by Jami Gray
Xander perched on the arm of Vidis’s chair, in a subtle claim of the Lycos leader. Her face and voice were all business when she addressed Mulcahy. “I found traces of humans and an unknown at Chet’s house.”
Too keyed up to settle, Raine paced the back length of the room. “Anything else?”
Xander eyed her coolly. “A warding spell had been cast but wouldn’t have triggered until he stepped across his threshold. From the signs I could follow, the spell was set by someone with Kyn blood, but little training, more brute strength. The humans and the unknown were waiting for him when he came through the door. The humans attacked and the unknown came in from behind.”
Raine’s agitated movements ground to a halt, and she gave the female shifter a sharp look. “How’s that possible? If he came through the door, then the one behind him couldn’t just pop out of thin air.” She jerked as it hit her. “They Shadow Walked?”
Xander nodded slowly.
Raine began to curse in a low, vicious tone, her rage building and snapping at the fragile control she fought to maintain. The ringing of her cell phone jerked her back from the edge. Taking a deep breath, she snatched it out of her pocket and checked the display. The number came up blocked.
Unsure of who was calling, but not wanting to miss the call on the slim chance it was Gavin, she excused herself and went outside the office to answer it. “McCord.”
Static filled the line, then cleared. “You’re going to have to move fast if you want to save your boyfriend, Raine.”
“Who are you?”
“Let’s just say you and I are kin of sorts,” the voice was a vibrating growl.
Her heart rate kicked up and static increased even as she struggled to stay calm. “Strange, I don’t remember attending a family reunion recently.”
The static eased. “Perhaps because you have no family left.”
Her blood froze. “What do you want?” she demanded, her tone cold, merciless.
“Ah, ah, ah,” the voice chided. “No need to get so upset, cher. I just wanted to let you know, if you want lover boy to make it out sane, you best starting moving on Dr. Lawson’s little lab.”
Her pulse spiked. “What lab?”
There was a huge elaborate sigh. “I’m so disappointed at how slow y’all move. Hasn’t your boss found lover boy’s car yet?” The gruff voice didn’t wait for answer. “Check the glove compartment. I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for.”
Her mind raced furiously. “How do I know this isn’t just another trap?”
“You don’t,” the growl rumbled. “But since you and I know exactly what’s happening to lover boy, I have a feeling it won’t matter. That Chet character, he was getting way too close, but this one, they’re keeping alive. For now. He shows promise.”
A guttural scream cut through the airwaves, and her breath stopped.
“You recognized that, uh? Ah well, that’s going to hurt. Good hunting, Raine.” The line went dead.
Trembling in fury-coated panic she let out a short snarl of frustration, then hissed as the sharp, jagged edges of her now broken phone pierced her palm. Spinning around she stormed back into Mulcahy’s office. The wave of anger emanating from her and her abrupt entrance brought Vidis to his feet, while Xander stayed protectively in front of him.
“Gavin’s at Lawson’s lab.” The tight leash on her volatile emotions stretched to a breaking point. “That phone call was Chet’s attacker, and he’s playing both ends against the other.”
“Explain.” Mulcahy’s order cut through her rage, bringing her focus back enough to continue. Rocking up on the balls of her feet, body poised, and fists clenched at her side, she strove for control. “He claimed Chet was too much of a threat. For now, they’re keeping Gavin alive.”
“Then we have a little bit of time to plan this out,” Mulcahy stated.
Flames of panic spiked. “No we don’t, sir. We need to move now. Our little font of information indicated I have personal experience with what’s happening to Gavin. Every minute we waste, is one more piece of his sanity lost.”
Her confrontational approach did not go over well with Mulcahy, who did not tolerate his decisions being questioned. “What are you talking about?”
It was stupid, dangerous even, to push, but her uncle spent years hiding from she endured. Yet it didn’t stop her. The combination of fear, guilt, and heart-wrenching panic at what she knew Gavin was suffering became too much. For Gavin’s sake, it was time to rip those damn blinders off her uncle’s eyes.
