to help balance her. His magic always seemed to have a positive reaction—the yang to her yin. Unfortunately, if he did any more, he’d lose himself to his wolf and be forced to change.
“Only those with excellent control in Devon’s van,” Barbara said, following him and stopping by the door as he got Charity situated in the back.
“Good point,” Dillon said, jogging over. “We forgot to mention that. When Charity loses control and Devon has to flood her with power, he’ll drive you wild with wanting to change. It’s not pleasant.”
“I’m fine.” Macy jogged over as well, leaving Cole to deal with the irate woman. She seemed perturbed that he wasn’t worried about the gun two feet from his chest.
“I’m out.” Rod headed to the other van.
Steve paused with a phone to his ear, looking between the vans. Finally, his wild-eyed gaze settled on Devon. His lion clearly felt the call. He shook his head. “I better follow the linebacker kid without two brain cells to rub together.”
Andy chortled as he got into the other van.
Cole didn’t say a word as he got into the front passenger seat. Barbara filed into the middle bench seat, beside Dillon. Devon couldn’t see if Dale picked himself up and headed to the front van. At the moment, he didn’t care.
“You guys are coming around, huh?” Dillon said to Barbara and Cole as Macy hopped into the driver’s seat.
“That fae needs protection,” Cole said, buckling in. “It is our duty, but it’s also the smart thing to do. Protect her, and she’ll protect the pack. In this instance, I agree with the current alpha.”
Cole’s words weren’t lost on Devon. The current alpha. He wasn’t offering his allegiance, he was participating for now. It was a big distinction.
“Dude.” Macy looked at Cole. “Do you always sound like a robot with a broken volume button, or…”
“I hope you grow on me,” Cole muttered. Or, at least, it was a mutter for him.
Dillon jolted as the van pulled away. He spun around, looking down at Charity.
“Stop!” he shouted.
Macy slammed on the brakes, and they all bumped forward.
“We don’t have time—” Devon started, but Dillon was already crawling over Barbara to get out of the van.
“She got a note. She must’ve dropped it.” He fumbled with the lock before ripping open the door. A horn blared from behind them.
“What’s he talking about?” Devon asked, rocking Charity, terror dripping down his spine. She was burning up and shivering. Something wasn’t right. She’d never reacted this badly before.
“He’s…” Barbara twisted to try to see.
Macy looked in the rearview mirror. “He grabbed something off the pavement.”
“A note, did he say?” Cole tried to turn around in a seat that barely contained him.
Dillon appeared at the van door as the horn blared again. The van in front had stopped down the road.
“She got this.” Dillon motioned for Barbara to scoot over. He handed the note back to Devon. “She must’ve dropped it when she freaked out.”
“She did not freak out; she had a magical—”
“Yes, yes, we know,” Dillon interrupted Cole.
Devon’s gaze snagged on the first line of the note. Then the last. Cold washed through him. “How did Vlad know she calls him her BFF? She only spoke of that around the pack. Didn’t she?”
Dillon shrugged.
“The vampires have their spies,” Barbara said, looking back. “As do we. What is the nature of that note?”
“Do you also have to be weirdly stilted in your communication to be an elite?” Macy asked her. “Because I’m sensing a pattern.”
Barbara showed no signs of having heard.
Devon passed the note forward. “Hang on to that. She’ll want it.” He hesitated before pressing his hand to her forehead. Still hot. “Did she believe it?”
“She was blindsided,” Dillon said. “It threw her for a loop. But yeah, I think she must believe it.”
Barbara studied the note before passing it forward to Cole. “It’s a trick of some kind,” she said authoritatively. “He might know where her mother is, but there is more to it. He hopes to gain something from it.”
“Yes. We’re not dense. We know that.” Dillon shot her a flat look. “Charity must know it too. The problem is, she’s still big-time screwed up about her mother leaving. She won’t be rational.”
“It could be his way of getting Charity back out of the Flush,” Devon said, staring out the window. “It’s a good lure.”
Everyone in the van nodded. There was no arguing with that.
Cole’s phone chimed. “Emery has been contacted. He hadn’t entered the Realm yet, thankfully.