“Check.”
“Vibrant eyes, probably of an unnatural color?”
She gasped. “He says he’s wearing contacts, but who wears violet contacts?”
“Is he an arrogant prick?”
She hesitated. “Am I in danger?”
“Tell him Ethan Charleston sends his regards. You’ll be fine.” I reached to kill the call, then added, “After he pays the check.”
I hung up, stripped, and took a long shower. Letting the water run down the back of my neck, I considered my new reality. I’d gotten Caroline’s father killed and she’d come looking for answers, and revenge. Understandable. Did she think she was going to drive me to suicide, or just drive me to make a mistake so that I’d be easier to trap and kill? The latter, I decided. She was already preparing me for the trap. The next call I received would be a request for my help, directing me to somewhere secluded. She expected me to jump at the chance, hoping I’d be able to mislead her, steer her away from discovering my name.
That would be my mistake, according to her plan. She must’ve known I was her target from the moment I’d met her outside her father’s office, when she’d been handing out posters. Word would get out that his daughter was searching for him, stirring up interest in his disappearance. Her very public pursuit of answers guaranteed that eventually the person responsible for her father’s disappearance and presumed death would turn up to find out just how much she knew, to assess whether she was a liability. It was a well-thought-out plan, and I’d walked directly into it.
I smiled, splashing my face with hot water. I admired a clever opponent.
What I didn’t know was what to do with her. I couldn’t have a mind witch stalking me. Could I tell her the truth, point her at Michaela? Caroline was clever and patient, but she was no match for the Mistress of the Northern Seethe. I couldn’t send both father and daughter to the same gruesome death. But death was the only way to ensure she’d abandoned her quest for revenge. It was never wise to leave an enemy behind you, but could I kill her?
I finished my shower, changed into loose, comfortable old jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. Almost forgetting, I snapped my iridium bracelet around my wrist, then went downstairs to examine the books on my shelves, pulling one in particular. From what Josh had told me, the chances of finding a reference to mind magic were small, but I had some of the oldest texts from the pack’s library. After ordering a pizza, I pushed the cognac-colored ottoman to the couch and sat down to start my research.
By the time the pizza arrived, I’d pulled several more books from the shelves, adding a couple of notepads where I tried to keep track of the various small clues I found, each one leading me down a fruitless rabbit hole. Hours later, the pizza was reduced to nibbled pieces of crust. The bookshelves were nearly empty, contents spread over the couch and the floor. Every notebook I had was scattered among them. I’d been reduced to searching esoteric websites with my laptop, hunting for small kernels of truth hidden beneath mountains of New Age garbage.
I recognized the sound of Sky’s Honda Civic moments before it pulled into my driveway. Abigail wasn’t the only one who wanted to know how and why the dark forest had tried to take me. If I hadn’t been so distracted, I’d have expected Sky. The mess in my living room was only going to lead to more questions. For a moment, I considered not answering the door, but it was obvious I was home. She was on a mission to get answers, and there was no point in putting her off. She’d just reached the porch when I opened the door and stepped aside, gesturing for her to come in.
Walking into the living room, she took a keen interest in the mess of books. She licked her lips as her gaze shifted to the open laptop on the couch, or was she eyeing the pizza box? Using my foot, I cleared a path for her through the various books and notebooks on the floor. As she approached the oversized chair facing the couch, her gaze flicked once more to the open laptop, just before I turned the screen from her view. She sat down, letting her eyes wander over the books and notepads with a practiced casualness.
After a moment, she shook off her curiosity and examined me with an increasingly concerned look.
I guess I look as bad as I feel.
I sat on the couch, facing her.
She stared at me, waiting for me to talk. After the first minute, I realized she was using my tactic of drawing people out with silence. I suppressed a smile and held her gaze. I didn’t figure she’d last longer than two minutes. To her credit, she lasted nine. Eventually her look of empathy became a blatant question mark.
“What are you?” she asked.
That wasn’t what I’d expected. Rather than talk about the elves and the woods and the things kept inside, she’d cut straight to the heart of the matter. I sank back into the couch, impressed. A lie was the smart play. So far, I’d avoided putting her at risk, but I’d need her help eventually. Once I obtained the Aufero, I’d need her to use it. Most likely I’d have to tell her exactly what she was removing, since I didn’t want to lose my mother’s magic, as well.
Exhausted, I washed my hands over my face as if I could wipe away the stress. “My grandmother was a dark elf,” I said, surprising both of us. “She died eight days ago.”
Her gaze shifted while she sorted through the ramifications of my revelation. “Do you have any aunts or uncles?”
Had there been other relatives, we would’ve shared my grandmother’s inheritance. It was an astute question. I shook my head.
“The other day, with me, was an accident, wasn’t it?”
I glanced down at my hands to hide my embarrassment. After a moment, I looked up to meet her gaze. “I am not as strong as she was, the wolf part of me controls some of that.” I shrugged. “It gets better each day.” I leaned back, noting the depth of concern in her frown.
“What happens now?” she asked. “Does Sebastian know?”
“He is the only one that does. Was the only one that knew,” I said with an uncomfortable smile. Does she realize the danger I’ve put her in?