She let the beast prowling inside her take control. Freed from its chains, violent energy rose, creating a physical wave in its wake. Cheveyo shot to his feet, but the storm of magic and emotion gathered around her, tightening the air in the room with suppressed violence. On her other side Vidis and Xander move into defensive positions.
With a screaming snarl, she threw a shield around her and her uncle, keeping both the shifters and the witch away. She just needed a few minutes.
Reaching deep into her soul to grasp at the twisted ropes of magical energy, she wove them together. Her teeth sharpened while her nails stretched into claws. The bones in her face shifted and reformed. Raising arms now covered in black fur, she threw back her head, letting lose an eerie scream of frustrated rage.
Intellect warred with instinct and she stopped the transformation half way through. Painful though it was, she wanted her uncle witness the half-woman, half-monstrous leopard the humans managed to create. For Gavin, she revealed her darkest self to those in the room.
Mulcahy’s eyes widened and he took an involuntary step back, his butt hitting the edge of the shielding she hastily erected. A small dark part of her enjoyed the quickly suppressed flicker of fear in his deep brown eyes.
Fear is good, whispered the beast.
Her voice came out lower with the edge of a growl, though still understandable even with a partial muzzle. “We are not waiting, Uncle. Gavin is not going to be sacrificed because you don’t want to face the fact the humans can create the very monsters you fear.”
“Look at me. This is what you want me to embrace.” She placed her sharp-tipped claws on his desk and leaned forward until she was almost on top of it. “I am not Kyn. I am a monster!”
Mulcahy’s face was pale but he stepped in and cupped her twisted face with his hands, shock holding her still. “You are still my niece and still Kyn. Even more, you are a Wraith.” A heartbeat passed, then another. He let her go and stepped back. “We cannot afford to rush into the lab unprepared or we will lose more than just Gavin.”
She searched for a glimpse of disgust in her uncle’s face. “The killer called me kin. He knows I have no family.”
Mulcahy’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I am your family. Taliesin is your family. If you rush in, Raine, we will lose not only Gavin, but all those who will be with you. Then not only will they have Gavin, but they will have the weapon they created years ago. Is that what you want?”
“I don’t want Gavin to be twisted into me!” Anguish echoed under the rage. She raised claw-tipped hands to cover her face and began caging the beast. As her magic receded, she lowered her hands, watching the shimmer enveloped her arms. When it dissipated, her very human hands rested on the mahogany desk. She raised her head and held her uncle’s steady gaze.
There was no missing the practical ruthlessness staring back, a general assessing a powerful solider. So his next questions was not a surprise. “Do you think Chet’s attacker holds the same powers you do?”
“I don’t know,” her voice was empty. “He could be more or less, depending on what they did to him.”
“It would be better if we had a clearer picture of what we may be up against,” Mulcahy’s tone was brisk.
She gave a harsh bark of laughter, and pushed back from the desk. “We have no idea what we’re up against.” She waved her palm, dropping the shield as she turned her back on her uncle. “As soon as we hear from Ryder we need to get to that car.”
“McCord,” Mulcahy’s voice was sharp as glass.
Raine turned to face him.
“Don’t ever threaten me again. You are not the most dangerous person in this room and rage doesn’t mean power.”
“I know, Mulcahy,” she answered. “But I don’t have to be the most powerful, just the most deadly.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The sleek convertible blended in with the pre-dawn shadows lying over the heavily forested road outside Oregon City. However, the shiny red muscle car sitting in front of it did anything but blend. Raine pulled up behind the two parked cars, watching a young man in chinos and a collared, baby blue shirt make his way to her. Cheveyo got out of her SUV’s passenger side and rounded the hood.
The smiling young man strode over. “Hi, I’m Jamie Ryder. Natasha sent me.” The artistically messy, sun-streaked brown hair moved with every step. The look must have cost a pretty penny to achieve.
