“How is this on me? I chased after her while the rest of you stood around with your cocks in your hands.”
My hand wrapped around Malice’s throat without my brain giving permission. “This is your property. Where are all your fucking cameras? Where is the security you promised when we came here? She’s just gone. Vanished. And we have no recourse? This is all your fault. We don’t even know if she took off on her own or if someone snatched her.” The walls shook as my power lashed out, the thin thread of control I had on my violence stretched too far.
“You think someone took her?” Sin finally piped up. There was a soft undercurrent of hope in the question, as if it was somehow better that she was kidnapped than fleeing on her own. I guess in a fucked up way, I could understand the logic. Kidnappers meant enemies to fight. If she left on her own... well, that was just on us for making her think she had no other options.
“No,” Malice wheezed as I tightened my grip.
“Release him, Chaos,” Grim commanded. “He can’t tell us anything with a crushed trachea.”
With a growl, I released him, but not before shoving him away and causing him to stumble backward.
“Why don’t you think foul play was involved?” I spat.
Malice rubbed his throat. “The wards were only breached once. If she were taken from within, I would’ve known. There would have been at least one more breach.”
Sin’s shoulders slumped as his hope was snuffed out.
“So what the fuck do we do now?” I demanded, fists clenching and unclenching at my sides. Lamps and other knickknacks rattled as my power filled the room. If I didn’t get ahold of it soon, walls would start coming down. But since that was the least of our problems, I didn’t give a fuck.
“She’s not so stupid as to leave the property, surely.”
As a unit, Malice, Sin, and I all swung our gazes to Grim, who stood at the base of the stairs with his arms crossed over his chest.
“You have to be joking,” Sin said, incredulity bleeding from every word.
“Why would I be?”
“Because if it weren’t for your callousness, she would still be here with us, safe and where she belongs,” Malice said.
“My callousness? Convenient for the rest of you to forget the part you played.”
“What fucking part? You were the one who yelled at her,” Sin reminded him.
“And what did the three of you do? That’s right. Nothing. Your silence was your complicity, so don’t you dare put all of this on me. Every one of you is just as much to blame.”
Sin’s face cracked as Grim’s shot struck true. I knew that each of us was beating ourselves up for the part we played, but I had little interest in self-flagellation. My anger was firmly pointed in a different direction.
“We have to find her. She is in danger out there, wherever she is. There is no scenario in which our Merri is safer than when she’s with us. Hermates.”
I may have spoken to the group as a whole, but my focus was on Grim, driving home the point that we belonged to her. He might not be ready to accept the truth, but I could no more deny it than I could the mantle I’d taken up. I was War,andI washers. To Grim, those two truths were mutually exclusive. But they weren’t. I was proof.
“How do we do that? Mal said she’s lost like dust in the damn wind. You can’t track a portal’s destination.” Sin took a seat on the second stair and rested his head in his hands, murmuring to himself, “Fuck, kitten, why didn’t you give us a chance to fix this?”
“Christian.” Our heads snapped to Malice, his eyes flashing with renewed purpose as he elaborated, “He can do a locator spell. We don’t need to know where the portal went if we can find the object of our desire herself.” He moved toward the front door, only stopping when I scoffed.
“Why the hell should we trust him? His wards are shit and frankly don’t fill me with any confidence after what’s gone on the last few days. Do you think he’s even up to the task?” I snapped, my rage taking on a new target.
“Do you have a better idea?”
No. I didn’t.
“Even if it fails, we have to try.”
Grim’s voice was so soft that I knew his facade was finally breaking. Death was proud. Perhaps even more proud than any of us. But when push came to shove, none of us would let that cause our fall.
“He’ll need something of hers to help track her.”
Sin was on his feet before Mal had finished his sentence. “I’m on it!”
