Page 29 of Cold Curses

“So we can ask them to leave,” Theo said, “but if they decline, we’re out of luck?”

“They can still be locked up if they hurt someone or go on a rampage,” Petra said. “Right?”

“Of course,” Roger said. “They go in the cubes.”

Those were the stand-alone concrete cells that filled one of the buildings in our campus. They’d been built specifically to hold supernaturals.

“But they aren’t going to agree to be locked up willingly,” I said. “And we’d still have to get them here and into the cells without hurting more people. I don’t think we have the power for that.”

“Sorcerers?” Roger asked.

“Focused on getting the wards fixed,” I said. “Well, not Lulu, but this isn’t the right job for her.”

“Are the sorcerers still on track to get the wards up today?” Theo asked.

“I haven’t gotten an update yet, but that’s the hope,” Roger said.

“Random question,” I said. “Has anyone seen or heard from Jonathan Black?”

“What do you mean?”

“I messaged him and went by his house. No response, and the house was dark.”

“He has a job,” Petra said. “He was probably working.”

“Was he?” I asked.

She looked up, blinked. “Well, yeah. He’s an attorney. He has clients.”

“He says he does,” Theo pointed out. “But we’ve never seen them. So Elisa has a point.”

I tapped my sword. “I always do.”

“Nice,” Theo said, and offered me a fist bump.

I deserved it, accepted it.

“You two were made for each other,” Roger said with a grin.

“I’d say he’s my work husband, but since he’s dating a cop, that doesn’t really work.”

Theo smiled. “Why do you want to talk to Black?”

“He’s supposed to be in the know about supernatural drama, so I want to know what he knows about demons.”

“Are you going to tell Connor you went to his house?” Petra asked.

The question made me feel sheepish, which I didn’t like. So I gave her a look. “I don’t report my movements even to the would-be Apex of the North American Central Pack.”

“Connor does not like him,” Petra said. “At all.”

“Idon’t like him,” I said. “Connor viscerally hates him. But he has information.”

“He did save your life,” Theo pointed out, and sounded asconcerned about that as I was. Black, enigma as he was, wasn’t the type I wanted to owe.

“Yeah, he did. Where and how he spends his time isn’t my business. But there’s a lot of crazy shit going on out there. I don’t like the idea of his getting tangled up in it.”

Theo’s screen buzzed. He glanced at it. “Gwen,” he said, and answered it. He gave a couple of “yeahs” and then ended the call, looked at me.