Chapter 21 #2
I wished I had time to bask in the thrill, but the clock was ticking, and with every hour that passed, the more urgent the situation felt. As if my siren magic was trying to tell me something that I was too dense, too blind to understand.
So if I couldn’t rely on my magic, how could we find out more about the people behind this?
People who hid in the shadows and spread their lies from behind a seemingly innocent game.
Where else might they be willing to show the truth of their goals and intentions?
Where could you find an audience for anything—even the hateful, the illogical, or the absurd…
Oh, right.
I looked at Kira. “I don’t suppose you happen to be on social media?”
Her nose wrinkled. “Only for the bookstore. Why?”
“I need to do some… I think it’s called cyberstalking?”
Ryker shot me a skeptical look, but Angelica just nodded briskly.
“I’ve got it. Who do you want info on?” She picked up her laptop from the kitchen island and flipped it open.
“His name is Greg Abernathy. He’s a thirty-seven-year-old human, possibly from Texas. Combat training, an arrest record, and some sort of cult involvement.”
“I’ll see what I can find and get you a report in a few hours.”
I blinked incredulously, and Callum grinned.
“Told you she was the best assistant of all time.”
A hint of pink spread across the blonde gryphon’s cheeks, but she didn’t look up from her computer.
“And while we wait…” I was all ready to launch a multi-pronged assault on Blake’s super secret plans, but Callum interrupted.
“While we wait, you probably need to rest.”
“Pfft, I’m fine.” I was so not fine. I was just so tired that I knew I didn’t dare sit down or stop because I might pass out for the remainder of the day.
“This will take some time,” Angelica reminded me, more gently than I would have expected. “And if we find anything, you may need to act swiftly. Rest while you can.”
There were far too many bossy-pants shifters in this apartment for my liking. But when I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with any other urgent tasks I should be tackling in the meantime. Except maybe…
“I should go help Faris,” I protested. “We could be working on cleanup. And he’s still got prisoners in his basement to deal with.”
“He’s decided to release Hector,” Ryker informed me, “in exchange for information. He’ll also be lodging a formal complaint with the Shapeshifter Court and slapping a lifetime ban on him.
If the snake shows his face on Shadow Court territory again, it’s lights out, and he knows Faris won’t hesitate. ”
It was far less that I wanted to do to the traitorous naga, but he was Callum’s subject, so I would have to leave that to him.
“And the fae?” Considering that they’d trying to kidnap Kira, I doubted Faris would be inclined to let them go so easily.
“Draven’s been negotiating for their return ever since he got back to the Fae Court early Sunday morning. He’s hoping to exchange them for information—maybe even the name of the poison used on Callum—but no bites so far.”
It did in fact seem that we’d encountered a lull, and it might not hurt for me to take a teeny bit of a break.
“You’ll wake me if anything happens?” I demanded of Callum, with a look that was supposed to be stern.
It earned me a smile instead of agreement.
“I absolutely promise to wake you if you’re needed.”
That was probably the best I was going to get, so with a sigh and one last threatening glare, I gave in and curled up on the couch. Just to close my eyes for a few minutes. There was too much to do, but maybe a quick catnap of half an hour or so…
When I woke up, the apartment was dark. A blanket covered me, and a pillow had been placed under my head. I could hear traffic from outside and the hum of the furnace, but no voices.
How long had I been asleep?
My phone was still an uncomfortable lump in my jeans pocket, so I pulled it out to glance at the time. No dice, it was dead, because I never remembered to plug it in.
So I rose on my elbow and turned instead to the kitchen microwave, which proclaimed it was ten-thirty.
Ten-thirty? I’d slept six hours?
Sitting bolt upright, I scrubbed at my face and ran my fingers through my hair, giving up when I encountered too many tangles to count.
Where was everyone?
I padded across the room and flipped on a light, then spotted the note waiting for me on the kitchen island.
Everyone is safe, we just wanted you to rest. Come down to the office when you wake up. We have news. Working on the best way to save Mom.
Callum
I growled under my breath at the audacity. They had news and hadn’t bothered to wake me up?
Someone was going to pay, but first, I needed to find my shoes and get down there.
