Kelly Meding - Wrong Side of Dead

I pressed my cheek to his shoulder and just held on, waiting for the world to stop spinning out of control. Allowing my emotions time to right themselves once more, so I could step outside the infirmary and do my job. The night was far from over. Depending on what we got from Felix, it may have only just begun.

“Please, Evangeline,” he whispered. “Please don’t harden your heart before you’ve allowed it to truly love.”

The dam began to crack. And then the sound of an old-fashioned bell ringing filled the room. I pulled away, confused, until Phin pulled his cell phone out of his jeans pocket. His expression sharpened.

“Emergency page,” he said. “Come on.”

Operations was in a state of minor chaos when we arrived. Created from the skeletons of three different stores, the combined space was full of computer workstations, whiteboards, a map of the city, and a few cubicles. Half a dozen volunteers were always on duty, manning the computers and an intricate switchboard setup that connected more than a hundred different cell phones to one another on a private network. It often reminded me of a police station bull pen, where all the major activity occurred. Just like now.

At least thirty people—human, Therian, and vampire—were in Operations. It was the busiest I’d ever seen it, and that simple fact settled a cold knot right into the middle of my already upset stomach.

Astrid, Marcus, and Wyatt were hunched over a desk, listening to the same phone conversation. Adrian Baylor and Kismet were at one of the computers. Kyle had taken over a chair near the partitioned conference area, phone clutched in his hand; he looked absolutely panicked. Milo, Tybalt, and Quince all showed signs of distress. As if sensing our arrival, Astrid spun around, her copper eyes flashing with fury.

“What’s going on?” Phin asked.

“We have disappearances,” she replied. “Civilian and actives, all within the last two hours.”

Internal alarms clanged in my head. Attention was shifting in our direction.

Phin marched right into her personal space. “Who’s missing?”

“Lynn Neil. She isn’t answering her phone, and a neighbor says the front door of the apartment is ajar. Sharpe’s squad is closest. They’re checking it out.”

Shit . Lynn was Felia and had been connected to me before we ever actually met. She and her then-boyfriend Kiefer had lived together in an apartment that Wyatt and I had once used as a hiding place during the first day of my resurrection. A few days later, Kiefer threw in with another were-cat named Belle, defied the Assembly, and helped kidnap Joseph and a still-pregnant Aurora from my Parkside East apartment. I’d stabbed Kiefer with a nail file and then Leo Forrester shot him to death.

Lynn hadn’t known about her boyfriend’s extracurricular activities, and I was unclear on how she and Kyle ended up together. Theirs was the only mixed-Clan relationship I knew about, and I doubted everyone approved. But I met Lynn once, and she was the very definition of sweet—even after I told her I’d borrowed and ruined some of her clothes.

I glanced at Kyle; he had to be a wreck inside.

“Michael and Dawn Jenner,” Astrid continued. “One of them hit a panic button seven minutes ago. The nearest squad just reported their house has been broken into and both are missing.”

Double shit . Michael Jenner was the voice of the Assembly of Clan Elders, and he often did their business for them. He’d proved a valuable ally and had helped save my life once. Even gave me a place to stay while I healed from injuries obtained during a factory explosion. Wait—

“Dawn?” I asked.

“His daughter,” Phin replied. “Equi children live with their mothers. Why was she—?”

“Probably visiting,” Astrid said. “She just reached the age of maturity and is free to travel as she likes.”

Equi shifted into various wild horses, zebras, donkeys, and tarpans, but I didn’t know enough about this particular Clan to understand the intricacies of who raised the kids. At the moment, it didn’t matter.

“Leah is also missing,” Marcus said, his deep voice dripping with anger.

“Seriously?” I said. “Does Jackson know?”

“Not yet.”

A member of the Ursia Clan, Leah de Loew was one of the founding members of the Watchtower, as well as a good friend of both Astrid and Marcus. She led one of the squads, and her mate, Jackson, was a member of another. Given the fact that Leah shifted into a three-hundred-pound black bear, whoever took her didn’t do it randomly.

“Someone is kidnapping Therians?” Phin asked.

Astrid nodded, her expression pensive. “All Therians connected to the Watch in some manner.”

Phin paled. “Aurora and Joseph?”

“I called the house. No one answered, so I sent out a squad.”

He turned and bolted out of Operations faster than I’d ever seen him move. I didn’t wait for permission—I simply followed him, tamping down my own growing sense of dread. Aurora, her daughter Ava, and Joseph were the only surviving members of Phin’s Clan. They lived in a small country house twenty miles outside the city and stayed far away from Clan politics. I had been named Ava’s Aluli —the Therian equivalent of a godmother—and although I’d seen the rapidly growing child only twice since her birth, she meant a great deal to me.

And she meant even more to Phin, which was why I was chasing him down the mall corridor in my bare feet, well aware of people staring at us.

“Phineas, wait!” I mustered a burst of speed and caught up to him in the parking area. He’d stripped off his shirt, and he stopped to unbuckle his belt. “Phin—”

“I can fly the distance faster than anyone can drive,” he said, his voice as cold as I’d ever heard it.

“Take me with you.”

“Evy—”

“Ava is my goddaughter, Phin, and if anyone is still there you’ll need backup.”

He seemed poised to argue. Instead, brown and white mottled wings unfolded from his back, stretching to an impressive width. “All right.”

The moon was out, its accompanying stars hidden behind a haze of light pollution. Flying out of the city like this wasn’t as dangerous in the middle of the night, but we would still be open targets the entire way—and neither of us cared. All that mattered was getting to our destination.

I crossed my arms just below my breasts in a familiar position we’d used several times in the past. Phin pressed against me from behind, his chest to my back, and looped his arms around my waist, just under mine. And then up we went in a rush of air, his powerful wings lifting us into the sky.

The city passed in a blur of lights, and then metal gave way to greenery as the forested mountains rose up around us. The air cooled a bit and reminded me I was still in my rave getup and still barefoot. Our hasty departure hadn’t left much time for finding shoes or strapping on extra weapons—two things I regretted. But my regret didn’t overshadow my fear.

Fear that we were already too damned late.

We didn’t talk. Phin flew too fast, and my extra weight had him working twice as hard. His perspiration dampened the back of my tank top, despite the constant whir of wind around us. His arms had developed a very faint tremor. He’d once flown me like this for a mile and a half, but never for twenty.

A seed of guilt burrowed into my guts. I was slowing him down, using up his strength, because I hadn’t wanted to be left behind. But it was more than just needing to be there to protect Ava. Phin and I were so much alike when people we loved were in danger—we both proceeded with a very narrow focus, danger be damned. Nothing put Phin’s blinders on faster than his family. If they had been taken, I couldn’t allow him to lose control.