation.

He went through their work with them, trying to correct any mistakes. Luckily, they were doing fairly well without him, which was a relief. So he left them to continue their work while he went to his office and checked his phone. He hoped that Annie had sent him a message or voicemail. He found a dozen texts from the interns, half a dozen more from Austin, but not a single message from Annie.

He swore under his breath and opened the mate.com app. He typed out a text message.

“I missed you this morning. I hope everything is okay. Please let me know you're all right.” He set down the phone and rested his elbows on the desk, running his fingers through his hair with frustration.

“Where were you?” Austin said from the door of his office.

“It's a long story,” Dylan said.

“It's not like you to not show up to work on time,” Austin said, closing the door behind him. He sat down on one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk and looked his younger brother in the eye. “Tell me about this long story.”

“Well, I met my fated mate last night.”

“Congratulations,” Austin said excitedly. But his face fell when he saw Dylan's frown. “What happened?”

“We were together. We made love—which was a little fast, I'll be honest. She initiated most of it. And I thought it was what she wanted. Maybe I should have slowed things down. But you know how hard that can be. I fell asleep, and I didn't wake up until after ten o’clock. I never sleep that late. But when I woke up, she was gone. No sign of her. Her suitcase was gone. Everything was gone. She hasn't sent me any messages. I don't even know her last name.”

“Damn,” Austin said, folding his arms and sitting back in his chair. “That's rough, brother. I'm sorry.”

“All I know is that she's a freelancer and lives in Denver. Her first name is Annie.”

“I'm sure she will contact you as soon as she gets home,” Austin said, trying to console his younger brother.

But it wasn't working. It just didn't make sense. And Dylan felt deep down that there