“Dammit,” he said. “Will we ever get a break?”
“Hopefully as soon as we get home.” I offered him a half smile, because neither of us believed that for a second. Something was wrong, very wrong. Our phones were wailing.
Cass popped the compartment open and handed me my phone. “I’m in serious need of some alone time with my T,” he said. “This had better not be a problem requiring our immediate attention.”
Yeah, his scowl told me none of us were believing it.
“Fuck,” he said while I glanced down at my phone to see what the fuss was about. “What the hell?” I barked.
Haru and Reo flanked us the next second. “What is it?” Reo asked.
“Tsunami warnings,” Cass said. “The entire Pacific Northwest is under orders for immediate evacuation to further inland.”
Molly claimed her phone and started typing. “There’s been an eight point magnitude earthquake in the ocean, between the Oregon Coast and Japan,” she said. “The force rolling off of it could create a tsunami big enough to cause some serious damage to the Northwest United States.” She was scrolling on her phone, her mouth settling into deeper and deeper frown lines.
“Could it affect Eugene?” Brock asked, and I was sure he must be thinking of the pack he’d left stationed there.
Molly looked up, chestnut eyebrows at odds with her violet hair as they climbed toward her hairline. “If this tsunami hits like they’re predicting, Eugene could be beachfront property or even wiped off the map.”
“I can’t leave the gate unguarded,” I said right away. “We can’t evacuate Eugene. This feels like a trap.”
“Like hell you can’t,” Brock said. “That gate isn’t worth your life.”
“It’s my responsibility. This is what I have to do. Nobody but me can do it. If I don’t protect it, who knows what might come through.”
“The tsunami will kill whatever comes through,” Tianna said, on her feet next, moving to the rest of us. “No creature can withstand the kind of force Molly is talking about, not even demons from the underworld.”
I looked between her, Haru, and Reo. I could feel Brock’s glare like a laser beam, but this was bigger than me, what we shared, even bigger than the unborn life I carried inside. “So even if the gate cracks open wider as this comes in, there’s no concern that the entire underworld will pour out because all the shit coming through would be killed?” I asked the warrior brothers.
“That’s probably what would happen,” Haru said. “Unless water creatures come through.”
“Probably,” I repeated. “That means it’s possible the entire gate could open when these seismic forces roll into the tectonic plates beneath Oregon, or whatever scientific shit will actually happen. Then if the tsunami doesn’t kill the demons, humanity will be over anyway because there’ll be no containing all the beasts that escaped.”
“Yes, that’s a possibility,” Reo agreed.
I looked down at my phone. The alert had come in an hour ago and it gave a ten hour impact warning. That meant we had nine hours to get our shit together.
“We can come back as soon as it’s safe and seal the gate then,” Cass said, but I wondered how much of what he said was motivated by his desire to protect me. “We’ll fix whatever happens. We always do.”
He knew me too well. He knew that no matter what, I was thinking about all that could go wrong if I abandoned this unstable gate. Fuck, it was barely keeping things out without a damn tsunami. But I was pregnant, and not a total idiot, so I knew I needed to put my life first.
Cass placed a stubby hand on the back of my thigh.‘You won’t accomplish anything worthwhile if you stay behind. You’ll just get yourself killed, girl.’His black eyes said what he didn’t, not even in my head. He and I’d been through too much together to throw it all away on an off chance.
“We’re evacuating the second we hit land,” Brock said in his alpha tones, though he had to know I’d only follow his command if I wanted. “Ray’s already getting the wolves ready to go.”
Ah, that’s why Brock hadn’t been hounding me to go with him. He’d been using the pack link to communicate with his second in command. I kept forgetting that Brock was responsible for nearly a hundred wolves. He no doubt felt the weight of every one of their lives on his shoulders, especially now.
Between the look Cass was giving me and the way Brock’s entire face told me he couldn’t lose me, I finally nodded. “All right. But the second the coast is clear, I’m heading back to get that gate closed once and for all. Whatever mess there is to clean then, I’ll clean it up.”
“And we’ll be right by your side cleaning up monster shit with you,” Cass said.
Good. It was settled. The blaring alarms had finally all been silenced. We had a plan, and it was taking us away from the blasted gate and the epicenter of our problems.
My phone rang to the tune ofWho Let the Dogs Out?
Cass and I froze. “Shiiiiiit,” he said. “Don’t answer it.”
I sighed. “You know I have to.”