She nodded in greeting. “I’m McCord, and this is Cheveyo.” When Ryder came closer she noted he was a bit taller than her. Nor did she miss the slight ring of red around the brown iris. Without those eyes, he could be any college boy on any campus. Between that little tell-a-tale ring and the unnerving sense of other, college boy possessed a fair amount of demon blood in his veins.
While he and Cheveyo exchanged a few words, she tried to figure out why exactly Natasha sent this boy on a hunting party. Regardless of his bloodlines, he seemed soft around the edges. Since Natasha wasn’t a fool, there had to be something Raine was missing. Hopefully it wasn’t something that would come back to nail her.
She walked to Gavin’s car. There were no signs of it being forced off the road. The rumble of Xander’s bike brought her head up as the other woman came to a stop, pulling off her helmet. As she made her way over, Ryder stopped in mid-sentence, a stunned look in his eyes Any other time his reaction would leaving Raine smiling. Xander’s petite appearance fooled most males into underestimating her. Not a healthy thing for any man to do.
“Xander,” Raine called. “Do your thing and let me know what you find out. I’m checking the glove compartment.”
“You think there’s a map?” Ryder’s derisive tone it sparked the now ever-present fury she kept tightly reined.
She shot him a venomous look. Pulling open the sport car’s passenger-side door, she slid in. Her control was shot to hell and there would be no getting it back until Gavin was safe and whoever took him was in small bloody pieces.
Gavin’s woodsy scent surrounded her, causing her lungs to catch and her stomach to clench. She dragged his scent deep, then noted the keys were still in the ignition. Focusing on the task at hand, she ignored the tremor in her fingers, and popped the glove compartment open and stared. The map her anonymous caller mentioned stared back.
Pulling it out, she left the car and moved to her SUV’s hood, spreading the map out. Locating their position just outside of Oregon City, she found an inked blue circle framing a blank spot nestled between a small river and South Hayden Road before it turned onto the Woodburn-Estacada Highway. It was a bit farther out, but she’d bet good money it was Eden Lawson’s hidden lab. The location worked since Estacada was surrounded by two Federal Reserve parks and the sprawling Philip Foster Farm.
“Got it,” she growled. Cheveyo and Ryder came up, taking in the map. Xander continued to prowl around Gavin’s car. Raine sensed the bursts of power as the other woman tracked down any remaining magical traces.
Cheveyo, easily reading Raine’s impatience, placed a warm, restraining hand on her arm. “Dawn’s around the corner, and there is no way we can safely bypass security and get him out until we have more information.”
She knew her eyes were unfriendly. “I’m highly aware we have to wait until nightfall, Cheveyo. I won’t put this op at risk by striking out blindly.”
He measured her look against her words, then he nodded—seemingly satisfied she meant what she said—and dropped his hand.
Folding the map, she moved around him to Xander.
Ryder stepped in front of her, stopping her short. “Damn, Natasha is never wrong.” Young and arrogant, he gave her an appraising look.
She didn’t have the patience to deal with cocky little demon frat boys and cursed herself for asking, “About what?”
He gave a low, evil laugh. “You, of course.” He deliberately invaded her personal space.
She froze, while her muscles vibrated slightly as if ready to strike.
Unaware of how close danger stood, Ryder kept talking. “You like to live dangerously.”
She gave him a sardonic look. “I hate to be bored.”
“She didn’t mention you’re another prime example of why you don’t have to be male to have stone cold balls.” He pushed, testing her, like some naughty child.
Unfortunately she wasn’t anyone’s mother.
She met his smirk, absently noting the signs of latent handsomeness. His ability to grow into that promise was currently up for debate. Only a breath separated them and in her right hand, she held her wrist blade a hair’s breath away from his groin area. “If you don’t want to lose yours, you’ll step back, little boy.”
For a second his eyes flamed red, then he looked down to find her blade perilously close to his prized package. He stepped back, but not before flashing a taunting grin and raising his hands to indicate his was unarmed. The tension between fell back just as Xander called her over.
