Howling For You: A Chicagoland Vampires Novella (A Penguin Special from New American Library) Read Online Free Page B

no hammer, but someone was pounding fiercely on the bedroom door.
    “Hold on,” I said, flipping off the sheet and sitting up, squeezing my eyes shut until my head stopped spinning. I’d slept like the dead, and my head throbbed like I was hung over.
    “I’m coming,” I said when the beatings continued, and stumbled to the door.
    I yanked it open and found Gabriel in the doorway, a haggard expression on his face. There were shadows beneath his eyes.
    “It’s, like, six in the morning,” I said, squinting in the sunlight. We didn’t sleep much, although we tended to sleep those hours in the early light of day. “What do you want?”
    “Your ass downstairs. The coronet is gone.”
    I pulled on enough clothing to turn the T-shirt into loungewear and headed downstairs in sweatpants and bare feet.
    Adrenaline pumped, making my blood run and brain race. But I was still groggy, and the sensations mixing together made me feel like a college freshman after an all-nighter.
    Christopher, Derek, and Ben were already in the living room, once again around the open box.
    “Where’s Eli?” I asked, as I joined the circle.
    “Kitchen,” Ben said.
    I peered inside in the box. It was empty. Even the purple cushion was gone.
    Fear warred with exhaustion and irritation. “I thought we were putting the crown in the safe,” I said.
    “We did. The box was down there,” Gabriel said. “Empty.”
    “At least there weren’t spiders in their place,” Ben lightly said.
    Gabriel’s slanted look actually seemed to chill the air in the room. “The safe was open. Someone managed to pick the lock.”
    “Who figured out it was gone? And why the hell were they in the basement at six o’clock in the damn morning?” I was not a morning person. And I was real damn grouchy before coffee.
    “Nobody figured it out.”
    I glanced at the doorway. Jeff stood there, hair tousled, a leather jacket over a T-shirt and jeans. He looked pissed, and magic spilled across the room like a horde of angry insects. He walked toward us, but didn’t even spare me a glance.
    I assumed he was mad because I’d ditched him the night before. But I’d done what I had to do, and I’d explained that to him. He knew the deal. I didn’t have time for a tantrum, especially not right now. We were in crisis mode.
    Ben glanced between us, settled his gaze on me, the question in his eyes obvious. But I shook my head. The coronet was missing. Our focus was on the Pack.
    Always on the Pack.
    “The alarm on the safe went off. It’s set to send me a message,” Jeff said.
    Ben frowned. “Why did it alert you?”
    “Because I had him install the security system,” Gabriel said.
    “I didn’t get a message the doors or windows were breached,” Jeff said, glancing at him. “I take it the alarms weren’t turned on?”
    “We’re way the hell out here,” Gabriel muttered. “Since when do we need to live in a security state?”
    “Since you’re the Apex of the Pack and you moved the crown up here,” Jeff countered. “It’s important.”
    Gabe’s magic spiked. “I’m well aware of the importance of the goddamned crown. I don’t need the reminder.”
    Wisely, Jeff bit back a response.
    Eli walked into the room, two steaming cups of coffee in hand. I held out hope one of them was for me, and thanked my lucky stars when he handed it over.
    The first sip was hot, full-bodied, intoxicating. I gave him an appreciative nod. Eli and I were closest in age, and we’d spent more time together than probably anyone else in the family. He knew about my coffee obsession, and enabled it. Which made me love him more.
    “When was it taken?” Ben asked.
    Jeff checked his phone. “Forty-two minutes ago.”
    Christopher rubbed his face. “Five-thirty in the damn morning? Who wakes up to steal a crown at five-thirty in the damn morning?”
    Ben made a sarcastic sound. “Someone who wants a crown and doesn’t want to get caught.”
    “Suspect list?” Eli