Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
Thankfully, Callum hadn’t gone far. I tracked him into the parking garage nearest the park, and almost yelped when he opened the door to the stairwell right as I trotted by.
“In here,” he called softly, and I darted through the doorway with a happy little yip.
The light was dim, but I could see him looking at me with a combination of exasperation and relief as he held out the tightly wrapped bundle of my clothes. “You almost gave me a heart attack. For a minute there, I was terrified that you’d actually been hit by that car.”
Well, crud. Because he couldn’t feel my emotions or my intentions through the bond, he had no way of knowing I was okay.
I whined and flattened my ears in apology.
“Hurry and get dressed. I’ll guard the door.”
He turned his back, and I shifted faster than I’d ever shifted before, shivering as I scrambled into my clothes.
“Callum, I’m so sorry.”
The moment he heard my voice, he whirled around and tugged me into his arms. I could feel him shaking. Feel the fear I’d been too overwhelmed or distracted to notice while I was the fox.
“I’m not mad,” he said, his cheek pressed tightly against my hair. “You were amazing. I just wish you hadn’t needed to put yourself in danger to protect me. I’m used to being the one doing the protecting, and it’s hard to let go of those instincts. Even when I know you’ve got it covered.”
My heart… oh, my heart. He’d trusted me to have his back, just as he’d always said, and it made me fall just a little bit deeper in love with him.
“I was fine,” I promised, pulling back and reaching up to lay my hand gently against his face. “I was just so afraid of what they might do to you. Mobs can be terrifying, and that one was already primed to hate you.”
“They did seem awfully quick to recognize me,” he noted. “Suspiciously so. Average humans are aware of the courts, but only distantly, and the typical Oklahoman wouldn’t recognize me in public any more than they would recognize the King of Sweden.”
“Blake,” I muttered grimly. “I know it. And no, I don’t exactly have any evidence, but…” This was stronger than mere conjecture—it was my siren magic flaring to life, and I’d never been more certain.
“We can’t ignore your hunches,” Callum agreed, with such casual acceptance of this power he’d once despised. “It feels like he’s escalating. Trying to turn this city into a powder keg, just waiting for a spark.”
And it was going to work, too, if we couldn’t get ahead of him. Couldn’t figure out how all the pieces fit together, and predict whatever his ultimate plan might be.
I just couldn’t shake the feeling that, even now, we were right where he wanted us to be—walking straight into the trap that he’d prepared for us.
But what? What were we missing? And how could we figure out his game when our attention was divided between so many fronts?
After a quick glance at the crowds still filling the park, we decided not to risk going back for the car. It was a fairly short walk to Bricktown, and the weather was warm for January.
For the first few blocks, I tried desperately to pretend that we were just a normal couple out for a stroll.
That we could simply enjoy the day without wondering whether the city we called home was about to be destroyed by a power-hungry maniac.
Without any lingering fears that a slow-acting poison might be about to tear us apart forever.
Callum, too, seemed lost in his own thoughts, and with every step our silence only deepened. We might be walking shoulder to shoulder, but it felt as if we were drifting further and further apart.
I probably would have kept spiraling down into a darker and darker mood if Callum’s phone hadn’t buzzed.
It was Ryker, and my shapeshifter hearing was keen enough to hear the entire conversation.
“Fingerprints on the kid’s windowsill came back,” he reported. “And sure enough, one of them was in the system. Name’s Greg Abernathy. He’s thirty-seven, no major crimes, but he has combat training, and he’s been arrested twice. Once for assault in connection with a doomsday cult down in Texas.”
A thrill of relief shot through me, along with a pang of foreboding. We finally had a lead, and my suspicions were officially confirmed. Jeremiah had been taken by humans masquerading as Idrians.
Which meant that if all those other teens were legitimately missing, they might also be a part of Blake’s plan.
But why? Why kidnap teens with no powerful families to threaten? What did he gain from it when he still didn’t…
Wait.
I held out my hand for the phone, and Callum didn’t hesitate. Just handed it over.
“Ryker, can you find something out for me? I need to know the current status of the contract Blake put out on Kes.”
He paused. “You know something.”
“I don’t. I have a hunch, but it’s just a me thing, not a magic one.”
“I’m on it,” he said, and hung up.
