Hear her screams.
He'd spent the last two weeks searching and still no sign of her. He'd spent the first week scouring Strahan, but the only trace he'd been able to find was some bloody handprints on a Salvo's clothing bin near his house. Now he was in Queenstown and he'd been methodically searching the town for any sign of her but to no avail. Bloody hell, he wished he'd bothered to find out what her name was. He'd not cared what her or her mother's names were while they were under his control. It hadn't been important. They were both his slaves. Possessions didn't need a name. But now that he couldn't find her, he really wished he'd demanded that one of them tell him, to make it easier to trace her.
After he finished cleaning himself up, he sat down at the table in his room with a map of the Cradle Mountains and the surrounding region. Which way had she gone? There were only two main roads out of Strahan, one that headed east to Queenstown and another that headed north to Zeehan. There was a main road running from Queenstown to Rosebery that cut across close to Zeehan. Probably best to take that road. Given that she'd had two weeks, he doubted she would be on the road between Strahan and Zeehan. If she was, it would be because she'd died from her injuries. Shit. She better not be dead. He started rubbing the center of his chest at the ache that formed at the thought of his slave dead.
He needed her.
She was his and she didn't have permission to die on him. He squeezed his eyes shut against the pain that suddenly shot through his skull. Damn it, he needed to calm down or he'd be useless. Without his slave to work out on he was having trouble staying focused on anything. He needed to work out to stay balanced, to feel like he fit in his skin. His Dad had shown him how to stay in control of himself, and he had taught his son well before he died in a car wreck when Cole had been sixteen. For the last ten years Cole had been perfecting what his Dad had taught him. If only his Dad was still here, he'd know how to find his slave then he would have helped Cole discipline her for leaving. That would have been some beautiful father-son bonding time right there. Damn, but he did really miss his old man.
Cole sighed as he started packing away his things neatly in his suitcase. He would leave first thing in the morning and head to Zeehan. It would probably take at least a few days to search the town for signs of her. He would have to be careful though, there were people in Zeehan who didn't like him and would cause him a great deal of trouble if they found out he was around. So he would have to be quiet and quick about it before heading on up to Rosebery.
~ * ~
Adele looked up from her bowl of cereal to watch Dominic move around the kitchen. He'd only put on his jeans when they'd finally climbed out of bed, so his upper body was on full display, and she was making the most of it. As her gaze roamed over his exposed flesh she felt herself begin to warm. As if he could sense her eyes on him, Dominic glanced over his shoulder at her with a lopsided grin and winked before he closed the fridge and sauntered over to her at the table with his breakfast.
"Keep looking at me like that, beautiful, and we won't be leaving the house at all today," he said as he leaned over to gently kiss her before sitting down.
"Hmmm, well as nice as not leaving the house sounds, I've way too much that I have to do." That and Kit would be home soon from her night shift of guarding Kelly. As much as Kit might approve of her and Dominic finally getting together, Adele was pretty sure Kit didn't want to witness it first hand.
"So, what's on the agenda for this bright and beautiful Saturday morning?" Adele couldn't help but preen as she heard how happy Dominic sounded to be spending the day with her.
"House hunting. There are a few that look good." She grabbed the stack of printouts she'd compiled over that week and handed them to Dominic to look at.
"The one on the top is my favorite."
Dominic cocked his eyebrow at her, "The house is painted purple."
She barely contained her laugh; she knew he would say that. She couldn't hold back her grin as she spoke.
"I know, right? I love it, and it will make giving directions easy."
Dominic looked at the page again and winced.
"I guess that's one way of looking at it."
She reached over and patted his arm. Poor Dominic. He looked like she'd just shot his dog or something.
"The more important things are that it has three bedrooms, a bathroom that actually has a bath, a nice big wood heater, a big kitchen with brand new oven and cooktop and a huge fenced back yard. Lots of room for Kelly to have all the things she needs."
She watched as he read the description below the picture and his frown slowly eased away.
"It's not too far from the hospital either, which is good. I reckon Kelly would be able to walk to school from there too if she wanted to. When is it available?"