“Someone has been playing games with us.” I looked over my shoulder at the gods who had tagged along—my husbands, Torrent, and Thor. “We thought you were in danger.”
“Why?”
“They left us a gold star. It looked like the Texas star.”
“And you got 'Austin's a goner' from that?” He collected his black cowboy hat (black for winter even though it wasn't all that cold in Texas), smacked it against his thigh, then set it on his head. “Thanks for bein' concerned and all, but I'm just fine.”
“And you're going to stay that way,” I said. “Pack a bag. You're moving into Pride Palace until this is over.”
Austin grimaced and looked at all the grim faces. “That bad, eh?”
“They took Viper,” I said.
“And stabbed me with Luke's pitchfork,” Viper added.
“Holy shit!” Then Austin blinked. “Luke has a pitchfork?”
I stared at him.
“Alright, alright, woman. I'm goin'.” He sauntered into his house muttering about crazy Yankees.
I looked down at the lawn chair and the cooler sitting beside it.
“Don't mind if I do,” Viper said and opened the cooler. He pulled out a beer, popped the cap off with his thumb, and swigged.
“What was that star about?” I asked, looking away from Viper.
Around the perimeter of Austin's yard were stone walls that divided his property from those of his neighbors. His many neighbors. Big companies had come in, purchased the land, then divided it up into little parcels for cookie-cutter homes with postage stamp yards. And they were all decked out with lights and plastic Santas for Christmas. It wasn't dark yet, so they weren't as garish as Austin's decorations, but my eye happened to snag on a star. I felt that strange feeling again. That something was terribly wrong.
Then Azrael's cellphone went off.
Startled, Az pulled it out of his jacket and answered.
I spun toward him, anxiously watching his face. His expression didn't bode well.
“We'll be right there,” Azrael said and hung up.
“What have they taken?” Odin asked.
“Not what. Who,” Azrael said grimly. “Alexander is missing.”
It took me a second to remember who Alexander was. In my defense, there were a lot of families living in our protected community around the Golden Citadel. But Alex was special. His name should have registered immediately. Alex's mother had been pregnant when Wild Magic had run rampant through the world. It had changed him as it had many other children who'd been born or gestating during that time. Unfortunately, Alex didn't get a subtle fey trait or even a pretty one by human standards. He had been born looking like a Red Cap, with darkgreen skin and heavy Goblin features. His mother gave him up for adoption but it was a hard decision for her, and she was still a part of his life. In fact, Alexander's adoptive parents—A Red Cap named Machar and a Bean-Sidhe named Slainidh, had moved to Lexington to be near Alexander's mother, Emma. Yeah, I knew a lot about Alex because he was one of the first human-born children touched by the Wild Magic who was adopted by faeries.
And because I had hunted Machar for a while.
“Machar must be going insane,” I whispered.
“He's not thrilled,” Az said dryly. “We need to get—”
“Hold the presses!” Torrent shouted.
“What is it now?” Austin drawled from the backdoor. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder and his best pair of boots on his feet.
“I know where the baby is,” Torrent said.
“What baby?” Austin asked. “For goodness’ sake, I leave for like five minutes and someone's stolen a baby? What is this,Willow?”
I blinked at the movie reference, but I was too concerned about Alexander to comment on it. “Where is he, Torr?”
