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“Mordecai would.”
“Possibly, but I don’t see him arguing with your mom to put you into danger when we just got you back.” Cora turned to face Gavin and told him, “Mordecai has Xaephan’s son locked in a prison on Olympus. Kirsten told Xaephan if he didn’t tell them where to go to rescue your people, she’d torture his son. He believed her.”
Gavin smirked. “As well he should.”
Cora gave him a wide grin. “You’d know that better than most. I don’t believe Xaephan told us everyone involved, and he hedged with non-answers when Kirsten tried to press him to find out for sure. However, we have the names of seven people with significant power who’re in on this.”
“By rights, I should be going,” Gavin said, “but I find myself in the same position as you, where I can’t leave the realm, lest the weakest of my people might not be alive when I return.”
“Aaron is going as well, and…” she shook her head. “They have some heavy hitters, not only Ambrose and Ellania, but a few other demigoddesses who’ll enjoy having some ass to kick.”
Ryan walked in, and Cora narrowed her eyes at him. Lauren had the feeling Cora would happily allow her wolf to eat him if she thought she could get away with it.
To lessen the tension in the room, Lauren told him, “Ryan, I’m surprised to see you here. Most of those taken were shapeshifters.” And Ryan was only interested in saving humans and other prey from the monsters. He rarely saved the monsters.
“We believe this is the ring who’ve been skinning humans, and it’s no secret I’m hunting them.” He looked at Cora. “I expected to be notified.”
“It’s been kind of hectic and, like Lauren said, most of us weren’t thinking of you because humans aren’t involved.” She sighed. “I apologize for the oversight.”
Gavin sat quietly in his chair, but Nick stood with Lauren cradled in his left arm and offered his right hand. “Slayer. What do you know? I feel like we’re in the dark, waiting for word of a battle we can’t be part of. It’s frustrating.”
Ryan met Nick’s gaze and shook his hand. “What’s your stake in this, lion?”
“They had Lauren.”
Ryan looked from Lauren to Nick, and then from Lauren to Gavin, and finally from Gavin to Nick.
“Ah. I see. Well, I’ll just sit with the rest of you and wait for word of the rescue, since I don’t have someone at hand to flash me across realms, and without knowing where they are, going through random portals isn’t likely to get me to them.”
Nick sat again, and Lauren let him keep holding her. If Nathan were here, he’d probably tell her to do nothing to bring her new status to the Slayer’s attention. Her old teacher would spout something about looking weak when you are strong, so that’s what Lauren did.
After a few moments of silence, she changed her mind and asked the Slayer, “What do you see when you look at us?” Lauren had long had the impression that Ryan, like her, saw more than everyone else.
Ryan only smiled and asked, “What do you see when you look at me?”
Lauren started to ignore the question and remain silent, but decided an answer might get the Slayer talking. “It’s changed, since the first time I touched you in the basement of that cabin in the woods.”
“Ah, the safehouse, yes. You told your mom I’m not a nice person.”
“I was a kid, and you came across as…” She wished she’d kept her mouth shut, but it was too late now. “I saw death. Lots of death. I still see it, but it’s tempered. You aren’t as indiscriminate as you once were when you kill.”
“You’ve never hit me as completely human, and you come across as even less now than you did as a child.”
So much for staying off his radar. “More now than when I came back from China, just before I started college?”
“Yes. Absolutely. There are a few species that show up well after puberty, usually around twenty-five when the prefrontal cortex matures, and one in particular with Asian members.” His gaze went to her arm and focused on her bear tattoo. “Anything you want to share, Lauren?”
“Nope.”
“I trust that your mom, Nathan, and Mordecai are making sure you’re safe around humans. You have to know I’ll jump into action if I find out that isn’t the case.”
He leaned against a wall, almost slouching against it, as if he didn’t want to be seen as a threat, but Lauren knew better.
Ryan looked from Lauren to Cora. “Today, I’m here to talk about how we make sure the supernaturals who gave the orders for humans to be skinned don’t have an opportunity to do so again.”
“Unfortunately,” Mordecai stepped through the doorway, gave Ryan a brief glance, and looked to Gavin. “The warehouse housed all but six of the shapeshifters taken, and no one else. No guards, no bosses. My guess is that the demon Kirsten spoke with warned his associates before he told her where to find your people.”
Lauren couldn’t sit still any longer, so she stood. Mordecai sat in the chair beside Nick, and pulled Lauren so she stood in front of him and only had to look up a tiny bit to meet his gaze.
