“Jerrick residence.”
“Nana,” Henry gasped.
“Henry, my love! It’s so good to hear from you. I was hoping you’d call today. I’m making salmon cakes, and it made me remember how your brothers used to love them. Do you remember…”
Nana’s voice washed over him, chasing away the last of his fears. He couldn’t help but smile as she recounted one of their earliest dinners. He’d heard the story a thousand times. It was when they discovered Ben’s love of blueberries. Ben still loved blueberries. In fact… “You should make a cobbler for dessert,” Henry suggested.
“That’s a great idea. Speaking of your big brother, he’s out in the yard right now working with a pony of all things. Skittish thing but it has something wrong with its hoof. Ben’s the only one who can get close, and even he’s having trouble. We had to make Ollie stay in the clinic because the moment the pony sees him, it loses its mind. Isn’t that funny?”
“They know danger when they sense it,” Henry said. The last tendrils of fear and panic slipped away.
“Yeah. But he’s really more of a danger to himself. Thank goodness he has good reflexes or he’d have broken so many bones by now. Why, just the other day…”
Henry lost himself to the story again before resuming his place against Dakota’s chest. His mates still hovered close, but he didn’t need to explain what he’d seen. Not yet. They knew if he needed to check on his brothers that what he’d seen involved them.
Henry clung to Sawyer’s hand while the other held the phone. Dakota’s chest rose and fell beneath him, and he sunk deeper into the feeling. He was back. He was safe. And so were his brothers and sisters.
“Did you want to talk to someone else?” Nana asked. “I need to get that cobbler in the over if I want it ready by dinner time.”
“No, ma’am,” Henry said. “Tell everyone I said hi and I miss them.”
Nana laughed. “You were just here, my boy. But we miss you, too. Tell Eduard I want to talk to him about where he found that Vivian creature for your house. I need to find someone like that for your dads. I’m going to need to retire eventually.”
Henry scoffed and Nana laughed once more. They ended the call and Henry passed the phone back to Eduard. He breathed one more minute before opening his eyes once more.
“Let’s find ourselves a guardian.”
Draco
Draco grudgingly admitted that if it weren’t for Dakota, they wouldn’t be planning to rescue the eighth guardian so quickly. The only clue Henry had come back with was a number. Eduard had pulled a couple resources to start trying to narrow down the search. It wasn’t much, but it was all they had. It took hours.
Draco paced the entire time, wanting action. He didn’t wait well, especially when one of his mates was hurting. Henry hadn’t needed to tell him that he’d seen some of the things that had happened to him as a child. They’d all figured out what he’d seen in the vision. He told them the rest, though. Seeing Sawyer appear. The early attempt to take a child. That the brother was responsible for the red eyes. They knew it, but it was interesting that the visions sought to confirm it. Draco hadn’t figured out why. But then, when it began to look like it would be days before they had a location, Dakota had begrudgingly spoken up. “I might be able to help.”
He pulled out a cell phone and made a call. “Koios, it’s me.”
And then the strangest conversation Draco had ever heard took place.
“Cauliflower.” A long pause. “Red.” Another pause. “Romulus and Remus. Enough already. You know it’s me.”
Dakota then told the mysterious Koios what they were after. It took another few hours before Eduard’s email dinged, and they had a list from Dakota’s contact. It was long. Over forty addresses. But it wasn’t impossible.
One of Sawyer’s ravens tapped insistently at the library window. Sawyer opened it and allowed it inside, where it took up position on Sawyer’s shoulder. The other mates were around the work table, but Henry had curled up in Draco’s arms in one of the club chairs. He was still shaken from the vision. Draco pressed a kiss against his head and handed him the cup of tea Cecil had brought up. “Drink.”
Henry grunted but did as he was told. Draco rubbed his back with slow even strokes even as Henry curled up against him. Draco kept an eye on Sawyer as well. His other mate was deep in thought, working his way through something. It was a pebble in his shoe. Annoying him until he was able to get it out. Sawyer paced with the bird perched on his shoulder.
“We should get him a patch and one of those fake hook hand things. He can be a pirate for Halloween,” Henry said softly.
Draco grunted. “Those are parrots.”
Henry poked him in the stomach. “I know. But it’s funny, right?”
Draco couldn’t deny that it would be.
Henry let out another sigh, and Draco tightened his hold once more. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I promise. A little shaken up. I thought he had me, you know?”
“Even if he did— which he won’t— I would search the universe until I found you. And so would all of our mates. Not to mention your pack and your uncles and all of your friends. And then there’s our mate’s sisters. I’m sure they would—”
