Roman
He tried calling Everleigh's phone, but she didn't answer.
Even though he was hundreds of miles away, he felt distress radiating from her. Or he was pretty sure he did. Over the years he thought he felt it before, but he was never certain. Now that they were closer, he was pretty sure he did. He texted her.
Is everything okay?
A few minutes passed and then her mood seemed to get steadier. So maybe it was just a work problem.
I'm just having a really busy day. I'll talk to you soon.
Something just felt off. He couldn't put his finger on it. His shifter senses weren't perfect, but his gut told him that there was a problem. He hated that he was over five hundred miles away from her.
Something was definitely wrong.
He couldn't just sit around. He called her phone again, but she didn't answer. This was not a work problem. He had a good rapport with her coworker Jenny so he tried her number.
"Hello, West Juneau Real Estate. How may I help you?"
"Hey, it's Roman. Everleigh's boyfriend. You helped me rent a house."
"Of course, I remember you.”
“This is probably going to sound crazy, but is Everleigh there?"
"No, she took the day off."
"She took the day off? She's not working?" That was news to him. Not that she needed to inform him of every single decision she made, but lately she’d been keeping him updated about what was going on in hers and Eliza’s lives.
"Nope. She didn't come in."
"Is she working from home?"
"No. She took off. She won't be in until she gets back from Florida."
"Florida?"
"Yes, to visit her aunt. Didn’t she tell you?"
There might be a few real bears in Florida, but there weren’t any shifters that he'd ever heard of. None of them liked how humid it was, and they all felt way too exposed on the open, flat land.
What was going on? He had to get back to Juneau.
"Oh, right. I thought she was leaving tomorrow. I had to run back to my hometown so I might've misunderstood. I'll call her now. Thank you."
Shit. What was going on? It sounded like she'd made up the story on her own. At least she wasn't being threatened. But that didn't mean she wasn't in danger. If she needed help, would she come to him? He wasn't sure. They hadn’t been together very long this time.
But he kept getting the distinct impression that she was avoiding him.
He needed to get back to her.
He hopped on a plane and flew to Juneau. He fidgeted the entire flight, desperate to get to her. When he arrived, he could immediately tell that Everleigh and Eliza were not in town. Where were they?
He drove to her house. It was empty. Even the little cat was gone.
Everleigh kept her house neat and clean but there was a sense of foreboding. He walked to the rooms and nothing was out of place. It didn't look like anyone had come after her. But then her car was gone.
He had to find her. He was a wolf shifter. He didn't have to rely on search histories or locations in a phone. He could use his own senses.