“I’m coming with you.”
“No, Oakley.”
His use of my name told me that whatever it was, it was serious. “I promise one or both of us will come as soon as we can and give you an update.”
“Is it Hazel?”
“No. It’s not.” His tone was firm. There was no discussing this further with him, and I didn’t know whether to be relieved by that or not. On the one hand, I was glad if it was as urgent and dangerous as it seemed that it didn’t involve her. On the other, I felt no closer to finding Hazel and didn’t like the idea of them heading into harm’s way—even if it was their job.
I picked up Aspen, fastening him against me in the ring sling, then Saros swung the door open, ushering me toward the cul-de-sac.
“Promise me you’ll come by later?”
He nodded without another word, then took off past the coven’s community center, headed toward Blessed Crescent.
What the hell had happened?
Chapter25
Oakley
As curious as I was about what had Saros rushing out of Luna’s, and as worried as I was about Lynx, I knew heading after him would not only put them in more danger but also endangered Aspen. And at the end of the day there was one life I would protect above all others.
My son’s.
However, I stood in the center of the cul-de-sac paralyzed, unable to make my feet move. Which house was he going to? Was he back in the pines? Had I missed something when I’d been out there planting with Jade and Ivy earlier? The pines spanned miles, how far away was Lynx?
What if he was hurt?
A bubbling sound came from just above my stomach, and I looked down to see Aspen smiling, his eyes still shut, a pungent smell unleashing into the air. Wetness crept up my blouse. I peeled back a bit of the ring sling to inspect the damage. Yellow had seeped through the back of his sleeper, spreading past where I could see.
Fuck.
I winced, trying to block out the smell as I sped home, not wanting to think about the wetness pressed against my stomach or that one of my nicer blouses had made it into thedesecrated by Aspenpile. The one saving grace was that it was black, so I could possibly wash it and wear it again.
Possibly.
I carefully removed the ring sling, weighing which mess to clean up first: the sling, Aspen, or myself. I put a towel on the floor, laying Aspen on it while I peeled off my shirt, inspecting my bra for any poo residue.Phew.Seemed that it had survived outside of the booty bomb radius.
Small blessings.
Taking off the rest of my clothes, I spotted Aspen staring up at me, half dazed.
“Let’s get you cleaned up, little demon,” I teased, unzipping his sleeper and finding a non-yellowed spot of fabric to carry it over between two fingers to the washer. Grabbing the stain spray, I quickly doused the clothes we’d worn, along with the ring sling, then popped them into the machine. I disposed of the useless diaper, then carted both our naked butts to my shower, juggling him around while I rinsed us off.
It wasn’t until both of us were under the shower’s cleansing spray, that I was finally able to focus back on Lynx and Saros. What if they had already tried to come by and give an update and I was in the shower? Quickly turning off the spigot, I threw a robe on, taking Aspen into his room to get a diaper on him.
“All clean,” I whispered, tickling under his chin to make him laugh, grateful for his fresh baby smell in return. Once he was dressed and I finished feeding him, I got him settled in his crib. The whole time, I listened for the doorbell, but it remained silent.
Each tick of the clock nagged at my sanity. My imagination running wild with possibilities of what they discovered, what sort of danger they might be in. My hope dwindled like flour through a sieve, leaving behind only chunks of concern.
They could both be seriously hurt.
Orworse.
My breaths became shallow at the thought of something happening to them on top of my sister being missing. Maybe I’d tried to tell myself I could do things on my own, and maybe that was true, but I didn’t want to find out. They meant so much more to me beyond helping with my sister’s case and they both cared about me, even if Saros was much more grumbly about it. The realization of that startled me.
Tears streaked my cheeks, my chest tight with anxiety, cutting off my air supply. Shuffling into my room, I grabbed the blue-green smithsonite and clutched it in my palm before going into my sister’s room and snatched up her dark-teal throw. I pulled it around myself, heading back toward the couch. Curling up under Hazel’s favorite blanket, I repeated the incantation from earlier, both to steady my breath and ground myself.
