Wyatt made a gun-firing gesture at his head. “This is what happens when you stay in the seedy side of town. Especially old places. Lots of history, lots of crime. Some of these spooks are over a century old. Talk about nightmare city.” He looked at the empty chair in the corner. “Where’s Shep?”
“Hopefully still in the building.” I yawned and adjusted the pillow behind my back. “He said he couldn’t sit still and wanted to take a walk. He knows not to leave the building, and he checks in every hour.”
“He’s upset about Hunter,” Gem said, stating the obvious.
Wyatt frowned. “Poor little monkey. Hope he’s okay.”
Gem played with the layers of tulle on her dress. “We bumped into someone else from Lenore’s party.”
Claude sat up. “Here? In the human district? How did you know they attended the ball?”
“Her outfit, silly! We don’t exactly blend in with these outlandish costumes.” Gem uncrossed her legs and stared at her silver fingernail polish. “She wanted to know if we’ve found out anything new. She consulted two Relics, trying to locate information on the shadow realm and what kind of power Sparrow has to create it. The Relic didn’t know anything. Poor lady. She was distraught about seeing her children again. She’s a Chitah, so she has a lot to lose if we stay like this forever.”
I frowned, unclear why our situation would be worse for someone with a family. “Ifyou mean by losing her job, her kids can take her in.”
Wyatt fell onto his back. “If they can still see her.”
“It’s worse than just having a stigma and losing our jobs.” Gem hopped off the dresser and padded to the bed next to Claude. “She said that humans can’t see her anymore. Breed can, but humans can’t. Wyatt and I didn’t have any trouble with humans seeing us.”
“Yet,” Wyatt added. “Maybe it depends on our Breed or how fast or slow we walked through that wall.”
I shot to my feet, my heart racing as a terrible realization hit me. “Are you saying we’re disappearing?”
“Is that really a shocker, buttercup?” Wyatt crawled up the bed and stole my spot at the head. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Sparrow said that both the living and dead will see us, but I think he meant Breed. It looks like we’ll just be invisible to the human world. No big deal.”
Niko blocked my path to the door, hands on my shoulders. “Raven, he doesn’t realize.”
“Realize what?” Wyatt asked, opening the table drawer.
My heart wouldn’t stop racing from the surge of adrenaline. “I have to get out of here, Niko. Let me out.”
“Female, there’s nothing to fret over.” Claude sandwiched me from behind. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”
“I don’t get it,” Wyatt mumbled.
“Crush,” Gem replied in almost a whisper. “Her father’s human.”
“Son of a ghost.I forgot. Sorry, Raven. Tough break.”
I tried weaving around Niko. “I have to see him. I have to go.”
“I understand. But if we mean to break this spell, we need to get Viktor out first. We don’t know for certain what might happen if they attempt to put his animal down.”
“He can free himself,” I fired back, still trying to get around him. But Niko was solid muscle and held his stance.
Niko held me at arm’s length while blocking the door. “He won’t shift if his wolf is protecting him. We need you, Raven. Once we free Viktor, you can ask to leave if that’s what you desire.”
When Claude gripped my arms, my fangs punched out. The more they restrained me, the more I lashed out like a caged animal.
“Let me go!”
The door opened, and Christian peered inside. “Shepherd said you might be here.”
I wrenched free from Niko’s and Claude’s grasp and slipped past Christian.
“Now hold on there, lass. You can’t go traipsing off when we still have work to do.”
“You don’t need me. Take Blue instead.”
