2. The Call That Changes Everything

2

THE CALL THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING

Telos sat down heavily on Mav’s bed, his mind spinning. “What.”

“Yeah,” Samantha said. “Look, they took her while I was in Utah—”

“That’s where I am right now.” Telos pinched the bridge of his nose. “Those might be the same kidnappers we’re hunting down, actually.”

There was a pause. “So you’ll rescue her immediately, right?”

“I’m on it,” Telos said. Because he didn’t feel like explaining the whole side mission of having a spell cast on him first. “I don’t even know what she looks like. Or what her name is.”

For all he knew, the kidnappers had a room full of babies with no parents. How was he going to pick out his own child? Who thought kidnapping a baby was a good idea when they needed to be fed all the time?

Fuck, he was a dad.

Fucking hell.

“Her name is Estie. Short for Estella,” Samantha said like Telos’ world wasn’t rearranging itself. “She has red hair, but she’s been changing its length and color. Along with random body parts. That isn’t from me.”

Telos tried to imagine what Estie looked like, but he still couldn’t. “That’s from my end. What color are her eyes?”

“Blue. Snub nose, and a mole on her left foot.”

“How did they take her from you?”

Samantha sighed. “I left her stroller next to me at the donut stand. I didn’t even see them coming. One moment, she was there. The next moment, some guys had grabbed the stroller and run off. They were too fast for me to chase down.”

Telos was starting to get a headache. “Shapeshifters are a dime a dozen. No one wants a shapeshifter kid... Unless she’s a mixed breed.”

Samantha cursed. “Yeah. She’s a firewalker, too.”

“Damn it. I don’t have any fireproof clothing on me. How am I going to get her out of there?”

“Mine are fireproof,” Mav said, joining the conversation for the first time. “We’ll get Uriel to spell a few so you can bring them along.”

“Fine,” Telos said, turning away. He wasn’t sure he wanted to share this sudden, overwhelming news with Mav, who would probably mock him for it. “How old is Estie?”

“Almost seven months,” Samantha said. “You’ll like her. She doesn’t cry a lot.”

Great. So now their mission involved rescuing at least six babies, and four adults. Telos sighed and rubbed his temples. “Is there anything else I should know?”

“I think Estie’s kidnappers were watching us for a while,” Samantha said in a hushed voice. “She doesn’t do the fire thing often, so there was no way for them to know unless they’d observed her for several hours.”

“So we’re dealing with creepers, on top of kidnappers. Wonderful.” Telos breathed out. “Thanks for calling me. I’ll take over from here.”

“Thanks,” Samantha said, sounding relieved. “Call if you have more questions.”

“I will. Watch your back, Sam. There’s a ton of bad guys out there.”

“Will do. Good luck, and keep me posted.”

The call ended. Telos stared at his phone, trying to process everything.

“Want some pie?” Mav asked.

Telos turned, expecting Mav to throw the pie at his face. But the other alpha remained seated on Telos’ bed, Telos’ pot pie half-eaten in his hand.

Occasionally, Mav was nice to him. Telos hated it because it reminded him of what he couldn’t have.

They were both alphas. Alphas didn’t get together with each other; they gravitated toward smaller partners, people they needed to protect. Telos didn’t need anyone’s protection. He didn’t like submitting, and he didn’t like other alphas. Until Mav.

For some reason, Mav had gotten under his skin. Mav parried his insults with insults, and he was a bit of an asshole, just like Telos.

“I don’t need chest hair in my food,” Telos grumbled, getting up to stuff his second pot pie into the microwave.

While his food was heating, he paced, keeping his eyes on his phone. He could feel Mav watching him. He pulled out his third frozen meal—roast beef, green beans, and fried potatoes—and used a plastic spoon to make himself a PB he could hear himself think. Telos got into the passenger seat of the rental car and pushed it all the way back, stretching his legs. Then he rolled down the windows for a cross breeze, eating without paying attention to his food.

Somewhere out there, he had a baby. A baby with his nose and his abilities. She was starting to shapeshift, and... did it make her laugh? What did she sound like when she giggled?

Telos realized suddenly that he’d gone six months without knowing of her existence. Without seeing her first milestones.

Then he grew mad at Samantha for hiding his baby from him. But Samantha didn’t want to be Estie’s parent anymore—Telos would get Estie for the rest of his life. He’d get the rest of Estie’s milestones.

