| |
White's snazzy black sedan with the tinted windows pulled up to the bookstore and I was out the door before Bobby even had the thing in park. "Stay out here," I growled at White's flunky. I stomped off behind Oisin, following him in as he checked the wards and opened the door. He was paler than usual, and still seemed a bit drained. I'd be worried, if I didn't have about fifteen other things to worry about.
The bell above the door rang as we stepped inside, and I leaned back against the door. My head was starting to hurt again, even though I was completely healed. "What the hell are we going to do?"
Oisin turned and stood on his tiptoes to press a kiss to my lips. "We are going to go get our silly human back and make sure he never leaves the bed again."
I heaved a sigh. "I am being serious, Oisin. He's just a human."
Oisin nipped at my lower lip and stepped back, hands on his hips. "Just a human?"
I ran a hand through my hair. "You know what I mean. He's not any less than a supe. But Jesus, Buddha and Odin, Oisin, he's so breakable. He's not supposed to be out there where he'll be in danger. What was he thinking?"
I followed the fae to the office, where he stopped and pointed at the computer. "He was thinking we'd come get him. He glanced over his shoulder at me. "And he was probably thinking we almost died, and he was just human so what could he possibly do to help?"
My shoulders dropped. "Goddamn it."
Oisin nodded. "I think we were both a bit insensitive where Con is concerned, my dear gryphon. I think perhaps he wants to feel useful."
"He is useful." I crossed to the computer and jiggled the mouse to bring the screen out of hibernation. My cell phone lay nearby with a sticky note on it. Use the app, it said in Con's neat, square handwriting.
"What a bunch of codswallop," Oisin muttered as he scrolled through the website Con had left for us. I glanced over his shoulder. It had to be bad if he was going all British on me.
I read through the pest removal ad. "He didn't."
Oisin got his phone out and scrolled through the texts Con had sent saying he'd be staying at the university dorm for a few nights. He probably didn't want them to know he had anything to do with us, wanted the folks at the association to think he was just a nerdy human college professor. "I bet you money he took my god-damned gun too," I muttered.
Oisin nodded. "Probably. Gods the man has balls."
I snorted. "I'm aware. You were there."
Oh my god, now I was the one making inappropriate jokes to cheer Oisin up. What was the world coming to?
Someone cleared their throat and I almost shrieked. I couldn't take this shit. I longed for my days as a guard for the mayor back in clan lands, where the most exciting thing that happened was when an overeager journalist damaged the rose bushes. No, scratch that. The most exciting thing that happened at that job was when the mayor's son raped me, and I beat him so severely even gryphon healing hadn't saved him from a week in the hospital in a coma.
I shook my head. Why did I feel so...off?
I glanced at Oisin. His eyes were watering again, like when he'd had that allergic reaction to something in the bookstore. "What the heck?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. It's worse. But we've got more important things to worry about."
The man who had entered the room was followed by two others. They all wore some sort of black tactical uniform that I recognized from my previous interactions with White. "What?" I asked flatly.
The stranger lifted his chin and stood at parade rest. "We are here to help," he said in a confident voice. "What do you need? Satellite reconnaissance? Guns?"
I took a breath and tried to calm myself. "Just...these people have something that can force supes to change forms. And they have weapons that slow our healing."
"Mage snares," Oisin said in that soft, deadly tone of his. "They had mage snares that forced a shift, even in me, and I'm not a true shifter. And enchanted lead bullets."
The man nodded. "We have a wolf on our team," he said as he considered. "We'll warn him of the snares. We have a couple humans. A troll, if need be, though he tends to lack...finesse. My name's Granite. I'm a gargoyle."
I gaped at him. How the hell did White have so many different species working for him? And humans...really?
Oisin patted me on the back as he addressed the...gargoyle. "Thank you. But our friend who is with them put a tracking application on his phone. We should be able to follow it to him. We just need to wait until he tells us to come."
White wanted us to catch the humans in the act. He demanded we get evidence that it was them. I didn't quite understand that, since we all knew what they were up to. But if he wanted to video tape them before we hauled them off to some secret jail, so be it.
I didn't care so much about the details of the aftermath as I did about stopping the assholes and getting Con back before he got hurt playing hero.
I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Con, trying to sound as if I were a stupid friend and nothing more. Have fun on your hunting trip, it read. Make sure to take lots of pics for FB. I followed that up with a few vapid emojis. Hopefully he got the point—take pictures.