“What have you got?”
I stopped and looked up at Callum. “Two things. Maybe I’m crazy.
I hope I am. But last time Shane checked—right around the time Kes was kidnapped—the payout on that contract was enormous.
Enough to tempt any bounty hunter on the planet, even considering what we did to the last people who came after her. ”
Callum nodded. “With you so far.”
“But in the last week and a half, no one else has tried.”
“Maybe they’re looking for ways around the heightened security.”
I snorted. “If only that were true. But lately I’ve been getting job offers from mercenary crews slid under my door and dropped in my mailbox at all hours. They could probably get a team through the security if they wanted to. So why did they stop?”
He nodded again, looking thoughtful. “That’s one thing, and I agree that it’s odd. So what’s the second?”
I didn’t even want to say this one out loud. My teeth clenched, and I had to swallow a surge of nausea long enough to get the words out.
“Teenagers. The two Blake has taken for sure are fifteen and sixteen. Callum, that’s the same age I was.
The same age Ethan was when Elayara started her experiments.
Both of them disappeared under circumstances that make them look like runaways, and both are kids of single moms who don’t have the resources to demand a high-profile search. ”
Callum’s brows lowered as he considered that information. “But he doesn’t have Kes. He can’t do anything without her, and if you’re right, he’s stopped actually trying to capture her.”
“Because he knows where she is,” I pointed out. “He knows she’s here, and he knows she’s protected—surrounded by people who will fight to the death to keep her safe.”
“Then what’s his play?”
“I don’t know.” I just knew it was coming. “He’s going to have to either distract her guardians or separate her from them. Or both.”
Callum didn’t even try to argue with me, just kept following my trail of logic.
“So he’s seeding chaos. Hitting Faris where it really hurts, while simultaneously drawing the humans’ attention to the dangers posed by Idrians in their city.
He’s trying to make sure we’re all watching each other.
That we’re too busy protecting ourselves from the humans’ vengeance to remember that Kes is in danger.
That way he can snatch her without as much risk. ”
Yes, but also… no. We were close. But something about that didn’t seem quite right.
Blake had always been good with people—good at understanding motivations and using them to manipulate others.
So he had to know by now that we wouldn’t just sit on our hands if he took Kes.
We would hunt him down, and we would end him.
So this time, his plan wouldn’t be that simple. He would need to end up with Kes under his control, and all of us powerless to stop him or come after her.
It was like trying to think ten moves ahead in chess, and I was too tired, too inexperienced, and too distracted by other concerns.
Which Blake was probably counting on. He knew me—as well or better than I knew him—and was probably even now plotting the moves he would need to counter mine in the future.
So if we couldn’t figure this out soon?
Everyone I loved was going to pay the price for that failure.
We walked back into Callum’s apartment to find a handful of people clustered around the kitchen island, where Logan sat typing furiously on his tablet.
A moment later he whooped and threw his hands in the air. “I’m next, guys. I’m definitely next!”
“Excuse me?”
He froze at the sound of my mom voice.
His gang of groupies—Ryker, Angelica and Kira—turned around slowly to face us, wearing slightly guilty expressions.
“What do you mean, you’re next?”
“I’m in,” he explained excitedly. “Some kid has been chatting with me for half an hour about how it’s possible for humans to have magic. The government just doesn’t want us to know about it, but he knows a guy it actually happened to.”
Hah.
“You didn’t tell him anything personal, did you?”
I got an eye roll.
“I’m not stupid. I just told him my parents are dead and I’m bullied at school. He ate it up.”
The bastard. Preying on kids who were already vulnerable. Promising them power without mentioning the consequences, because who thinks of consequences when they’re sixteen?
This meant it was entirely possible that Tabitha had gone willingly. But what about Jeremiah? He hadn’t been bullied at school. He’d had plans for the future and a great relationship with his mom.
“Also, he wants to meet, and he sent me a link to a group chat I can join.”
Perfect. “You rock,” I told him, giving him a quick hug that he shrugged off like a properly nonchalant teenage boy. “Thanks for helping us out. Go ahead and join the group chat. See if you can keep him talking, but don’t do anything risky.”
“I won’t, Mom.” He sounded sarcastic, but then our eyes met for just the tiniest moment and… he grinned.
Victory.