He pulled out his phone, and a moment later, he was talking to Tiago. “Sinthy is ready to go. Are your people ready?” He listened for a moment, then nodded. “Sounds good. And you’re sure the coordinates are totally accurate, right?” Another pause. “Okay. Be ready.”
Ending the call, he slid a map across his desk. A large red dot had been drawn in the general location of Tiago’s pack. The latitude and longitude were written beside it, with a photo Tiago had sent pinned next to it. It was a large open area that looked like it was underground or in a cave.
Nico gestured at it. “This is enough, right? I don’t want you teleporting into the middle of a hunk of stone or something.”
Sinthy grimaced. “Oh, good. New fear unlocked. Thanks for that.” Nico looked stricken until Sinthy smiled. “It’s fine. This works. I have enough to astral project to that spot. My body will follow behind a millisecond later.”
“Okay, let us know when?— ”
Nico’s words were cut off by the small clapping sound of her vanishing. A little whoosh of air filled the room, and that was it.
“Damn,” Sebastian said. “Not even a countdown or anything?”
The minutes passed with agonizing slowness. None of us wanted to talk. At least, that’s how it looked. Each of us waited in silence as our friend worked on bringing the others back here. When Nico’s phone rang ten minutes later, we all jumped.
Nico lifted it and read the screen. “It’s Luis,” he said as he swiped the screen to answer. “Are they here?” The smile faded into a confused frown. “Okay, we’re on our way.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Let’s go. Everyone. Luis said they’re all here, but Sinthy looks like shit. We need to get to her.”
Our entire group hurried downstairs and out the door. In hindsight, we’d been dumb to have her leave from Nico’s house.Sure, it was a more comfortable location, but why the hell hadn’t we simply had Sinthy depart and arrive from the same damned place? My stomach was in knots as we sprinted toward the Moon Mate building. Before we even reached the door, I could hear the rumble of many voices.
Chaos greeted us as we entered. Nico’s brothers were trying to direct everyone to different areas, and Tiago and a younger man—who I assumed was his son from their similarities—were working with their betas to get cots spread out for the men. Several members of Nico’s pack had come here to have food ready for the new arrivals should they be hungry. A line had formed for the soup and sandwiches set up against one of the walls. The sound of children crying echoed through the room.
Nico and I shoved our way through the throng until we found Luis sitting with Sinthy. Her face was ashen, and she was slumped in a chair, her head lolling back against the wall behind her.
“Sinthy?” I called out as I ran forward.
She opened her eyes and gave me a tired smile. “Hey, Mom. Sorry I didn’t call. Am I grounded?”
I ignored the joke. “Are you okay?”
“My body is worn out. It’s like I did a million burpees or something. I feel like a blob of jelly,” Sinthy said.
Nico’s brother Gabriel ran forward, holding out a couple of orange slices and a bottle of water. “Here you go. Found what you asked for.”
Sinthy grabbed the oranges and devoured them. I frowned as I watched her eat everything—including the peel. That couldn’t have tasted good, but you couldn’t tell it from the look of relief on her face as she chewed. Swallowing, she uncapped the bottle of water and downed the entire bottle of water in three large chugs.
“Oh, God. That hits the spot,” she said as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
Relief flooded through me as her face regained some of its color. Nico bore the same look of relief. I could almost sense how happy he was that Sinthy was all right.
“Did everything go well?” Nico asked.
“Yeah,” Sinthy said. “Couldn’t have really gone any better.”
Tiago walked forward and shook Nico’s hand. “That was weird as hell.”
Nico chuckled. “It does take some getting used to. Are your people getting settled?”
He nodded. “We found the cots, and I’ve got my guys setting them up. You didn’t have to feed us. That was too generous.”
“Nope,” Nico said. “You’re our guests. The Lorenzo pack takes care of guests. Also, for now, we’ll house all of you here. Once we start bringing other packs in, we’ll keep the guys here, as I said on the phone. We’ll fill up the meeting house next. After that, I’ve got a list of volunteers who are gonna house more.”
Tiago seemed on the verge of tears. “Thank you. You… you don’t know how bad it was. I think we were literally hours away from something happening. Like Virginia, or maybe worse. These people are alive because of you, Nico. Maddy, Sinthy, all of you. Thank you so much. My pack and I are forever in your debt.”
Nico gripped the older man’s shoulder. “You are in no one’s debt. This is what friends do. I have no doubt you’d do the same for me if the situation were reversed.”
