She turned and ran back to her car.
Behind her she heard howls of rage, and snarls. It sounded as if Loch was clashing violently with the Enforcers. She knew he’d be all right, because he had dozens of his relatives there.
But she had to get out of there right away, she knew, before she changed her mind.
She drove down the road blindly, tears streaming down her face, her heart aching. She’d been so close to happiness.
Loch was right, he was her fated mate. Every time he came near her, her heart sang. How could this be? How could she find her fated mate and be torn away from him? Why was fate such a cruel bitch?
Crying so hard she had to gulp out her words between sobs, she called Marigold to tell her what happened, and asked Marigold to pack her bags and meet her in an hour at a gas station on the edge of town. She couldn’t bear to set foot in the boarding house again, couldn’t bear to face Loch if he came to the boarding house and tried to change her mind.
Chapter Fifteen
She turned off her cell phone and drove aimlessly, down country roads she’d never see again. She rolled down the windows so she could feel the breeze caress her face and hear the birds sing one last time.
When she showed up at the gas station, she was shocked to see that Marigold and Brenda were both waiting for her, and Brenda looked frantic.
“I found this under my door,” she said, and thrust a note at Ginger.
“Jax and a gang of wolves started a fight with the panthers, and a bunch of them are at the hospital now,” Marigold said at the same time. “And the panthers grabbed Jax and kidnapped him.”
“What?” Ginger’s jaw dropped. “Slow down. What the hell is going on?”
She looked at the note. “The professor told me not to tell anyone, but I had to let you know so you wouldn’t be sad any more. He’s not dead. He asked me to come with him and be his bride. Don’t worry, Brenda, you’ll find your own true love some day. I’ll tell you more when I can.” It was signed, Tallulah.
Ginger felt an icy chill radiating from the note, and her heart dropped to the bottom of her shoes. She closed her eyes and concentrated, opening her mind.
Tallulah was dead, and she had died violently. She could sense it.
She blinked hard, tears burning her eyes. She didn’t want to tell Brenda and Marigold until she was absolutely sure, but deep in her heart she knew.
“What happened with Jax?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“We drove to the sheriff’s station with this note and gave it to Jax,” Marigold said. “He said he’d take care of it himself, because the sheriff never does anything. I guess he rounded up some wolves and they went to the Panther Nation and tried to muscle their way in, and it started a huge fight. The wolves were injured, and they ran off, and Jax was dragged away by the panthers.”
Ginger’s heart sank.
She didn’t dare go talk to Loch. She might weaken. Or Aurora might see her talking to him, and take away Loch’s position as Alpha on the spot.
“I’ll go try to talk to Montgomery,” she said. “We’ve got to find out what happened to Tallulah. And if the professor’s still alive, maybe he’s hiding out on panther territory still. Maybe he had help. If Montgomery actually let people on to his territory to arrest Tommy Deerkiller, I think he’s coming around and he’ll listen to reason.”
“I feel like something really bad’s happened to her,” Brenda said. “Has it?”
“I’m not sure yet,” Ginger lied.
“I feel terrible for all those times that I said mean things to her.”
“You were both victims of the professor. He’s been alive all this time and letting both of you suffer? He manipulated you both. He played you against each other.”
“I see that now.” Brenda nodded, and tears filled her eyes. She put her hand on Ginger’s arm. “Be careful, Ginger. I’m sorry I’ve been such a naggy, annoying pain in the ass.”
“You weren’t at all,” Ginger assured her.
Yes you were, Ginger thought.
With her heart aching for poor Tallulah, Ginger quickly headed out to panther territory. Her head was in a whirl; what the hell was going on here? What would she find there?
When she arrived at the gates that led into their territory, she identified herself to the shifter in the guard shack.
He spoke to someone on the radio, and then came back and nodded to Ginger.
“Wait here,” he said to her.
A few minutes later a car pulled up, and the panther in the car gestured to her to follow him. With shaking hands, she followed him down a narrow country road.
There were no telephone poles out here, no electric poles. The trees loomed like ancient giants, dark and swaying in the wind, and she had an uneasy feeling churning in her stomach as they reached a sprawling wooden structure that was more like a compound than a house.