The scent was old enough for me to know that the culprit was no longer inside, but they’d definitely been there. In my private space. Doing who knew what.
My stomach felt queasy at the thought.
It couldn’t possibly be Joshua, could it?
I shook my head. No. It couldn’t be him.
I took another deep breath.
No. That was stupid. It definitely wasn’t him. That was… impossible.
But then who?
Shit, did I have a stalker? Another fucking stalker?
My belly turned sour, and for a few seconds, I thought I might actually puke.
Fuck. Someone broke into my home, the one place I was supposed to feel safe in.
How the hell had they broken through the wards Tan had put up for me?
That meant magic was involved. Tan was a super powerful witch. For someone to break through his wards, they had to be using some really fucking powerful magic themselves.
I had no magic of my own. What could I possibly do against someone with magic? I was a werewolf. I could shift, and I hadextra strength and higher senses, but what the hell good was that against someone powerful enough to break Tan’s wards?
I mean, Tan had told me a million times over the last year that he needed to come by and reinforce them, that they weren’t as strong as they should be, but still.
A magic user against a werewolf? There was no question who’d come out on top, and while they weren’t in my apartment right now, that didn’t mean they weren’t close by or hadn’t left me some kind of trap inside.
Anton, Jed, and everyone else always told me to follow my gut, told me to listen to my instincts. And my instincts were telling me to get help.Now.
I stepped back into the hallway and shut my apartment door to preserve the scent. Perhaps one of the others would recognize it.
Listening to my gut, I hitcallon my phone.
Jed picked up on the second ring.“To what do I owe the pleasure? You never call anyone when you’re off work.”
“Jed.” My voice came out stronger than expected. “Someone broke into my apartment while I was out on a date.”
Jed’s goofing-off voice turned serious immediately.“Where are you?”
“Standing in the hallway. I know they’re not inside anymore, but I wanted to see if you’d come, uh, take a sniff and see if you recognize the scent?”
“I’ll be there in five minutes or less. Don’t go inside. Stay right where you are.”He lived a lot farther away than five minutes, so I guessed he was planning on running here with his vampire speed.
“I will. Thank you, Jed.”
“Anytime.”I knew he meant it.
The five minutes it took for Jed to arrive felt like the longest ten minutes of my life, and when he got here, I wasn’t even surprised to find that he’d brought his entire family.
Jed had three brothers and a sister—all sired by Anton—and all of them came, along with Anton and his viramore, Keryth, who Anton had apparently given a piggyback ride to. My eyes widened when I saw Oakley and Roman bringing up the rear—they must’ve flown here in dragon form.
Holy crap. Had Jed brought half the city with him? Geez.
“Thanks for coming,” I said.
“Of course,” Oakley said. “Tan and Dad are on their way too.”
