“I was. I’m heading back there right now, and then I’ll search for Casey. I think I know where he might be or at least where Niall might take him. If I’m right, then I need the selkies to help me.”
“Is he being kept on the islands in the bay?”
“It’s a possibility I need to check out. Right now, take care of your alpha.”
Ella nodded, mouth firming. “We will. Call me when you need backup. You aren’t going after Casey alone. Some of the pack has boats.”
“You can’t swim.”
“We’re better on land than the selkies, and if he’s on any of the islands, we’ll find him.”
“Got it. I’ll keep you updated.”
One of the werecreatures closed the passenger door for him, and Wade unlocked the brakes and pulled into the street. He left the Boston god pack to their reunion with one of their alphas and added Riordan’s address back into the GPS. Without Harper in the car, he drove a little faster, wanting to get back to Riordan’s home to see if the selkies had left yet. He hadn’t received a text from them about where they were going, but he hoped Riordan might take him up on the offer of a hotel room.
Wade was optimistic right up until he saw the curl of black smoke twisting through the sky.
“Oh no, no,no,” Wade said, stomach sinking.
It could be someone else’s home on fire, but Wade was of the Patrick Collins school of thought that coincidences never happened.
He pressed down harder on the gas pedal, wanting to go faster but knowing he couldn’t go too far above the speed limit and risk getting pulled over or accidentally hitting someone. The smoke grew larger in his field of vision as he drew closer to the residential area where Riordan lived. When he turned onto L Street, he could see farther down that police had blocked off the intersection at the corner where Maguire’s Pub was located.
“Shit.”
L Street was narrow, and most of the parking was taken. There was one spot at the corner where plastic poles had been set up to discourage parking in the area. Directly behind it was a spot that Wade could fit in, but only if he ran over one of the poles.
He ran over the pole.
Wade pitched himself out of the car, ignoring the police officer who yelled at him to get back as he careened toward the corner.
“I live there!” Wade shouted, lying through his teeth.
He put on a burst of supernatural speed to evade the police officer, dialing his hearing up. Doing so enabled him to hear the Maguire siblings frantically arguing with EMS who were trying to look after them and—yeah, that was definitely Lady Caith. All of them had been corralled some distance from the burning house.
Wade skidded to a halt beside the group. “What the hell happened?”
Heads snapped around to look at him, but Saoirse was the first to speak, voice cracking when she did so. “They’re in the trunk!”
No question about what she was talking about.
“Okay,” Wade said. “Stay here.”
“Wade—” Riordan said, reaching for him.
But he was already racing past them, dodging past firefighters who shouted at him to stop, and ran into the burning building.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The fireand smoke didn’t really bother him, but Wade held his breath anyway as he entered the burning home. Flames licked at him as he skidded to a halt in what had once been the living room. The stairs were on fire and charred all the way through. There was no chance they’d hold his weight if he tried to take them up to the second floor. Neither could he say the second floor would hold his weight, judging by the smoke billowing down the stairwell.
All of the fire smelled like magic. Not hellfire, thankfully—Wade knew that would’ve beenbad—but it clearly wasn’t set with regular accelerant. Whatever had started it was magical in nature, and no amount of water was likely to put it all out. The fire was going to eat through everything in the house, and Wade knew one of the best ways to disrupt magic was to use fire.
If Riordan and Donal had put their skins in the trunk in Riordan’s bedroom for safekeeping and transport and they weren’t able to get up there after the attack, then their selkie skins were at risk of being destroyed or stolen.
Wade squinted, shifting mass so that he could see through choking smoke and bright fire. His vision changed, and he could see the crumbling steps better, some of them completelygone. The distance between the first floor and the second was seemingly impassable if one tried to walk it.
He could jump it.