She pointed to the iridium cuff around my wrist. I’d forgotten it was there, but there was no point in hiding it any longer. “Does it work?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I had it on in Elysian and it didn’t seem to work.”
“We need to get the Aufero.”
“I thought about that,” I admitted, allowing her to come to her own conclusions, “but I have no idea where it is.”
She smiled. “I do. Well, not exactly. I have an idea where it may be.” After some rummaging in her purse, accompanied by a fair amount of grumbling, she drew out four torn pieces of plain white paper and laid them out onto the ottoman between us. On the pages were mostly abstract sketches, some more detailed than others. A few I recognized. I leaned over, inspecting them closely while she explained.
“I saw this room that year I was in the in-between.”
She was referring to the time I’d killed her. I’d stared directly into her eyes and watched the life drain out of her as I’d strangled her. I shook the memory from my mind and focused on the sketches. Two were drawn in blue ink, but with different thicknesses. Another was drawn in black, and the other in green. “These were done at different times,” I observed. “Why?”
The flick of her eyes and the sudden intake of breath told me she considered lying. “I visited it again, recently,” she admitted.
I scowled, knowing full well who was behind this recklessness. “With Josh, I presume.”
She glanced away as she nodded.
Sky was constantly testing boundaries and putting herself—and sometimes others—in danger. After nearly two years with us, I expected more from her, but it dawned on me that I expected too much. No matter how long she’d spent with us, she didn’t have the experience of growing up in our world. Up until we’d saved her, she hadn’t even known there were other were-animals, let alone other supernatural creatures. Her curiosity and recklessness, while frustrating, were understandable, but Josh knew better. “You have indeed become one of his weaknesses,�
�� I said, then returned my attention to her sketches.
“Better me than anyone else,” she said, piqued. “I will never hurt him, betray him, or point a gun in his face.”
It took me a moment to realize she was referring to the time Chris had pointed a gun at Josh in an attempt to get us to surrender Sky. “You say that now,” I muttered, choosing not to take the bait.
I placed the laptop on the ottoman and began searching. I had assumed that Marcia kept the Aufero in one of her magic shops, but the symbols in Sky’s drawings opened the door to other possibilities. Based on the public records, I’d believed that Marcia only controlled the two shops that were in her name, but there were other New Age-related shops and businesses in Chicago that might be indirectly under her control.
While I searched, I couldn’t help wondering what else Sky and Josh had been up to. Trying to push that out of my mind, I focused on my search, periodically glancing at the sketches. Sky was surprisingly patient while I worked, leading me to keep a cautious eye on her in case she started snooping into things she shouldn’t. There were a few of the books and notes that I preferred she not see.
I queued up some pages to print and waited by the printer for the batch to finish. “Are you sleeping with him?” I asked, trying to sound casual while I closely watched her for any hint of a lie.
The question startled her. “With who?”
“You know damn well who,” I snapped. “Are you screwing my brother?”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. Her eyes narrowed. “It’s your brother; maybe you should ask him about his personal life.”
I scoffed. “He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Probably because it isn’t any of your business.”
She rose and tried to grab the printout from my hand. I snatched it back, glaring at her, but she refused to back down. Her intense gaze fixed on mine.
“Look,” she said finally, “we can sit here all day while you speculate about what goes on between me and Josh in the bedroom, but we both need the Aufero. Don’t you think we should dedicate our energy to looking for it?” She snapped the pages from my loosened grip and laid them out on the ottoman.
Regretting my outburst, I sat quietly on the couch while she pointed to one of the sketches.
“What is this?”
“It’s a protection symbol. Most people have them simply for the aesthetics, but if enchanted correctly, it weakens all magical beings that enter the shop. Marcia would never have a real one where she keeps the Aufero, because it would weaken it and her as well. I’ve seen them in all of these places, but I am not sure which ones are real. We will have to go to them.” If close enough, I could sense whether the symbols were magical.
Sky unclipped a pen from a nearby notepad on the floor and marked off at least a third of the locations.
She’s been doing research of her own. I felt a rush of regret in my chest. I’d let the dark elf magic keep me on edge, and too often I’d taken my irritation out on her. She deserved better.
I smiled as I rose from the sofa and offered her my hand, as much to soften the tension between us as to demonstrate a point. She eyed the gesture with confusion, curiosity, and some trepidation. The last time we’d touched, I’d nearly killed her. After a moment, she eased her hand into mine. I gently brought her to her feet and pressed my forehead against hers, surprising her. My lips lightly brushed against hers as we stood there, silently sharing each other’s warm breath. Her breath quickened. Her lips parted, but I didn’t kiss her. Instead I lingered there, just touching against her softness, then stepped back, still holding her hand, and grinned.
“It’s getting easier,” I announced.
She rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated breath as she drew back her hand, but her smile remained. “What does it feel like?”
“Chaos. If I’m calm, I can control it better. It’s harder with you around.” For many reasons.
Gazing down at her, I reached out and brushed my fingers against her forearm, then gently wrapped my fingers around it, enjoying the soft, cool touch of her skin against mine. I felt my shoulders relax. The dread of what had happened in the forest drained from my body as I gazed into her green eyes. “It’s a lot better.”
