“Small periods are better than nothing.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“You know that itchy feeling you get? The one that says we’re about to hit a truckload of trouble?”

“I get dreams, not itchy feelings.”

“Same, same, just a little more detailed.”

I smiled. There was a vast difference between getting prophetic dreams that always came true and simply feeling the approach of something ominous—and he knew it. “What is this premonition telling you?”

He hesitated. “Just that something bad is happening.”

“Happening? As in, right now?”

He nodded, his expression serious. “I don’t know what, I don’t know where, but whatever it is, it’s bad.”

“Until we get a little more detail, it’s hard to do anything about it.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed a hand across his jaw. “Why don’t we grab Rory’s food and get back—just in case he’s the reason for the bad sensations.”

“No one knows where he is, so I doubt it.”

Even so, I finished off my tea and quickly rose. The drive-through queue had tapered off by that time, so it didn’t take long to get Rory’s burgers as well as a couple extra for the two of us. I might have already eaten, but my stomach was still demanding more. It was just as well my metabolic rate ran far hotter than a human’s; otherwise, I’d have been the size of a house.

As we headed out, I added, “It might be worthwhile to leave the van—and your phone—here. I don’t want to risk anyone tracing us to the cabin.”

He nodded and jogged off to the van. I climbed into my car and drove over to pick him up, then swung back onto the road that would take us to Trawool and the cabin.

Jackson was silent the entire trip, but I could feel the tension in him. Whatever he was picking up, it was growing in intensity. I parked in front of the door again, then grabbed the bags of food and hurried up the steps.

The heat once again surged over me as I opened the door and stepped inside. Rory was not only unharmed but also awake.

“That was quick,” he said. Though he sounded brighter, I could still feel the tiredness—the weakness—in him. Refueling was not happening at any great speed, which was frustrating. Not that there was anything he could do about it—it was just the way things were playing out with this rebirth.

“That’s because I’m well aware how grouchy you get when you don’t get fed in a reasonable time frame.”

A smile tugged his lips. “Says the woman who once threatened to cinder me if I didn’t present chocolate immediately.”

“A statement any reasonable woman would understand.” I squatted down beside him, then unwrapped one of the burgers and handed it to him.