Holding him tight, she rubbed his back and rocked him. “Nick? You okay, baby? Something happen at school?”

“Yeah. I’m all right. Just missed you.”

“Missed you, too.” Laughing, she kissed his cheek. “Not sure why I went back to bed, though. Last thing I remember was fussing about the milk. Then I was going for the paper. Hmm … must be getting old. Losing my mind.”

Nick snorted. “You’re not old. That’s just me aging you before your time.” He winked at her. “By the way, I have friends from school with me.”

“Usual suspects? Caleb and Kody?”

“Kody and Xev.”

“Xev … the cute, sweet, bashful boy with that lovely accent and extravagant hair?”

He smiled at her kind description of Xev’s unorthodox appearance that had been known to make others scream and cross the street whenever they saw him for the first time. Some had been a lot more cruel, which was why Xev preferred to stay in his cat form, for the most part. He only appeared human around Nick, Kody, and his mom.

Leave it to his mom to not judge Xev on anything other than his character and heart. “That’s the one.”

“Well, just don’t make a mess. Do you need me to do anything for you?”

Stay safe and don’t ever get hurt because of me. But he could never say that out loud.

Nick shook his head. “Nah. We’re good. You rest.” He stepped away from the bed and closed the door before he returned to the living room, where his friends waited.

Kody looked at him expectantly. “Well?”

“She remembers absolutely nothing. Her last memory was when I went to school.”

Xev moved to check on the windows and see if the crows were still there. “Where did Livia find her?”

“She wouldn’t tell me. Only that she’d overheard some things she wasn’t supposed to, and found her that way.”

Kody screwed up her face. “What could she have possibly heard?”

“No idea.”

Kody looked at Xev, who in turn shrugged. “I’ve only spoken to you and Nick.” He paused before he spoke again. “And while I don’t mean to downplay this matter with your mother … I think we might have bigger problems at the moment.”

Nick groaned as even more dread filled him. He really was going to give birth to a diamond before all was said and done. “What?”

Xev stepped back and opened the curtains for them to see the dark clouds and clear sill. There was no longer a single bird in sight. “The Memitim are gone. Given our luck, I’ll take odds that means they’ve found Caleb’s location, and are currently in the midst of making lunch of him.”

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7