Page 59 of Her Forbidden Shifters
LIAM
I wasn’t paying much attention to where we were going as I followed Noah to his sister’s apartment. Not only did I not fully recall which one we were heading for, since I had only been there once, but I figured the walk would give me a little more time to think through a few things. That was until we rounded the corner of an adjoining hall and he stopped without warning. I nearly bumped into him.
“What the hell?” I growled out, taking a step back from him. “Why did you stop?”
“Because…” he said with a nod in front of him, “my sister’s door is still open.”
I turned my attention in the direction he stared and frowned as I took in the apartment at the end of the hallway. The door hung wide open, showcasing the sunlight that filled the space, filtering in from one of the windows.
“So?” I asked. “It doesn’t look like anyone is there. We should keep going.”
He still didn’t move. My patience was being tested. Just when I was about to step around him, he spoke again.
“Nothing looks burned,” Noah shrugged. “But I can smell the remnants of a fire.”
I sniffed the air and nodded. “Yeah. I can too.”
A pinch entered my forehead. I wasn’t sure what we were going to find in Avery’s apartment, but I had a feeling it was going to be a whole lot of nothing.
“How is this even possible?” Noah asked.
I shrugged even though he couldn’t see it. “I think Savannah is better equipped to answer that question. We should keep moving, I don’t want to spend any more time here than necessary.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” he said and continued forward. “Though I probably won’t be able to ask her about much of anything until she’s up.”
“The magic stuff isn’t what’s important right now,” I muttered. “What is important is getting the heirloom so we can locate your sister and close this case.”
“In a hurry to get rid of me?” he asked. “Here, I thought you were just starting to warm up to me.”
I glared at the back of his head until we stood just outside of the apartment. “Aren’t you anxious to get your sister back?”
“Of course, I am,” he said, voice strained. He cast a quick glance at me from over his shoulder.
We stepped inside. I sniffed the air again and fought against a sneeze as something burned the inside of my nostrils. I recognized the scent as spark powder. But how? Nothing around was burned. Despite what Jacob said. Still, I had an idea and turned toward the window and narrowed my gaze to the particles of dust floating in the air. Bits and pieces of them sparkled with a reddish-orange tinge. I had never seen anything like that before. I shook my head, trying to make connections with all the facts so far and failing.
“A fire that doesn’t consume everything into ash?” I asked. “This isn’t any magic I’m familiar with.”
“It doesn’t make sense to me either. The whole lack of fire damage is unusual as well. The only thing I know that could do this is—” Noah stopped suddenly and turned to face me. His expression was filled with worry and pain.
I nodded, understanding where he was going. “Dragon’s fire.”
“You don’t think…?” he started to ask. His voice cracked and then he swallowed hard before adding, “They wouldn’t have been able to…”
I shook my head and clamped a hand over his shoulder. “I’m sure she’s fine. But we are running out of time. If we don’t find her soon, it’s likely we never will.”
Noah nodded. “I appreciate your honesty.”
“This group had gone out of their way to send us a message,” I said.
“What would that be exactly?” he asked. “We’re better than you?”
“Back off. Nothing more. Nothing less.” I shrugged and continued to look around for any other clues. “My guess is, they somehow came up with a way to match dragon’s fire with chemicals and used that as a scare tactic meant to throw us off their trail. We have to be uncomfortably close to figuring out where they are for them to have gone to the extreme of doing something like this.”
Noah nodded. “Perhaps you are right. So maybe we should keep pushing.”
I moved deeper into the room. Things still weren’t adding up. But I wanted to keep searching in hopes that whoever did set the trap, they were sloppy and left more than a few specks of particles to go from. So far, nothing was turning up.
Maybe the dust left behind was purposeful and not so much a sign of getting sloppy. Another note to suggest they weren’t to be trifled with. One that radiated through every inch of space my eyes rested on.
