“I love you, too.” I barely restrained myself from smashing my phone. Instead, I blew out a breath, and gently placed the phone in my bag. I wasn’t giving up that easily.

Dastien knew more than he’d said earlier, and if I couldn’t convince him to tell me where my cousins lived, then someone else would.

My stomach growled, which wasn’t a good sign. I needed to eat something before my wolf went totally crazy.

I made my way to the common room. The fridge was well-stocked with all kinds of snacks, prepared meals, and treats. I grabbed five sandwiches, a jumbo bag of chips, an orange Fanta, and shoved everything in my bag. Not the best breakfast ever, but it’d do.

I left the dorms and went in search of Dastien.

***

My mate proved harder to find than I’d thought. He wasn’t in any of his usual haunts—the cafeteria, the gym, or on the Cazadores course, the totally nuts obstacle course used to train super badass werewolf warriors. I was two-and-a-half sandwiches in before I finally found him in Mr. Dawson’s office.

While Mr. Dawson was away tracking down pack alphas for the Tribunal, Dastien was in charge of St. Ailbe’s. I was proud that Dastien was strong enough to control all the werewolves in the school, but having him in charge was awkward since I was still a senior. Though no one seemed to care about that besides me.

Mr. Dawson’s secretary was at her desk, typing away outside his door. Mrs. Kilburn’s gray hair was pulled back in a tidy bun at the nape of her neck and her olive green cardigan was buttoned to her neck. It seemed a little much for summer, but who was I to judge? I used to wear gloves year round.

She waved me past without looking up from her computer. I knocked once and opened the door.

Dastien was seated behind Mr. Dawson’s massive desk. “You didn’t go to class?”

I raised an eyebrow at that. Did he actually think I was going to go study Shakespeare while this was going on? “No. I didn’t go to class.”

“Right.” He drew out the word a bit, but didn’t ask why. He knew why.

I sat in one of the big brown leather chairs, and Dastien came around to sit on the desk in front of me.

“Any word on Donovan?” Please, let him say yes. Please, for the love of all that is good, let him say yes.

“No.”

Crap.

“But I don’t expect to for at least another day or two.” He sighed. “I wish you would’ve told me what was going on with them. I thought we weren’t keeping things from each other.”

“I wasn’t keeping something from you. It was their private business and I figured when Donovan got back, we could play matchmakers. Force a double-date or something.” I slouched back in the chair and closed my eyes. “Now I just want to keep her alive. I can’t lose her.”

Dastien trailed his fingers down my cheek and I opened my eyes. He was sitting on his heels in front of my chair. “We’ll find a way to fix this.” He pointed at my purse. “You’re going somewhere?”

“Yes?” I gave him my best angelic smile. “I’m going to see my cousins. You know where they are, right?”

“Yes.” He pressed his lips in a fine line. “But no. I’m not telling you.”

This was getting old. “I’m really tired of hearing ‘no’ today.”

“If that’s what you want to talk about, then that’s all I’ve got for you.”

I didn’t want to fight with him, but this wasn’t okay. “You don’t get to make decisions for me.”

“No. You will not be going to see any member of that coven.” He backed his command with power.

I let his words slip past me. Anger heated my skin. “Did you just order me not to do something?”

He had the intelligence to look ashamed. “I’m sorry.” He stood up. “But I can’t let you go there. It’s not safe.”

“My mom said the same thing.” I reached for his hand, and twined his fingers with mine. “But I’m not listening to either of you. I think you both are forgetting that Meredith’s life is at stake. They could help.”

“I’d feel better about you going if you’d shifted. If you did it right now, it wouldn’t take long, and you’d still have plenty of time to—”

Was he trying to bribe me into shifting? “No. I know I’ve been pushing it off and I’m running out of time with the Tribunal and all, but Meredith needs my help now.” I didn’t want to fight with him about this, but I had to go with or without his approval.