After a moment, she gently pulled her arm free and demurely tucked a loose mahogany curl behind her ear. “We should probably get started.”
I nodded.
For once I didn’t bother to hide my ability to detect magic, which made our search easier. Thanks to Maya, Sky was able to as well. Together, we wandered through each shop, looking for magic in the items there, in the various symbols painted on the walls that were often just for decoration. More importantly, we looked for less obvious sources of magic, such as from hidden rooms or storage spaces. Sharing the search with her, I appreciated the ease of her company, how well we worked together when I didn’t have to lie.
Eventually we narrowed the list down to just three possibilities, two of them Marcia’s shops. One of those three hid the Aufero, we were both certain.
“We’ll wait until they’re closed to search those,” I said. “We can conduct a thorough search without concern for detection.”
She gave me a sideways look. “You’re just going to break in?”
“Exactly.”
CHAPTER 13
I tried to rest in anticipation of our late-night prowl. Each time I closed my eyes, I expected the telltale dizziness of another mind attack. I still didn’t know what I was going to do with Caroline.
By the time Sky arrived at eleven o’clock, I could barely keep my eyes open. When I opened the door, my eyebrows rose at the sight of her wearing a loose purple t-shirt with the smiling face of a panda bear on the front. Her jeans were reasonable; the obnoxious silver slippers were not.
She frowned, gestured to my faded jeans and wrinkled button-down. “You’re going to wear that?”
I rolled my eyes and changed into dark jeans, a black shirt, and dark boots. When I returned to the living room, I was surprised to find she hadn’t changed. I’d assumed she’d worn her outfit as a joke.
“We are about to commit larceny,” she stated. “If we are caught, who will look like a criminal and who will look like an employee who came back to the store to pick up her forgotten bag?” She winked and tapped a finger to her temple. “You have to think outside of the box.”
“I assure you, no one will believe someone would hire you knowing this is your manner of dress.”
“Well, I plan to get them to ‘see my reality,’ while you will be seeing the inside of a precinct.”
“So,” I said, suppressing a laugh, “let’s not get caught.”
As usual, she looked anxious in the passenger seat of my BMW as I drove toward the first store on the list. While she gripped the seat with both hands and pumped imaginary brakes, the silence between us allowed my mind to race. Once we found where the Aufero was hidden, retrieving it was risky. There would be magical protection. As long as I detected the traps before they went off, I most likely could break the spells, courtesy of my mother’s magic. Should anything go wrong, we’d be on our own. We couldn’t be seen as working on the pack’s behalf, and I wouldn’t risk bringing Josh into the situation.
Once we’d retrieved the Aufero, there was the question of hiding it. Marcia would certainly spend considerable resources to recapture it. Without Josh’s knowledge of the Creed’s abilities, I wasn’t sure how long we could hide the orb from them. It couldn’t be hidden at the retreat. Artemis might be of help, but she was also a mercenary. When it came to something as valuable as one of the protected objects, she couldn’t be depended upon.
There was the fact that Sky was the rightful Moura charged with protecting the Aufero. We’d kept that secret from Marcia, but once revealed, she’d be unable to make a public claim on the orb. Sky could place it in the pack’s protection. She’d be within her rights, but Marcia wouldn’t give up so easily. She’d find ways to punish the pack, to punish Josh. She was well aware
that he could be used as leverage against me. She’d drum up some bogus charge and haul him in front of the Creed for judgment, and I’d have to give her the Aufero to protect him.
Sky spoke, startling me from my thoughts. “What do you do for the pack?”
I shifted gears, taking advantage of a long stretch of straight road to pick up the pace. “What?”
Pressing back into her seat, she complained, “It’s harder to kill us, but not impossible. I am pretty sure going through the windshield is going to hurt like hell and put a dent in our plans.”
I smiled as I slowed down to just over the speed of traffic, which seemed to calm her.
“What do you do for the pack?” she asked again. “What is your job besides Beta? Josh manages the pack’s club. Sebastian is a day trader and owns real estate, Steven’s a student, Winter is an IT consultant. I’m still not sure what Gavin does, and I don’t think anyone else is, either. What is your job?”
Gavin is a professional ass. “I’m an attorney.”
Her hand covered her mouth as she tried to stifle a laugh. She turned away, then finally let it out. Bemused, I kept my eyes on the road while she enjoyed herself, eventually wiping away tears as she brought herself under control.
“Criminal law for two years,” I continued. “Then I switched to corporate.”
She nodded, suppressing another wave of laughter, but didn’t ask any more questions.
A few minutes later, I took a slow pass in front of the first magic shop. The interior lights in the back of the shop were on, but that was a common security precaution. Confident that the staff had gone home, I parked around the corner.
The neighboring buildings were shops with apartments above. Several of the units were lit, but I didn’t find any faces lingering in the windows. Gesturing for Sky to wait by the BMW, I took a walk around the back of the building. Eyeing the edges of the roof for power lines and boxes that would indicate an alarm system, I found none. I didn’t feel any magic radiating through the walls, either.
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