My chest tightened. “Keeping Phin in the dark will only make him angry when he finds out that was our plan.”
“He’ll get over it.” Morgana dismissed me after that, even though I still sat in the chair opposite her. I stared her down. No way was I letting it go that easily. She read and took notes on whatever she’d been reading for a full three minutes before she glanced at me with raised eyebrows. “Was there anything else?”
“Yeah. Many things. Let’s start with the fact that you don’t know Phin at all if you think he’ll ‘get over it’. I mean, I can usually soften him up with a sexy kiss, and sucking his dick works well, but that was for the small, stupid shit I did. Like ditching him for stellar waves and that time I got so shitfaced I forgot where he lived. Not telling him something this big is going to take more than just a good dicking down.”
Morgana shrugged. “Blame it on me.”
“Blame...” I couldn’t even get the words out. That was the stupidest thing she’d ever said to me. “I’m going to take the heat either way.”
Morgana rolled her eyes. “First of all, you and Phin should never have fraternized with each other. Not even once. You both know the company policy.”
I looked away. “Yeah.”
“It wasn’t safe then, and it’s even less safe now. Even if Donn knew about the two of you, he clearly masked the pull you had toward each other, which was smart on his part. It might have clued us in a lot sooner. But we need a solid plan if we’re going to keep Phin safe, Ossy. Not going off half-cocked on a suicide mission to headquarters. Donn will send both of you to Tech Duinn. We can’t have that.” She sighed. “Until we think ofsomething, we keep Phin in the dark. The last thing we need is for Donn to be a step ahead of us and for us to lose Phin before we can reach him.”
“He’s already lost somewhere in the Bureau.” That made my chest ache. “What if I never see him again?”
Morgana reached across the desk and held out her hand. I took it. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to prevent.”
“I just want him here with me so I can keep him safe.” I met her gaze. “I could teleport there, grab him, and teleport back.”
“And then what, Ossy? Wait an hour for Donn to send demons after him?” Morgana frowned again. “He has an army, something we don’t have. If we lose one beloved, we’ll lose them all, including Phin. We need support first.”
“How are we going to get it?”
“I’m working on it right now. Until we have a solid plan and support, it’s best for Phin to stay where he is.”
It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, and she knew it. “We need to act quickly where he’s concerned. Donn will not leave him alone forever.”
Morgana sighed. “We have hours, maybe a day at best. I know. I know.”
My chest ached. “So for now, you want me to just fucking wait?”
“There are other beloveds to find.”
“Except mine is the one in the most danger.”
“They all are, Ossy.”
I’d never felt such strong emotions before. I didn’t like it. Emotions stressed me out. “I won’t wait long. And I’m calling him. I need to know he’s alright.”
We had beloveds to save. I got that. But Phin was one, too, and he was a reaper. Maybe he didn’t go out in the field, but he was one of us. Family was family. “Families protect each other.”
“Keeping him off Donn’s radar is protecting him, Ossy. That means he has to go to work as he always does. His ignorance is saving his life.”
“Get our ducks in a row so we can get him out of there.” The clock ticked away. I could practically hear it. Each click pulled Phin further from me.
Chapter Two
Phin
Aliteral cricket chirped somewhere in the office. It seemed oblivious to the fact that it was the only thing making noise. Well, it and the sound of my computer keys as I responded to an email.
It had been a few days since Morgana stopped showing up at the office. None of the reapers had come into the office, but that wasn’t unusual. With Morgana, there had been radio silence. She hadn’t responded to any messages or texts. I’d even tried calling, but it went straight to voicemail.
Was the apocalypse happening? Maybe they turned everyone into zombies. The zombie pandemic hadn’t reached the city yet. It would be on-brand for the reapers to cause that level of chaos, though. That was sort of the vibe they had, especially Ossy.
And gods, I’d been hanging out with Ossy way too much if I were using words like vibe.
