A familiar voice snapped, “She’s right here,” and I saw who was holding me. It was Grace, now back in her old-crone glamour, her ugly face contorted in a scowl, one bony hand wrapped around my arm, the other around Gabriel’s, as she hauled us toward the hall.

Something bashed against the apartment door, and I stumbled back, saying, “No!” as I imagined the birds again, but Grace only muttered under her breath and released us.

She threw open the door and was nearly bowled over by Lloergan. The hound ran straight to me and then looked around wildly before seeing Gabriel and exhaling, her flanks quivering.

“Yes, they’re fine,” Grace muttered. “Now get the hell out of my—”

Lloergan spun on Grace and growled, her fur rising as she pressed against my leg.

“Don’t you growl at me, cŵn,” Grace said.

Lloergan kept rumbling but turned her attention to the room, peering about it. When I laid my hand on her head, darkness hit me, a sudden breathtaking wave of it.

I saw the birds again, that dark whirl of them, heard the roar, felt the wind from those wings battering me as terror, absolute terror, washed through me, my legs locking, the growl in my throat turning to a whimper, my tail sliding between my legs, my only thought to flee, to run, to get out.

I snapped back to myself, Lloergan still pressed against my leg, Gabriel’s fingers wrapped around my arm. “Are you all right?” he asked.

I nodded, and we passed Grace as we headed for the door.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Grace ushered us into the hallway and then locked the apartment door behind us.

“What the hell were you two doing in there?” Grace snapped.

I opened my mouth, but Gabriel beat me to it.

“You changed the lock on Olivia’s apartment,” he said.

“So you randomly started opening doors?”

“No,” I said. “When the lock on mine didn’t work, I was checking whether the one next door looked new, if maybe you’d changed all the locks. When Gabriel turned the knob, it opened.”

Her gaze met mine. “Just like that. It popped open.”

“Yes,” Gabriel said.

“As if you left it open,” I said. “Left it for us to find.”

“I would never—” She cut herself short. “If that door opened for Gabriel…”

She trailed off, as if realizing that his fae blood must have undone whatever magic she’d placed on it.

“What did you see in there?” she said.

“A crappy apartment,” I said. “Just like mine.”

“Don’t you bullshit me, girl. You—”

“Give Olivia the new key for her door,” Gabriel said. “Now. We will return to clear the last of her things, and you will refund all her unused rent money. If you do not, I will sue you for unlawful eviction.”

“I didn’t change her locks.”