“Common room,” the woman said, eyes wide, nodding toward the back. “Freya took them below when we heard the howling.”
Dani didn’t bother with thanks. She ran.
The corridor sloped gently down, toward the reinforced rooms dug into bedrock.
She burst into the wide common room the Nordan used for pups and any human kids who found their way here during storms or summits. The TV in the corner was off. A pile of blankets and cushions had been dragged into a barricade by the far wall. A half-played board game sat abandoned on the low table.
Four Nordan children and two young witch girls stared at her like startled rabbits.
Aurelia was on her feet before Dani finished crossing the threshold.
“Mom,” she blurted, launching herself forward.
Dani scooped her up, clutching her so hard that Aurelia made a small oof against her shoulder. Warm, solid weight. The faint, familiar buzz of her magic, jumpy with fear.
“I’m okay,” Aurelia said into her neck. “Are you okay? What happened? Freya said there were—”
“I’m fine,” Dani lied into her hair, “everyone’s fine. Your father and the others are dealing with a…situation.”
She didn’t use the wordhybrid. Not yet.
Fenred appeared in the doorway behind her, filling it, another hulking silhouette at his shoulder. He scanned the room, nostrils flaring, then nodded to himself, satisfied.
“Door stays shut,” he told Freya, “no one in or out without my say or the alpha’s. Got it?”
Freya nodded, already moving to bolt the heavy steel door.
Aurelia pulled back enough to peer up at Dani’s face. Her eyes were too old in moments like this. Too knowing.
“You’re lying,” she said.
Dani almost laughed. “About which part?”
“Theeveryone’s finebit,” Aurelia said. “You’re doing your tight shoulders.”
“My what?”
Aurelia mimed a hunched posture. Dani glared and relaxed her shoulders by sheer force of will.
“You know me too well,” she sighed, clutching her daughter close.
The room was cold. The old furnace downstairs kept the worst of the freeze off, but concrete and stone still leached heat. The other young witch, a teenager, was rubbing her hands together, teeth chattering despite the sweater she’d borrowed.
Dani set Aurelia down gently.
“Stay with the others,” she said. “I’m just going to…” she gestured at the empty fireplace on the far wall.
“Show off?” Aurelia suggested.
“Contribute,” Dani corrected.
She crossed to the hearth. It was deeper than the one in Layla’s shop, blackened from years of use. Logs were stacked already, someone having clearly meant to light it and been distracted by the sirens in the air.
Her hands shook as she knelt.
Not from fear. From anger. Frustration. From the echo of Arthur’s voice snarlinggoand the way her feet had obeyed even as her pride clawed at her.
Fine.
