“Jamie, you need to get someone over to her apartment. I think she’s really hurt.”
Finn is dialing 010 for Supernatural Emergency Services, but Gideon shakes his head.
“What are we going to tell them? We saw the inside of a woman’s apartment, and she was…what?”
“Burning,” Nix whispers.
Gideon has his phone in his hand the next instant. “You’re both okay?” The person on the other end of the phone must pick up. “Hey, Logan. Do you have a magic user on the payroll?”
“Hello to you, too, Gideon.” The sound of Logan Frost climbing out of what must be his own nest in the middle of the night echoes over the line. It’s followed by a door gently closing. “Teddy has just finished his training. Dom is off-grid at present. Why the Code Gray? Did the Guild finally go too far, and now you’re locked in a different sort of dungeon?”
“Ha-fucking ha. No, I need someone for a Code Blue at 142-23 Hamilton Ave, 3rd Floor.”
“Blue? Why not call an ambulance?”
“I’m not at 142-23 Hamilton, 3rd Floor. Nix says the occupant needs care, but—”
“You don’t want your fingerprints on it. ‘Nix says’? Possible Code Black, then?”
Nix flinches at the term and the implication that he’s responsible. He doesn’t blame Logan for thinking it. Any time anyone mentioned the Guild, Nix had been angry—and that was before today’s revelation. But the memories of the last time he’d heard the words aren’t ones he relishes—a time when he’d been scrubbing blood from under his fingernails for a week and smelling rancid dill pickles for longer.
“It’s okay, baby boy,” Jamie whispers and presses a kiss to the side of his head.
Grayson returns from the bathroom, a towel around his waist. He hands Jamie a wet washcloth that he uses to wipe the stale sweat from Nix’s face.
“Unknown. Can you—”
“Team already en route. Anything they need to know?”
“She’s a fairly weak magic user with a low-level Mind Manipulation Talent,” Grayson murmurs. “When we…uh, left, she was…”
Finn rubs a hand over his face. “Magic users have their own facilities at Lupine. Call it in if she needs care.”
“We’ve dispatched our medical team, too, Finn. Trust me. I’ll check in when they report. Sit tight.”
The phone disconnects, and Nix sags into Jamie, letting the beat of his heart and strong arms hold him together.
Rowan disappears into the bathroom, returning with a cool cup of water, which Nix gulps down, grateful to wash away the taste of vomit.
“What happened? Were you Traveling?” Luca asks. He crawls over Nix’s legs until he can cuddle in close and pull a blanket over his legs.
“We were at Dahlia Kirwan’s apartment,” Grayson murmurs, breathing deeply of Luca’s hair.
“Was it a damp, dark cave basement where she conducts weird mad-scientist experiments on the townsfolk?” Those vibes are dead-on in a crazy zealot sort of way.
“Not at all. Like a Victorian drawing room for one of those period dramas. Nightgown and all. But you’re not wrong about her being crazy, I think,” Grayson murmurs.
Rowan is mindlessly running a hand down Nix’s spine, sending goosebumps over every inch of Nix’s body. He stops at the words. “Crazy? What does that mean?”
“Start from the top, Grayson,” Leo murmurs, slipping under Gideon’s arm with Mari drinking her first bottle of the new day. She’ll sleep until at least ten after she’s done.
“We dropped in just as she got a call. You know? With a secret code. Like the one we have? Two rings. Then two rings. She looked freaked out, don’t you think, Nix?”
“Definitely. The guy on the other end was European. Not quite German, I think. Maybe French? No. That’s not right.” Nix tries to remember the sound of the man’s voice. Oily. Precise.Condescending. Corrupted. “He was scary. No other word for it. Slick.”
“What did they talk about?” Finn asks, his glasses smudged with Goddess knows what.
Nix likes it when he wears them when they fuck and sometimes…focus, Nix.
