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He kept walking. The night air licked at his damp skin through the open doorway. Clenching his jaw, he halted again. Closed his eyes.
“Fuck this.”
He pulled out his phone, dialed Basil’s number. He’d make the call, and that was it. Let Basil know about this, and then the witches could sort it out. Tallak didn’t care one way or the other, but his son sure did.
Over the past few months, Tallak had been allowed into the inner circle of Hazel’s family and friends, even if grudgingly by most anyone but Basil. But he wasn’t on their side per definition. Okay, he’d helped Merle and Hazel free Rhun from the clutches of that crazy old witch a few months back, and yes, he’d killed Lydia Novak and Estelle Laroche and assisted the Aequitas with winning against the Draconians, but that was because Basil had asked him to—saying please and Dad and looking at him with a face no father could ignore. So what was he to do? Disappoint his son at the first opportunity?
He’d avoided getting pulled into the witches’ affairs any further, though, and only did occasional demon-offing jobs for them. He sure as hell wasn’t part of their team, and he didn’t give a damn about their agenda. He just wanted to live his life, make up for lost time with his son, and stay the fuck out of anyone’s business.
The call rolled over to voice mail, and Tallak stared at the screen for a second, then shrugged. Right, then. He’d tried.
He wanted to stuff the phone back into his pocket and walk out of there. He really did. That would be the smart thing to do. The minding-my-own-business thing. So why did his feet refuse to move?
Okay, so he couldn’t reach Basil, but he couldn’t leave this shit here like this either. As much as it grated on him. He’d never hear the end of it if he turned his back and Basil found out later.
He scrolled through his list of contacts, desperate to find someone other than the obvious choice nagging at him.
Lily? Eh. She seemed okay, but he really didn’t know her well enough to be telling her about this crap, and her demon mate might break his nose for calling at this hour.
He scrolled on. Merle? No. He shuddered. As an Elder witch, she’d be qualified to handle this mess, but the less he dealt with that scary redhead, the better. She might be one of his son’s best friends, but there was something about her that made Tallak want to slowly inch out of the room and then run. If gossip was to be believed, Merle could snap at the Demon Lord and not get choked to death—and that was before Arawn had become her brother-by-mating, so yeah, the woman had a scary kind of temper.
Rose? Nah. He immediately discarded that option. Even though he knew her better than he did her twin sister, Lily—Tallak was the only one beside Basil’s mate, Isa, who spoke Fae, and Rose had started talking to him here and there, her English not yet good enough for her to have longer conversations with the others—Rose was still getting used to being a part of this whole witch community thing, and she was in no state of mind to receive news like this.
With a deep breath that did nothing to ease the twitch of his muscles or the tight feeling in the pit of his stomach, he scrolled back up to H and tapped on the damn name. She was probably asleep. Wouldn’t even pick up this late at night. He was sweating for noth—
“Yes?” Hazel’s voice, usually honeyed and rich, was clipped, and it struck him like an electric charge. She didn’t sound like she’d slept.
Be quick, you idiot. Professional. Just tell her what happened and— “Are you always awake at this hour?”
“If you called just to take a jab at me,” she said, her tone icing over, “I will curse you over the phone line.”
He leaned against the wall, his interest piqued. “What kind of curse? Will you tickle my ear?”
“Bye, Tal—”
“There’s been a murder here.”
Silence. He held the phone away from his ear to check if she’d hung up. She hadn’t.
“Demons?” she asked.
“No.” If it were that simple, he wouldn’t need to make this excruciating call.
“Shifters?”
“Nope.”
“Fae?”
“Negative.”
Hazel made a sound that dripped with irritation and impatience. “Then why don’t you let the human authorities deal with it?”
“Because,” he drawled, “human cops may have trouble arresting a witch.”
The silence, this time, crackled with tension.
“Are you sure?” Her voice snapped tight like a whip.