That was, if he found her, instead of letting the kidnappers train her into a soldier. The kidnappers wanted to deprive her of a fun and loving dad, deprive her of her entire childhood, and they’d punish her for the smallest things.

Without thinking, Telos crushed the pot pie in his fists. He only realized what he’d done when warm gravy oozed all over his fingers. “Damn it.”

He licked the gravy off his hands and turned the ruined pie upside down, so it fell into his roast beef and fried potatoes. Then he shoveled it all into his mouth and chewed with a vengeance.

I’m going to get you out of there, Estie, and make sure you have a safe home with me.

Not that he was ready for a baby in any way.

With a sigh, Telos pulled out his phone and dialed.

Hilly-Billy answered almost immediately. Most days, he pretended to be a young guy working in IT—square glasses, button-down shirt, complete with a bow tie. “Brother Master! What can I do for you?”

The knot in Telos’ chest loosened a little. He breathed out. “Butler Brother, Minion. I need you to acquire a full collection of baby accessories. Crib, clothes, toys, the works. And I need it all fireproofed.”

Hilly-Billy gasped. “You have a baby on the way?”

“Apparently I have a six-month-old. Her name is Estie. And she’s been kidnapped.”

Hilly-Billy swore. “Let me get on that immediately.” There came typing sounds from a keyboard. “Huh.”

“What is it?”

“Looks like all the fireproofed cribs in Cartfalls are backordered. There’s been a surge of people buying cribs.”

Telos didn’t know if it was his friends buying them up, or the kidnappers. “Damn it. Surely we can just buy a regular one, and have someone fireproof it.”

“That’ll take a while.” Hilly-Billy continued to type into his computer. “The very best spell casters are booked up, too—”

“You can borrow mine,” Mav said from inside the hotel room.

Telos swiveled his head to stare at the closed door. “Wait. Did I just hear Mav—stuck-up, holier-than-thou, dino-hating Mav— offer to lend me his crib? ”

Hilly-Billy gasped. “Are you serious? Did you wriggle your majestic dino butt—”

“No!” Telos said before Hilly-Billy could divulge anything more incriminating. “I was probably hearing things.”

“You’re not,” came Mav’s reply.

Telos’ heart skipped a beat. “You’re eavesdropping on me,” he hissed, embarrassed. His chest grew warm anyway. “Why do you even have a crib?”

“Why are you looking a gift horse in the mouth?” Mav retorted.

“Are you saying you’re a horse? ” Telos asked gleefully. “Will you get on all fours—”

“Shut it, before I rescind the offer.”

Telos huffed. “Wait. Is this a gift? You said ‘gift’. I don’t have to return it?”

“I want it back,” Mav said, suddenly grouchier than before.

Telos’ eyebrows shot up. Huh. “Minion, arrange the borrowing with Hadley. Have Hadley steal the rest of Mav’s fireproof clothes, too.”

Hilly-Billy cackled and hung up so he could call his brother—Mav’s butler.

“Don’t give me a reason to come out and smash your phone,” Mav said mildly.

“The order has already been issued. Too late,” Telos crowed. “Now, stop eavesdropping, or I’ll do something you will regret.”

“Like what? What can you possibly do that’ll make me recoil?”

Telos stilled, glancing at their hotel room door again.

There was one thing.

He could do it, and it would be par for the course, because he lived to make Mav’s life as miserable as he could.

“Keep listening, and you’ll find out,” Telos sang.

He finished his dinner and washed it down with soda. In their room, Mav seemed to be done eating, too. Telos listened as he took a shower—Mav didn’t jerk off, though. Then there was a rustle of sheets, and the squeak of a mattress.

Did Mav even put on his underwear before climbing into bed? Or was he completely naked? Telos swallowed.

After a while, there were no more sounds. Telos waited another ten minutes for Mav to lower his guard.

Ever so slowly, he reached down, giving his bulge a squeeze. Telos made himself forget about his other problems. Right now, there was just him and his hand, and Mav possibly listening in.

He licked his lips and squeezed again, pretending it was Mav’s large hand on him. Mav grabbing him roughly between the legs, hissing into his ear, Let’s see you get hard for me.

Telos’ breath snagged. As quietly as he could, he unbuckled his belt. He popped the button on his pants, too. Then he dragged down the zipper, and reached into his underwear.