“Married?” I sputtered.
“Mated,” Angel amended.
“Same thing,” Victor said, still frowning over the schematics.
I glared at them all, but Kerry waved off my grumpiness as she popped out of the van to rummage through the other.
The call ended with Tiana’s brow furrowed. “They said they swept the building but didn’t document individual units. Too much interference, tech glitches, structural changes that didn’t match the blueprints.” She hesitated. “Lights kept going in and out. Lots of comments about shadows, but it’s hard to tell on this side what is legit movement and what is someone jumping at the darkness.”
I had a lot of reason to be jumping lately.
“They herded everything out of the building that had come through that portal,” Tiana continued. “From that prison. And checked for any lingering humans who might have been stuck when it was dragged across the Veil.”
Ezra growled. “They wandered through, kicked out a few strays, and called it clear? No sweep logs? No room-by-room verification? Do they want the military on this side?”
“That’s a war no one wants to start,” Victor said with a sigh.
“They’re used to dealing with feral cryptids, not hidden rooms and cops turned into cult summoners.”
I glanced out the window and up at the building, searching for a sign of Brandon again. But the windows were just black voids reflecting the eerie otherworldly lights of the distant city. My skin goose-pimpled as I stared at the one I was certain belonged to his unit. Was he up there watching us?
“I can’t find any permits pulled for renovations to create a concealed wall or extra closet,” Victor added.
“Not everyone pulls the permits they should,” Bobby said.
“It could be something worse,” Kerry supplied. “Like a pocket dimension or a mimic nest to hide things.”
I stared at her with horror. “Can those exist on this side?”
“Originally, no, but now,” she shrugged. “Maybe?”
“We should do a full sweep,” Wade said. “Categorize it all. Find Cassidy’s apartment.”
“There wouldn’t still be regular people in there, would there?” I asked.
Angel exhaled sharply. “We’ll have to wait for backup. And I’d like to split the teams up. Half down here, watching the trucks, guarding the tear, and on the comm, the rest inside.”
I knew instantly what he was trying to do. “I’m not staying out here.”
He met my gaze with narrowed eyes. “Whatever is in there wants you.”
“What better way to get it to come out and play, then?” I threw back, folding my arms across my chest, ready for a fight.
A low howl cut through the silence outside. Not the eerie, unnatural cries from beyond the Veil, but a deeper, rougher sound that vibrated in my ribs.
“Backup’s here,” Kerry said, reappearing with a bag of Peanut Butter Snickers. Those things were gold.
“Thanks,” I told her as she dropped the bag in my lap.
Angel straightened, relief flashing across his face. “About damn time. We can put them on the tear and sweep the inside.”
Another howl cut through the night, long, mournful, and unmistakably close. Another answered, then another, a chorus of guttural voices rolling in from the tree line.
“What the fuck?” I asked.
“Werewolves,” Bobby said.
I blinked and glanced at Ezra.
