Stephen nodded his head. “I can see the entrance to the living room from here. She never left it.”
I stepped inside when I heard a sound, and walked around the couch, finding Michael laying where I’d left him, one fist worked free from his swaddle. He waved it in the air and watched it move in front of his face. Rakesha and Linna were not in the room.
I grabbed Michael, lava in my gut, and went back to the hallway between the kitchen and living room. “Stephen, are you sure?”
He nodded. “Positive. She never left that room.”
That particular space only had one door, so she couldn’t have gone out a different way. “Anthony!” I yelled. “She’s gone.”
He ran in from the kitchen, where he’d been watching me grow panicked. “She’s not gone. There’s some reasonable explanation.”
There was no reasonable explanation. Stephen ran to get Elias out of bed, and we searched the house methodically, top to bottom and back again. She was gone, and she’d taken my vulnerable, Shapeshifter daughter with her.
Anthony got his contact at the Junta on the phone and Elias called Cindy. I walked the house holding Michael, who wouldn't stop crying. He knew she was gone, too.
Eventually, Tammy took him. “He might be picking up your stress, and he might be missing Linna. Give him here, I'll be calm with him and get him to sleep.”
It took me several minutes to actually hand him over. I had to kiss him and squeeze him several times.
I walked back to the kitchen where my men were on the phone mustering our forces. Axoular was even on his phone.
Anthony hung up first. “Well, they were helpful, but then they weren't. They immediately sent hunters to Rakesha's house and found her dead. That wasn't her.”
My heart dropped. Until he said she was dead, there was some small chance that there was a reasonable explanation. “I can't do this again. I can't wonder where my family is.” My heart screamed at me; a physical pain that made me want to double over.
I ached to hold Linna, and even Michael being several rooms over with Tammy made me ill. “How do I even know that was Tammy who took Michael?” I said, my voice shrill, on the verge of pure panic.
Elias put his arms around me. “The wards should’ve kept anyone that intended us harm, out. Either nobody wants to hurt us or Linna, or they’ve got someone that could fool the wards.”
“Nobody wants Michael but us. He's not a unique crossbreed of two species at war. Linna is the only one in any danger,” Axoular said, covering his phone. He turned back to his conversation after speaking to me.
Anthony shot him an exasperated look. “I doubt, from what you told us, that they are interested in hurting her. Dumadi just views her as his and claimed her. I doubt he'd mistreat her.”
He said the right thing. My panic settled into my stomach as fuel for my rage. My flames grew agitated, itching to destroy. I sucked in a deep breath, smoke flying out of my mouth as I exhaled. “You're right. And he'll die for it.”
Elias hung up the phone. “I called our moms and a few friends. Everyone is ready when we get a location. Cindy is on her way with her entire coven. They're meeting us at the house in Tennessee, but Cindy is coming here first to make us a portal.”
“What about the kids?” I asked.
“It's safer here, that's why we want to separate them from us. Danyelus is on his way here to stay with Tammy and the rest of the kids. There's no reason any of them would be at risk, but to be safe they're going to get them ready and take them to a location even we don't know.” He looked down at himself. “We'll be running out the door in the next ten minutes. Riley, let's go get dressed.”
He zipped to the bedroom, and I ran.This enormous house! Half my ten minutes is jogging to the bedroom!
He was already lacing up his boots when I entered. “Dress for a fight,” he said.
After my naked episode in Bali, Cindy had worked on a spell until she was able to make me a totally fireproof bodysuit. It was such a dark purple it was almost black and made from some sort of spandex and polyester blend, so it clung—but not so tightly it was annoying. I rolled it up my body. It had no seams, buttons, or zippers. It was a feat of magical engineering, and difficult to get on.
Elias helped me tug it up and over my shoulders. I added non-magical boots. We'd ordered dozens of pairs, then tested them out after I gave birth to find the ones that I could move best in. They didn't lace, and if I flamed out, I could slip them off quickly.
I pulled my hair up into a bun, took off my earrings, and grabbed the hand pumps and a handful of bags. I was furious and would probably kill Dumadi, but I wasn't about to be uncomfortable while doing it. Throwing them and a few extra guns and knives into a messenger bag, I slung it over my shoulder.
Elias grabbed my gun and knife belt on our way out and zipped to the kitchen. I caught up with him and put on my weapons as Cindy entered the room. Axoular was right behind her, wearing his own version of the bodysuit. He had a lot more control over his flames, so he only needed a shirt. His was black and clung to every ridge in his chest and stomach. I didn't have the emotional capacity to appreciate it right at that moment, but when he'd modeled it for me, I'd spent several minutes studying it under the guise of making sure it would work. I was really just checking out his bod.
“Ready?” Cindy asked.
I looked around, trying to think if there was anything else we needed.
Stephen came skidding into the room. “I want to go with you,” he said, out of breath. He wore an outfit similar to what Elias had changed into.
