The more she thought about it, the more she realized that Heather had been killed over something else. Something that had nothing to do with Paige.
They’d made it to Alma’s house before Paige was really ready.
A baby?
This couldn’t be real. Right? Things like this didn’t happen like this, this fast. Not in the real world.
But something kinda similar had happened. Rachel had swooped in just this fast and taken Leah.
But that, really, hadn’t been real world. Rachel had had help from angels.
What if this situation was being helped similarly?
She sat up straight. Now, that made sense.
But if this was the case, Paige and Dexx would have to remain in Texas. How was she supposed to raise a child—if this was even really happening—on her own? She’d need the support of Leslie and Alma.
Alma. Who’d betrayed her the last time?
Blessed Mother! What a moron! Single mothers did this on their own all the time anyway. Every day. It wasn’t a big deal. Well, it was a big deal. A pain in the butt. However, it was a surmountable obstacle. She could make it work wherever she wanted.
And she wouldn’t be alone. Not at first, anyway. Dexx. Granted, his form of “romance” was more like “bromance,” which was why they worked. But, if they could find a way to stave off the war, they could make it work.
Granted, though, it would be easier with Leslie around.
Except, she’d thought that before. With Leah. And then she’d lost her daughter.
Shit. Rachel. What if Rachel found out about the baby and swooped in to take this one, too? There’d been no legal validations for Rachel winning custody of Leah in the first place. What if she did it here, too?
She was panicking.
Paige didn’t know how long they’d sat in front of Alma’s house, the sun slipping beyond the horizon. The porchlight was on, as well as the light in the living room. Probably the dining room and kitchen, but she couldn’t quite see that from where they sat. A bedroom light was on upstairs. Could have been one of the kids. Paige didn’t know which rooms belonged to whom.
That didn’t matter.
Two strange cars were parked, one on the street in front of Jackie, the other in the driveway. Ethel and the social worker were already there. She needed to put on her Big Girl panties and deal.
Dexx offered his hand.
She didn’t even look at him. She couldn’t tear her gaze off of the house as fear poured through her. She clasped his hand.
He gave her fingers a squeeze. “Ready to go get ‘em?”
Not really. “Yeah, tiger.”
“Cat.”
“Tiger.”
He growled.
Paige smiled, her mind and heart pausing for a beat to give her a breather. “You do help. You know that?”
“I don’t. You don’t tell me much, but I don’t care.”
Paige’s fingers trembled. She was so terrified. Jesus. Why was it she could face demons and shifters, but this had her pissing her pants? Because… “I failed the last time.”
“That was less you and more that evil w—bitch.”
“You almost said witch.”
“I did, but I pulled it back in time.”
They shared a tight smile.
“She had backing, Pea. Support. Hard to fight angels in a court of law when you don’t even know they’re there.”
“I can’t take another person into my life, endanger their lives, and then set them up to be taken away again.”
“Then be smarter this time. Get help. You’ve got demons on your side. Shapeshifters, witches. Use that.”
Paige took in a deep breath. “And the danger? The war?”
Dexx puffed out his cheeks. “I don’t have an answer for that one yet.”
That was kinda the problem.
The porch light went off, came back on for a long moment, then blinked off three times consecutively. Alma’s code for “get your ass inside now.”
“You’ve got this.”
Paige squeezed his fingers. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Always.” He released his grip on her hand and got out of the car.
She hoped so. Dear Goddess, she hoped so.
Paige walked up to the front door, a weight on her shoulders like she were scaling the mountain of Mordor with the Ring whispering to her, telling her to turn away, to run away, to flee, to do anything else but to open that door and step inside.
The door opened on its own.
She stepped inside to see Mandy bouncing on her toes, her brown eyes wide, flickers of orange flame dancing in her irises.
“No fires, Mand,” Paige said, her words coming out without her full approval. She was operating on auto pilot, terror pushing her back in her own mind. Where was Cawli?
He didn’t answer and his presence wasn’t thick inside her mind. She didn’t know where he went when he wasn’t thinking and existing inside of her, but he didn’t seem to be there at that moment.
No. This was her.
“We’re in the kitchen,” Leslie called, her tone bright and cheery. Baby-Mom voice. That’s what Paige called it.
She pushed her shoulders back and walked with purpose down the narrow hall, forgoing the living room. The stair shot upwards on her right. Pictures of the family littered the walls on either side of her. The glowing light of the kitchen beckoned to her.
Alma opened the oven door, glancing over her meaty blue-clad shoulder, potholders in hand. “Ethel brought apples.”
“That’s what she said.” Shit. Shit. Shit. Paige’s heart raced.
Cinnamon and apple spice battered through her senses, assaulting her nose with warmth.
Ethel sat at the table, a baby in her arms. She cooed, her strawberry and magenta pigtails playfully tickling the baby’s face.
Little arms flailed from the bundle in her arms.
Leslie set a bottle down and tucked Kamden to her shoulder, patting his back. “Ah, there you are. We were wondering if you’d make it.”
Paige swallowed. Was it real? Was her friend really dead? Was the baby really hers? Could she make this happen? Could she keep him safe?
