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Evangeline,” he whispered. “Please don’t harden your heart before you’ve allowed it to truly love.”
    The dam began to crack. And then the sound of an old-fashioned bell ringing filled the room. I pulled away, confused, until Phin pulled his cell phone out of his jeans pocket. His expression sharpened.
    “Emergency page,” he said. “Come on.”
    Operations was in a state of minor chaos when we arrived. Created from the skeletons of three different stores, the combined space was full of computer workstations, whiteboards, a map of the city, and a few cubicles. Half a dozen volunteers were always on duty, manning the computers and an intricate switchboard setup that connected more than a hundred different cell phones to one another on a private network. It often reminded me of a police station bull pen, where all the major activity occurred. Just like now.
    At least thirty people—human, Therian, and vampire—were in Operations. It was the busiest I’d ever seen it, and that simple fact settled a cold knot right into the middle of my already upset stomach.
    Astrid, Marcus, and Wyatt were hunched over a desk, listening to the same phone conversation. Adrian Baylor and Kismet were at one of the computers. Kyle had taken over a chair near the partitioned conference area, phone clutched in his hand; he looked absolutely panicked. Milo, Tybalt, and Quince all showed signs of distress. As if sensing our arrival, Astrid spun around, her copper eyes flashing with fury.
    “What’s going on?” Phin asked.
    “We have disappearances,” she replied. “Civilian and actives, all within the last two hours.”
    Internal alarms clanged in my head. Attention was shifting in our direction.
    Phin marched right into her personal space. “Who’s missing?”
    “Lynn Neil. She isn’t answering her phone, and a neighbor says the front door of the apartment is ajar. Sharpe’s squad is closest. They’re checking it out.”
    Shit
. Lynn was Felia and had been connected to me before we ever actually met. She and her then-boyfriend Kiefer had lived together in an apartment that Wyatt and I had once used as a hiding place during the first day of my resurrection. A few days later, Kiefer threw in with another were-cat named Belle, defied the Assembly, and helped kidnap Joseph and a still-pregnant Aurora from my Parkside East apartment. I’d stabbed Kiefer with a nail file and then Leo Forrester shot him to death.
    Lynn hadn’t known about her boyfriend’s extracurricular activities, and I was unclear on how she and Kyle ended up together. Theirs was the only mixed-Clan relationship I knew about, and I doubted everyone approved. But I met Lynn once, and she was the very definition of sweet—even after I told her I’d borrowed and ruined some of her clothes.
    I glanced at Kyle; he had to be a wreck inside.
    “Michael and Dawn Jenner,” Astrid continued. “One of them hit a panic button seven minutes ago. The nearest squad just reported their house has been broken into and both are missing.”
    Double shit
. Michael Jenner was the voice of the Assembly of Clan Elders, and he often did their business for them. He’d proved a valuable ally and had helped save my life once. Even gave me a place to stay while I healed from injuries obtained during a factory explosion. Wait—
    “Dawn?” I asked.
    “His daughter,” Phin replied. “Equi children live with their mothers. Why was she—?”
    “Probably visiting,” Astrid said. “She just reached the age of maturity and is free to travel as she likes.”
    Equi shifted into various wild horses, zebras, donkeys, and tarpans, but I didn’t know enough about this particular Clan to understand the intricacies of who raised the kids. At the moment, it didn’t matter.
    “Leah is also missing,” Marcus said, his deep voice dripping with anger.
    “Seriously?” I said. “Does Jackson know?”
    “Not yet.”
    A member of the Ursia Clan, Leah de Loew was one of the founding members