One thing for sure: if she had to transform in front of Ray to fight her father, the bastard wouldn’t survive the fight. She’d snap his head off and use it for a beach ball.
Alastair came to a halt a few feet away. His entire attention fixed on Kayla. The others might as well have not existed.
“I thought I told you to stay the hell off this property and out of our lives.” His lip curled. “You pissed all over your name and for what? To become a salvager?”
The disgust with which he said the last word slapped Kayla in the face, though it didn’t surprise her that he knew what she did. Before she could respond, Landon spoke up.
“I wanted her to come.”
Her father slowly shifted his gaze to Landon. “Looks like we’ll be having a talk soon. This is my house, and my rule is law.”
“And here I thought Grandmother was the rightful owner,” Kayla drawled.
“I’m the head of the household.”
As if that meant anything.
“When were you going to tell me your mother and sister are witches?” Ray asked in that quiet way he had that sounded both curious and insulting.
Her father bristled. “It’s got nothing to do with the case.”
“Ah.” Ray nodded sagely. “Then perhaps you can explain what happened to the steel door leading into the other room.”
“Rats,” her father said. “Giant rats.”
“How unfortunate for you.”
A tight, unfriendly smile pulled on her father’s lips. “I’m taking care of them. I’ll make them regret they ever heard the name Runyon.”
“Are you saying you know who took Grandmother and Aunt Margaret?” Kayla demanded.
“I’m saying that nobody comes into my house without my permission and gets away with it.” He eyed her up and down, his malice evident. “Especially you.”
“And yet it looks like that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Alistair looked at Ray. “I want this woman arrested for breaking and entering and trespassing. If you don’t, I will call Police Chief Harmon and you’ll be out of a job. I have his personal cell number on speed dial.”
Ray scratched at his jaw. “You could do that, sir. In fact, maybe you should. Of course, there’s no telling what the press will think about it all. It would make a good story though. A rich man having his only child arrested for the crime of helping to find her kidnapped grandmother and aunt. Bet the papers would get a lot of mileage out of a story like that.”
Her father’s lips pinched together, his chin jutting. Ray had just made an enemy, and a vindictive one at that. All the same, Kayla’s inner eleven-year-old was jumping up and down and sticking out her tongue triumphantly at her father.
“Understand this, Detective Garza. If the press gets wind of any of this, I will hold you personally responsible. If you fail to solve this case and return my mother and sister alive, I will make sure you regret it in ways you can’t begin to imagine.” He leaned in, threat emanating from his every pore. “But one way or another, you will pay for your insolence.”
“While I’m being insolent, maybe you can tell me why you’re obstructing my investigation. Someone might think you didn’t want them found.”
“You are mistaken.” He glanced at Kayla. “Or duped. Finding them is my priority.”
Ray’s brows rose. He cocked his head. “You didn’t think that them being witches was relevant? And the location of the crime scene—you lied about it.”
Her father flushed, his lip curling. “That sounds perilously like an accusation.” He jabbed a finger in Ray’s direction. “I said they were taken from this house. A good detective would have located this place without help. But please, do go down this road. I look forward to crushing you into the ground. Now get the hell off my property.”
Kayla didn’t see any reason to argue. Being in the same vicinity as her father, poisoned the air and made it hard not to commit murder. Plus, they’d discovered all they were going to.
She shrugged and started for the door. Landon fell in beside her, followed by Zach.
“Always a pleasure, Mister Runyon,” Ray said with a derisive salute before bringing up the rear.
“Not you, boy,” her father said to Landon. “It’s high time we discussed your place in this household.”
Kayla glanced at her cousin. “You don’t have to. You can stay with me.”
He hesitated, then shook his head. “I’d better not. Just in case.”
She knew what he meant. Just in case a ransom call came in. Just in case he learned something useful from her father or someone else. Just in case more evidence turned up. She gave a little nod of understanding, then pulled him into a hug, speaking quietly against his ear.
“If you need anything, get in touch with Ray. He has my number. And trust me. I will find them. I won’t let you or them down.”
As she loosened her grip and stepped back, Ray stepped forward, his notebook ready. “How do I contact you if I have questions or news?”
“You talk to me,” her father said. “You don’t need to bother my nephew.”
But Landon was already offering Ray his number and email address. The internet wasn’t what it used to be before Magicfall, but email was still fairly reliable and the regular postal service was not.
Ray wrote the contact information down, then handed Landon his card, which her cousin pocketed. None of that would matter if—or rather when—her father took away the card and Landon’s cell phone. The house still had a working landline, but Kayla was willing to bet her father wouldn’t give Landon a chance to use it. Nor would he get access to a computer or tablet. He was going to get locked up somewhere and let out only for meals and to be put on display.
She ought to drag him off and the hell with Alistair and his secrets. She swallowed her fury. Landon was entitled to make his own choices. He knew as well as she did what her father was capable of. If Landon wanted to stay, she couldn’t interfere.
