He tipped his face up to me and I marveled that he was there. Not once in all the times I’d checked in on him had I dared reach out to him. Even in my safe place, I’d worried about drawing attention to him.
“I . . .” He shook his head. “I have Captain with me.” Captain was his dog, a Malinois like Abe had been. “The three of us are hiding.”
Three.
“Killian?”
Bear bit his lower lip. “No. He disappeared a few weeks ago. Mom, he was just gone one day. I woke up and he was gone.”
He would never voluntarily leave Bear during this madness. “Who is with you?”
“Just me and—” He turned his head. “I have to go. Mom, we’re okay. We’re safe right now.”
“I’ll check on you every night. I’m coming,” I whispered into his hair, kissing the top of his head as he faded away.
Gone, just like that.
Did I dare try to reach Killian?
“Fuck,” I muttered and did a slow turn. “Killian, you sexy Irish asshole, where are you?”
I strode through the darkness and the fog, but there was no response from him. But if he was in a facility, and his mind was blanked out . . . my guts clenched, and I woke in a cold sweat.
What if Killian was trapped like I had been? No, that wasn’t quite right. Eligor had never tried to control me to the extent the others had been controlled. Killian could be like Easter—his mind blank, his body working on autopilot. Or worse . . . if he’d fought them too hard, they might have killed him outright. I’d seen it happen to over a dozen abnormals at the facility, so it was more than plausible.
As much as I was angry that he’d let me be taken, that was not the reality. He wouldn’t have just let me be taken.
He’d thought I was dead.
And now he could be the one on the cold side of the grave.
I fell out of the bed and barely made it to the toilet where I lost all that good food. I heaved until there was nothing left. Heaved until the sweat slid down my face.
I pressed my pounding head into my hands as I propped myself up on my elbows. My dog came and sat next to me, her one good eye watching me closely. There was no judgment there, she was just waiting.
Waiting for me to make a decision.
“Hey, girl.” I dug my hands into the skin around her neck and scrubbed her fur, expecting her to close her one good eye in enjoyment as any other dog would.
She locked her gaze on mine and didn’t look away. Her scarred ear twitched, then both flicked back and she let out a soft growl.
Not at me.
At whatever she was hearing inside the house.
I pushed to my feet and scrounged around Rosita’s clothes, pulling on jeans that were on the loose side, a T-shirt, socks, and a pair of beat-up Adidas that were a shade big too. I scooped Dinah up from the bed.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Dog is upset about something,” I said.
I went to the bedroom door and slowly turned the handle, cracking it open. The clock beside the bed read three in the morning, so I’d only been out a few hours.
Voices, soft, hushed, urgent.
I slid out of the door and crept down the hall, dog at my heels. Her big paws were silent on the carpet.
“Are you sure, Carlos?” Anita whispered. “This is the Phoenix we’re talking about.”
I edged myself to the doorway so I could see them, but they couldn’t see me.
“They took her once, she’s not invulnerable.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “And she wouldn’t agree to look for Rosita. They could bring our girl back to us. It is a trade worth making.”
A chill swept down my spine, and I had a very bad feeling I knew what was happening.
“You dosed the food good? I know we weren’t sure if we would need it,” he said.
“Yes.” Anita shook her head. “I didn’t think she was going to eat anything at first.”
“I didn’t either. The Magelore has agreed to help us pin her down.” He took his wife’s hands and I slid back down the hall.
Everyone had an angle, everyone had a reason for cutting your legs out from under you. So Peter wanted to do his own thing, did he? Fucking Magelores.
I crept back down the hall, not to my room, but to Cowboy’s. I turned the knob and slid through, motioning for the dog to follow. When she did, I shut the door without a sound.
Tucking Dinah into my waistband, I went to Cowboy and grabbed his shoulders. He didn’t so much as move. Fuck, I couldn’t carry him.
“We have to leave him,” Dinah said. “We don’t have a choice.”
The door creaked open and I spun, grabbing Dinah and holding her steady on Peter as he stepped through. He held up both hands. “Don’t shoot,” he whispered.
The only reason I didn’t was because I didn’t want the two Hiders to know I was awake.
“They’ve phoned the facility,” Peter said. “They want my help to pin you down. We have to go.”
I narrowed my eyes and my finger rested heavily on the trigger. Dinah growled. “Fucking traitor.”
Peter shook his head. “You can’t get that kid out of here by yourself. I can pack him. You go get what you can from those two.”
I didn’t lower Dinah. “No double-crossing?”
“Well, I’m double-crossing them. But I know who the top dog is here, and I am sticking with her on this front.” He tipped his head at the dog at my side.
“Funny,” I muttered, and lowered Dinah, half expecting him to rush me. But he didn’t. He moved slowly, as if he knew I was on edge, and stopped next to the bed, looking down at the kid.
“He’s really got to
