“My fault,” she gasped, her voice muffled. “This is my fault. Ava knew I was unhappy in Talon. She convinced me to run with her. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.” Her voice trailed off into more muted sobbing, and Wes ran a hand down his face.

“Bollocks,” he muttered, sounding both annoyed and sympathetic, which surprised me. “I didn’t even see her there. I suppose this is one of the hatchlings you went to rescue?”

“Her name is Faith,” I said, as Faith didn’t look like she could introduce herself at that point. “There’s another one out there, too, with Riley.”

“Ava,” Faith supplied, her voice small and choked with tears. “Her n-name is Ava. And if she dies, it’ll be my fault.” Turning into the corner, she collapsed into helpless sobs again.

Garret watched the crying girl for a moment, then looked at me, clearly lost. Sighing, I stepped forward, put an arm around her shoulders and drew her away from the wall. She sniffled and turned into me, hiding her face, her whole body shaking against mine.

“There was a man in the hotel,” Garret went on, looking at Wes, while I rubbed Faith’s back and waited for her to calm down. “We saw him at the bottom of the elevators. Dark, tall, wearing a red suit. He looked suspicious. Any reason we should be concerned?”

“Red suit?” Wes rubbed the bridge of his nose. “That’s just Griffin, one of Riley’s contacts. And yes, the blighter is shady as hell, but I don’t think we have to worry about him. I’m more concerned about Riley at the moment.” He looked at Garret, narrowing his eyes. “Did you say the Order was waiting for you?”

“They ambushed us at the hotel,” Garret replied. “We had to split up.”

“That’s bloody suspicious,” Wes muttered, crossing his arms. “No one knew where you were going. The only ones with that information were me and…” He trailed off, the color draining from his face. “Bloody bastard,” he whispered. “I’ll kill him. If Riley doesn’t, I’ll shoot the blighter myself.”

“Can you get a lock on Riley’s phone?” Garret asked, before I could ask who Wes meant. Apparently, that information was obvious to everyone but me. The human shook his head.

“What do you think I’ve been doing the past hour, mate?” he snapped. “No, I can’t get a signal. It’s either turned off or dead. Which could mean all sorts of things, but I don’t like the implications of any of them, do you?”