“A goddess, actually,” Trevor drawled.
“It's too damn early for your supernatural banter, wolfman,” Austin grumbled as he smacked the swinging door. “And by early, I mean pre-coffee.”
Austin came back a few minutes later with a large mug in one hand and a plate full of meat and potatoes in the other. He took a seat across from me, set his plate down absently, and focused on the coffee. Once he had a few fortifying sips, he sighed, put the mug down, and started on the food.
“Dinner, it is,” I noted, nodding to his meal choices.
Austin looked up at me in between bites. “Did you get some sleep?”
“No, I didn't want to miss another day with my kids.” I leaned over to kiss Vero's forehead. “Sleep can wait.”
“Mama loves us,” Vero said solemnly.
“Don't you forget it, kid.” I tapped his nose.
“I'm sorry I've taken you away from them,” Austin offered.
“Not your fault and not unusual,” I protested. “This is my life; my children understand.”
“Mommy hunts bad people,” Lesya said, just in case Austin didn't get it.
“That she does,” Austin agreed. “And so do I, which is why we make such good friends.”
“The Squad is on their way, do you have time to meet with us?” Trevor asked Austin.
Austin pulled out his phone, checked the time, and grimaced. “I barely have time to eat.”
“I'll take you back as soon as you're done,” I said.
“I can do that,” Re offered. “You should stay for the meeting, La-la. Plus, you still need to give Viper his ring.”
“Is it the one ring to bind them all?” Austin asked conversationally.
I blinked. Cocked my head. Pursed my lips as I thought about it. “Kinda. And props for the movie reference.”
Austin lifted his head from his steak and frowned. “Kinda?”
“It's a tracking device, essentially,” I explained. “All of my husbands—well, all except for Arach—and I have one. The rings are connected to each other. If one of us gets into trouble, the ring will alert the rest of us and tell us where that person is.”
“But Viper didn't have a ring,” Austin concluded.
I shook my head. “If he had, finding him would have been much simpler. In fact, we would have been alerted as soon as he was taken.”
“Speaking of which, I'll check in with Elgin today and the surroundin' towns,” Austin said. “See if there have been any more attacks.”
“Even if there hasn't, it doesn't mean the snakes are gone.” Azrael gave us all a grim look. “They could be going to ground, as it were, only to return later.”
“Ve should talk to owls,” Kirill suggested as he cut up the last of Lesya's steak for her.
“Sure, if we couldfindthe owls,” I grumbled. “They don't seem too interested in our help or conversation.”
“We're looking for owls now?” Torrent asked as he walked in with Artemis.
Torr's platinum hair was slicked back and his skin had a slight flush to it. He looked like a freshly-showered prep school boy—one of the nice ones who also happened to be magical. Very Cedric Diggory. All Torrent needed was a sweater vest to go with his crisp, collared shirt. Beside him, Artemis had a similarly innocent look. Her dark, wavy hair hung to her shoulders, framing a sweet face dominated by a pair of puppy dog eyes. As far as gods went, theywereinnocent, at least in their natures, but they'd both been through enough trauma to turn them into hardened cynics. The fact that they weren't said a lot about them and a lot about why they were so good together.
“We've had some unsolicited help,” I started to explain. I told them about the owl-shifters, what they did, what the one who shifted to human looked like, and what he'd said to me. “I'm assuming that they're Native American. I'm going to ask Teharon about them.”
“Owl-shifters,” Torrent said with a note of wonder as Artie and he took their seats. “I'd love to meet one.”
