Surrendering(46)

“Twenty-nine,” piped up Damian. “Another went missing in the Philly area yesterday.”

“Fuck. Okay, twenty-nine girls missing in the last three weeks between our Regents. What I didn’t tell you about Kate, other than she’s my Moira, is that she’s a dreamwalker.”

It was so quiet in the room you could hear a pin drop.

“She hasn’t seen Xavier specifically, but she’s described an evil presence. I know it’s him; I feel it in every cell of my body. She said others are being held as well.” He described Kate’s latest dream and the session earlier today with Olivia. “Hopefully next time she dreams about Sarah she can discern Xavier’s location, but we can’t wait for her to have another dream. As you know, dreamwalkers can’t control them. We know Thatcher was going to interrogate the professor who last saw Sarah Hill. Do we know what went down with that yet?”

“I have a call into him,” growled Ren. “Asshole hasn’t called me back yet.”

Romaric spoke up. “You’d all do well to build a cooperative relationship with the local police versus an adversarial one. It’s worked well in my Regent.”

“Why, thank you for that observation, Romaric. I hadn’t thought of that myself.” Ren’s comment dripped with sarcasm.

Dev spoke up. “Thatcher has his reasons.” He needed to get this meeting back on track. “I think we need to call Esmeralda.” That quieted down the room.

Damian pushed off the wall that he’d been leaning against. “Fuck, no. That’s a supremely bad idea, Dev.” Damian had some strange aversion to witches of any kind.

“What choice do we have, Damian? I’m open to other ideas here, but we clearly need some help because we’re making no progress. You heard Kate’s last dream.”

Damian took a few steps toward Dev. “Dev, listen. I know this is personal for you man, but we all want Xavier dead just as much as you do. He’s a threat to our entire race, to our way of life. We all agree something needs to be done, but to involve a witch, that one in particular, is the worst possible idea. She can’t be trusted. You know that.”

He knew involving Esmeralda was a bad idea, but he was desperate. As long as Xavier lived, there was always a chance he could find Kate. That absolutely terrified him.

“What other ideas you got?”

“I have all of my ears to the ground, as does Romaric, and I know you do as well. From what we’ve been able to piece together so far, we think that Xavier’s new HQ may be out of your Regent, Dev. Fucker is probably right under our noses. Let’s wait ’til dusk tomorrow. If we know nothing new from the cop, your woman, or from any of our contacts, we revisit the witch discussion.”

Everyone agreed that was the best approach. The idea of those girls spending another minute in Xavier’s clutches made Dev physically ill, but patience was required when hunting. He normally excelled at patience, but it seemed he’d left it on the floor of the observation room at the police station the moment he first laid eyes on Kate.





Chapter 27





Kate





She woke to a cold, empty bed. It took her a second to get her bearings. She was in Dev’s house. And Dev wasn’t in her bed, where he said he would be. The sheets on his side were cold, so she knew he’d been gone for some time now, which meant he wasn’t just using the bathroom. She should feel relieved that he’d decided to leave after all, but somehow she just felt…sad.

She’d foolishly believed him when he’d told her he’d wanted more than just sex. That he’d wanted her. She’d fallen asleep dreaming of what life would be like as Mrs. Devon Fallinsworth someday. She was the worst kind of fool.

She’d told him to go, but he’d convinced her there was no place he’d rather be than with her. He made her feel like a completely different person, like she was somehow becoming the woman she always knew lurked deep inside of her. She didn’t feel comfortable around most people, but with Dev…with Dev, it was like she was home, wrapped in a fluffy robe with matching fuzzy slippers, in front of a fireplace, sipping champagne. She was content for the first time in her life.

She sighed heavily. She needed to get out of here before she fell completely in love with this man. Since it wasn’t safe to go home, maybe she could stay with Erin? It was probably for the best. She didn’t know if she could stomach seeing Dev again without throwing herself at him, begging him to return the feelings she’d grown for him. Begging him to make love to her again.

God, Kate. Have more respect for yourself than that. She wouldn’t beg any man for anything. Ever. She was leaving in the morning for sure. If she had her own car here, she’d leave now. She knew Dev would fight her on it, but she didn’t care. She simply had to get out of this house and away from him for good. Get back to her boring, lonely life and work on eliminating him from her head, and heart.