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“He called my phone. I guess when he got to my place, he saw what a godsdamned shitshow it was and panicked.”
“I didn’t panic.” Cade looked at me in earnest. “I didn’t.”
“Okay.”
“But if I was the sort of person to panic, walking into an apartment where there were red hoofprints on the floor, a puddle of blood, and the lingering smell of sulfur in the air…well, I think I was justified in being a bit unsettled.”
I’m pretty sure that was his way of saying he’d been worried about me. How sweet.
“We need to get you to the temple.” I was already pulling Cade towards the elevators, but my words were all for Leo. My human crutch went willingly, having apparently given up on any attempts to be in charge of this operation.
“The temple is in Seattle,” Leo reminded me.
Guess he’d been doing some research while I was getting sewn up. If that meant he had come to accept that Seth was his father, then at least I had cleared one hurdle.
“We’ll go to the regional outlet.” Just saying it left a bad taste in my mouth. I tried to avoid setting foot in the regional prayer outlets whenever possible. They were so corporate it felt less holy than going into a McDonalds.
Still, a Seth outlet was likely to be the only place in New Orleans where Leo would be truly safe long enough for me to get Sido here to collect him. If Seth would show up and lay claim himself, this would be a lot simpler.
But simple wasn’t a word that applied to my job on most days.
I hadn’t been in Louisiana in years, and the outlets tended to move around based on who currently maintained them. I hadn’t bothered to visit one the last time I’d been through.
Cade hit the elevator button, then reading my mind he took out his phone and opened his prayer app. He pulled up my listing and easily navigated the map with GPS. “Ursulines and Miro,” he said. “It’s a residential.”
I grumbled. “Can’t they rent office space like normal people?” Residential outlets were the worst. They were usually run by real sycophants, worshippers who wanted to live and breathe their chosen god. They were absolutely unbearable to be around if you were the chosen representative of that god.
Imagine being a rock star. Then imagine if your fans thought you could actually manifest blessings for them. Exhausting didn’t begin to describe it.
“Did you bring my car?” I leaned against Cade as we loaded onto the elevator, each new motion delivering a fun and exciting discovery of pain.
“I sold it for a case of beer. They took the fennec for free.” Cade spoke into the side of my head so I couldn’t see if he was smiling or not, but I had a feeling he was profoundly amused with himself.
“Where is Fen?” I had a sudden image of the fennec locked in the car through a hot Louisiana day and felt sick to my stomach.
“Who’s Fen?” Leo asked.
Cade ignored him. “I rented a room near Leo’s place when I got into town. He’s safe. He’s fed. He’s also not very fond of me.”
I eased up, knowing my familiar w
as okay. Cade, it seemed, really had thought of everything. “He’s not fond of anyone. That’s sort of his thing.”
The elevator opened on the main floor, and Cade left me with Leo, waiting inside the main lobby doors when he went to get the Mustang.
“I need to say something and I need you to listen. I know it’s hard to take me seriously when I can’t even stand on my own, but this is important.” I was leaning against his side and had to crane my neck back to look at him. My head felt floppy, and I got dizzy just glancing up. I knew how ridiculous I appeared, dwarfed by the huge man next to me.
“Go ahead.” He adjusted his stance, bumping against my wound. I sucked in a breath through my teeth, and he froze. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I gritted out.
Leo waited a beat to make sure I wasn’t going to keel over, the nervous worry on his face telling me he was concerned, then he asked, “So what do you need to tell me?”
I braced my arms against his ribs and pivoted so I was facing him. Since he was built like a brick wall this wasn’t all that different from balancing in my hospital room. Except touching him was much warmer.
“As soon as we step out that door, you’re a target.”
“So…wouldn’t it make more sense to stay?” Leo glanced back over his shoulder at the hospital lobby, and I could almost read his mind. Pretty nurses and open purses everywhere. The man was in his glory here.
