Page 91 of Elora and the Crow

Ronin turned to her. “Kitten, I have to help her.”

“I know that,” she said, “but you also need to be smart about it. Hospitals are busy places filled with plenty of people and cameras. You can’t just go in there and start crying on someone. It’s too high of a risk for someone to discover who you are.”

“Elora is dying, Kat!” Bren snapped.

“I know,” she said calmly. “Bring her to Ronin, and he’ll heal her.”

“How the fuck are we supposed to get her out of the hospital?” Jonah snarled. “Do you really think they’ll just discharge a dying woman without any fucking questions or calling the goddamn cops on us?”

Kat glanced at Ronin. “We could talk to Clay. Have him take her out of the hospital.”

“It’s too much of a risk for him as well,” Ronin said. “The government will dissect him into a thousand pieces if they find out what he is.”

“Clay? Is that the teleporter?” Jonah asked.

“Yes,” Kat said.

“Great! Bring the fucking teleporter in,” Jonah said.

“Ronin is right. It’s too big of a risk for him and Clay,” Tori said.

“She helped you!” Jonah growled. “She brought back your memories, and she helped stop that psycho antelope shifter and saved the fucking world, remember?”

“I remember,” Tori said, “and we will help her. I promise.”

“Not by sitting around here, you won’t,” Jonah said.

“What we need is a distraction at the hospital so we can get Elora out,” Mal said.

“What the fuck kind of distraction can we do that will be enough for them not to notice as I’m carrying Elora out of her goddamn room?” Jonah said.

“Not you,” Mal said. “Neither you nor Bren will be part of this. The nurses recognize you, and it’ll be harder for you to leave with Elora.”

He turned to Kat. “Can you work your magic and kill the security feed at the hospital while we’re taking Elora out?”

Kat nodded. “I’ve hacked into the hospital system before. I can do it again.”

“What? When?” Ronin stared at her.

“A few years ago,” Kat said.

“Why?” Ronin asked.

“I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” Kat deadpanned.

Ronin laughed as Mal glanced at Tori and Judd. “Do you think the two of you can provide a big enough distraction for the medical staff?”

Judd’s face broke out into a grin. “I guaran-fucking-tee we can.”

CHAPTER29

Cece sipped at the coffee and grimaced at the bitter, stale taste. Christ, she’d hoped the coffee in the hospital cafeteria would be better than the stuff from the machine, but it tasted the same.

With a sigh, she left the cafeteria, sipping the coffee again despite its taste. Bren and Jonah had been gone for nearly two hours, and neither had replied to her texts or calls.

She stopped in the middle of the hallway to dig her phone out of her pocket. Staring at her screen, she scrolled to Bren’s number as she walked toward the elevator. She grunted when she ran into a hard wall of flesh and hissed out an expletive when hot coffee sloshed from the hole in the lid and landed on her hand.

She wiped it away before saying, “Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going and I….”