Page 77 of The Omega's Bloodlinem: Part Two

What just happened?Yelena and Seth both came through at the same time.

A wide-eyed Logan appeared in the bathroom door, her skin flushed, slick dripping down to her knees. “Did I do that?”

“You sure fucking did,” I said with a laugh. “I knew you were hot, but that’s a little bit overkill.”

Velda!Yelena snapped.

It’s fine, it’s fine. I forgot to have some crystals on hand and Logan lit my couch on fire when she came.

Seth came through loud and clear.Oh, fuck.

I stared at the soaked, charred remains. Oh, fuck, indeed.

“What the hell is going on now?” Shakti groused as she sat down hard at the table, immediately reaching for the tray of pastries.

“Just a little accidental arson,” I replied, cheeks warm.

Shakti paused, pain au chocolat halfway to her lips. “You figured out how to wrangle the whole nest, but not yourself?”

All the Protectors had gathered, including Calliope, though she looked a little worse for wear. Caden, Seth, and Haru weren’t here this time, and even Murdoch had excused himself. Yelena and Kendrick notably sat next to each other directly across from me, leaving me between Velda and Shakti, Calliope at the head of the table.

“It’s my fault,” said Velda, giving me a wink. “And it was my couch that suffered for it.”

“She’s going to burn the whole nest down,” Shakti lamented.

“That’s why we need to figure out a way to prevent it,” said Yelena.

“Oh,” Velda added, “I’ve been sorting things out with an eagle shifter who does air tours in Northern California. The Councils move at a fucking snail’s pace, and I figured I would get things rolling instead of waiting for approval.”

“Wedon’t move at a snail’s pace,” Shakti pointed out. “We don’t get to know what you’re planning? This is supposed to be a democracy.”

Calliope smacked her hand on the table. “Let’s go one at a time. You guys are giving me a headache. Velda, go.”

“Logan wants to evacuate the kids in case something goes wrong during her heat. We figured an airlift would be the safest route since we can’t use the roads, so I reached out to see if that was a possibility. He’s on his way here right now. He’ll refuel in Medford, pick up as many as he can here, and drop them at the Seattle nest. We need to keep an eye on the monster and make sure it’s not going to follow them.”

“I’ll take care of that,” I said.

Shakti turned to me. “How?”

“I’ll distract it. I’m what it wants, and hopefully it won’t pay the evacuation any mind.”

“So we have to coordinate that in the next few hours, then?”

“Yep,” said Velda. “He gave us the weight limit for passengers so people won’t be able to take anything but the absolute necessities, if that. I have Cora preparing the families here to be ready to leave. As soon as we’re done with the meeting, we can go help, though I’m sure she has it well in hand. But before that, we need to figure out a way to stop Logan from burning anything down during her heat.”

I squirmed, all of them carefully observing me.

Yelena raised her hand briefly, turning everyone’s attention to her. “We found scripts in the witch book that might be of use. It sounds like they were used to funnel magic. The only problem is finding a way to keep them on Logan’s skin for days at a time. The ink recipes they provided fade in a day or two.”

“Use henna,” said Shakti. Our heads swiveled from Yelena to her. “It’ll last way longer than ink. I already have a batch processing. I was going to use it for some of the ladies tonight since they’re forced to hold still and relax while it dries.”

“Would you help us with it?” I asked.

“I’m not trusting the rest of them. I’ve seen their penmanship. Show me what I’m putting on the witch so I can practice.”

A moment later, a knock at the door announced Seth delivering the book. Yelena swept over to accept it with a quick thank-you. She opened one of the pages she’d marked and laid it in front of Shakti. “These ones contain the magic.” She flipped to another page. “And this one should keep Logan from becoming a mother during all of this.”

A little knot of unrealized anxiety in my stomach loosened. We had so many other things to worry about, I hadn’t even been focused on the potential for a child. That was technically the entire point of a heat, but I was very glad Yelena had still been looking into alternatives after the one witch we spoke to denied us the recipe to prevent it.

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