thirty-six
I heard a car door open, then close, then running on gravel.
“Shit, shit, shit. Call Zeus. Tell him to get the cavalry to my location.”
I growled. “I’m not hanging up.”
“There’s like thirty cell phones on the kitchen counter,” she yelled, “use one of them!”
Nanna grabbed the one at the top of the stack and held it up. “Whose is this?” Quin raised his hand and Nanna tossed it to him. “Do what she says!”
I strained to hear what was happening over the roar in my ears.
“Luna! Stay with me! We’re only on episode six of Burning Desire and I am not watching the rest without you!”
Luna’s weak voice answered her. “My snark is too good.”
“Damn right it is.”
I heard Quin talking to Zeus, heard Zeus shouting and then everything went quiet until the crunch of tires and doors opening came from the phone I held too tight.
Zeus’s strained voice called out, “River!”
“It’s not me, it’s Luna. Where’s Ghost?”
“Ten seconds out.”
“Where is Jade?” My roar hung in the air.
“We’ll find her,” Zeus answered.
“She’s not there? Where is the district attorney?”
“The building is locked. There’s no one else here.”
Air sawed in and out of my lungs. Roul entered my vision, a wall blocking me from running into the daylight and through human streets.
“It will be dark in twenty minutes.”
I flexed my shoulders and dropped the phone. “Too long! In twenty minutes she could be…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it. My heart felt like it would leave my body, my chest caved in and my throat closed.
“Not going to happen, brother.”
Roul’s steady voice calmed me, and Drym helped further.
“You would feel if she was hurt.”
I nodded and scanned my body for the minutest twinge of pain. The inside of my elbow stung, but aside from that, she seemed whole.
I focused when Kragen started strategizing. Every second that ticked by was an eternity, but when Roul finally said, “Let’s go,” we were ready.
Hold on, kitten. I will tear the world apart to find you.