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“You’re being open and honest with me. It’s the least I can do in return.” He reached for another cookie, only to realize the bag was empty. “Here’s the thing. In my experience, people with a grudge are looking for an excuse to justify acting on it. If one thing hadn’t set off this Luca person, something else would have eventually.” He crumpled up the paper. “That, and blame gets us nowhere. This is a matter of protecting the existence ofeverysupernatural from discovery. I don’t care who caused the problem. It’s here now, and we all need to work together to solve it.”
Asa set a steaming cappuccino in front of me with a cartoon moth drawn in the froth, and…I didn’t get how I could be so lucky. How had I landed him? Seriously. Despite how he had been raised, the guiding influences in his life, he was good right down to the bone. I wished I could say the same.
“These are for you.” Asa set one bag of cookies in front of Londis. “And these are for you.”
Maybe it was his kindness, his thoughtfulness, or maybe I could let go knowing I was about to hold Colby in my arms. Butfeelingsoverwhelmed me in a wildfire rush that burned low in my stomach.
“I love you.” I peeked in my bag to find snickerdoodles. “And not just because you brought me cookies.”
“You guys are a thing?” Londis crammed a chocolate chip cookie into his mouth. “I maybe heard that.”
“He’s my mate.” For me, claiming him never got old. “He’s also the new deputy director.”
“Aww.” Londis sipped his drink. “That’s cute.”
Another person might have accused Asa of sleeping his way to the top, or me of abusing my privilege as his superior. But notLondis. I decided I liked him and resolved to make a note of him as a reliable point of contact in Charlotte for the next time our troubles crossed state lines in his direction.
“Can you spare the manpower to help us locate any black witches in the area?”
A phone rang, and thankfully, this time, it wasn’t mine.
“Londis,” he answered with a hand in his cookie bag. “Yeah.” His fingers curled in a fist. “Be right there.”
Ending the call, he rose, tossed back his coffee in one gulp, and pocketed the remaining cookies.
“I have to go.” His friendly expression hardened. “We have three more victims.” He held himself back from rushing out the door. “Have your people coordinate with mine. We’ll begin a sweep of the city.”
“Thank you for your time.” I rose and tossed back my drink too. “We’ll be in touch.”
Alone with Asa in the coffee shop, I drew in a slow breath and exhaled through my nose. The exercise did nothing to soothe my nerves. Probably because my phone chose that moment to ring. “Hollis.”
“I have arrived,” Dad announced in my ear, twice as loud as a normal person.
“Excellent.” The knot in my gut loosened a bit. “We’re heading to the airport.”
Quickly as possible, I updated him on what he had missed and outlined our plan.
“I’ll follow in the air.” He kept his voice on blast. “I can patrol the area for signs of trouble.”
Without knowing who to expect, or what they had planned, that was all any of us could do.
“Sounds good.” I held the phone away from my ear. “See you soon.”
“I’ve arranged for a dozen agents working in pairs to guard the entry and exit points.” Asa clearly overheard our conversation. “The Mayhews can join your dad on patrol to cover a wider area.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?” I disliked agents in such close proximity to Colby. “Can we trust them to stand with us against the director if he shows?”
“We don’t have much choice.”
“Well, when you put it like that, I see your point.” I wished we had more trustworthy agents to fill key roles, and maybe we would one day, but not today. “I’m just…”
“Afraid to hope? Afraid it’s a trap? Afraid Colby is a prisoner?”
“You’ve put a lot of thought into how I’m feeling.”
“I’m feeling it too.” He meshed our fingers. “Come on.” He pulled me toward the door. “Let’s bring our girl home.”
The airport hadn’t changedin the time since we disembarked, and yeteverythinghad changed.