A woman rose to her feet and turned, a smile gracing her lips.
Cawli raced to the foreground, a feral roar escaping Paige’s throat.
The woman halted, her hand half-way extended.
Paige slipped into shifter vision.
Two large shadowy wings rose above the woman’s head.
Dexx yelped and scrambled a step away.
Paige blinked and assessed the woman with her normal vision. To all appearances, she looked like a professional human. Pencil skirt. Hips too full. Jacket too tight as if she’d gained twenty pounds since she’d bought it. Hair well coifed. Make-up carefully done. Expression pleasant.
“Angel.” Paige decided to keep it simple.
The woman blinked in surprise and retracted her hand. “Yes.” She patted her hair. “What gave me away?”
Alma slammed the oven door shut. “What is this?”
“Angels don’t come to me,” Paige said low. “What business do you have here?”
“Things are…” The angel glanced around her, blinking furiously. “…different. This baby must remain protected.”
“And you can’t do that?”
“There are many in our ranks who would have him killed.”
“Why?”
“Because of what he is.”
“And that is?”
Ethel raised her head, her sapphire eyes rounded, her shoulders hunched.
“Perhaps,” the angel said, “we could speak privately.”
“What you have to say can be said here.”
“Fine.” The angel tipped her head to the side and clasped her hands in front of her. “He is the next prophet.”
Surely, Paige hadn’t heard that right. “Prophet?”
Alma snorted.
“Yes,” the angel said.
�
��We’re witches. I’m the demon summoner.”
“Exactly. Your home is the last place anyone would look for him.”
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! “People are looking for him?”
“Yes.” The angel nodded, glancing at everyone, a hopeful light in her eye. “To kill him.”
“People like who?”
The woman ran the pink tip of her tongue along her bottom lip. “Angels.”
Paige bared her teeth and clenched her hand. So, she had heard right.
“Oh, hell no!” Leslie slammed her hand against the table.
Kamden startled, lifted his wobbly head and wailed.
“Ah, shit.” Leslie stood up, cupping the back of his fuzzy head with her hand and rocked him.
Alma hustled across the room, brandishing a wooden spoon. “You’re not invitin’ that kind of danger into our home.”
“He’s a child!” the angel shouted.
Alma stopped.
Leslie stilled.
Paige hadn’t taken her eyes off the woman. She was still trying to figure out what to believe, what she was going to do.
“He’s a child,” the angel said again. “A baby. And his mother was just brutally murdered.”
“Why?” Paige asked. “Who?”
“We don’t know who yet.” The angel sighed, dropping her gaze. “I believe it was to find little Bobby and kill him. I think—” She stopped, taking in a short breath and holding it. “I think she died protecting her son.”
Shit. A well of emotion threatened to clog Paige’s throat. “Who would do that?”
“We are working on it. We have a few suspects, but there are only a few of us and we have to be careful.”
Something pinged in the back of Paige’s head. Who would know who the next prophet would be? Oriel. He had been adamant she return home. Had he known?
Was he maneuvering her into place? Again?
Did she care? Bobby wasn’t a chess piece. He was her best friend’s baby.
A baby, her heart whispered. A second chance.
No. She shook her head. No. That baby was a person. A responsibility.
That didn’t change the hope enflaming her soul.
She had to get herself under control. “Do you have any solid leads?”
“No,” the angel said. “And, Paige?”
Paige didn’t say anything. She just waited, her heart and mind on overload.
“Let the detectives handle this one. If you take Bobby and then investigate his mother’s murder, you could jeopardize his life. Your lives.”
“Why are you leaving him with us?”
“Because.” Her posture turned in on itself as if she were ashamed as she looked around the room. “You, as pagans, are better…people than most of the followers of angels.”
“They should be followers of God.”
“Some are. And they are beautiful, wonderful people, but most follow only themselves. Glorify their own image.”
Paige couldn’t argue with that. There were people like that in all religions. “Wouldn’t you want your prophet raised by someone more religious? By one of your beautiful followers?” She wasn’t mocking that. She’d met a few of those people who loved God and loved Jesus and were amazing because of it. They would make lovely parents.
“They won’t be able to keep him safe.”
“And we will?”
“When was the last prophet born?”
“I don’t know. Back in the days of the Bible?”
The angel shook her head, sorrow blanketing her expression. “There were many born after John, but none survived into adulthood. Most didn’t even make it past toddler.”
Paige frowned at the little baby in Ethel’s arms. “I bring danger of my own.”
“Which is why you’re best suited to protect him. You’re already set for it.”
“Against angels?”
“Not all of them will be against you.”
“When Rachel finds out about him, she’ll come for him. Like she did Leah.”
The angel bit her bottom lip. “Not all is well with her. You’ll see Leah very soon, and, trust me, she won’t be staying long with Rachel. Just take him. For now. If you decide you can’t keep him…” She shook her head, her face frumpled in a concerned frown. “We’ll figure something out. Please. Just for a night or two.”
A night or two. A lot could happen in that amount of time.
The social worker slash angel slash dumper-of-doom left Paige’s best friend’s prophet baby surrounded by witches. Well, witches and a really cool lab tech. And a demon hunter slash shapeshifter.
