“You act like this is horrible. This is one of the fun parts, assuming we all get to experience it.”
“For me, it isn’t.”
Kai walked into the kitchen, whistling. He looked cheerful and happy. Again. He pointed at Lance with a mischievous grin. “Hey, wolfie, our fair lady wants you. She’s still deliciously deep into her heat. She made herself a little nest too. It was so cute watching her talking to herself as she re-arranged things. She didn’t want my help at all. She did a cleaning spell so the sheets are fresh and the air is clear. I know how sensitive your nose is.”
I noticed that he was fully dressed and had shoes on. “Where are you off to?”
“Kitty cat needs something she forgot at her apartment.”
Lance jumped up. “I’ll go get it. I know her code to get in.”
I frowned. What was his problem? Was he really going to reject her after saying he was about to burst? “Billie said she wanted you.”
Lance gave Kai a pleading look. “Tell her I can’t right now. I’m sorry.”
Kai sneered at him. “You tell her, man. Don’t be a coward.”
Lance took a step back, not rising to the bait. “Call me what you want. I can’t go up there. Not now. I’m not in a good space, and I don’t want to hurt her.”
“You’re being stupid.”
I raised a hand to stop Kai from going further. If Lance didn’t feel in control, the last thing we wanted to do was throw him in a room with an omega in heat. Especially one already on the edge like Billie. We couldn’t afford to have anything go wrong. “Kai, go back to her and explain that Lance is not feeling well today and can’t go. I’ll go with him to her place and pick up whatever it is. We won’t be gone long. Give her that and some more water and juice.” I pointed to the tray of food I had prepared for her. Waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon and fruit. I knew it was only a consolation prize, but we’d find a way to resolve this. For now, I had to watch out for a wild-eyed werewolf.
Kai gave a salute to me and the stink eye to Lance. “Grab her e-reader and the plug. It’s on the bedside table.”
I nodded before turning to Lance, who was already headed to the door. We’d have to do something about our wolf before we lost this chance.
* * *
Billie’s apartment was a mess. I wasn’t talking about it being sloppy. No, someone had come in and ransacked the place. Chairs were knocked over, dishes broken, artwork slashed, a wall had a hole punched in it and there were scratches on her wood floor. In her bedroom, her sheets were shredded and the e-reader she asked for was smashed. There was also a foul smell in the air, like urine, decay and blood.
Lance leaned toward the bedsheets and then pulled back quickly, snarling. “Demons marked the place. They know where she lives.”
We already knew they had found her apartment. It only made sense that they would be able to narrow down her exact residence. Then again, they seemed to always know where she was. “Whoever is behind this knows her, was in close proximity to her at one point, or had access to her environment. How else could they find her exact location every time? They could have something of hers that they use as a locator.
Lance grumbled a curse. “It could be a friend, patient, co-worker, anyone in her coven. Even someone in this building. She goes to a gym. Any place she goes to repeatedly could open her up to a threat. Maybe some guy on the treadmill beside her could have scented her when her omega status was taking over, and then she became a target. He could have taken a towel she used and gotten her sweat somehow. There are so many possibilities. She should have stayed in as soon as the spell started wearing off.”
I shook my head, turning away from the bed. The place was making me nauseous. It was defiled now. We’d be able to clean it up, but we’d need a witch to clear it of the evil presence. “We can’t blame her. It was unreasonable to think she could lock herself away. She shouldn’t have to. No omega should. Or any innocent being. And no one could prepare for this kind of outcome. It could have even happened had she never had the spell, when she was younger. Maybe even worse because we wouldn’t have been around.”
Lance shook, as if shaking water off of his body. “I need to get out of here. This place is making my skin crawl.”
I felt the same, and we both headed to the door after taking some pictures. We would have to show them to Billie to see if anything was taken. I didn’t want her coming back here anytime soon. At this point, it was safe to assume something was removed, even if it came from her trash. “I’ll make some calls to get repairs and a cleansing done in here. We’ll also have to increase her security. These demons are strong if they broke her ward.”
Lance walked through the front door. “And she’s powerful too. How were they stronger?”
I closed my eyes and placed my own ward over the door after fixing it. I wasn’t sure it was going to be of much use since I believed Billie’s warding magic was more potent. “I don’t know the answer to that. But we’ve already determined that whoever this is, they are substantially powerful. I doubt they’ll come back here. It wouldn’t do them any good. Let’s go get her a new e-reader.”
Lance sniffed, wiping at his nose several times. I knew he was trying to get the scent from her apartment out of his system. “Are we going to tell her now? I don’t want to stress her out.”
“No, not while she’s in heat.”
“What will we say about the new e-reader until then?”
I smiled and walked ahead of him down the hall, already having my answer planned. “We’ll say you broke it.”
He growled in disapproval.
“It’s what you get for turning her down.”
