“Look here, motherfucker—” I shout into the speaker, blood pooling in my face, fingers fisting the sheets, but my anger is cut down when a voice answers.
“Iris?”
“Dame?”
“Sorry if I woke you,” he says, his deep voice soft in my ear. “I’ve been calling you for hours.”
I sit up, blinking against the harsh light of the screen as I check my call logs.
For the last two hours, Dame has called me every fifteen minutes, and in a single breath, my mind conjures every possibility. Most of them end with Elliot either dead or caged.
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” Dame says. “Have you heard from Elliot?”
“No, I haven’t seen him since the Inquisition’s Office. He went home for the moon.”
There’s a muffled grumbling sound as Dame takes a moment to respond. When he speaks again, his voice is tight, and my stomach sinks.
“He should’ve been home by now,” he says. “He’s never there this long.”
A quiet voice chimes in from the background.
“Tell her to call him. He’ll answer her.”
“Why would he answer her and not me?” Dame asks, speaking to the other person in the room with him.
“Just do it,” the voice answers.
It’s almost five in the morning, and the voice sounds sleepy.
“Who is that?” I ask.
“Kitty,” Dame answers.
Bullshit.
“Can you call him?” he asks. “Elliot shouldn’t be on his own after a shift. He’s not like the rest of us...”
Yeah, he definitely isn’t. He’s an idiot without a heart.
Dame’s explanation is interrupted by a loud thud, slamming into the front door, and I spring from the bed, reaching for the blade I now keep tucked under my pillow.
“Hang on,” I whisper into the speaker as I pad out into the hall.
Faintly, I can hear Dame calling my name as I creep toward the door, but I ignore him.
There’s now a heavy scraping sound coming from the other side, growing louder with every step.
I ready myself, blade aloft, tip down as Isaac taught me, and suck in a deep breath before I yank the door open.
A tall figure, cloaked in black, comes tumbling through the doorway, and I sigh as it straightens, propping itself up against the doorframe with a groan.
“Dame,” I mutter into the phone. “He’s fine. I found him.”
“What? Wait, Iris?—”
I hit end just in time to catch Elliot as he slumps away from the wall, reaching for me.
