Chapter 27

ELEANOR

I ran toward the garage and saw that one of his cars was missing.

He probably left pretty early.

I scanned the cars lined up, and I realized that the Bugatti that I had come to love was missing.

“~We don’t have time to sit and worry about car problems now, Ellie,~” Erica chimed in.

I let out a sigh and walked toward a black BMW.

The drive to the human town took me a full hour.

Now all I had to do was find the flower shop.

I parked the car on the curb and got out, looking up at the bright sunlight.

Despite the sun shining directly onto me, it wasn’t too hot since the humidity levels were quite low.

I put on my makeshift disguise with shades, a sun hat, and a scarf. I locked the car and started walking onto the pavement and started searching for a flower shop.

“~This is useless, Ellie. Ask someone if they know a flower shop here,~” Erica said, getting impatient.

I looked around my surroundings when I saw a street vendor selling flowers, so I made my way over to her.

“Hello, madam. What flowers would you like?” she asked me in an enthusiastic voice.

“Um, can I have one red rose and one pink rose?” I asked her, and she nodded her head.

While she was wrapping my flowers, I looked around my surroundings one more time.

“What are you looking for, madam?”

“Um, I’m here to meet a friend of mine, and she told me to meet her at the flower shop in this town,” I answered.

“Oh, are you talking about Daisy’s Garden?” she asked. I nodded, even though I had no idea if that was actually the name of the flower shop Xavier had gone to.

“Walk straight and take a sharp right onto Oakwood Street. You’ll find it a few buildings down on that road,” she said as she handed over my flowers.

“Thank you,” I told her and paid for the flowers.

As I turned to leave, she spoke up again.

“Just so you know, Daisy’s Garden is closed today,” she said.

“Oh, that’s all right. My friend will be there to fetch me,” I told her, and she nodded her head.

I started walking down the street, and as I took a sharp right, I saw the flower shop just three shops away.

The woman was correct; the shop had the closed sign out. But if the shop was closed, then where did Xavier go?

I was about to walk away when I saw movement inside the shop.

This side of the street was pretty empty, so I walked closer to the glass door and peered in.

The door at the back of the shop was left slightly ajar, and there was light coming from it.

I stepped back and scanned the street when I spotted the Bugatti.

“~Let’s head to the back and see if we can look inside,~” Erica suggested.

I walked into the narrow alleyway, and I spotted a window, but it was at least two feet higher than me.

I looked around and spotted a dumpster.

“~Get on top! It’ll be better than the door so you don’t get caught,~” Erica said.

“Well, I didn’t expect to smell like garbage today,” I mumbled as I walked toward the dumpster.

With a little difficulty, I hoisted myself up.

“Did you find the girl?” It was Xavier’s voice.

I slowly peered inside and saw his back. I spotted somebody I assumed was Eliza.

~Eliza is an old woman?~

“Yes, I have the coordinates. I guess you can send your warriors to go and check it out.”

“That’s great, Eliza. Is she alive?” I heard Xavier ask, and the room went silent.

“Xavier, you should know she was kidnapped by a group of bastards. I tried various spells, but I wasn’t able to sense a heartbeat,” she said.

“But you shouldn’t rely solely on that. Maybe she’s still alive. We won’t know until we go and see for ourselves.”

~What are they talking about?~

“You’re right. Have you found the rogue?” Xavier asked, and then their voices got quieter.

I tried to go a little higher as I stood on my tiptoes, and as I peered in, my eyes locked with Eliza’s.

~Shit!~

I started to panic, lost my balance, and fell on the concrete floor.

“Ouch!” I yelled as I felt my shoulder and back ache.

A few seconds later, I heard a back door open and heavy footsteps come toward me.

I looked up to see Xavier standing with an annoyed look on his face with Eliza standing next to him.

“Is this your mate?” Eliza asked.

Neither of us answered her question.

“What are you doing here, Eleanor?” he asked me in a cold tone.

“I, um, I came to buy flowers,” I said as I showed him the crushed flowers.

“You do know that I hate it when people eavesdrop on my conversations, right?” he asked me.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping on your conversation. I…um…” I was tongue-tied.

I didn’t know what to say.

Xavier stared at me for a couple more seconds before he shook his head.

“Let’s go home,” he said.

I nodded my head, but when I tried to get up, I felt an excruciating pain in my lower back and shoulder.

“I think I might have sprained something.”