Logan (Chosen Champions #1) - Macy Blake Page 0,16

“Please don’t break my heart and tell me my fears are true.”

She giggled—actually giggled—and shrugged again. “Well, it’s been a rough night. It doesn’t help a girl to believe in happily ever afters when one of her friends gets drugged and then a strange guy takes off with her and your other friend without an explanation.”

Dasan shot a look over his shoulder to Logan before guiding Heather back over to the others. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

“Oh, thank the Goddess,” Randell said with a sigh. “I thought I was toast. Last thing I need is a hellhound showing up to kick my ass, know what I mean?”

Logan nodded. The rules were very clear on the penalties for revealing their world to humans. It could be done under certain circumstances, but Logan really didn’t care to risk it.

Even though both Gideon and Aleron were friendly with the hellhound pack, which was how they’d convinced a few of them, like Vice and Callie, to help with their training, Logan wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of them doing their duty as champions.

“But seriously, was that a—” Randell paused and glanced around before lowering his voice. “—dragon?”

“It was.” Coal emerged from behind the building, his black hair gleaming under the bright fluorescent lights in the parking lot. “What have we got?”

With his team gathered around him, Logan’s emotions began to return to normal. “We need to spread out, see if we can find any hint of where this thing went. I’m going to try to scent track, but Scout couldn’t find anything.”

“Cameras?” Coal asked.

“The oracle checked. Nothing.”

Logan went back inside the bar. They’d closed for the night, and only a few waitstaff remained. “I’ll just be a minute.”

“Take your time, Officer,” the bartender said.

Logan nodded politely, ignoring the mistaken identity, and returned to the scene of the crime. The back hallway wasn’t any better lit now than it had been before. He breathed in, but the traces of scent had already faded to a bare minimum.

He gave the Employees Only door a push, and it opened easily. “Oracle?”

“Here.”

“Any cameras back here?”

Logan heard the clicking of fingers on a keyboard before the oracle spoke again. “Nothing. Two covering the interior of the bar, one over the register, and two in the parking lot.”

“Understood.” Logan followed the path through what was clearly used as storage to a door. It had a red emergency bar on it, but considering it was propped open with a chunk of wood and a couple members of staff were out emptying trash, he didn’t think it served its intended purpose.

He glanced around, but the entire area was dark and dingy, smelling of the ashtray out back. There were cigarette butts covering the ground. “Anything back here?”

“No.”

“Gideon had eyes on the back. It couldn’t have gotten past him.”

“We don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

That much was obvious. Logan scanned the area, following his nose to the opposite side of the lot. Cars were still parked there, probably staff, but otherwise it was empty. He didn’t get a single whiff of the sweet scent he’d smelled earlier.

“Dammit. Where did it go?”

“I don’t know,” the oracle said. “But it didn’t get what it was after.”

Which meant it would be out to feed again. His first thought was for Bailey. Would the creature come after him and his friends again? Or would it simply search for another target?

“We need to find it. Fast.”

6

Bailey

Bailey woke to the annoying sound of his phone ringing. He glared through slitted lids at the nightstand, then grabbed his phone, if only to keep it from waking Ashley.

“’Lo?” Bailey grumbled, closing his eyes against the glare of the midmorning light.

“Are you really still asleep?” Will’s deep voice didn’t help, especially since he sounded awfully chipper.

“Yes.”

“Really?”

Bailey grunted and rolled over, pulling the blankets over his head. “What?”

“Get up. We’re going to brunch. You still have Heather’s purse in your backpack, and she’s cranky about it.”

“Why are you people awake? Are you not human? Did I miss that memo? Did the aliens take you?”

Will laughed and began to sing. “Wake up, you sleepyhead, and crawl your booty out of bed.”

“I will kill you dead.”

“Come on. We’re hungry, and we’re all still a little freaked out about last night. Everyone crashed at my place after we dealt with the cops.”

Bailey’s eyes opened. “What?”

“Heather called that cop guy she knows. Remember?”

Bailey did have the misfortune of remembering Officer “Call Me Randy” Randell. He’d drooled on Heather, gushing over how beautiful