According to Google, it was about a twelve-hour drive from Albuquerque to Los Angeles. None of us were thrilled about the prospect of another long day cooped up in a car. Roland, Peter, and Jordan drew for driving shifts, and I felt bad because I couldn’t share the work, especially since they were out here for me. Roland said I’d done enough work last night and I deserved a rest, but I still felt like they were letting me off easy. I got him to stop at a convenience store where I stocked up on a ton of snacks and bottled drinks for the trip. I planned to treat us all to a nice steak dinner when we got to Los Angeles. If I got a fair price for the diamonds, we wouldn’t have to worry about money anymore.

It was after midnight when we finally rolled into Los Angeles. We were too tired and irritable to be excited about where we were, and we immediately found a hotel room for the night. It had two queen beds so the girls could have one and the boys the other. Within thirty minutes, everyone but me was sound asleep.

I lay there listening to the sounds of the city and watching neon lights play across the ceiling. My mind refused to turn off, and my emotions were all over the map. Disappointment over missing Madeline in Albuquerque still gnawed at me. I wondered how we were going to find her in a city this big. The vampire attack at Orias’s had made this all very real, and I worried about my friends’ safety. I was also anxious about selling the diamonds and meeting this Adele person.

And then there was the growing emptiness inside me and the sadness emanating from my demon. I knew with all of my heart that I was doing the right thing, but being away from Nikolas was much harder than I’d thought it would be. I rubbed my chest. Was it normal to feel a physical ache from missing someone? If it hurt this much being separated from your bond mate, I couldn’t imagine the pain of severing a bond.

I rolled out of bed with a groan and padded to the bathroom, grabbing my backpack on the way. Closing the door with a soft click, I took out the laptop and set it on the edge of the vanity. When it powered up, I opened the phone app and stared at it for several minutes. I’ll call Chris, just to let him know we’re okay. I was sure Chris was with Nikolas. Maybe talking to him would make me feel less lonely, knowing that Nikolas was nearby.

The number I dialed was not Chris’s. The phone rang twice. I didn’t have time to brace myself before his husky voice answered.

“Hello?”

My breath caught.

“Hello?” he said again.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

“Sara? Is that you?”

I closed my eyes against the frustration and hope in his voice. This was a mistake.

“Sara, talk to me.”

I disconnected the call and sat on the toilet with my arms wrapped tightly around me, as if that would help. The only arms I wanted around me were his.

“Stop this.” I paced the small bathroom. I was behaving like one of those lovesick girls back home who used to pine after Roland. I missed Nikolas, but getting all weepy over him wasn’t going to solve anything. I was the one who had put this distance between us, and I was just going to have to deal with it.

I stuffed the laptop in the backpack and heard the soft rustle of plastic. My hand came out holding a clear plastic bag containing a folded navy blue T-shirt. I didn’t hesitate. I pulled my T-shirt off and held up the shirt from the bag. The material was soft, and it was miles too big for me. When I slipped it over my head, it fell to mid-thigh. I lifted the material to my nose and breathed in deeply. If I closed my eyes, I could almost believe he was standing in front of me.

The room was quiet when I left the bathroom and crawled back into bed. I curled up on my side, facing the window, and closed my eyes. It was another hour before I relaxed enough to sleep, and I drifted off surrounded by his comforting scent.

* * *

“It’s about time you two got back,” Jordan blurted the second I opened the door to our hotel room. “You were gone forever.”

“It’s only been two hours.” I waited for Roland to lock the door behind us before I pulled two bundles of one hundred dollar bills from inside my coat and tossed them on the bed beside her. “A very profitable two hours.”

“Whoa!” Peter gaped at the money. “You got all that for four diamonds?”

Roland produced two more bundles of cash and tossed them next to mine. “Oh man, I wish you two had been there. That guy Garrett took one look at Sara and offered her five grand, like he was doing her a favor. You should have seen his face when Sara told him twenty or no deal. Then she told him the diamonds were at least twice what she was asking, and she knew he already had a buyer lined up. Next thing I knew, the two of them were chatting it up like old friends.”

Jordan picked up one of the bundles, turning it over in her hands as if she couldn’t believe it was real. “How did you know he had another buyer lined up?”

I shrugged off my coat and sat on the foot of the bed she and I had shared the last two nights. “Malloy told me. He also told me Garrett tries to lowball everyone at first.”

Peter stared at the bundles of cash. “Wow, I’ve never seen that much money. Is it really twenty grand?”

I flopped back on the bed, happy not to have to worry about money anymore. “Yep.”

“What are we going to do with it?” he asked. “You can’t carry around that much cash.”

“We’re going to split it up between the four of us so no one has to carry it all,” I informed him. “And we’re going to eat something besides burgers and pizza.”