Chapter 33

Itisn’t until I park my shiny rental pickup in front of the house that Az dragsherself out of her mental fog. I’m sure the reports she mechanically filled outfor Greer are worthless, but that’s his problem. My problem is going to startwhen we walk in that house and everyone starts demanding parcels of attention Ican’t spare. Or demanding pieces of my void. Which I can’t spare because I’mnot even certain she’s aware of anything around her.

“Canyou pull up a list of spikes between 68.5 and 104 hectomana per square foot?”she asks, hand on the door handle and seatbelt still buckled.

“Howfar back do you want to go?”

“Nineweeks. You said Olivet’s surveillance started two months ago, so let’s pad itby a week.” She pushes open the door and leans forward but is held back by theseatbelt. Concerned that she’s on the wrong side of lucid, I cover the latchfor her seatbelt.

“Doyou need to take a nap?”

Herglare lacks its usual heat. She looks drained and a decade older. “Didn’t wealready have this conversation? I’m not three.”

“No,but you’re not right, and you won’t tell me what’s wrong, so I’m stuck guessinghere, Princess.”

Sheoffers up a shaky smile. Tears shimmer in her impossibly wide eyes. “I coulduse a hug.”

Shedoesn’t have to ask twice. I unlatch her belt haul her across the centerconsole – bucket seats suck, but beggars can’t be choosers – and into my lap. Herarms wind around my neck and her head automatically settles over my heart. Shefits so well it’s like she was made for cuddling.

“Whathappened, Princess? What did Olivet say that shook you up so bad?”

“Maybenothing. Maybe everything. I thought everything added up, but now the constantsare variables and the variables are imaginary numbers.”

Sheexhales against my neck. A shiver dances down my spine. At least that math addsup the same.

“Canwe stay here forever?” she asks, eyelids drifting shut.

Thereare three Shifters gathered on the porch. Two look ready to rush the truck. Jose’salready Shifted and is pacing the length of the top step. “Not likely,Princess.”

Sheuntangles herself from me and crawls, slowly, across the console back to herside of the truck. Purse slung over her shoulder, she hops to the ground. Shedoesn’t get a chance to cross the front of the truck. An excited ocelot racesoff the porch and launches itself at Az.

Ohhell no. I didn’t take a beating from an airbag to protect her so she can bemauled by an ocelot with impulse issues. I pluck Jose out of the air and holdhim up by the scruff of his neck. He extends a paw towards Az, but a sharpshake has him retracting the limb.

“Gentle,”I remind with another shake. “Humans are fragile.”

“Hey!”The protest is half-hearted at best. The slap across my arm isn’t quite asunenthusiastic.

OnceI’m certain that Jose isn’t going to knock Az to the ground, I set him on hisfeet. He circles her legs and rubs his massive head against her waist. Sheburies her hands in the soft fur behind his ears. His purr shakes the groundbeneath our feet.

“I’mokay, Jose,” she murmurs against the top of his head. His tail wraps around herwaist to keep her from moving away. “Promise. You’re going to have to fix myhair, though. Also, it turns out that Rick’s not a fan of the shirt, so you winthis time.”

Thatseems to reassure him enough. He stays glued to her side on the short walk tothe porch. Once she’s within arm’s reach, Quinn hesitates only a heartbeatbefore yanking Az in to a tight hug. Her laughter is watery, but the hand shestrokes down his spine is steady.

“Geez,it was just a little car accident. We didn’t even flip.” She grabs Uriah’s armand brings him into the embrace. “You guys are worrying over nothing. Do youreally think SuperAlpha would let anything happen to me?”

“SuperAlpha,”Uriah snorts, gently extracting himself from the group hug. “Yeah. That one’sgonna stick.”

Azgrins and pecks both teens’ cheeks. They do their best tomato impressions, butneither shoves her away. Good boys. “Sowhat’s this I hear about a class project and irritating poor Hank?”

Theychatter like grackles and tug her into the house. Greta greets me at the doorwith a tumbler of Jim Beam Honey and a couple of Tylenol. I kiss her full onthe mouth.

Shepunches my bad shoulder.

