Page 19 of November Reign
“Cody told Toth that Mori was taking him to the show, but he knew Toth wouldn’t like it and asked ifhe’d mind him going without him. Toth was happy to stay home alone. He’s got Hela with him for company. Cody said he was a little unsure when Cody told him he’d be staying in the capitol, but Cody promised to be home first thing in the morning.”
This was a shit show.
“Follow me,” I ordered as I rushed to the living room where Oak was still flicking through our movie choices.
“I thought a comedy—“
“Pretty sure Cody, Damon and Parker are off doing something stupid.”
Oak was beyond angry. His face was wiped clean of any expression. It was so carefully blank I actually feared for Damon’s safety, because let’s be real, Damon was the ringleader.
“Explain,” he barked at Barr.
Unable to bear seeing the poor Hellhound looking on the verge of tears, I wrapped an arm around him.
“This isn’t your fault. I’m glad you came to us.”
“Why didn’t you go for their mates?” Oak was quick to ask. It was a fair question.
“They, uh, they are always with them. They don’t get a lot of freedom. I hoped—“
“If we found them, then they wouldn’t have to know.” Oak spared me a glance.
“Yes,” Barr practically whispered.
So what did we do? I felt sorry for Barr and maybe even understood where Damon was coming from. Ever since Cody had met Toth, actually back when he’d met Damon, he’d lost a lot of his freedoms.
“We don’t like living like this any more than they do, but we also like living. It’s too dangerous for them out there. Are they at least in the demon realm?”
Oak made a scoffing noise at my question. “No, they are partying it up here. If they were in the demon realm then he’d just tell Mori and have him fix it so Gregoris and Toth didn’t find out, right?”
Barr nodded again, looking miserable.
“How did they even get here? They didn’t have you take them because you’re here, looking for them. Did they leave you behind?”
The poor Hellhound was going to cry for sure. “Cody knows how to get back to the human realm now,” he said mournfully. “But it tires him quickly.”
“How did they slip away?” I prodded.
“They sent me to the bar for shots and when I turned around, they’d gone. I tracked them to outside theclub, but there was only the scent of a portal to the human realm.”
“Okay, so where did that go? Did you follow it?”
This time, Barr looked frustrated. “Of course! They did something with their scents to mask them.”
“I knew they were up to something!” Oak grumbled. He rubbed Barr’s shoulder. “Not your fault, okay? We’ll find them.”
“How?”
“Well,” Oak looked at me for help.
“First, we are going to try a tracking spell. Damon is smart, so they’ll have changed their appearance and smell. That’s easy. He isn’t as good at masking his magical signature.”
“Perfect,” Oak praised, making me feel warm inside. “While you try to trace his magic, me and Barr are going to check out the places he’s most likely to be. Just in case they manage to hide from your spell.”
I agreed with that plan. As long as they were found unharmed, I didn’t care how it was done. I just prayed to the goddess that we were the only ones that found them. I hoped none of the aviary or any of Basil’s people got to them first.
“They’re in Northarbor, right?” Oak asked Barr, who nodded. “If they are just trying to let loose, we need to find out where the best parties are.”
