“A watch team?” I inquired.
“Second years can go into the war zones when it’s not their assigned night, and do a watch night. They basically shadow a mission,” he explained.
My heart beat faster. “Yes, let’s do that.”
Lincoln whistled. “We’re going to pull this together in one night?”
Shea slammed her fist onto the table. “Hell yeah, we are!” she blurted out, a mild slur in her voice.
Lincoln raised one eyebrow at Noah. “Let’s cut Shea off, okay?”
She’d had like two beers. Lightweight.
Noah chuckled, rubbing the top of Shea’s head and messing up her curly hair. “I’ll make her my famous waffles while you guys plan our team. We’re going to need at least half a dozen soldiers, preferably more in case something scary comes through the portal.”
Shea shot Noah a death glare, and I knew it was because he’d messed up her hair. You never touched a woman’s curls. I knew from living with Shea the past six years, that there was no way back from a perfect curl turning to floofy frizz. You had to rewet it to get that tight tendril look again, and Shea was not one to spend that much time on it twice in one day.
Shea smoothed her locks as best she could and motioned to Donnie. “Can you make it tomorrow?”
“Absolutely,” he answered with a nod. “I can bring three of my buddies.”
Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, Shea started to make a list. From the sight of her handwriting, she was definitely tipsy.
Donnie turned to my gay bestie then. “Luke, you game for tomorrow night? Could really use a big strong shifter.”
Luke’s mouth hung open a little, beer clutched tightly in his hand. He wasn’t saying anything. Wow, I think the words ‘big strong shifter’ coming from Donnie’s lips froze his brain.
“He’s game. Totally,” Chloe interjected for Luke, which seemed to snap him out of his love trance.
“Totally.” Luke’s voice cracked a little, and Donnie smiled wider.
Oh my God, they’re so cute. It was obvious to everyone that Luke was crushing on Donnie, and Donnie didn’t seem to mind one bit. Interesting.
“Cool. Noah and I can work on finding a few more, but I think we’ve got a solid team. There’s no way we can let a seraph blade go that easily,” Lincoln stated next to me.
It had been three weeks. Twenty-something days without her. She was just lying there alone, or already in the hands of someone new. What if I didn’t find her?
Fatigue slammed into me then. It was nighttime now, and my three-hour nap had done nothing to help me recover from my magical antics.
“I’m exhausted.” I swayed on my feet.
Lincoln’s brow knit with concern. “Noah, can you scan her?” Grasping each of my shoulders, he started to nudge me toward the bedroom. “Sleep over. You need rest,” he whispered.
Shea and I had come together, but apparently she was going to be sleeping at Noah’s, who was only a few apartments away, so I figured it would be all right. All my brain could focus on at that point was the idea of sleep, regardless of where it happened.
I let him lead me into the bedroom, and gave a lopsided smile at the familiar denim bedding from his trailer.
“Hey, I thought this was a two-bedroom. What you gonna do with the second one?” I kicked off my shoes as he pulled the blanket back.
His dark hair was tousled over his forehead, making his blue eyes pop. “I was thinking an office or a music room. Start collecting guitars.”
A grin curved my lips. “Definitely a music room. With a little corner for your poetry books,” I teased.
He poked me in the rib cage, and I fell onto the bed in a fit of laughter. I was so exhausted it was like being drunk.
“You said you were going to let that go,” he told me with mock hurt. My man was crazy for poetry, and I loved it.
“I love you,” I remarked, looking up at him.
Noah peeked over his shoulder then. “Aw, I love you too.”
I could no longer keep my eyes open, so I just smiled in response, and let them close.
“She’s never been this tired before, not even when I tried to kill her in boot camp,” Lincoln explained to the healer.
“Heard that,” I mumbled.
“Dude, she produced a freaking Celestial orb. That takes nearly all the light we carry. She just needs rest.” Noah’s voice was lighthearted; he clearly wasn’t concerned.
“Just scan her, bro. I’m serious,” Lincoln urged him firmly.
“Fine.” Noah’s voice was clipped.
I felt it then, the warm buzz of Noah’s energy, scanning down my back.
The bed was so comfortable, my body melted into it as I drifted off to sleep.
“Oh… interesting.” Noah’s words were all I heard before I hit dreamland.
Chapter Eleven
I awoke feeling refreshed, and rolled over to see the clock said it was noon.
Oh my God! I overslept.
I sat upright and looked for Lincoln, but instead, found a piece of paper with his small block letter handwriting on it.
Had to see Raph about something. Wanted to let you sleep. Food is in the fridge.
Love you.
Linc
PS: You snored like a train last night.
I smiled at the letter. It was so Lincoln.
Pulling myself out of bed, I quickly showered, and totally swooned when I saw Lincoln had transferred my pink toothbrush from the trailer to his new place. He’d even kept some of my clothes in his top drawer. I changed quickly, and then poured some cereal into a large bowl. Cereal for lunch was totally my favorite thing.
I texted Shea that I was awake, and there was a knock at the door thirty seconds later.
“I totally didn’t get laid,” she exclaimed, barging past me.
I snorted. “What?”
“After all that sex Olympics talk, he rejected me. Said I’d been drinking and he wanted our first time to be special,” Shea declared with a frown, as if a special night of sex with Noah was the worst thing in the world.
I chuckled. “Okay, and what’s wrong with that? He’s being a total gentleman.”
My bestie was wearing Noah’s shirt, which hung halfway down her legs, and her wild curly hair was in two puffball pigtails. She looked adorable.
“I know. Maybe I misjudged him.” She collapsed onto Lincoln’s couch dramatically, like she was auditioning for a daytime soap opera.
“Ya think?” I managed through my cereal-stuffed mouth.
She sat up, fully erect as shock marred her face. “Oh my God.”
Panic seized me. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m totally in love with him,” she declared.
I smacked my forehead and decided to drop the subject. Shea was utterly clueless when it came to all things Noah.
“How crazy was Luke last night, gushing over Donnie?” I asked, choosing to switch gears.
Shea laughed. “Oh my God, I thought Luke was going to start humping his leg. So cute and sad.”
I nodded with a smile, but then my mind shifted to more important topics. “You ready for tonight?”
I needed Sera back. She was an extension of my soul, so being without her was physically painful at that point. I felt half empty inside.
Shea’s face took on a look of determination. “Totally. We’ll get her back. Don’t worry.”
My phone buzzed then, nearly yelping when I saw it was Clark.
I scrambled to grab it, and mashed the green button to accept the call.
“Hey, any news on my brother?” My voice was frantic. He’d said to give him another week. It had only been a day. Something had to be wrong.
“Hey, Bri.” Mikey’s voice flared through the phone instead, it had dropped three octaves and was hoarse.
Relief flooded my entire body and I burst into tears. I hadn’t heard his voice in over a month. Part of me thought I might never hear it again. Shea rushed from the couch to sit with me as I tried to find my own voice.
“You’re okay?” I finally managed.
“I’ll be okay. Yeah.”
“Have you called Mom?” My poor mother was worried sick over the whole situation. Not being able to talk to, or see him was torturing her.
“Yeah. She’s coming to see me tomorrow. Clark says it’s safe,” Mikey confirmed.