Withinten minutes, Az has Uriah and Quinn settled at the kitchen table with half adozen books. As the project is for Quinn’s bio-zoology class, she manages toconscript Hank into service as an advisor. Jose, back in human form, dancesaround the kitchen as he whips up a batch of his famous double-chip cookies.

“Azlooks better,” Greta says, leaning against the doorframe of the study.

Ipull up the hectomana spikes Az requested so that when she’s through with thedomestics we can get back to the business of rescuing a kidnapped child. Idon’t know why she wants the data, but I want to see if there’s any correlationbetween the spikes and the locations where dead witches were found.

“Shetried to tell me what happened, I think, but it didn’t come out clearly. It’sbeen a rough morning, and she absorbed a fair amount of magic during theattack.” Which reminds me that I need to talk her into discharging some of themagic before it hurts her.

“Actually,I don’t think I got that much.” Az breezes by Greta to perch on the corner ofmy desk. “I mostly just counteredtheir spells. Since I couldn’t tell what Olivet was using for mind control, Ididn’t want to risk picking up anything nasty.”

“Doesknowing what he used for mind control make anything any easier?”

“Notreally. It’s a medium-range spell. He stretched himself too thin when Greershowed up. I bet he’s sleeping off a hell of a headache. There’s a backlash ifyou’re still connected to a mind that suddenly shuts down.”

“I’dbetter check on the guys in the attic. It’s been quiet for too long,” Gretasays as she backs into the hallway. “Holler if you need any help.”

Azand I go over the spikes and the information from Greer. All of the spikes arewithin two miles of where a torched witch was found. The locations seem random.One is surprisingly close to Olivet’s house. Doesn’t that violate the psychomurderer code? Thou shalt not slay where one shits. So maybe not as random asthey’re supposed to look.

“Ihave a program that finds patterns in sets of coordinates. Give me a fewminutes to load these places in.” I hope Az’ll take the hint and go bug someoneelse for ten minutes or so. Having her so close I can feel her breath on theback of my neck is damn distracting.

Shedoesn’t take the hint. If anything, she scoots closer. One of her handsflutters over my sore shoulder for a moment before she tugs the collar of myt-shirt enough to bare the bruise. “Should you have an ice pack on this? Hankshould look at it, at least.”

Isnatch my shirt out of her grasp. “It’s fine, Az.”

“Thatdoes not look fine.”

“Picturethis bruise across your pretty little face, and maybe you’ll think twice beforebitching about a rescue.”

Silence.Beautiful, sweet silence.

Warmlips softly press against my shoulder and then behind my ear. She rakes a handthrough my hair, and I’m tempted to purr like Jose. “Thank you, Rick.”

“You’rewelcome.”

Just when I get used to having herpractically pressed up against me, she moves back onto the desk. Papers flutterto the floor when she pulls her knees to her chest. I can feel her eyes boring intothe back of my skull, but it’s not as creepy as it sounds.

“You know,” she starts in that soft,careful voice that I know means we’re in for a painful conversation. “Technically,if a Mage is behind this, he is in violation of the Richmond Peace Treaty. Sincethe Alpha of the Eastern Seaboard Pack is -.”

“It’s not an option, Princess.”

“You have the right to file a claim withthe Council. You are covered by the Treaty.”

“This isn’t up for discussion, Astraea.”

A growl rumbles in the back of my throat.If she keeps on pressing, I’m liable to say something I’ll only have to eatwhen my temper cools. No one in the pack knows of my connection to the Alpha ofthe largest Shifter pack in the US. I’d like to keep it that way. We don’t needhis protection. I’ve never asked him for anything, and I don’t intend to startnow.

“Okay,” she says, running a finger alongthe nape of my neck. “This is an issue I understand.”

“Good. Do I even want to ask how youfigured it out?”

“I’ve known all along. Dad let me readhis file on you before we left New Orleans. There were pictures from some ofyour early challenges. What you did to a guy who beat up your Mom? That wasnasty. I think Dad was hoping they would scare me.”

Well, hell. Now I don’t know if I’moffended that my history is supposed to scare young women or if I’m offendedthat it scare Az.

It doesn’t matter. None of it – my pastand my family – matters. Finding Daniel and putting Olivet and his puppetmaster are all that matter. The computer chimes, signaling an end to thewaiting period.

“Let’s see what we have.” I roll my chairout of the way so that Az can see the screen over my shoulder. “Stop me if yousee something familiar.”

