“What the hell?” I ground out through gritted teeth. “Where could he be?”
“Try again! Try again!” Maeve ordered like the cheerleader she had never been.
Shaking my phone at her, I seethed, “What do you think I’m doing? And why are you freaking out? You deal with life-and-death situations on a daily basis. Now, you’re freaking…?”
“Yes! I am freaking out. Yes! I deal with life-and-death situations on a daily basis, but it’s never my sister. I didn’t even…”
“I know you couldn’t even deliver Maisie’s babies, but…”
“Yes, it is the same thing!” She snapped. “Shut up and hurry!” Was her brilliant response as she made a super-exaggerated whisking of her hands.
Unable to answer for fear I would lose my mind, whatever was left of my religion, and quite possibly all the hair on my head, I slammed the button on my phone so hard I’m probably going to need a new device. Once again forced to listen to the mind-numbing ringing, this time with Maeve doing what looked like the potty dance while whispering, “Come on, Kai. Come on, Kai. Come on, Kai.”
The second the damn thing clicked over to voicemail, I didn’t even take a second to listen to my Mate’s wonderfully rich voice. Hitting the red button, I was just about to scream at the top of my lungs when Aideen huffed, “Just use the mental link. I don’t know why in the hell you insist on using stupid electronics where you are literally connected to Kai’s brain. Come on, Girl. Get it together. Do I need to…?”
Tuning out the irritating Dragon Queen with whom I shared my time as she continued to rant and rave like the Ladies of the Dragoon Bootay Auxiliary and Coffee Club, I shoved tons of extra Magic into the Mating Bond I shared with Kai and tried not to scream. “Hey, hun…”
No answer.
“Kai…”
Dead Air.
“Kai?”
Nothing.
Looking at Maeve and Theresa, I tapped my temple and mouthed, “He’s not answering.”
“Why aren’t you speaking? It’s not as if….”
“I know he can’t hear me, Maeve. Excuse me for freaking out.” My hands were flying in every direction. It had to look like I was auditioning for an air traffic controller position at DFW. At one point, my right hand was in, then out, then in again. In hindsight, I should have shaken it all about, but, well, I was in full-on what-the-fuck mode, and not thinking straight.
“I just went from freaked out to scared,” I admitted. “Kai always answers! Always! Always! Always!”
“Okay, we all need to…” Theresa interjected, trying to be the voice of reason.
Sadly, I was so far from reason that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. That meant that I speared her with a look and kept right on going.
“And if Kai can’t answer because he’s busy, Roy tells me what’s up?”
Waving her hands back and forth like she was having a hot flash, Maeve blustered, “Then call Roy.”
I wanted to clap back at her. Unfortunately, I couldn’t because I hadn’t thought of calling the Fairy King, Roy, with whom my Mate shared his soul, until that very moment. So instead, I stuck out my tongue and mentally called, “Hey, Roy.”
Nada.
“Roy? Are you there?”
Zip and Zilch.
I was seriously about to lose. I was holding on by a fraying thread. I could feel it all building up within every fiber of my being. I had to hold it back. I simply could not shoot fireballs in every direction. I could not burn down Marvelous Martha’s Brew House and Bougie Bags again.
I just couldn’t.
So, I took a deep breath and tried again.
“Kai?”