“What the hell just happened?” Leslie asked into the stunned silence.
Kamden cooed.
The baby in Ethel’s arms flailed his hands.
Tyler skidded into the room, his red cape fluttering wildly behind him. “What did I miss?”
“Everything,” Mandy said, popping into the dining room from the living room like a jack-in-the-box. “The new baby is a prophet.”
“What’s that?” Tyler asked, his oddly sharp features twisted in a comical confusion.
“Someone who can tell the future,” Mandy said as if everyone on the face of the planet should know.
Tyler stuck his tongue out at her.
“Not just that,” Paige muttered walking slowly to Ethel and the baby. “They tell the future of the world. Great events that affect a large portion of humanity.”
“Oh. Like the Bible people.”
“Not all the ‘Bible people’ were prophets.” Though Paige wasn’t entirely sure what Tyler figured a “Bible person” was. She met Ethel’s gaze. “Do we know his name?”
“Bobby. Bobby James Blackwell.” She lifted the baby up and released him to Paige’s arms.
Paige held him as if he was fragile. She knew otherwise, but it just didn’t feel real. She’d been in a shitstorm of life-changing events for the last week and a half. She hadn’t even had a chance to remember to call Heather. Or Ethel. Or anyone else.
Fuck. What was she going to do? “Do we know how long everything’s going to take?”
“If by everything,” Alma said, setting her wooden spoon on the table with a clunk, “you mean the paperwork. That angel said it wasn’t gonna take no time at all.”
“What does that mean?” Paige couldn’t make plans on “no time at all.”
“Are you in a hurry?”
Was she? If there were people hunting down this baby, she needed to get him as far away from there as she could. Keep him shielded. She could figure out a shield for him, a protection that would keep him from sending any flare gun-like signals to those hunting him. Right?
But what if he gave off a type of scent? What if the angels could scent him?
Then this angel, what was her name? Becky something? Whatever. She wouldn’t have left him with her, right? “We need to put up angel wards.”
“I did that when your mother skipped town with Leah,” Alma said, her tone gruff. “She fooled me once. She won’t do it again.”
Bobby was so light. He barely felt like anything in her hands.
But he was so tiny and so helpless. His little face was pink, his eyes closed, one fist balled up next to his cheek. He wore a white knit hat on his small head and he was wrapped up in a white blanket like a burrito.
Could she do this?
Terror filled her. The last time, she’d charged into motherhood head-on. She hadn’t blinked. She hadn’t thought about it, even after Mark died. She’d still carried on as if she’d been invincible.
She’d lost the last time.
Becky had said Paige would see Leah again very soon and that she wasn’t going to be staying with Rachel for much longer.
No. That wasn’t what she’d said. She’d said that not all was right with Rachel. That didn’t mean what Paige took it to mean.
But if she were about to see Leah, that meant she was about to see Rachel.
And if Rachel arrived, angels would arrive with h
er.
And then they would know.
“We need a backstory.”
Paige didn’t even realize that everyone else had been talking until she blurted that out.
“What?” Leslie asked, her dark eyes flat with, “Wow, I can’t believe I’m related to that social-tard.”
“Sorry. I’m—just—Rachel’s coming. Here. Soon. So, we need a story to tell her so she doesn’t relay the information back to the angels.”
“The angels are trying to kill that baby?” Tyler shrieked.
“What would even make you think that?” Leslie asked, a what-the-fuck expression on her face. “Whose kid are you?”
“He’s been playing the craziest pretend,” Mandy said, rolling her eyes.
Kids. Paige’s eyes widened in alarm. They could blow this for everyone.
“Yes,” Leslie said, holding Paige’s gaze for a long moment before grabbing her son’s. “The angels are trying to take Bobby and it’s our mission to keep him safe. So, you don’t tell anyone who isn’t inside this room who he is. You hear me?”
Tyler nodded emphatically, then straightened and put his fist on his hip, kicking his cape out from around his ankles. “I won’t tell.”
“Whatever you want,” Ethel said, digging into her backpack beside her and pulling out her laptop. “I’ll create the paper trail to back your story.”
Alma held up her hands and walked back to the stove. “Dinner’s done if anyone’s interested.”
Feeding the zoo was a long process. Dexx filled in and helped Tyler make his own plate. Mandy dumped half her pasta on the floor the first try, but managed to clean up her mess and take her double helping to the table.
Leslie put Kamden in the playpen in the far corner, smiling down at his sleeping face. “You could put Bobby here.”
Paige knew she should. She needed to put him down. She needed to eat. She hadn’t eaten lunch, and breakfast had been poor and a long time ago. Her stomach, however, wasn’t protesting. It knew something more important was at large. Her every instinct was to hold onto that child, to never let him go.
Leslie gripped her wrist lightly. “I will never know what you’re going through, having your child taken from you. I won’t. But he’ll be safe. He’s in Grandma’s kitchen. It’s the safest place on Earth.”
Paige swallowed and forced herself to nod. She allowed Leslie to take Bobby even though everything in her fought to keep him in her arms.
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