My Sunrise Sunset Paramour (My Midnight Moonlight Valentine 2)

“What am I supposed to do?” I exhaled tiredly at the stoplight, my head already aching.

Ring.

Ring.

The sound, the name on the ID screen, everything on my phone made me jump a little in my seat.

“Uncle Axel, sorry. I had a late night at work, so I am—”

“Magdalena has disappeared.”

For minutes it felt like my heart had just stopped. “What?”

“We are trying to trace her, but it’s not working. Did she ever tell you where she’d like to go?”

I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me.

Honk.

Honk.

I glared in the rearview mirror at the car blasting me so hard that the engine blew. But I didn’t care. “Magdalena likes to practice in the forest behind her house, but I’ve told her never to go alone. She’s smart and strong and—”

“I’m sending everyone out to search. Go,” he said, hanging up the phone.

“She’s okay, Druella,” I told myself as I stomped on the gas and sped off from the smoking car behind me, pushing mine as fast as it could possibly go. Every light, I turned green, and every car that nearly cut in front of me, I forced their brakes.

I didn’t stop until I arrived at the local park closest to my house to enter the forest. Grabbing my bag, I glanced over the treetops.

I couldn’t feel her magic.

“She’s okay, Druella,” I muttered to myself as I walked.

She was fine. She most likely fell asleep because she woke up so early. The silly little girl was going to wake up to an army of pissed-off witches because she had taken a nap. I was going to twist off her little ears.

I walked farther inside, climbing over a broken log. “Magdalena! Magdalena, are you here?”

“Druella?”

“Theseus?” I turned, feeling behind me. There he was like I had seen him only twenty minutes ago. “You can’t be here. Other witches are coming here soon—actually, forget that. You’re fast. Can you run and see if a little girl is sleeping somewhere? She’s about hip height to me and has—actually, you should know what she looks like. Magdalena? I use to babysit her, and she comes over to my house all the time—”

“Druella,” he cut in, his tone short and harsh. I couldn’t make out the expression on his face, but it didn’t look or feel good. “Something isn’t right. Go home, and I will—”

“No,” I interrupted, trying to stay calm. “I’m not going to go home. Didn’t you hear me? Magdalena is missing. Of course, something isn’t right.”

“Druella.”

“Stop saying my name like that!” I was starting to get annoyed. Shaking my head, I turned from him. “You are the one who needs to go back home or at the very least hide before someone sees you. I can already feel other witches coming into the forest…”

Before I could take another step, he was in front of me again. “My love, don’t.”

The look of worry was in his eyes. My heart began to race because he had no reason to be worried about me. I was perfectly fine. I was healthy, alive, and in front of him. So if I was fine and Theseus was still trying to stop me from going farther, that meant I wouldn’t be fine if I did. He never stopped me, not even with vampires. So…so what exactly would hurt me if I went farther?

“Theseus,” I whispered slowly, swallowing the lump in my throat to get more words out. “I am going to keep walking, and if you stop me again, I will—we will have our first real fight.”

“I would prefer that than your heart breaking even a little bit,” he said gently, already landing the first blow.

My eyes watered, and I ran.