“Could it affect Eugene?” Brock asked, and I was sure he must be thinking of the pack he’d left stationed there.
Molly looked up, chestnut eyebrows at odds with her violet hair as they climbed toward her hairline. “If this tsunami hits like they’re predicting, Eugene could be beachfront property or even wiped off the map.”
“I can’t leave the gate unguarded,” I said right away. “We can’t evacuate Eugene. This feels like a trap.”
“Like hell you can’t,” Brock said. “That gate isn’t worth your life.”
“It’s my responsibility. This is what I have to do. Nobody but me can do it. If I don’t protect it, who knows what might come through.”
“The tsunami will kill whatever comes through,” Tianna said, on her feet next, moving to the rest of us. “No creature can withstand the kind of force Molly is talking about, not even demons from the underworld.”
I looked between her, Haru, and Reo. I could feel Brock’s glare like a laser beam, but this was bigger than me, what we shared, even bigger than the unborn life I carried inside. “So even if the gate cracks open wider as this comes in, there’s no concern that the entire underworld will pour out because all the shit coming through would be killed?” I asked the warrior brothers.
“That’s probably what would happen,” Haru said. “Unless water creatures come through.”
“Probably,” I repeated. “That means it’s possible the entire gate could open when these seismic forces roll into the tectonic plates beneath Oregon, or whatever scientific shit will actually happen. Then if the tsunami doesn’t kill the demons, humanity will be over anyway because there’ll be no containing all the beasts that escaped.”
“Yes, that’s a possibility,” Reo agreed.
I looked down at my phone. The alert had come in an hour ago and it gave a ten hour impact warning. That meant we had nine hours to get our shit together.
“We can come back as soon as it’s safe and seal the gate then,” Cass said, but I wondered how much of what he said was motivated by his desire to protect me. “We’ll fix whatever happens. We always do.”
He knew me too well. He knew that no matter what, I was thinking about all that could go wrong if I abandoned this unstable gate. Fuck, it was barely keeping things out without a damn tsunami. But I was pregnant, and not a total idiot, so I knew I needed to put my life first.
Cass placed a stubby hand on the back of my thigh. ‘You won’t accomplish anything worthwhile if you stay behind. You’ll just get yourself killed, girl.’ His black eyes said what he didn’t, not even in my head. He and I’d been through too much together to throw it all away on an off chance.
“We’re evacuating the second we hit land,” Brock said in his alpha tones, though he had to know I’d only follow his command if I wanted. “Ray’s already getting the wolves ready to go.”
Ah, that’s why Brock hadn’t been hounding me to go with him. He’d been using the pack link to communicate with his second in command. I kept forgetting that Brock was responsible for nearly a hundred wolves. He no doubt felt the weight of every one of their lives on his shoulders, especially now.
Between the look Cass was giving me and the way Brock’s entire face told me he couldn’t lose me, I finally nodded. “All right. But the second the coast is clear, I’m heading back to get that gate closed once and for all. Whatever mess there is to clean then, I’ll clean it up.”
“And we’ll be right by your side cleaning up monster shit with you,” Cass said.
Good. It was settled. The blaring alarms had finally all been silenced. We had a plan, and it was taking us away from the blasted gate and the epicenter of our problems.
My phone rang to the tune of Who Let the Dogs Out?
Cass and I froze. “Shiiiiiit,” he said. “Don’t answer it.”
I sighed. “You know I have to.”
“You don’t have to do anything, girl. You’re a badass bounty hunter.”
“Who’ll have her ass handed to her by her boss if she doesn’t take his call.”
“It’s Mack?” Tianna asked. Apparently she and Cass had done some pillow talking.
“The one and only.” I hit the answer button and snapped the phone to my ear before I could change my mind. “Evie Black,” I answered. Fucker better not be calling to bitch at me about something. I had enough to deal with today.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Mack barked into the phone. The satyr and head of the entire Supernatural Bounty Hunting Agency was known for his gruff demeanor and addiction to banging fae. “I’ve been calling you like I got nothin’ better to do with my time.”
Yeah, he’d actually probably had Stella, his secretary who handled the entire agency while Mack was “otherwise engaged,” doing the dialing. But no one talked back to Mack and got away with it.
“I was busy,” I said without explanation. I hadn’t let Mack in on the whole kitsune underworld-gate deal, and I didn’t think now was the time. A tsunami was rolling our way.
“Yeah, busy not taking my call is what you were. Listen, we’ve got a major problem. The humans are up in arms. The sirens—”
Please don’t say it, please...
“—they’ve escaped again. Both of them this time.”
