“Take Mischief with you,” Mildred suggests as the flaming lion is engulfed in a magical, swirling smoke before it reveals an oversized house cat in its place. “It will be better for him to be near her.”
“Any word on Connor or James?” I ask, trying to take comfort in the fact that Callie didn’t blow up the town, so it’s unlikely they are dead.
“I didn’t know to ask,” Lillian answers with a furrowed brow, and then she motions to Robert. “He’s on the phone with Nolan. You can see if he knows.”
Leaving my parents to digest all that’s going on, I stride over to Nolan’s father, gritting my teeth against the aches and pains littering my body. Holding out my hand, I ask without preamble, “May I talk to Nolan?”
Robert nods, looking at me with relief and compassion. Over the phone, he says, “Son, Kaleb is here and wants to talk to you.” He hands the phone to me with the gentle words, “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”
“Thanks, sir,” I reply automatically and walk away before he can kindly insist I call him Rob.
“Hey, is everyone okay there?” Nolan asks in my ear, anxiety drenching his words. “My dad said it was, but I’m pretty sure he’d say anything to keep me from freaking out. I’m sorry I left, but…”
“Callie needed you. I understand.” I cup my hand around the bottom of the cell phone, hoping to deaden any of my words from reaching the more sensitive ears in the room. “Donovan and I are fine.” I look out at the crowd of survivors being triaged into those with serious injuries and those who escaped with only minor bruises and cuts. “Mei and Rand are okay too, though it appears Rand isn’t taking the fact that Mei got hurt well. She’s having to console him while one of the coven witches heals her.”
There are sounds of sloshing water as Nolan repeats what I said to who I assume must be Callie. The fact that I don’t hear a response concerns me, but I have to trust that Nolan and Donovan will be able to care for her while I figure out what happened with Connor and Felix.
I close my eyes and brace myself for bad news. “Nolan, do you know what happened to Connor and James?”
He hesitates before answering. “Connor took him to the pack. They are alive, but I don’t know anything beyond that. Connor can’t answer his phone because it’s currently in his pants, which he left in my car.”
“What happened?” I ask, fighting to keep my voice low as my concern intensifies.
“I can’t explain right now,” he responds over what sounds like weeping. “Callie needs me. Please go check on them if you can. Tell Connor that Callie is going to be okay.”
Without saying more, Nolan hangs up, and I’m stuck with a foreboding feeling. There’s only one reason Connor would take Felix to pack land—something happened that was so bad, Connor felt like there was no other choice but to turn Felix into a shifter. My stomach sinks with fear that as bad as it was fighting demons, something far more heinous happened tonight.
Chapter 22
Donovan
Mischief sneaks into Nolan’s suite before I can close the door behind me. Still in his house cat form, he tilts his head to one side, angling his ears in different directions to, I assume, track Callie’s location.
Eyeballing the fae, I call out, “Nolan, I’m fucking tired and sore as hell. Where are you, and where’s Callie?”
“We’re up here in the bathtub,” he shouts back, his voice devoid of any of its normal teasing.
The fae bounds toward the stairs that lead to the loft portion of Nolan’s suite, his fluffy body quick and agile as he jumps from one step to the next.
“Get back here, you little perv,” I grumble, using what little energy I have left to chase after him. “I get that you want to protect her, but following her into the bathroom is not the goddamn way.”
I catch him after he slides into the bathroom door, his paws unable to gain traction on the hardwood floor to stop his forward momentum. He makes a low hiss when I pick him up and throws a paw toward my face.
“No, you fucking don’t,” I warn, holding him out in front of me under his upper legs as he writhes in an effort to get me to drop him. “I didn’t fight an army of demons just to have my eye taken out by your furry ass. She’s in the bathtub, which means she’s likely naked. I don’t care how you do it back where you’re from, but she will roast you if you go in there. She’s alive and safe. I’ll go check on her, while you go play guard cat downstairs.”
His yellow eyes narrow, clearly weighing the truth of my words and how likely it is she would be genuinely angry with him, before he makes a huff of surrender and stops fighting me.
Now that he isn’t going to take a chunk out of me, I put him down at the top of the stairs. “Look, if she’s up for it after the bath, you can come up and check on her. Also, thanks for not turning into a flaming lion and literally biting my head off to get around me.”
When he looks at me and meows, there’s no denying the intelligence hiding in that unassuming house cat body. I don’t know if it’s ayou’re not worth the hasslemeow or adon’t worry, we’re coolmeow, but he does make his way back downstairs. When he reaches the bottom, he hops up on Nolan’s black leather couch and curls into a ball. To the casual observer, it looks like he’s napping, but the way his ears swivel shows that he’s on full alert.
With the overzealous fae handled, I drag my feet to the bathroom door, my boots leaving flakes of dried blood with every step. Exhausted, I rest my head against the door at the same time I knock, my bloody knuckles leaving red marks on the white surface.
“It isn’t locked,” Nolan states from the other side, along with the sounds of sloshing bath water.
Taking that as an invitation, I walk inside and find Nolan holding Callie, rocking her gently side to side within the massive jacuzzi tub. Her eyes have that frightening empty stare that immediately has my heart racing, and with a few quick strides, I’m on my knees beside the tub.
More blood stains her cheek as I cup the side of her face. “Come on, angel. Say something. Anything. Just let me know you’re in there.”
