“I feel that strongly about him,” Diane said. “I feel like I’m losing my mind with worry over him. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t work.”
“Sounds like a mate to me,” Abby spoke softly.
“Let’s discuss it more after the baby’s born,” Tah said.
“No,” Diane disagreed. “I need to leave now.”
“There’s no way you can leave when Abby is so close to giving birth. We need you here.”
Diane shook her head. “No, you don’t. No offense, Abby, but you have the Professor and Orsai both here for you.” She turned to Tah. “Zane has no one, and everyday we wait brings us closer to losing him for good. I may already be too late. Another seven to ten days and he’ll be gone for sure. Please. Please let me go to him.”
“Diane—” Tah began but Abby cut him off.
“Let her go,” Abby said. “She’s right. I’m in good hands here. Zane needs her, and we need both of them.”
“And how exactly is that going to work?” Tah asked. “How do you plan to find him?”
“Clara suggested it would take a shifter to find him,” Diane admitted.
“You talked to Clara about this?” Tah lifted an eyebrow at her in question.
“Yes, we talked about it. She’s the one that helped me to open my eyes and realize what I might be to Zane.”
“Might be.” Tah latched onto her uncertainty. “If you’re not, you could be walking into a death sentence and taking one of us with you.”
“There might be a way to avoid that,” the Professor spoke as he pushed the door wide and stepped in.
Diane wondered how long he’d been standing there, eavesdropping.
“I should have known you’d be involved in this,” Tah said with a weary sigh.
“Actually, Diane didn’t confide in me,” the Professor said, and Diane swore he appeared a little hurt by that. “I was coming up to discuss something else and caught the gist of what you were discussing. I wondered myself a time or two if Diane and Zane were mates. Orsai and I discussed it.”
“And?” Tah prompted.
“Orsai believes she is. He’s been waiting for Diane to realize it.”
“He spoke to me last night,” Diane admitted when the Professor glanced at her.
“How is it I keep missing this stuff?” Tah asked and Diane knew he was referring to not realizing what was happening between Logan and Clara at first, either.
“Because you’re focused on me,” Abby said, looking up at her mate.
“I’m always focused on you,” he said, leaning down and kissing her brow.
Diane watched and yearned. She wanted a taste of that type of love for herself, with Zane.
“I need to go after him,” she said again.
This time, Tah didn’t give an immediate no. “I’m not sure how to do that,” he said instead. “Anyone who goes with you will be putting themselves at risk, as well. And what if you’re all wrong? What if you aren’t his mate? He could kill you, Diane.”
“He won’t,” she said. Mate or not, there was something between them. She believed without question Zane wouldn’t hurt her.
“Maybe Zane wouldn’t,” Tah spoke as if reading her mind. “But Zane’s not in charge right now. You’ll be going to meet a full-grown panther. One that may or may not know you’re his mate.”
“He’ll know his mate no matter what form he’s in,” the Professor stated. “Orsai has assured me of this. She might be the only chance we have of getting Zane back.”
“Please, Tah,” Diane pleaded. “Let me at least try.”
“And who are you going to ask to go with you? Whose life are you willing to risk as well?” Tah demanded, making Diane blanch. She didn’t want to risk anyone.
“We think perhaps someone Zane’s panther wouldn’t find threatening would work best,” the Professor said.
Tah sighed. “And who do you have in mind then? Just spit it out, Professor. It’s obvious you and Orsai have this all planned out. I should just be grateful you included me before you sent Diane off on her own.”
The Professor glared. “I wouldn’t do that.”
Tah snorted.
“Maybe Clara could go with me,” Diane suggested.
Tah gave a loud laugh and shook his head. “Logan would kick all our asses for even thinking it. No way he’d go for her heading out with you to confront a panther with feral cat fever running through him.”
“Not Clara,” the Professor agreed. “But someone just as non-threatening to him.”