Raine shook her head as she headed to the tracker. Demons were such a pain in the ass, always pushing until someone bled. Frat boy from Hell better have some serious skills or when this was over, she and the demon queen were going to go a few rounds.
Xander knelt on the far side of the car and without turning, addressed Raine. “There was a female here. It looks like a meet, but I can’t be sure because Ryder’s car tracked over any earlier tire markings. These—” She pointed to faint indents and smudges in the damp ground, barely discernable even with Raine’s superior vision. “Are what gets left behind if you wear those designer heels.”
“Figures,” Raine muttered. “Dr. Lawson seems to have a penchant for heels.”
“Yeah.” Xander shot Raine a look. “Most women do.”
“Not me. I’m not into pain.”
Xander snorted, then straightened and moved deeper into the surrounding forest. “Come here.”
Raine followed her in to the shadows.
After a few feet, Xander stopped and turned back to the now almost invisible road. “Notice how you can’t see anything?”
Raine nodded.
“Not only that, but Ryder and Cheveyo can’t see us.” Xander’s hazel eyes were steady. “There were five of them hiding in the forest, probably shielded.”
“So,” Raine kept her tone flat. “Some sort of spell was used to make sure Gavin couldn’t detect them?”
Xander nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. “I think that’s the best guess, but maybe Cheveyo can test it.”
“He pulls up, scans, gets nothing.” Raine gazed toward the direction of the road, unseeing, trying to piece together what Gavin walked into. “The woman was already waiting for him. Has to be someone he knows or recognizes.”
Xander nodded. “If he headed out this way to check out Lawson, he wouldn’t just stop.”
Raine considered it. “Maybe, or maybe she had a flat, you know, the whole damsel in distress thing. She’d have to be driving something big, a van or an SUV or—”
“SUV would be my top choice,” Xander cut in. “They’re everywhere and wouldn’t set off alarm bells like a van.”
“Yeah, a van screams serial killer or kidnapper,” Raine agreed. Xander flashed a quick grin. “They’re chatting and what? The five hidden men jump him?” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense, because there would be at least one body or blood.”
She started back toward the parked cars, Xander keeping pace. “What if the woman had some way to incapacitate Gavin?”
&
nbsp; “Like what?” Raine stopped, shooting the other woman a scornful look. “Some Kyn tranquilizer?”
The blonde halted and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m just saying, we have no idea what these people have access to.” Her gaze was sharp, watchful. “If they can m-tate a Kyn into whatever it is you are, why can’t they have some drug to disable Kyn?”
Raine buried her instinctive flinch at Xander’s comment. “Point. Okay, say they drug him and take him away.” They began moving out of the trees. “Would there be signs near his car?”
They headed back toward the cars and the two waiting men. Xander stepped up to the front of the sports car. Her smile was almost smug. “You mean like these?” She pointed to some marks in the gravel.
“Drag marks.” Raine was disgusted at missing them on her first pass around the car. She needed to be sharper than this.
Calling Cheveyo over, she asked him to check out the area Xander discovered to see if he could trace any spell. She leaned her jeans-clad hip against the convertible and faced Xander.
“What happened at Chet’s?” Raine hadn’t wanted to ask, but she needed to know. He’d been a rare friend and even though her worries about Gavin shadowed most of her thoughts, she hadn’t forgotten Chet.
The smaller woman’s face went blank, but her eyes darkened with grief and anger. “Spelled trap,” she answered. “He walked into his house and tripped it. Based on what was left behind, it didn’t produce the desired effects of limiting his abilities. He fought those lying in wait before he was killed.”
Obviously eavesdropping, Ryder walked up to them. “If the spell was tripped only when he walked in, it means it was set before he got home.”
Xander nodded shortly. “There were faint traces of an unknown Kyn who was able to bypass Chet’s wards. They probably set it and let the others in.”
“They knew his movements, his habits, then,” Raine said quietly. “Which points to Quinn’s mysterious lover.”
