Page 57 of Hart's Redemption

His eyes brightened, not with fear, but with excitement. “That’s right. Lycan Detectives can’t lie. Fascinating. Should make this very interesting. It’s very rare that I can actually take my patients at their word.”

“Whoareyou?” As much as I longed for any company beyond my thoughts, his enigmatic responses put me on edge.

“I already told you. I know you’ve been in isolation, but try to keep up. Now, I’m going to draw your blood, and you’re going to drink that tea while we talk.”

“I’m not typically a fan of tea.”

He laughed softly. “You sound just like my husband. Well, he got over it, and so will you. Drink up, fluffy, I’ve got a lot of questions for you.”

I accepted the cup as he made himself comfortable in the room’s sole chair and gestured for me to sit on the bed. The move effectively confirmed my growing suspicions. “You're a therapist.”

He smiled broadly and didn’t dispute the accusation. “Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?”

Elijah

I focused on the ceiling and tried to regulate my breathing. The bed had never felt too big before I’d met Josh, but now without his body warming the other side, it felt like it could swallow me whole. Much like my anxiety. Weeks had gone by without so much as an inkling of whether he was okay.

My breathing picked up again, and I had to forcibly slow it down again. Eric had already had to rescue me from one panic attack, and I was not eager for a repeat. Eric’s methods could be a tad… unforgiving. So I stared up at the ceiling and tookone measured breath after another, letting each one out slowly. There was one consolation amidst all the uncertainty—wherever Josh was, he was alive. I clung to that knowledge with the desperation of a dying man.

If only the bond were a little stronger, then I’d at least have a heading.

But I didn’t. The bond was so stretched that the only useful thing I could glean from it was that Josh wasn’t dead—yet. I shuddered at the horrible thought and did the same thing I’d done every night since he’d vanished—I called him.

The line rang as it always did, a soft, purring promise of an answer, then… nothing. No recorded response, no automated reply, not even the option to leave a message.

My chest heaved with a sob I struggled to contain. He’d said I could reach him on his personal line anytime. I’d hoped the encrypted–and likely secret–line would survive. That it hadn’t served as a daily reminder that he was gone.

Where are you, Moonbeam?

“Again?” Eric’s sharp question jolted me out of my stupor. I quickly wiped my face and sat up.

“What do you want?”

He sat on the edge of the bed, and his tone softened. “I understand this is hard for you, but you can’t keep wallowing like this.”

“No, Eric, youdon’tunderstand. You don’t have any idea what it’s like to be literally missing half of your soul. Now why the hell are you here?” I grumbled bitterly.

My best friend visibly recoiled, and guilt flooded me.

“I’m sorry.” I hung my head in my hands. “It’s just… Remus hasn’t been able to come up with anything. Seven weeks and not even a hint. I feel like I’m waiting for our connection to sever, and it’s killing me. I never thought I’d wish for the days he wasstuck, but at least then I knew where he was, could still see him… touch him…”

“No, I’m sorry. You’re right, I don’t know what you’re going through. I may never know. But it doesn’t change that I’m here for you. Thick and thin, Red, that’s us.”

I groaned into my hands. What had I ever done to deserve this loyalty? I certainly hadn’t been much of a friend lately.

“Hey,” Eric said, resting a hand on my shoulder. “Remus will come through, you’ll see. You just have to have a little more faith and trust that your mate can take care of himself.”

With a sigh, I straightened up from my hunched position of misery, and his hand fell away. I raked my fingers through my hair before tying it back. “So aside from dragging my ass out of a funk, what brings you here this time?”

“Seriously, Red?” He stood and stared down at me in disbelief.

“What?”

“Were you just planning to change here?” He took a step back and gestured to the room at large. “Don’t get me wrong, your place could use a serious update, but I don’t think wolfing-out is quite how you should go about it.”

“Fuck. That’s tonight.”

Surprised shock dominated his face. “Are you honestly telling me youforgotit was the full moon?”