I’d never given my name. I was used to being cagey and keeping all information to myself. “It’s Freya,” I said, glancing back over my shoulder. “This is Emmett.”
“Calling you little Omega is more fun, because I see it annoys you.”
“Next time you call me that, watch your back because I’m not above murder. Clearly.”
“Duly noted.”
We pushed through the door and back out into the large, open office space. A few pairs of eyes quickly turned away from us, proving Altair’s statement that the techs were gossips. Continuing on our way down the middle pathway, we entered the opposite stairwell and continued our journey upward.
* * *
We made it to the penthouse floor to find a locked door with magic blocking properties.
Ozzy would have been able to teleport right through it, because familiars had a unique brand of magic that was difficult to ward against. Me, on the other hand? This was engineered to keep me out. Emmett was trying to talk me out of having him kick in the door when Amabella walked through, blinking at us.
“Oh. You figured out Nolan left you guardless. Are you looking for your cousin?” she asked.
“No, Nolan.”
“He’s in his suite. It’s P2.”
She held open the door for us like we were allowed to be up here, and we cautiously stepped into the hallway. No magic booby traps attacked us and no guards swarmed. Ama carried on her way down the stairs, leaving us alone with free rein of the top floor. “That feels like a security issue,” I muttered under my breath.
“It’s odd how much they trust us. Does Nolan think we have no other choice than to stay here?” Em asked.
“To be fair, it’s the only choice that’s not utterly idiotic. But he’s clearly never met Shan if he trusts our group to do the smart thing.”
“Still mad at him for keeping the mission objective a secret, I see.”
“He’ll never live that one down. I can forgive, but not forget.”
“While I don’t agree, I understand why he did it.”
I sighed, and we started walking down the hall, scanning for unit P2. “So do I, which irritates me. I don’t want to understand. I prefer to stay angry.”
Stopping in front of the door, I didn’t bother to knock. I grabbed the knob, twisted, and murmured a spell to undo the lock. It released, letting us into Nolan’s suite.
The place was smaller than I’d expected, and tiny for being on the penthouse level. A few steps into the living room revealed no one present, but Nolan’s scent was so heavy he was definitely here. So was Oswald. I couldn’t imagine why my familiar had stayed all night unless he’d been imprisoned in something more substantial than a cat carrier.
Two open doors revealed the bathroom and bedroom, with the bathroom visibly empty. I stepped into the bedroom, Emmett close behind me. Processing what I saw, I tried to stifle a laugh.
My familiar was curled on Nolan’s lap in his desk chair, and both were passed out cold. Dead asleep. Nolan might have a bit of drool spilling from the corner of his mouth, which was painfully cute. “Is that common?” Emmett asked. “For a familiar to act like a common animal? He looked pretty pissed off by being pet before.”
“This is out of the ordinary for him.”
One of his eyes twitched open, just a slit, until he saw us standing there. Then they both flew open and he cursed up a storm in my head. Oswald was careful not to move too quickly, though, not wanting to disrupt Nolan.“What are you doing here?”he asked once he’d stopped cursing and was pushing himself into an upright sit.
“You were gone all night. I got worried.”
“I thought you’d be too busy to realize I was gone.”
Oh, damn. That was some jealousy. A lot of jealousy. It was weird for me to have people I trusted other than him, and he’d been shunted to the sidelines. He couldn’t speak to the others, so it was hard for us to include him in conversations.
“Fuck,” I cursed aloud. “I’m sorry.”
“No apology necessary. I’m sorry I didn’t report back,”Oswald said.
He’d brought himself up to a seated position, still perched in Nolan’s lap. The man himself hadn’t woken up, but as I watched his relaxed, sleeping face, he moved.
