I needed to call Payne. He had a way with the dragons, unlike anyone I’d ever seen. The asshole could also understand them. Granted, the dragons adored all of us, but I’d seen them do some weird shit every time Payne was around them.
Then that gut feeling hit me really fucking hard. I glanced back at my house. How long had it been? Too long. The way Isabella had been clinging to me since the incident at the cave, I thought for sure she’d already be out here. She didn’t want to be alone, and I didn’t want to leave her alone. Being right outside didn’t count as being gone, did it, though?
Then Ruby started squawking toward the house, then full-on roaring as she took off in the air and landed on the top of myhouse. Fucking hell. She was going to fall through as big as she was. I never thought I needed a big place until looking at her resting on it as she roared. She had her brother doing the same thing.
I didn’t run. I faded into the bathroom. A bathroom that was empty. Water covered the floor, but the water in the tub was completely black. Ice filled my veins.
“Izzie!” I yelled, slipping in and out of the bedrooms. “Isabella!”
I thought to check the bedroom she was using, only to find that the portal chip was missing. Her clothes were still lying on the floor of the bathroom where I went back and stood in stony silence.
She wasn’t here.
I pulled at my Reaper senses in search of her, and the ice in my veins hit me straight in the heart. I couldn’t feel her. I couldn’t sense her. She was gone.
And, I didn’t even know the first place to find her.
Finding Harvest was a problem already…
But, he was the only explanation.
I punched the wall and screamed in fury. How did I let him take her? Why did I leave her alone, even for just a second?
I’ll feel better if I stay with you.
Why couldn’t I wait another two minutes to walk outside so that she could get dressed? I could have fucking materialized clothes on her for fuck’s sake!
“Shit, shit,” I murmured. “This was him. All fucking him!”
I played right into what he wanted. Outside, the dragons still clashed and fought.
He wanted her away from me. How many times had she told me that?
Don’t let me go.
My heart fractured at the thought of letting her down.
Twenty-Three
Payne
"These two are the last ones?”
I caught the sound of Joy’s voice several feet behind me. My life’s mission—a bit of a life chore if you knew Joy—was to steer clear of her. Avoiding her was at the top of my list along with finding out what the hell I was. Two types of torture I didn’t want to get into.
“Yeah, it is,” Maureen replied with a sigh that I was sure we all felt.
Going back and forth between here and the human world to get these children to their homes—places all around the world—had worn us all out.
I used a portal chip, and I was exhausted. I could only imagine how the rest of them felt using up energy as they faded over and over again.
“Let’s rest up before figuring out what we do from here,” Grim told us all as he placed his arm around Melanie’s shoulder.
My spine tingled, and I didn’t even have to turn around to know why. I pretended not to hear her and slid my hand down the front of my jeans where my portal chip rested in my pocket. Icould press it before—“Payne,” Joy’s voice was behind me, soft and innocent.
Breathing in, I faced her with steely eyes just as Maureen muttered. “What the fuck?”
I glanced around to see what was going on.