She fingered the phone in her pocket. With the bastard watching her like a hawk, she couldn’t possibly slip it to Landon unseen.
Gritting her teeth at her helplessness, she strode toward the exit. She could feel her father’s malevolent gaze boring through her as she went.
She stopped. She couldn’t go like this. She couldn’t let him think he could bully Landon without any consequence.
Spinning around, she stalked across the witch floor until she stood barely an inch from her father. She kept her voice low so the others couldn’t hear what she said.
“Remember this, old man. There is nothing—and I mean nothing—I won’t do if you hurt Landon or Ray or if you had anything to do with this kidnapping. I didn’t quit the force because I couldn’t hack it; I quit because they couldn’t handle me. I am not the same as I used to be, and given half the chance, the thing I am now will gleefully tear you limb from limb. Hand to heaven. And after I’ve eaten my fill, I will drink every drop of your blood before I shit on your corpse.”
She stood on tiptoe and bent a little closer so that her lips were close to his ear. “Please understand I am not at all speaking metaphorically, nor am I exaggerating. Having people find out witches run in your family will be the least of your problems if you fuck with anybody I care about.”
She didn’t wait to see his reaction. Her heart pounded as she stormed away. She’d told her father—her fucking fascist father—her secret, or as much as anyone in the world knew. She didn’t know how, but she knew he’d use the information against her if he could.
Her lips tightened into a flat line. If it came down to it, she’d do exactly as she promised, and she’d enjoy every minute of it. For the first time since seeing the damage to the steel door, she was happy to be a monster. Monsters were scary, and she planned to be very terrifying.
&nbs
p; Chapter 12
Ray
“RIDE WITH ME,” Ray said to Kayla as they exited the rose garden. “I’ll take you home.”
It was an order more than a request, and he half expected her to blow him off.
She only hesitated a moment, and then nodded. “I’ll get my pack out of the van and say goodbye to Zach.”
Ray watched her walk away, anticipatory tension building in his gut. Finally, he was going to get answers. One way or another.
She went to the passenger door of the van and pulled out her pack. It was almost as big as she was and stuffed fat as a Christmas turkey. It clinked when she set it down. She unfastened the top flap and pulled out a giant bag of chocolate chips and four peanut butter jars, setting them all on the seat. Ray scowled as Logan approached her. The technomage was a menace to women. A major player. He got more women in bed than a mattress factory, and he’d clearly set his sights on Kayla.
Ray snarled. Not a fucking chance. Not if he had anything to do with it. A wave of territorial possessiveness swept over him, and his magic sparked in his veins in response.
Dammit. He breathed in and let it out slowly. He was a fucking moron. She was kryptonite. Being with her would fuck him up and turn him inside out. He wasn’t going to let his dick lead him around like a puppy on a leash. Anyway, even if he did want to start something with her, she definitely had no interest in him.
He wandered closer to eavesdrop.
“Thanks for dinner,” she said to Logan, smiling.
He grinned and slid a finger along the side of her cheek as if smoothing away a stray hair. Ray fought the urge to smash out every one of the technomage’s teeth.
“My pleasure. Thanks for the goodies.”
“Just remember you owe me.”
“Only if you keep our dates.” He scribbled on a pad of paper he took from the glovebox, tore it off, and handed it to her. “My number.”
Kayla slid it into her pocket.
Ray decided enough was enough. Time to go. He stalked toward the cozy couple.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing the coroner’s report on those three from Keller Fountain,” she told Logan.
He shook his head. “Won’t be a coroner’s report. Just the magical assessment.”
“That’s right. They aren’t people.” Her lip curled.
“One day things will change,” he assured her, reaching out to take her hand. “They’re already changing. People are adjusting to magic and figuring out how to get along with magical citizens.”
“Are you coming?” Ray growled impatiently. “Runyon’s likely to call for an airstrike if we don’t clear out quick.”
He glared at Logan who made no effort to let go of Kayla. Ray was about to break his fingers for him. Instead he said, “Get ahold of me as soon as you get any results from those samples. Call dispatch. They’ll have my new number.”
“New number?” Logan repeated curiously as Kayla finally slipped free of his grasp.
“I’m getting a new phone. Should have it later tonight.”
“What happened your other one?”
Ray gave a slight shrug. “I slipped it to Landon. Let’s go,” he said before grabbing Kayla’s pack and slinging one strap over his shoulder. He strode away without waiting for her to follow. He liked Logan, but at the moment, it was taking all his willpower not to kick him in the balls.
Kayla said something else to Zach and then jogged to catch up with Ray.
“Thank you,” she said as she fell in beside him.
“For what?”
“Giving Landon a phone.”
“Not doing any favors. I need him to have a way to contact me if he comes up with something else. Wouldn’t trust the old man to call me if there was a ransom call.”
