Free Chasing a Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Four by Krystal Shannan, Camryn Rhys Page B

wouldn’t know to stop there. She would’ve gone straight for her mother.
    Zolin’s bare feet smacked on the floor behind him. Two wild-looking men—even with Tomás clothed in jeans and a t-shirt—would be just as noticeable as a half-naked woman.
    His lungs ached, but he couldn’t stop running. He had to find Lani.
    Tomás looked toward the elevator bank and saw her, frozen in place, staring at him, crying and shaking her head slowly from side to side. He couldn’t have cared less if she wanted him to follow her or find her. He’d found her. That was all that mattered.
    “Why did you do that?” he called to her in Spanish.
    Upscale tourists in their travel-best gaped at him and whispered, but he didn’t stop.
    He wanted to get his hands on her.
    “Don’t,” she whispered with her arms out.
    Before Lani could speak another word, Tomás had grabbed her shoulders and folded her into his desperate embrace. “Don’t ever run away like that again.” His heartbeat sailed wildly, and he wasn’t sure if he was feeding off her, or still just afraid the monster would find her. “You don’t know the city, but he does. You aren’t safe here. I’m sorry I brought you. This is all my fault.”
    “I need to find her.” Her voice cracked through her tears.
    Zolin reached out from over Lani’s shoulder, but he drew his hand back and clenched his jaw. “We should not be here.”
    “I can feel her near. I just need to…I don’t know how to get to where she is.” Lani looked up at the gilded ceiling and tried to pull back, but Tomás held her too tight for escape.
    He wasn’t about to let that happen again.
    “Is she up somewhere?” he asked, following her gaze.
    “Somewhere. I don’t know where.” She extended her hand, as though something floated just beyond her eyes. “But I have to get to her.”
    A small group of hissing tourists crowded toward the elevator bank, keeping fluttering eyes on them.
    Tomás moved Lani toward the far elevator and met Zolin’s eyes. “We have to get her out of here.”
    The big warrior nodded. “If her mother is here, and this place is owned by the monster, that means he will be here as well. It is not safe for her.”
    Tomás pushed a bit of calm toward Lani, but she resisted and pushed back. The deep blackness of her terror grabbed him by the heart and practically stopped his function. He choked on thin air. “What is that?” he gasped.
    Her cheeks were wet as she looked up at him. “I don’t know. I can’t control my feelings. It’s like there’s chaos inside me.”
    Zolin punched at Tomás’ arm. “It’s him. The monster. He knows she’s here.”
    “We don’t know that.”
    “I have to find my mother.” Lani wrenched out of his grasp. “Either you’re going to help me, or you’re in my way.”
    She shuddered and he felt another gust of whirling emotion inside her. This time, it didn’t quite incapacitate him, but it was a force. If this was a parent bond being used against a child, the man was an adept. Even just being connected to Lani, he could barely escape feeling crushed by the weight of oppressive magick.
    “He knows you’re here, Lani. He has to.”
    The elevator dinged and a crowd of people streamed around them, smelling of the beach and expensive shops. They might be able to lose themselves in a crowd somewhere. Maybe go to a mall.
    He needed a plan.
    “Where are the people coming from?” she asked, pointing. “Those are different people than the ones who just got in there.”
    “It’s an elevator,” he said.
    A woman walked past them, sliding into the little box, and casting a judgmental glance down at Lani’s bare feet.
    Tomás pulled at her arm. “Come away from there.”
    “What does the elevator do?”
    “It takes people up and down to the different floors.” He pulled her farther into the wall, out of the traffic pattern. If they made too much more commotion, someone would report them, and who knew if Adrian Rossi had spies