Page 54 of Property of Crypt Keeper

Katalina gave him a look of disdain. “Absolutely not. But we’ve had… dealings in the past, so there’s a possibility that he’ll talk to me. I can at least try.”

Though I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that, I nodded once. “Okay.”

Boomslang frowned slightly. “And while she’s doing that?”

“We start tracking the shell companies I uncovered,” Hack chimed in immediately. “Medical supply movement. Land purchases. Underground power grids.”

“Anything isolated enough for experiments,” I added.

The room slowly nodded along. A plan. Not a good one. But it was movement. And right now, movement was better than sitting still.

Because sitting still wasn’t going to accomplish a damn thing. And the longer we sat still, the more people that could be taken.

Later that night, the clubhouse finally quieted.

Lily and Lyra took Zara upstairs to get ready for bed, while the others scattered to assignments and surveillance routes. We were on lockdown for the unforeseeable future. Lyra had her friend caring for her horses, and I knew that made her a little sad. She loved those things. Mako paused. “You know I’ve got your back no matter what.”

“Thanks, bro,” I told him.

“But you watch your back with her,” he quietly warned. He glanced past me, then gave me one last nod before he followed in his ol’ lady’s footsteps.

I stood near the hallway massaging the back of my neck when Katalina appeared beside me.

“You look exhausted,” she murmured.

“I am.”

Her pale blue eyes studied me carefully. “You’re worried about the child.”

“Yeah.”

“And me?” she asked, her tone telling me she was confused by that.

My gaze slid to hers slowly.

“That too.”

Something warm flickered through her expression before she masked it. She was good at erasing her visible emotions; I’d give her that.

“You still don’t trust me,” she observed with a narrowed gaze.

“No,” I admitted.

“But you let me out anyway.”

Because every instinct in my body screamed to keep her close. Part of me hated that she was starting to realize it.

“Come on,” I murmured as I turned toward the staircase.

She followed me upstairs without another word.

My room smelled like cedar, leather, and her. That last part hit me the second the door shut behind us. She’d only been in here for maybe fifteen minutes to get cleaned up before we met in the chapel.

The pull between us tightened instantly.

Katalina leaned back against the door, watching me carefully.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked softly.