“Huh. I didn’t know any of that.”
“Now you do. See you later.” I gave her one last hard kiss and then left her apartment, feeling remarkably lighter.
Okay, so she hadn’t agreed to my request yet, but I believed she would. I’d seen the flare of interest in her eyes. And I got the sense that she was no more eager for us to part ways yet than I was.
Outside, I walked toward my own Residence Hall, feeling the cool evening air on my skin. I nodded or tipped my chin at the people I passed, most of whom appeared to be on their way to work.
Jared’s voice suddenly flowed into my head. You’re not going to like this, he warned.
I felt my eyes narrow slightly. What is it?
A telepathic sigh. Castor is in the wind.
My step faltered. Say that again.
He got away.
I cursed a blue streak. You are fucking kidding me. How?
He got into a fight with the guards as they were taking him down to a cell. He got free and scampered.
I ground my teeth. Shit.
Sam and I are at his apartment right now. It doesn’t look like he’s been back there.
I instantly altered my course and headed for Castor’s building in vampiric speed. I reached his floor mere moments later.
We also have people searching both The Hollow and rainforest for him as we speak, but it’s more than probable that he’s already fled the island, Jared added.
Seeing that Castor’s front door was open, I stalked inside and found the Grand High Pair in the living area. “I do not fucking believe this shit,” I clipped.
“Believe me, we’re just as pissed as you are,” said Jared.
No, they weren’t. They couldn’t be. Because Castor hadn’t targeted someone who belonged to them. Lexi might not be wholly mine, but I still had rights to her. Or I would when she agreed to be my vessel. Which she’d definitely do. I had plans to hound her until she did. “What did the guards have to say?”
“Nothing,” said Sam. “They’re ashes. Going by the scorch marks on the floor, he lit up the poor sods and burned them alive.”
“Fuck.” I scrubbed a hand down my face.
Jared glanced around us. “If he’s been back here, he hasn’t taken anything.”
“He’ll have known it wouldn’t be long before the ashes of the guards were discovered,” I said, digging deep for a calm I had no chance of feeling. “I can’t see him caring to come back here to grab his shit. If he has any sense, he’ll have split.”
“We share that view, but we don’t take chances,” Sam told me. “I want to speak to Dion. I say we three be the first to tell him about Castor and see what he has to say.”
Pleased that she was good with me coming along, I nodded. Dion lived two floors down, so it wasn’t long before we stood outside his apartment. It was Sam who knocked on the door.
Whipping it open, Dion double-blinked. “Oh, I wasn’t expecting …” He tensed, studying our faces. “What is wrong?”
“Let us in,” said Sam. “We have news you’re not going to like.”
Dion stepped aside and invited us into the apartment with an impatient sweep of his arm. “What is it?” he asked the instant the front door was closed behind us.
Sam tipped her head to the side. “When did you last speak to Castor?”
“Castor?” Dion looked off to the side, his eyes narrowed in thought. “He stopped by my apartment a short time after you released him.”
“You haven’t seen or spoken to him since then?”
“No. Why?”
“It would appear that he’s done a runner. But not before burning two prison guards alive.”
“Prison guards?” Dion gave a fast shake of his head. “I don’t understand.”
So Sam told him the full story and made him understand.
Exhaling heavily, Dion walked over to the sofa and sank onto it. “I knew he was furious with the human, but I did not expect him to approach her again.”
“Why furious?” asked Jared. “All she did was say no when he asked to feed from her. Which she’s fully entitled to do.”
Dion rubbed at his nape. “He feels that she looks down on him.”
Sam snorted. “She probably does. I know I do. Why did he hone in on Lexi?”
“Castor doesn’t have a high opinion of women in general,” said Dion.
“That’s not ground-breaking news,” said Sam. “But there’s something else. Something that made him particularly sensitive to her rejection. There has to be. Because he can’t seem to let it go.”
I agreed with Sam. There had to be more. And if Dion’s expression was anything to go by, it was true, but he was clearly hesitant to discuss it. Sam, Jared, and I simply stared at him.
Dion sighed long and loud. “She looks so very much like our deceased Maker, it is uncanny. If you were to research Chanel, you would no doubt be shocked at how close the resemblance is.”