I let Mack go on while I processed that shit for news. Sirens loose. Tsunami approaching … my head was reeling.
“I don’t know what kind of clusterfuck the human authorities are running,” Mack fumed, “but this next time I’m keeping them myself until the humans can prove they actually have a way to contain the bitches.”
“You’re sure they’re out?” I asked when I finally found my voice.
“A hundred percent. And I need you to bring them back to me right away. I’ll pay you big time, Evie. You and Cass are the only ones that can handle them. Are you up for it? The bounty is at a hundred large this time. The humans are willing to pay big bucks to get these bitches under lock and key. Again.”
I barely registered the money. All I could think was that the bitch who’d killed Gran was on the loose again, and this time she had her sister with her.
“Yeah, I’m on it,” I said. My voice could cut glass.
“Good. Call me when you have something.” And the satyr hung up.
“What’d he want?” Cass asked right away.
“Calista and her sister … have broken out.”
“What?” Molly squealed.
“Both of them?” Tianna asked, her shock evident across her face.
I nodded numbly. “They’re on the loose, and it’s Cass’ and my job to bring them back in.”
Brock let loose a wicked snarl. I didn’t dare meet the fury I was certain I’d find in his gaze. Because I knew exactly what this meant.
My bestie squeezed my hand. “You know what this means, right?” he asked.
“Yeah, they’re the ones causing the tsunami. Which means we can’t go anywhere.”
I’d never heard of sirens powerful enough to move tectonic plates, but these were no ordinary sirens. I shivered just thinking about what would happen if all three of them got together, when two of them were this powerful.
“Mother. Fucker!” Brock roared.
“If they’re heading toward the gate, that means the tsunami is only a distraction to get us out of the area,” I said. Now it was clear as day.
“So that you’d leave the gate exposed,” Molly added.
“Yep.” I nodded, sure that’s what the conniving bitches were planning.
“Do the sirens have the power to create a tsunami?” Brock asked, probably deliberating whether or not he was going to try to fling me over his shoulder and force me to safety.
Cass scowled. “I think they do. These sirens are legendary. Calista let us take her into custody so she could break her sister out.”
“I agree,” I said. “Together they could probably pull it off, because Calista’s had her magic enhanced by nasty witches.”
“The nastiest,” Tianna said, nodding. “With the assistance of witches, Calista could probably pull that shit off.”
“Let’s go,” I told Brock. “I’ve got a gate to protect.”
The alpha just settled his beautiful mouth into grim lines and helped me ashore. From the distracted look on his face I could tell he was already communicating with Ray. We’d need all hands on deck to survive this one.
20 Preparing for Doom
Brock and Tianna drove us back to the property like they were Formula One drivers courting a death wish. Engines whirred and gunned, tires squealed, as we raced, unimpeded, in the opposite direction of the thousands of people fleeing the tsunami. A few kind-hearted drivers flashed their lights and honked to warn us we were headed into danger. Several drivers of less kindly dispositions shouted obscenities at us, suggesting we were idiots. Of course, none of them had any way of knowing that heading straight into danger was how we rolled.
We were their best bet at stopping the tsunami. Congestion along the highways prevented traffic from moving rapidly enough, and chances were slim that these families would manage to put enough distance between them and the giant wall of destruction barreling our way, building momentum beneath the ocean’s waters.
The sirens were all about saving themselves, and maybe also about saving the third sister locked inside the underworld—for now. They were most likely hell bent on destroying Earth. Who knew what their true motivation was for siccing a tsunami on the northwest? I just wanted them dead. I had no intention of returning them to Mack. They were too dangerous. No, I’d have to kill them and tell him it was an accident, life or death. Screw the hundred grand bounty. I needed to be able to sleep at night. I couldn’t risk them breaking free yet again.
Our only hope of saving all these people from the tsunami was to find and stop the sisters. If my hunch was right, and their magic was encouraging the tsunami to build in force and head this way, interrupting their magic was the only way to stop it.
And the only chance of sparing the fleeing families from the vicious creatures from the underworld was to seal that fucking gate. If the gate tore all the way open and those underworlders crawled out of it, there’d be no escaping them. There’d be no place far enough that anyone could flee to secure their safety. Humanity would be well and truly fucked.
Save the world. No pressure.
I rolled my neck to either side to alleviate some of the tension. Brock noticed and placed a hand on my thigh as he turned his fancy truck onto the long drive toward home in a squeal of tires.
“Damn, that woman can drive,” Molly said from the back seat, where she was sandwiched once more by my warrior protectors and looking out the windshield at Tianna ahead of us.