Page 8 of Revenant (Spirit Realm #2)

ELLIS

E ndless data scrolls on the screen, and I blindly reach for my mug of coffee, never once removing my gaze from the computer. As I take a big gulp, the taste of salt explodes across my tongue, and my mouth puckers. I barely turn in time to spit the toxic brew into the trash.

I curse James under my breath, hardly able to breathe between coughing fits. By the time I lift my head some five minutes later, my throat is raw, my stomach muscles sore, and my eyes are a watery mess. Despite my blurry vision, I spot the moody bastard who just tried to poison me sitting in the darkness at the edge of my bed.

“Shit.” I lurch back, hating that my voice is so hoarse, I can’t even curse him out the way I want. It takes even longer for my heartbeat to return to normal. “What the fuck, James?”

“Any update?” He leans forward, resting his forearms on his knees, and my stomach clenches when I get a good look at his face.

He looks like crap.

We all do, but James has become a shell of himself. His hair is limp, his face haggard, his skin pale. I would say he’s lost weight, but he’s put on so much muscle that it’s concerning. If he’s not working out in the gym, he’s searching the streets and menacing anyone who might have information about Rue.

The charming rogue has turned into a thug who would rather rip out your throat than smile. While James and I aren’t close, he’s still my brother, and I hate seeing him suffer. Unfortunately, no amount of arguing will force him to rest. Not while Rue is still missing.

What is more concerning is that he’s even more unstable than usual. He hasn’t killed anyone yet, but it’s only a matter of time. From the look in his eyes, it might end up being me if I can’t locate Rue soon…and I wouldn’t blame him.

I fork my hands through my hair, knocking my glasses askew. I yank them off and throw them onto my desk in frustration. Leaning back, I pinch the bridge of my nose and exhale loudly, then slump in my seat in defeat.

Before I have a chance to confess my failure, the not so innocent phone sitting on my desk rings out in the silent room. The whole side of the desk is empty except for that phone. I snap upright when it glows brightly, my spine rigid as I stare at the device, holding my breath as I wait for it to ring again. One ring means Gunner is alive. Two rings mean he has located our target.

Rue.

I’m not even aware I rose to my feet until James comes to stand shoulder to shoulder with me.

Barely able to hear anything over the loud thumping of my heartbeat in my ears, I don’t dare even blink as I stare at the phone. When it rings again, I’m so startled that I jolt, much like when James took a taser to me on a dare a few summers ago.

I snatch up the phone, my knuckles aching as I clench it tight. I whirl and come face-to-face with James. He’s gazing at the phone like he’s considering snatching it from my hands, but he doesn’t make a move.

In fact, he doesn’t even blink.

Or breathe.

He’s waiting for confirmation.

We’ve been staring at the phone for so fucking long that I even dream about it—nightmares where my job is to monitor the damn thing. It rings, but I’m never able to get to it in time. Whenever I pick it up, I only hear the dial tone, and Rue is lost to us forever.

Now that we’ve finally found Rue, I’m struggling to believe it’s true. I grab James’ hand, press the phone into his palm, then grasp his shoulders in a too tight grip. “He found her. Rue is coming home.”

It’s been so long that it doesn’t feel real.

Maybe because it’s only the first step in getting Rue back.

James’ fingers slowly wrap around the device, then he blinks and looks up at me. For the first time since Rue was taken, a real smile stretches across his face. Tears fill his eyes, and he blinks them away, swiping away the evidence with the sleeve of his shirt. “Rue’s coming home?”

He repeats it mechanically, almost like he didn’t think it would ever happen, and my heart cracks. I yank him to my chest and squeeze hard, unsure which one of us needs it more. After a solid minute, I release James, then turn back toward my computer, my resolve firming with every step. “Now we just need a plan to get her back.”

James nods slowly, his body tensing, and I curse when he launches himself out of the room in a mad dash.

Satan’s balls.

With a heavy sigh, I pick up my phone and dial Hicks. The man answers on the first ring, his voice harsh as he barks his question into the phone. “What did you find?”

“A location.” I close my eyes as I say it out loud.

“Thank fuck,” Hicks whispers, a shuddering breath escaping him. I’m still surprised at how hard our indomitable leader took losing Rue. The man has always been hyper focused on work, completely dedicated to our family, but he’s turned almost obsessive in his search for Rue.

Hicks never reveals any outward sign of emotions, so people often mistake him for a cold jackass. Sure, he is a raging jackass, and that’s on his best night, but they couldn’t be more mistaken when they accuse him of being unfeeling.

The man is wrecked.

He still eats and showers, but it’s only perfunctory, done more so out of habit.

Sleeping is another matter.

I don’t think the poor man has gotten more than an hour or two of rest at a time before he is at it again. He has nearly burned through his fortune, even dipped into his trust fund, sparing no expense to locate her.

It’s more than just remorse eating at him.

Hicks rarely allows himself to feel anything outside the family. After too fucking long, he finally admitted the truth—Rue is family. She is one of us, and no one messes with the family without consequences. He won’t rest until we get her back and the people who took her pay for it with their lives.

I clear my throat, scrub my tired eyes, then snatch up my glasses before shoving them back on my face. “I’m pulling up all the information on the location right now. Unfortunately, James was in the room with me when the phone rang.”

“I’m on it. Keep digging. I want everything you can find within the hour.” He’s barely done speaking before he disconnects, but he’s already on the move, hunting down James before the idiot does something foolish.

Not that he would purposely ruin our plans to retrieve Rue.

Unfortunately, he’s not thinking clearly at the moment, which makes him a threat. With only the two of us at the house, it’s been impossible to keep him contained. After the first week of hunting him down and bailing him out of trouble, we sat him down and explained we were so busy cleaning up his messes that we had no time to search for Rue. That’s when he finally settled down.

Or, as I suspect, he just got better at covering his tracks.

Now that we know Rue’s location, we can’t risk anything going wrong, even if it means we have to knock him out and tie him up to do it. Hell, I’d duct tape the fucker to the roof of the house if I thought it would make a difference.

Knowing how ruthless Hicks is when he wants something, I have no doubt he has something ever more devious in mind for the chaos demon, and I nearly grin at the thought. I begin the methodical process of combing through the terabytes of data on my computer about the people who took Rue, searching for any weaknesses we can exploit.

One way or another, I will find everyone involved and make them pay for taking what’s ours. It’s surprising how many people can have hapless accidents when technology is involved.