from the stakeout yet, and the bed looked too large and empty without him. I was bone-weary, and if I was going to face Cassius in the morning, I needed to be on form.
I changed into my sleep shorts and vest and was about to climb into bed when Cyril slid into the room.
“Where the hell did you come from?” I glanced about. “Don’t tell me this place has nooks and crannies too?”
“You’d be sssurprised,” he said.
There was movement behind him and then Delphine joined us. She was smaller than Cyril, but her body shimmered pink and coral with an inner glow that was pure magic. She was beautiful.
“I wanted you to meet Delphine,” Cyril said.
“Nice to meet you officially.” Delphine’s voice was a sibilant purr.
“Likewise.”
“Cyril speakss highly of you.”
Strange to think they chatted about me. “Um, thanks.” I sat on the bed, suddenly curious about this creature that lived on a daemon’s back. “So, Delphine, how does this work? You and Keon? Are you real?”
Delphine flicked out her tongue. “That would depend what your definition of real is. I belong to Keon, and I live because he livesss. We are symbiotic, and we are autonomous.”
Interesting. I guess she was as much his eyes and ears as Cyril was mine. I made a mental note to ask Keon about her. “And how are you liking Necro City.”
“It’sss noisy and the air is always wet,” she said. “But we are adjusting.”
We? Was she talking about Cyril and her, or Keon and her?
“We’ve found a nesting nook,” Cyril said. “The acoustics are optimal. Ssso if you need me, just call. I’ll hear you.”
Nesting? “Um, okay.”
They slid away into the shadows and were gone. Nesting…why did that ring a bell… I was too tired to think right now.
I climbed into bed, ready for sleep to take me.
I was in my Vista, running through the trees. The air was filled with the fragrance of the forest after rainfall, but my paws left no prints in my wake. I flew over logs and wove between tree trunks.
A mournful howl filled the air, and my step faltered.
I knew that tone.
Not Grayson.
Hunter.
I altered my path and headed toward the sound, heart pounding in my chest. This was it. This was a way to communicate with him and let him know it was okay to come back. My way to tell him we needed him back. I broke out of the tree line into the huge clearing where the lake gleamed with a thousand shards of the huge full moon.
Hunter sat on his haunches, his dark silken coat kissed by silver rays of the moon.
I stopped, afraid to get too close, afraid I’d spook him.
You came, he said. I didn’t know if this would work.
Hunter, you need to come back, there are things you don’t—
No time, Fee. Listen, you need to—
Hunter’s body bucked, his golden eyes flaring wide for a second, and then he vanished.
What the hell?
I woke to Grayson’s arms around me and the scent of an impending storm in my nostrils. I turned to face him, snuggling against him as I surfaced from the dream. The pulse in my throat was beating hard, and apprehension was a coil in my belly.
“Fee, what’s wrong?” Grayson held me tighter and smoothed back my hair. “You’re shaking.”
“I think Hunter’s in trouble.”
“So, Hunter just vanished?” Petra asked.
We were gathered in the kitchen as dawn broke. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee was heavy in the air, and someone had pulled out a box of breakfast muffins. Normally I’d have devoured at least two by now, but my stomach felt all squiffy, and my appetite was gone.
Dean, Grayson, Petra, and I sat around the island, speaking in hushed voices so as not to wake Uriel, who was still asleep on the sofa. He’d be fully healed in a few hours, and I wanted to have answers for him by then, but now I had Hunter to worry about too. My mind was engaged in a tug of war, part of me wanting to focus on finding my mate, the other adamant I needed to stick to finding a power source for the Beyond.
Yes, okay, so the Beyond was logically more important, but fuck, it didn’t feel that way right now.
“Hunter was trying to tell me something urgent. He said there was no time. He was going to tell me I needed to do something, but he never got to finish his sentence.”
Petra sucked in her cheeks. “A Tribus Vista is accessible