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Then a knock at the door cut through the quiet.

Ivan pulled away from Jude to answer it, but I lifted my good hand and shook my head. The apartment might be warded by some sort of supernatural garden witch, but that didn’t mean the whole building was.

I crossed the apartment to open the door a crack. Wade stood in the hallway, Victor at his shoulder, Ezra and Remi behind them. They all looked like they hadn’t slept in days.

I really was a bad influence on my team.

“Hey,” Wade said, sounding tired but resolved. “You look better.”

“And all of you look like you haven’t slept in a month,” I grumbled, then stepped back to hold the door open. Did I have to invite them past the wards? I had no idea. “Come in?”

Wade nodded and entered, the other three following. His gaze scanned the apartment, stopping on Jude, eyes going wide.

“Hey,” Jude said, sounding sheepish. “Don’t get all excited. I can only sorta be real in here. If I step outside the apartment, I go all ghosty again.”

The rest of the team filed in and I closed the door behind them, locking it.

Victor threw me a questioning look as he raised a brow at the door and mouthed, wards?

I shrugged. I didn’t have all the details.

“We’re making lunch, if any of you are hungry,” Nikki offered as Ivan handed me a sandwich that easily contained at least a pound of cold cuts. I took it, but hesitated to do more than sit down on the couch and set the plate on the coffee table. It would taste like cardboard with what we had yet to tell the rest of them.

Jude perched in the seat beside me as the guys all found seats in the living room.

“The zombies—that was you?” Ezra asked Jude.

“You closed the Veil tear with zombie help?” Victor added, catching on quicker than the rest.

Jude flinched. “Yes?”

“Why is that a question?” Ezra growled. “Either you did or you didn’t. This is why we don’t mess with practitioners.”

Remi winced and inched away, though he’d sat down beside Ezra to begin with.

“I’m not practicing anything,” Jude defended himself. “And you’re welcome. Since that tear would have taken over the whole city.”

“Enough.” I barked at the team. The noise from the kitchen had gone quiet too. Our tiny apartment felt a lot smaller with so many people in it, and the weight of knowing too much and not enough all at once. “We need to find Adrian Holt. Hopefully alive.”

31

JUDE

Wade sat on the arm of the couch, Victor perched on the edge of the armchair, Ezra and Remi squeezed onto the opposite end. Nikki had retreated to the kitchen with a pot of tea, but she was still listening. Grandpa sat at the table, cup cradled in his hands, his eyes distant. Ivan found a place on the floor at my feet, back against the couch, pretending to be absorbed in his phone. Peanut Butter instantly claimed his lap, and Nox crawled up to wrap himself around my brother’s shoulders like he knew the kid would need the comfort.

The motes drifted around us, restless and more active than they’d been all morning. I’d been trying to give them positive vibes, encourage them to sink back into the weave on their own, but they seemed to be ignoring my prodding. In fact, more of them kept gathering. Maybe they were picking up on the tension too? Great. Another audience for my family drama.

Angel gripped my hand with his good one, unwilling to let me go while he could still actually touch me.

“His location is currently unknown,” Victor stated.

“Tiana is tracing him,” Wade added. “Bobby’s doing some groundwork, visiting Adrian Holt’s normal locations with a police escort. No one has seen him for a few days.”

“As for Melody, toxicology is pointing at suicide, but nothing’s been ruled out.” Angel’s gaze flipped from me to Ivan to Grandpa. His grip on my hand tightened. “There are also remains at the warehouse that haven’t been identified yet.”

Which meant our father could be dead too. Fuck.

Ivan looked up at me, eyes watery. “I didn’t see anything. Shouldn’t I have seen something?”