Lirien stood up from where he'd been crouched over some weird, spiky little plant at the end of the garden, jumping a step back as I charged him between two rows of trellised peas.
"Jared?" he asked warily. "What's going—"
"Where the fuck did he go?" I demanded, almost a shout. I knew I looked crazy: red-faced and panting and wild- eyed.
But I'd woken up without Calder, and he rarely left the room before I got up. He might get out of bed, but he never went far. He hadn't been in the kitchen.
I hadn't been able to scent him anywhere. And no one I'd talked to had seen him. Fear had a cold grip on my chest, and I couldn't quite get a full breath. "Where the fuck is Calder?"
"Um," Lirien said, looking incredibly shifty, like only a fucking cat could. He didn't have whiskers in this form, but I could practically see them twitching anyway. "Look, he didn't want to wake you."
I took another menacing step. Lirien stood his ground, his eyes narrowed.