I’d just finished lacing up when I heard an ominous thud from right overhead. Which is perfectly normal when you live in a multi-story apartment building, but not perfectly normal when you’re on the top floor and there’s nothing above you but the roof.
It wasn’t a normal, healthy thud either, like you get when someone drops a shoe, or trips and falls on the floor—more the kind of thud you might expect when a very large toothy predator lands on the roof with the intent of eating people or setting things on fire.
And that wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t know that all the friendly dragons in Oklahoma City either couldn’t shift or were downstairs right now looking for a way to save Tairen.
Okay, maybe that was conjecture. It could have been Ryker or Angelica up there. But I didn’t think either of them would risk shifting inside the city—not with human authorities already on edge—so clearly I had some decisions to make.
My stupid phone was dead, so I couldn’t call anyone. I could potentially run down to the fifth floor and look for backup, but that would leave no defenses between the roof and the apartment where my family was probably asleep right now.
Nope, I needed to figure out who or what was up there first.
I jogged out of Callum’s apartment with every sense on alert, pausing only to knock on Shane’s door. No one answered, so I knocked very gently on the door to my own new home, which I had yet to spend more than a few minutes in.
No answer there either. Maybe everyone was still at The Portal, or maybe they were all asleep. Either way, there was no time to waste, so I headed for the door at the end of the hall—the one that led up to the roof.
It was unlocked for safety purposes, which admittedly made me nervous, but I knew Callum had other security measures in place. I just found myself wishing that I knew what more of them were as I crept upwards in the dark and cracked open the door at the top of the stairs.
I heard nothing but the hum of traffic and the wind, which gave me hope that perhaps I’d imagined everything else.
But still, I wasn’t going to leave without checking it out, so I moved fully onto the roof, every sense alert for sounds that didn’t fit with the usual cacophony of Bricktown at night.
And when I still heard nothing out of the ordinary, I hit the switch that turned on the string lights for the rooftop lounge.
They flared to life, casting a warm golden glow across the closest corner of the roof. The small circle of outdoor couches and propane fire pit seemed undisturbed…
But silhouetted between the light and the edge of the roof was the tall, dark shape of a man.
I instantly wrapped myself in fae magic, forming the stout layers of a shield as I took two steps forward.
“You’re trespassing,” I called out sharply. “Whatever business you have here can be conducted during daylight hours—by going to the front door.”
The dark shape paused, then turned, and I saw him finish the final button on his shirt before scooping something off the ground and striding towards me.
I braced myself and moved one hand behind my back, where I readied a glowing fae blade.
The trespasser entered the light and came to a stop, his coat in his hand. Then he looked up at me, and the weight of his stare punched me like a fist.
The amber eyes I’d expected, but his height and build…
He appeared to be in his mid-forties, with thick dark hair turning gray at the temples. Broad shoulders, stern face, commanding posture—I’d never seen him before, and yet he seemed instantly familiar.
“I’d say you must be Callum’s watchdog, but you don’t smell right for a shifter,” the man observed, shrugging into his long, dark coat as if he perceived no threat from my presence. “Is he here?”
“Not to trespassers,” I said coolly. “What do you want with him?”
The man smiled slightly. “It’s urgent, and confidential.”
“Then, like I said, you can go around to the front door.”
He shrugged. “I don’t really want anyone else to know I’m here.”
“Guess it’s not your lucky day.”
He paused. “You’re not going to stand aside, are you?”
I grinned. “What was your first clue?”
The man regarded me for a moment, amber eyes sharp and assessing and so very, very familiar. “You’re clearly loyal to him, which I appreciate. But I don’t have time to argue, and I don’t trust any of his court enough to give my news to anyone else.”
“Funny, but you look like a member of his court to me,” I retorted. “So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t trust you either. Can you give me any reason why I ought to consider letting you leave this roof in one piece?”
He let out a sigh before reaching under his jacket and pulling out… a badge?
“I’m a senior agent with the Bureau of Idrian Affairs.”
Well, that was unexpected. For some reason, I’d expected them to send a human. And how had he known where to find Callum?
“Do you have a name, Senior Agent of the Bureau?”
His lips twisted wryly. “I do,” he told me quietly. “My name is Deverin. Deverin-ro-Finnbar. And I would very much like to speak with my son.”