Page 46 of Her Forbidden Shifters
I shook my head. “I’m not entirely positive. But keep your eyes open. This may be a trap after all.”
I met his gaze. The words “I told you so” were clear within his expression. I frowned at him.
“Let me go first,” he said.
I put a hand on his arm to stop him from climbing out of the car. “No, don’t. I need to go first. It tastes like magic. Very, very bad magic.”
He nodded once and we both climbed out of his car. As we made our way to Avery’s apartment, I kept my eyes peeled for anything out of place. I couldn’t find any. But as I drew closer, the bitter static became stronger, centralizing just behind Avery’s door.
I stopped just outside of it and tried to feel out what was so unusual about the energy that surrounded us. Jacob waited patiently for me to figure it out. When I couldn’t, I looked at him and nodded for him to go ahead.
Jacob opened the door wide and stood to the side as I took in everything. The air rushed around me and burned every part of my exposed skin it touched. I was uncomfortable and wanted to get away. I took a step back as energy nipped at my fingers.
“What is it?” Jacob asked. “Why does everything on me feel weird?”
I shook my head as a small ringing in my ears started. I sucked in a breath and grabbed Jacob by the arm. He met my gaze, and I said, “Run!”
We turned and hauled ass down the hallway, trying to make it out of the building. We barely made it halfway down the hall before the static erupted into flame. My skin and hair were singed as we tried to outrun the inferno chasing after us.
I glanced at Jacob, running right next to me. His face was a mask of determination. The flames licked at our backs as he dodged out of the way. Once we made it to an adjoining hallway, I turned to find Avery’s apartment doused in flames, and the hallway was burning along with it.
“We’re trapped,” I said.
“No, we aren’t,” Jacob said and pointed to a fire escape right outside of a window at the end of the hall we stood in.
The flames consumed everything in its path, and it had started moving into the adjacent one we stood in. The building was toast. Along with the heirloom I could have used to find Avery. I didn’t even want to think about how many innocents were going to be lost because of this senseless act.
18
LIAM
I had spent most of the time Savannah and Jacob were gone on my phone, checking in with my other sources regarding information on this group. It was slightly difficult because I was worried about Savannah getting hurt again. I wondered if what we had done was a mistake. It certainly couldn’t happen again. Not so long as the SOTF were my employers. The other reason why information was difficult was because the group went through every means possible to ensure their anonymity. The only problem was they were branching out to shifters and not just witches, and I needed to jump ahead of them somehow. Cut them off at the pass. Stop them before someone else got hurt. Because it was only a matter of time before the group upped the ante and started kidnapping shifters from all walks of life.
No matter what I did, I just couldn’t make the connection between Noah, his sister, and the group.
None of the events in this case boded well.
So far, all I got was a whole lot of nothing. And so long as I kept my ass busy and free from carrying on an unwanted conversation with Noah, I was happy to continue doing so, even if my efforts proved fruitless.
My phone buzzed when I hung up with my latest call. It was Jacob calling.
“O’Connor,” I said.
“Meet us at Savannah’s place, pronto,” he said. Sounds of battle filtered in through the line.
“What’s going on?” I asked, standing up from the table. My heart started to race.
“What’s wrong?” Noah asked, sitting up from the bed.
“Fill you in when we see you,” he said. “Hurry.”
The call ended. I frowned at the phone. It wasn’t like him to withhold information. Something was wrong, and the sooner we make it to Savannah’s, the better. Still, I collected my things and started for the door. Noah jumped up from the hotel bed and hopped after me.
“We’re going on another road trip?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes. “We’re meeting up with Jacob and Savannah.”
He smiled at me as though I had just given him a piece of information he didn’t have before. I didn’t want to process that too much. I had enough to figure out without adding deciphering Noah’s expressions. So, I continued out the door with him in tow.
