“No idea whatsoever. I’d just opened the door to let Cherise into the Jeep when I heard something shriek out like a banshee. One second I was on my feet, the next I was dating asphalt.… I don’t even know what hit me. I saw nothing but thick darkness. Like the ground rose up and jack-slapped me.”

Nick groaned silently. This told them nothing. They were right back where they started.

Nowhere.

And still his mom was out there.

Unprotected. Alone.

He couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to her. All his life, she’d protected him. Guarded him with everything she had. Now he felt completely responsible for her, especially since he was the primary reason she was in danger. If he wasn’t her son, no one would ever target her for harm.

I’ve got to find her.

And yet, in a strange way, he didn’t sense that she was in imminent danger. He couldn’t explain it. He had an overwhelming need to find her. But at the same time, there was a part of him that seemed to know she wasn’t under immediate threat.

It was such an odd sensation. One that made his skin literally sizzle and crawl. It moved as if it were alive.

Yeah, this was a weird, funky feeling that defied description.

Suddenly, his phone went off. Nick glanced down at the ID to see who it was. “My boss,” he said to Kody and Bubba. “Gotta take it.” Stepping out of the room, he answered the call.

“Where are you?” Kyrian’s stern tone was undercut by a note of hostile concern.

“Hospital.”

That only elevated his boss’s worried tone. “You okay? What happened? Why are you there? Were you hurt? Was there an accident?”

It took Nick a second to realize that Kyrian wouldn’t have any idea what had happened at school or with his mom. His concern came strictly from the shock of hearing that Nick was in a hospital. Period.

“My mom was kidnapped and Mark was assaulted while she was taken.”

“What!” Kyrian’s roar was deafening. “When did this happen?”

“Right after school started.”

“And you didn’t call me?”

“I thought you’d be sleeping.”

“Nick—”

“Kyrian.” He duplicated Kyrian’s agitated tone. “No offense, boss, there’s not a lot you can do this time of day.” As an immortal Dark-Hunter whose job was to protect mankind from the soulless Daimons who preyed on them at night, his boss had a nasty tendency to burst into flames should daylight touch any part of his body. “Not like you can come out and check on me. It’s fine, really. Bubba’s right here, by my side.”

“Still … I can call Acheron and have him—”