Prologue
Crispin ran through the streets of Trivet City getting more and more frustrated as he went from street to street searching for his mate. He was here , he could feel it, the mating pull was stronger at times , and then it would weaken . It made no sense.
Damn it , since the stupid meeting in the King of the Wizard Stratum’s office he had been acting crazy. Crispin was well aware of the fact that to outsiders he was looking feral.
Once a Shifter found his mate, they only focused on sealing the bond. Crispin was the King of the Shifters , being feral was not an option. Many of his members knew what he was going through, and they were helping search. His mate was the King’s Second in Command, and one of the most important Wizards in this Stratum .
Crispin was a lion, the King of the Jungle, Chase and h e were so different, but it didn’t matter to his lion. He wanted his mate, and that was all that mattered. For weeks, he had been searching using their tenuous connection because they had not actually met, the bond started when Crispin scented Chase in the King of the Wizards office. However, he had been into his mate’s room, in his Lion form and rolled around in his mate ’ s scent. He was sure it s ounded gross to some, but it was what he needed to feel his mate when he was in his lion form.
Last week, he was sure Chase had felt him . Chase was somewhere close to where he was right now. Their weak bond allowed Crispin to communicate through a mind link, for a moment. Enough for the Wizard to know they were looking for him. Crispin was able to feel the hope come through the bond. It was what he held on to during the cold nights. But for some reason he could n’t pinpoint where they were holding his mate. The buildings were all either empty or under construction in the area. The ones under construction were currently where he was searching.
Crispin heard his new friends calling his name. The winter season was upon them . T he first snow had fallen just yesterday. It made it more difficult for him to find the scent. But he had, and Crispin did n’t want to leave it. Any connection to grasp on to was something .
“Damn it Crispin, would you answer me!” Logan yelled. He was the Head of Security for the Stratum , his brother , Blake, was the King, and so Logan held the same Royal Blood. Not that it mattered, Crispin was not like that, he didn’t care if someone were Royal, or a regular person. Everyone mattered to him . However, right now, it was all about his mate , Chase. He had to find him, or he would go crazy trying.
“Here!” Crispin called when he paused to shift into his human form and yelled to his friend.
Crispin heard him walking up the rickety stairs the construction people set up. He heard t he loud thump of Logan’s boots as he came up the stairs, the sound vibrated through the building, but Crispin was looking for a scent, not a sound. Slowly, he paced back and forth across the building . T hey were on the first floor. Crispin thought he had gone the right way, but he seriously lost the scent, and he just had it, it was driving him mad. The only good part was that when Crispin shifted, his clothes were clean, it was the mystery of Shifters as to how this happened, but he didn’t argue because if not he would be dirty from head to toe.
“Dude! ” Logan’s mate Trent said as he reached the top of the stairs.
Shit , Crispin had been concentrating so hard, he only heard one of them coming up the stairs. Logan stepped around his mate and frowned. They were in a situation they could n’t be distracted from . If Dion or any of his minions had found him, he could ’ve been in deep shit.
“Uh, Crispin, man, you gotta get some rest. It took us like an hour to find you,” Logan muttered. “You have been moving from building to building, Chase is not here. We would have found him by now. These building s have to be approved by the building department, which is connected to the
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