In fairness, he had missed a lot. Mallory was working her bad mojo while she'd ostensibly been studying to become an official member of U-ASS, the sorcerers' union. She'd done a lot of the mayhem-making in the basement of the town house they shared, right under his nose.
"It still surprises me," I said honestly. "I'm not really sure how he missed it, either."
"Yeah," she said guiltily, "but then, why would you assume your girlfriend was attempting to destroy Chicago?"
You might assume it when Chicago was beginning to literally crumble around you, but hindsight was twenty-twenty.
"Okay," I said. "So he's being motherly. Have you talked to him about it?"
Saul marched in, wearing a giant oven mitt and holding a round pan that smelled - you guessed it - of cream cheese and bacon. He put the pizza on a trivet in the middle of the table, and as was his style, served up a piece for each of us.
My mouth watered immediately.
"Thank you, Saul," Mallory said, glancing at me with amusement. "You're fanging out."
I covered my mouth with a hand, glancing around to ensure no one else had seen it. There was no point in drawing any extra attention to my biology.
"Thanks," I said, digging into my slice when I was certain my body was under control and I wouldn't ravish the pizza in full view of the room. The taste was absolutely sublime. I'd had take-out from Saul's since becoming a vampire, but that was nothing like eating deep-dish fresh from the oven.
"I'm in the process of talking to Catcher about it," Mallory continued. "I have to tread carefully because, you know, I almost managed to destroy Chicago. And I don't mean to make light. I know what I did, and now I'm trying to live with it. To turn myself around so that I can actually use this gift for something more than utter selfishness."
Now that was more like it. "I like the sound of that. What about Gabe and the others?"
Gabriel Keene was the head of the North American Central Pack and Mallory's magical rehab sponsor.
"Gabe's good. He's spending a lot of time with Tanya and Connor - doesn't want to miss out on Connor's milestones. Berna's still playing mother." Berna was one of Gabe's relatives and the bartender at Little Red, the Ukrainian Village watering hole where the Pack hung out in Chicago.
"How long are you going to stay with them?"
"I'm not sure. They're building up their catering business, and they need help to get it rolling. Frankly, I'm not sure they've really thought about me long term." She cleared her throat. "And that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."
"What's that?" I asked, cutting a chunk of pizza with the side of my fork.
"What I'm going to do when I'm cleared to use my magic again," she clarified. "I need a productive job. A mission of some kind. And I thought, maybe, I could help you guys."
I paused, fork midway to my mouth. "Help us?"
"Help Cadogan House. I need to do something good, Merit," she explained before I could respond. Which was good, because I had no idea how to respond. "I need to help people. I need to make good for what I did. And, frankly, you guys need a lot of help."
She wasn't wrong about that, and I agreed she needed a post-rehab plan. But I wasn't sure Cadogan House was the appropriate outlet.
"What, exactly, did you have in mind?" I asked.
"Well, I was thinking I could become permanently attached to the House - like a magical consultant. I could help you plan operations. Go out with you on missions. I've done it before, with the Tates. And that ended up okay."
She had helped with the Tates - twin fallen angels Mallory unleashed on Chicago. But we'd asked for her help primarily because she'd created the problem and was in a position to help solve it.
I didn't want to break her spirit or halt her recuperation, but I couldn't see Ethan agreeing to that. He wouldn't give her that kind of access, especially considering her history with the House.
But before I could answer, a boom shook the building.
My heart pounded with sudden fear, but before I could rise from my seat another boom sounded - a percussion that vibrated through my body with its bass rumble and prickled my arms into gooseflesh.
A vase dropped from a small shelf on the wall across from us, shattering into pieces on the floor. The human closest to it screamed with surprise, and most everyone else jumped up and ran to the windows.
Now in the darkness came a different sound, a rhythmic sound. It was nothing I could identify, but nothing that was accidental. And there was another thing out there I easily recognized.
Steel.