Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
It took me a few moments to recover from being utterly and completely gobsmacked by his request.
But now that I knew the intruder’s identity, it was easy to understand the sense of familiarity. His build, his expressions, his way of carrying himself… all Callum.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure whether that made him more or less trustworthy under the current circumstances.
“I see.”
His head tilted curiously. “You do, don’t you?”
“Changes nothing,” I assured him. “I still don’t trust you.”
He shrugged. “Fair enough. But I still need to deliver a message, and I don’t want to hurt you. Perhaps you’d be willing to call Callum and tell him I’m here?”
“Can’t,” I said blandly. “My phone is dead.”
After only a moment’s hesitation, he reached into his pocket and offered me his own.
When I couldn’t come up with a reason to refuse, I held out a hand. “I don’t think you need to get any closer, so toss it here.”
He grinned and complied.
I couldn’t quite recall Callum’s number, but I did remember Kira’s, from back before I’d had my own phone.
The first attempt went to voicemail. So did the second, but on the third, she finally answered.
“You’d better be calling to tell me I’ve won a million dollars or I swear I will find you and eat your fingers,” she announced, sounding deeply annoyed.
“It’s Raine,” I said, and did not miss the sudden flurry of curses in the background. Probably should have thought to offer reassurance first when calling from an unknown number. Especially when they all believed I was sound asleep upstairs.
“Are you alone?” Kira asked urgently. “Are you safe? Where are you?”
“No, probably, and on the roof,” I replied. “There’s a dragon up here who wants to talk to Callum. But Kira, he’s…”
She’d already hung up.
I stared at the phone, grimaced, and then tossed it back, noting the older man’s slightly pained expression.
“Kira’s here?” His tone was somewhat hesitant.
“She is. And Ryker. Not sure how much of a family reunion you were bargaining for, but you got one anyway.”
He regarded me thoughtfully. “You know my children well?”
“Better than you do,” I returned bluntly. But that was probably unfair. Perhaps he hadn’t had much control over those circumstances. But at least from my perspective, it seemed like he should have tried.
“Yes,” he acknowledged. “I knew that was the price when I agreed to Tairen’s proposal.
And maybe I should have tried harder to change her mind.
But it’s difficult to regret a course of action that led to something as incredible and miraculous as my children.
I wouldn’t change my decision now, no matter how they feel about me. ”
I couldn’t exactly disagree.
The door burst open behind me—my backup arriving in force. Callum was beside me a moment later, flanked by Ryker, Kira, and Angelica. Behind them, Faris remained by the door, as a last defense should the enemy evade the five of us.
Callum scanned me first, as if to be certain I was whole and undamaged. When his gaze fell on the unexpected guest, however, his entire posture shifted. The feelings that filtered through our bond cut off as if they were controlled by a switch, leaving only a wary detachment in their wake.
“How did you know where to find me?” Callum’s tone was so stiff and unwelcoming, I saw Kira looking from him to Deverin with a sharp, calculating expression.
“Tairen keeps me updated from time to time.” The newcomer paused. “I’m actually visiting the city in my official capacity, but I arrived early in order to warn you of a potential threat.”
“Callum, who is this?” Kira demanded.
I could almost see her noticing the same things I had. Trying to deny the conclusions I’d reached.
“Hello, Kira,” the man said, a bit ruefully. “I’m sorry we ended up meeting like this, but I’m Deverin.”
She didn’t react quite the way I’d expected.
One eyebrow shot up, and she raked him with a critical gaze before folding her arms over her chest. “So you’re ‘Mutual Respect.’ I admit I always sort of wondered what our DNA donor looked like.
” She shrugged. “I can see why Mom picked you. What do you want?”
Deverin sighed and held out his badge again. “I’m here with the Bureau of Idrian Affairs, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to save your mother. But we don’t have much time. Will you at least hear me out?”
We ended up back downstairs in the fifth-floor office, where coffee cups, pizza boxes, and heaps of crumpled napkins indicated this strategy session had been going on for some time while I was asleep.
Callum offered me his chair, then leaned against his desk, while Angelica reclaimed her usual place. Ryker paced to her left, and Kira and Faris hovered near the door, leaving Deverin in the center of a lopsided circle.
It didn’t appear to faze him in the slightest. He remained calm and relaxed, bearing the weight of all those hostile stares without any evidence of resentment or nerves.
