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My gut clenched and I immediately tossed my phone into the cup holder so it could keep charging.
“Get in,” I told Wilder. He didn’t need to be asked twice. He circled the car and climbed in the passenger seat. “And you,” I said to Santiago. “Just try not to get lost. I’m not slowing down for you.”
He got into his truck and started up the engine, which rattled and roared in a way that seemed exclusive to old American cars. It was comforting, in a way.
Soon our mini-convoy was on the road and headed to Callum’s mansion. I could have called to let them know I was coming, but a part of me feared what they might tell me over the phone. If someone was dead, I didn’t want to know until I got there. My head was full of terrifying what-ifs, but the real deal might be so much worse than anything I dreamt up.
I navigated the road home more by instinct than any real thought. When we passed through St. Francisville we passed the garage Wilder owned. It was evening now, and there was a light on upstairs, indicating his brother Hank was home. The Open sign out front was off and the doors were all shuttered for the night. An old Honda was parked beside the building, and a Toyota Corolla with a For Sale sign in the window was displayed at the front of the parking lot.
Hank Shaw was many things, and I could have come up with a thousand different negatives to bring up about him, b
ut it seemed he might just be doing all right when it came to running the shop.
Hopefully it was keeping him out of trouble.
With Mercy back I had some concerns as to whether or not Hank might get drawn into her plans. He’d previously been a member of her rogue pack, but had managed to escape that with his life intact. If he’d truly learned his lesson, he’d stay the hell away from her this time.
Mercy was bad enough. Undead Mercy with a vendetta?
I was learning how bad that really was.
Fifteen minutes later, we pulled up in front of the mansion and I got out of my car so quickly I forgot to turn it off. Wilder was the one to kill the engine and collect the keys. Santiago brought up the rear, and as soon as we were in the house I pointed him in the direction of a large formal sitting room.
“Sit down, don’t move, don’t wander around. If anyone asks who you are, tell them you’re with me. Don’t say anything else. Just try to stay out of trouble, okay?”
He looked insulted by my insinuation, but took a seat on one of the uncomfortable high-backed sofas and waited. I could tell he was drinking in every detail of the room. I couldn’t leave him alone too long, because there was no telling what a bored witch could get into, whether he intended to or not.
But my first priority was finding Callum.
I made a beeline for his office and burst through the door without knocking. I stopped dead in my tracks when I realized he wasn’t alone.
Callum was seated at his desk and though his expression gave nothing away, he was paler than usual. He didn’t have that usual commanding aura about him. Something had rattled his cage.
“Sorry, I thought you’d be alone,” I said stupidly. “I’ll come back.”
A man was sitting in the chair across from Callum’s and all I could see was the top of his blond head over the high back.
“No, Eugenia, you should stay.” Callum’s voice was tight. “I think His Majesty and I have a question or two for you.”
The way his jaw tightened around the words His Majesty made a chill run down my spine.
No.
I knew what was coming before it happened, but it was one of those moments where my brain simply couldn’t accept the thing it knew. Callum’s words sunk in, and the blond head suddenly became familiar, but it wasn’t until the man in the chair turned around that the reality sunk in.
He lifted a hand in a wave and said, “Hi, Genie.”
Lucas Rain.
Chapter Twenty
I would have sat in a chair if there had been one behind me.
Instead I sat on the floor.
I suppose the more accurate statement would be that I passed out, except I don’t remember losing consciousness. I just remember standing and then… not standing.
Perhaps I should have expected Lucas to be among those back from the dead. It made sense. After all, he’d been in the hotel with Secret and I when I’d done what I did to Morgan. And even though I’d been out cold after killing her, I still knew what had happened to him.
