"Okay, we're all exhausted." Bran looked around the room. "Beyond so. Harold is going to stay here and rest beside Noah. The rest of us are going home to get some sleep. We'll meet up in a few hours and figure out our next steps." We all nodded and murmured words of assent. Even if I'd wanted to argue, I didn't have the energy. My little catnap was not going to be enough, even if waking up in Rey’s lap wasn’t the worst way to start the day. "Great," Bran concluded. "See you all at two at the office."
The goodbyes were said around yawns and the room cleared out pretty quickly. "If this worked," Rissa said as we walked toward the door, "I guess I'd be on board. If we can cure the violent shifters, okay then for the coming out plan."
Rey clapped her on the back. "Atta girl. We'll talk more tomorrow."
I glanced at him from beneath my lashes and a sudden wave of fatigue crashed over me. Rey caught it in my expression, and we shared a knowing look. We needed sleep. "Come home with me?" he asked as his hand rubbed a circle on my back.
Boy, that sounded heavenly. Snuggled up with Reynard and sleeping. Beautiful, wonderful sleep. I nodded, my head bobbing wearily. He held out his hand and I slipped mine into it, grateful for the warmth of his skin against mine. We barely spoke on the drive to his place, and it felt like a lifetime before we were finally at the gates. My exhaustion had gotten the best of me, and I was ready to pass out. If he'd lived farther away from the lab, I would've been snoring away in the truck.
"What the hell?" Rey squinted toward the house as we pulled up the driveway. "What is that?"
I followed his line of sight and gasped. A wolf—a large one at that—lay on Rey's doorstep. "Oh, no," I whispered in horror. Rey took off like a shot out of the driver's door. "Please don't let that wolf be dead." I stumbled out of the truck behind him, and when he dropped to his knees and made a horrible, heart-wrenching, keening sound, I knew. The wolf was dead.
Pulling out my phone, I called Roma and rushed to Rey's side.
A note had been pinned to the wolf. Literally through the poor shifter's fur and skin.
Stop this madness or you will be exterminated like the vermin you are.
What madness did they mean? There was so much going on in my life right now I wasn’t sure if they meant the cure or helping the Others come into our world from Dream.
"Call Halo," I said as the phone in my ear rang. I used her badass name. Seemed appropriate at the moment.
Tears poured down Rey's cheeks as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket and dialed. We needed help and we needed it now.
Rissa arrived shortly after, followed by a few shifters who'd been called to help. Rey hadn't moved from the wolf's side. "Who is he?" I asked as a man I didn't know picked up the body. He had to be a shifter because that wolf was huge. A regular man couldn't have managed it alone.
"He was a friend," Rey said in a low voice, staring at the bloodstains left on the sidewalk. “Isengram.”
They took care of the body while I pulled Rey to his feet and into the house. He headed straight to the kitchen and stood with both hands on the counter as if he'd lost his sense of purpose. I didn't know what to do besides put a hand on his back and let him know I was here. "They're burying him in your garden," Rissa said a few minutes later. Her tone was careful, cautious. "We smell nothing on the body."
Rey nodded once.
"I'm willing," Rissa said. "If coming out and exposing ourselves will stop the alchemists from trying to kill our pack, then do it. Unless you’re willing to call a hunt on them."
Rey looked up, his eyes red from his tears and burning with a fierce determination that made my heart break for him.
"Go get some rest," he said. "Leave your door open. We're good to nobody like this. I’ll decide what must be done."
Rissa considered it, nodded, and ghosted up the stairs like the cat she could turn into.
I grabbed Reynard's hand and tugged. "Come on. You're next."
He let me lead him up the stairs, and I looked around. "Uh, which room?" The hall was long and full of doors. He pointed to the first door on the right.
His bedroom was dark, but I could make out the massive bed and an en suite for a bathroom.
"I'm going to take a shower," Rey said, his voice calm and smooth. Too calm.
I nodded and watched him head into the bathroom before kicking off my pants, taking off my bra, and collapsing on the bed in a tee I'd found in one of Rey's drawers with a relieved sigh. I was so ready for this night-turned-day to be over.
Rey emerged from the bathroom a short while later, his hair wet and slicked back. He'd changed into some soft-looking pajamas, and he looked so adorable I couldn't help but give him a soft smile.
He smiled back, his eyes still rimmed with sadness. I opened my arms and he crawled into bed with me, wrapping his own arms tightly around me.
"We're going to get through this," I whispered into his ear. "We're going to make it work, somehow."
He nodded against my shoulder and kissed my cheek before he settled in closer. We stayed like that, him idly stroking my hair until he eventually fell asleep.
I took a few deep breaths and closed my eyes, hoping this was just the beginning and also that this had been the worst.