“All right,” Callum said. “You have our attention. Why don’t you tell us why you’re here?”
“I won’t waste your time with backstory,” Deverin told him coolly.
“Except to explain how I know what I know. When the Bureau was founded almost forty years ago, I was the first Idrian representative to join—the first to earn the humans’ trust, and the first to forge a relationship with the human government of the time.
I’ve now been with the Bureau through eight different directors, and I have contacts in every enclave, every major city, and most departments of the government.
I hear a lot, and what I’m hearing right now suggests something potentially catastrophic is coming. ”
“You mean something like a protest march of nearly ten thousand people?” Angelica piped up icily. “We already know about that.”
“Wait, what?” There was apparently a lot I needed to catch up on.
Callum nodded. “All that cyberstalking led us to Greg’s activities on a couple of deeply disturbing websites devoted to anti-Idrian causes.
He helped organize the protest this morning, but more worrying is the march they’re planning for later this week.
They’ve been building momentum for almost a month—all grassroots, online stuff. ”
“Yes,” Deverin admitted. “That’s a part of it.
And unfortunately, the current director of the Bureau seems to have been influenced by a lot of their rhetoric.
He’s repeatedly refused to inform local officials, or supply aid for any increased security during the protest, despite the violent and inflammatory nature of what these groups are calling for. ”
“Like what?” Kira asked.
“Registration and relocation,” Deverin replied flatly. “Among other things. I’ve even seen blueprints in my director’s office. Provided by a new consultant who seems to have his ear.”
A new consultant…
“What does he look like?” I inquired swiftly, my heart pounding as I sensed a potential breakthrough. If this was part of Blake’s new plan…
“Not he, but she,” Deverin corrected. “And I’m fairly certain she’s deliberately avoiding me. The odd thing is, while I’ve only caught glimpses of her face, I could swear I’ve sensed traces of shifter magic whenever she’s been in the office.”
Traces of shifter magic…
The truth hit me like a fae lightning bolt.
She.
The voice I’d heard in the crowd of protesters.
The woman who’d called out Callum’s name during the dragon attack.
“Phone charger,” I begged suddenly, holding out my hand and making a grabbing motion. “Someone, find me a phone charger.”
Angelica produced one as if by magic, and I darted under the nearest desk for a power strip. Plugged it in. Clenched my fingers and my teeth and tried not to bite through my own cheek while I waited for it to power up.
“What are you looking for?” Callum hovered over my shoulder, his emotions clouded in worry.
“Proof,” I muttered. “I just need proof.”
The seconds seemed endless, but eventually my phone screen lit up. I unlocked it and opened my photos. The most recent ones were all from the protest, when I’d been pretending to take selfies. I scanned through them with shaking fingers, zooming in on the crowd, desperately hoping for a break…
And then there it was.
She looked very different from the last time we’d shared an office, so perhaps that was why I hadn’t recognized her.
Her posture was no longer cowering, her brown hair was bleached, cut, and styled, and her eyes no longer stared only at the floor.
The shapeshifter amber was concealed by contacts, but they still blazed with purpose as she shouted something with her fist in the air.
We were right. It was right here. And I should have seen it sooner.
I shoved the phone screen in Deverin’s direction. “Do you recognize her?”
He strode towards me, tilted his head, and a moment later, he nodded. “Pretty sure that’s her. How did you know?”
Callum leaned in to glance at the zoomed-in picture, then let out a whispered curse.
“Raine?” Kira’s impatient query lifted my head from the screen, and when she saw my expression, her own turned cold and rigid.
I only needed one word. “Heather.”
Faris slammed his fist onto a nearby desk in rage, while Kira’s eyes went hot and bright. Claws erupted from her fingertips, scales patterned the backs of her hands, and a wisp of smoke escaped between lengthening teeth.
“You should have let me eat her when I had the chance,” she growled savagely.
Callum just ran a weary hand down his face and sighed. “Fine, yes. You were right. Next time I’ll just hand you a fork.”
Kira’s size and temperament might make that sound like an empty threat, but her bloodthirsty expression suggested she’d been dying to make the attempt.
And while I didn’t usually condone violently ingesting our enemies as a way of solving problems, I was willing to make an exception in Heather’s case.