“I searched before I found all of you pinned down. I couldn’t find her.”
“So are they going after her now?”
“No,” Ricky said, coming through the door. “We’ll wait until tonight.”
“Because the dead of night worked so well last time,” I said.
“No. Because it will give me time to make sure we are armed and properly protected. It will give the wolf packs time to prepare for battle, and,” she added, “for you to sleep. We’ll need you tonight, Brogan Gauge, even if Lu-lala hasn’t recovered.”
“Why? I was useless in there. What do you need me for?”
She nodded, her gaze on my lips and the Hush stitching there. “For bait.”
* * *
Soft sheets, soft pillows, and Lula resting in my arms. I slept, waking only once when she gasped and softly called my name.
“I’m here,” I said, pulling her closer, as her palm smoothed over my chest and her fingers gripped the cloth of my clean T-shirt. “We’re out of the cave. We’re safe at Ricky’s.”
I opened my eyes and looked down at her, but she was already asleep again, her breathing stronger than it had been, her grip on my shirt not loosening.
I thought of getting up, showering, eating something, but sleep took me down again.
* * *
The smell of warm apples and cinnamon woke me. I was alone in bed, but a cup of coffee and slice of hot apple cobbler steamed on the night stand.
I sat, breathing through the pain in my ribs. Lu’s tinkling laughter drifted down the halls from the direction of the kitchen.
“She’s cooking bacon.” Val spooked in and sat on the bottom corner of the bed, staring out the half-open door. “I miss bacon.”
Lu laughed again, this time a snorting chortle, and the sound of it made me relax. I picked up the coffee and took a drink, closing my eyes at the heat, the bitterness, the centering familiarity of the dark brew.
“I think they got a sniff of her baking. They’re all coming back. So expect a crowd by the time you get down there.”
“Who?” I tucked into the cobbler, shoveling in a huge bite and groaning in appreciation.
“Werewolves. A couple humans, too, if you can believe it. Ricky spent most of the morning talking to another Crossroads. She thinks she can better prepare us to get in and get Abbi out.”
“And her Shadow,” I said through a mouth of sticky, sweet, spicy dessert.
“Yeah, and her Shadow.”
I gulped more coffee. “Why are you here?” I scraped the last of the filling onto the edge of my fork and licked it off.
“I’m delivering a message: Take a shower before coming down. Your clean clothes are on the chair.” He pointed first at the hall, through which I knew was a bathroom, then at the chair where someone, probably Lu, had set out the denims and a T-shirt, socks, and a pair of boots with some miles on them but still in good shape.
Ricky’s boots, if I had to guess.
I pushed back the covers, gathered the clothes, leaving the boots, and walked down to the bathroom.
“Why are you following me?” I asked Val.
“Are you worried I’m going to stare at your naked body?”
“Nope. I’m worried you’re gonna complain non-stop while I’m trying to wash all the blood off.
He made a little considering sound. I walked into the bathroom and shut the door in his face, but he was dead, so he just walked right through the wall.
