Please let her have a baby in there, and not a giant egg.…

The woman slid her hand into the pocket of her maternity pants and pulled out my phone, then stepped forward to hand it to me.

“Anybody know how this works?” I held the phone up in my left hand, while my casted arm slid back around Kaci. A few of the younger birds nodded—likely those who conducted the Flight’s few interactions with human society.

“Good. I’m going to call my dad—he’s our Alpha, the one in charge—and fill him in. Then he’s going to toss his phone to one of your birds, and I’m going to give mine to one of you guys. You call a ceasefire, then give me back my phone.” I wasn’t willing to negotiate on that part. Without some way to communicate with my Pride, I’d never get to the Appalachian territory in two days, much less find the necessary evidence and make it back to…wherever the Flight lived.

“Then I’ll be on my way.”

“No!” Kaci’s head popped up on the edge of my vision, her cheek brushing my arm. I patted her back and squeezed her arm, telling her silently to stay quiet. I’d explain everything to her when we had a little privacy. Assuming we got that chance.

“Make your call,” a voice at my back ordered.

I autodialed, and my father answered on the first ring.

“Faythe?”

I almost cried at the sound of his voice, relieved to find him still alive. No matter who we’d lost in the offensive, it wasn’t my father.

“Yeah, it’s me. Kaci’s with me, and we’re both fine,” I added, before he could ask. “For now.”

My father’s barely there pause was the only indication that he understood the gravity of our situation, if not the details. “Where are you?”

“I don’t know. We’re in the Flight’s nest, but they haven’t been very forthcoming with an address.” I closed my eyes briefly, as loath as I was to take them off our captors. “Is everyone…okay?”

My father knew exactly what I meant. “No new casualties, on either side.”

My exhalation of relief was so ragged it was more like a sob. “Manx and Des?”

“They made it to a—”

“Time waits for no cat, Faythe Sanders,” an intrusive, scratchy voice warned, and a deep, low growl trickled from my father’s throat. “Your clock is already ticking.”

“Who is that?”

“Um…we’re kind of surrounded by thunderbirds. Literally.”

“What do they want?” Leather creaked over the line, then floorboards groaned as my father paced, a sure sign that he was planning something.

“I’ll explain in more detail when I get a chance, but the short version goes like this—they’re giving me two days to find proof that Malone’s Pride is responsible for Finn’s death, and when I get back with the evidence, they’ll let Kaci go.”

Another half second of silence, but for steady, heavy footsteps. “And if you don’t make it back on time?”