Page 45 of Hellhound AU

“Besides, he’s a scrawny thing. I could easily take him. You and I can even stay on the phone the whole time.”

“I’ll be on foot. I can go in my hellhound form,” Rowan announced.

I hummed, thinking for a moment. “Eh, I don’t think that will work. First of all, no one needs to see a hellhound running around campus. That definitely isn’t subtle, and if Sky catches sight of you, we’re likely to scare him into laying low. Second ofall, your hellhound form can’t stay on a cell phone, so I’ll have no idea where to go with the car.”

Rowan grumbled again, and I leaned over and kissed him. “Trust me, boo. I got this. As much as I wanna be with you 24/7, we’re gonna have to split up sometimes. Sky is not a worrisome adversary—we’ll be fine. And I won’t engage until you get there, okay?”

With that, I gave him one more kiss and hopped out of the car. I dug my bluetooth earpiece out of my pocket, popped it in, and called him on my cell phone as I was walking toward the art building, just like I promised.

“Hey, boo,” I whispered.

“Hey, chaos demon,” he whispered back.

I chuckled lightly, then I hiked my way to the art building. I decided to stop one building away, and I sort of hung around one of the large columns that was there. I wanted to spot Sky, but I didn’t want him to spot me.

Sure enough, within ten minutes he was walking out of the building. He looked around, but not very carefully, and then he started walking in the opposite direction from the parking lot. I followed behind him, keeping a reasonable distance and staying close to the buildings in case I needed to duck out of sight. He wasn’t running or anything, but he did seem to be in a bit of a hurry.

I followed him for about ten minutes, all the way across campus, occasionally whispering to Rowan.

“Should I pull the car around to that side of campus?” he whispered.

I thought about it, but the idiotic one way road around campus would take him a few minutes to navigate, plus, there wasn’t any place to park over here if you didn’t have a resident card. “Nah. He’s probably going back to his dorm. We’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Okay, I’m getting out and heading over,” Rowan stated.

I grunted in agreement, but as I watched, Sky walked right past his building.

“Hold on,” I said quietly into the phone. “He didn’t stop at his dorm. Shit—does he have a car over here?”

“I’m on my way to pick you up,” Rowan said, and I heard him getting back into the car.

As I watched, Sky walked to one of the closer parking spots, because of course it was close by, and got into a car.

“Shit. No, don’t get me. It’ll take too long to go around the whole campus. Head out and make a right onto College Ave to leave campus, and then make another right onto route 37. The other entrance is down on 37. Sky is driving a white Chevy Impala—follow him.”

“What about you?” he asked.

“I’ll call the crew and get a ride out to you. We can’t lose him, though.”

Rowan cursed, but I heard the sound of driving. Sky was long gone, and I just hoped Rowan got there in time to catch up to him.

It seemed like an eternity later, but Rowan announced, “Got him!” over the phone.

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Text me when you get wherever he’s going. I’m gonna call Ethel for a ride.”

“I thought we were gonna stay on the phone?” Rowan asked.

“Boo, I’m not letting you have all the fun with Sky. Ethel can drop me off wherever you end up. I’ll be fine. I’m on a secure college campus. And I know how to take care of myself.”

Rowan grunted then hung up the phone, and I dialed Ethel.

“Milo, sweetie, what’s going on? It’s very early,” she answered.

Shit. I hadn’t thought about the time. “Shit. I’m sorry, Ethel. We think we found a lead on Betsy, but we had to split up, and Rowan has the car.”

“I’ll be right there. Send me your location,” she announced.

I hung up the phone and sent her the address, then I walked out toward the main road where she’d be able to pick me up. It took a bit, but Rowan called to check in, and Sky was still driving, so I wasn’t missing out on much. Rowan gave me a general direction to head, which was mostly back roads through the woods.