That wasn’t why, but he didn’t need Kayla thinking he’d gone soft and wanted the kid to have a line to the rest of the world, and to Kayla especially.
“I’m still grateful,” she said. “Leaving Landon here is just about the last thing I want to do. My father is going to lock him down.”
“Lock him down?”
“It’s pretty much prison with comfortable furniture.”
“He did that to you?”
She made an affirmative sound.
A current of black fury jolted through him, and red flames curled around his fingers. He closed his fist and tamped them. Luckily Kayla stood slightly behind him and couldn’t see. But the loss of control shook him. Being with Kayla shook him. Wanting her so badly he practically announced on a loudspeaker that he was a witch nearly brought him to his knees.
All because her father had locked her in her room years ago.
Ray was totally fucked up.
He’d damned well better figure out how to keep a lid on it, because they were going to be spending some quality time together. He wasn’t about to let her investigate the kidnapping on her own, and he had zero doubts that’s exactly what she would do. She’d end up in the middle of something dangerous without backup, and that was entirely unacceptable. On the other hand, he didn’t have any illusions that his dick would lose interest in her anytime soon. Maybe he just needed to stuff some ice in his underwear.
Back at the squad car, he tossed the pack into the back seat and slid behind the wheel, adjusting himself before Kayla climbed into the passenger side and buckled up. As he touched his fingers to the ignition spell set into the dash, he felt something inside him uncoil at the rightness, the familiarity of the action. Having her beside him aligned his world back to right for the first time in years. Four years to be exact.
Don’t get used to it, he told himself. She’s not a cop anymore, and she’s got no interest in coming back to the force or you. He’d be a whole lot better off if he didn’t forget that particular fact. Still, an irritating voice in the back of his head wondered, What if she just came back to you? And now the image that flashed through his horny brain was her naked beneath him, calling out his name, not that fucker Logan’s.
He nearly groaned at the ache that erupted in his groin at the thought of being inside her. Goddamn but he was out of his fucking mind. He turned the car around and headed for the main gate, praying that his dick didn’t split at the seams. He reached for the microphone on his radio and called dispatch.
“This is Garza. I’m leaving the Runyon place. I need a new phone. My old one is out of service. Don’t deactivate. I gave it to an informant.”
A tinny voice acknowledged his report and told him a new phone would be waiting downtown. Ray told them to send out a station-wide notification of his new number and to make sure all incoming calls to his old phone got forwarded to the new before he signed off and hung the microphone back in its cradle.
They remained silent as he drove down the long drive and out through the main gate. A dozen questions danced on his tongue and vied for precedence. He decided to go with the one least likely to make her shut down.
“What did you say to your father there at the end?”
The question clearly startled her, as if she’d been braced for something else.
“I threatened him,” she said after a moment.
“With what?”
“Death and torture, mostly.”
Ray smiled. He’d missed that streak of righteous vengeance. “He’s not going to take that threat well. I get the feeling he doesn’t like to be challenged.”
She snorted. “You noticed that, huh?”
“You should be careful. I peg him as vindictive and vicious.” And if she wouldn’t be careful, he’d be careful for her. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight if he could help it.
Kayla gave a little laugh. “Stop telling me things I already know.”
He started to maneuver her to the topic he really wanted to talk about. “How did you get
him to let you join the force?”
She sighed and looked out the side window. “I held the family dirty witch laundry over his head. Plus, I found out about a couple of not-so-legal things he’d been doing. I helped him decide it was better to let me go and do my own thing under my mother’s maiden name than risk I’d be believed. It helped that I had proof and I didn’t give a fuck about his money.”
“Must’ve hurt leaving Landon, not to mention your grandmother and aunt.”
She didn’t answer for a long minute. Just about the time Ray’d decided she wasn’t going to and he needed to shift gears, she spoke again.
“It’s the second hardest thing I’ve ever done. It about broke me to leave Landon, but Aunt Margaret is a good mom, and whatever else her faults are, Grandmother would rip my father a new one if he caused Landon physical harm. But I had to go. If I stayed, I’d have killed him.”
She said the last quietly, without any force, which told him she really would have.
“Lucky he saw the light, then,” Ray said in an effort to lighten the moment.
“It was. I had a couple of foolproof murder plans worked out.”
“I take it he wasn’t such a good dad?” Ray felt his anger rising again. He clenched his fingers on the wheel. “Did he hurt you?”
“You mean physically? Not really. He was more into psychological torture. He’s good at it, too.”
“Not really means he did hurt you,” Ray said, the two words slamming into his brain with all the force of a baseball bat. “What exactly did he do?”
When she answered, he could tell she was choosing her words carefully. “He arranged for certain events. Only a few. I learned pretty quickly the lines I shouldn’t cross.”
The Witchkin Murders Page 13
