Page 30 of Fallen Court

“Or they’ll come crawling to us,” Roark added with a smug grin.

“Let’s hope so.” Ciara’s sigh carried a weight I understood. No wonder she was in such a bad mood. Doing business with the city’s covens was difficult on a good day and rarely required the three groups to work together. “I’m supposed to meet with the covens in a few hours to hunt down anyone who’s holding out on us.”

Probably a fair few.

“And before that, we need to have a family meeting of our own,” Fiona suggested. “Someone should call Shaw at the hospital.”

“Hospital?”

“He’s with Channing,” Ciara explained. “I figured Cate would kill us if anything happened to her brother, so I made him keep watch. That way, when she gets back…”

A knot tightened in my throat. I managed a nod of thanks but couldn’t bring myself to speak.

“Bain doesn’t have her,” Roark told them in a low voice.

Ciara stared at him for a minute before her eyes flashed to me. “That doesn’t make sense. Where is she?”

“Maybe she just left town,” Fiona said.

Anger gripped me, but it was Ciara who snapped, “You don’t know her.”

“And Channing called me,” I reminded them. “He said someone took her.”

“He didn’t say who it was?”

I swallowed. “I assumed.” I should have nipped to her brother the moment he called, should have forced the information out of him before this could happen. “Has he told us anything?”

Ciara glanced at Roark.

“What?” I asked.

She took a deep breath. “He’s in a coma. There was a lot of internal damage. Garcia isn’t sure he’ll walk again.”

Only half of what she said filtered through. “You’re telling me that no one has talked to Channing?”

“Try to keep up. He’s in a coma,” Fiona said.

“Did you even try to wake him?”

Ciara glared at me. “We’ve had our hands full. Do you know how hard it is to track down every creature in this city?”

“And we thought Bain had her,” Fiona reminded me.

“So now we know that he doesn’t.” I got up, testing my ankle for a second before I strode to my closet for clothes. One fucking blood apple, and I was healed. They could have given it to me days ago if they were going to stifle my magic’s natural ability to heal. I slipped out of the torn shirt, pausing to scrub away the clotted remnants of the fight, before I reached for another. “Channing knows who has her. We need him awake.”

Roark picked up another blood apple from the bowl, reading my mind.

“That’s not going to be enough,” Ciara told him. “He’s paralyzed. He needs something stronger than that.”

Finally, we agreed on something. It was likely to be the last thing we agreed on, though. “You’re right.” I turned to Roark, the shadow magic of my city ebbing toward me. “Call Baptiste.”

Chapter Nine

Cate

It was a rough landing.

My stomach continued its descent as the four of us crashed into a pile, landing on hard stone. I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes, convinced I’d find myself sprawled on the marble floor of the Hallow Court. But the scent of fresh rain hit my nostrils, followed by car horns and engines and tires swishing on wet streets.