I scroll through sketches of flowers,stars, hearts, stick figures, and geometric shapes. Nothing looks significant. Pentagon.Hexagon. Squiggly line. Star. Something that looks like a paint splatter. Asnake. A cross.

“There!” Az scrambles off the desk. “Thesnake. Go back to that.”

I obligingly scroll back to the snake. Azrocks back and forth on her toes, fingers curled into the back of my chair. “Yourecognize the snake?”

“Can you manipulate the points? Like makeit use the snake and then try to make something out of the remaining locations?”

I can do that. The program spits out the imageof a snake holding a stick. This? This is what has Az jumping around like herass is on fire?

“It’s a snake. With a stick. Maybe youabsorbed more magic than you thought, Princess.”

“It’s a basilisk holding a branch fromthe tree of knowledge,” she corrects. “It’s on the Dubois family coat of arms. Can software like this run in reverse to giveyou a list of locations that’ll fit the design you want?”

“Probably. I’ve never tried it, but Idon’t see why not.” I print out the image. “So how does this help us?”

Az plucks the page out of my hand. Sheholds it so close to her face I don’t know how she doesn’t go cross-eyed. “There’ssupposed to be a knot on the branch that symbolizes limitless magical knowledge.If I were a crazy warlock who felt a strong connection to the Dubois family, Iwould pick the location that corresponds with the knot as my command center.”

While she scours the image for themystery tree knot, I check in with the ‘dome. No update on the Patriarch. PerniceSutherland doesn’t like my big fat nada regarding Daniel, but he’s too politeto yell. If our positions were reversed, I’d be frothing at the mouth. No onewould be safe from my wrath. Damn zen centaurs.

Before I can protest or hang up, I gettransferred to the ‘dome’s main conference room. The heads of every major groupin the Paranormal Community have, apparently, been gathered all morning tryingto figure out a way to protect themselves. I give them a barebones update. Enoughto keep them from panicking, but not enough to encourage any vigilantes to getin the way. I advise banning all witches from the ‘dome and initiating lockdownprocedures. They agree with startling swiftness.

“Found it!” Az announces, shaking thepicture. “At least I think I found it. There are two knots, which is kindaweird. They’re both in parks.”

“Which one is closer to the Patriarch’shouse?” I give her the cross streets when she just blinks at me. Okay, add thatto the list of things she needs to learn.

“Homewood Park.”

That is only seven blocks from thePatriarch’s house. How could we have been so close and not seen him? No wonderthe witches were quick to intercept us. It would explain the medium-rangespell, too.

Az circles both knots with a red pen. “Shouldwe call for backup?”

Greta needs to stay with the house. MyShifters aren’t healed enough to deal with an attack. Then again, if Olivet hasall his not-Shifters gathered in one location, then we’re going to need help. “Doyou think he has his horde with him?”

“I dunno.” Az shrugs. “Umm… think like awarlock. Think like a warlock.” She screws her eyes shut. “Nah. I’d keep themsomewhere else. Keep just a few with me for protection. The spot is special. Not-Shiftersare dirty. Tainted. Even though they’re made of magic, they’re still unclean.

“We’ll call Greer when we get closer, andI’ll have Ike and a small team on standby halfway between here and the park.” Istand and eye the picture. “Unless he’s watching the house waiting to see whenwe leave so he can mount an attack.”

“Olivet won’t kill me,” she says.

“It’s one thing to use you as a shieldagainst a magic attack. I’m not using you as a shield against not-Shifters.” Ifshe thinks that has a shot in hell of happening, she’s lost her damn mind. I’d have to be dead before I let her step infront of me.

She doesn’t immediately agree. Thatdoesn’t sit well. This isn’t something I’m willing to budge on. “Do youunderstand, Az? If you don’t agree that you aren’t going to play body armor,your ass is staying here with Greta.”

“Okay.” She holds up her hands. “I swearthat I won’t step in between you and a rampaging gang of rabid not-Shifters.”

“You’d better not.” The image of Az,ripped apart by not-Shifter claws, flashes through my head.

. I drag her in for a hug. Herarms loop around my waist and her chin digs into my chest. She feels likeheaven against me. She’s warm and soft. Safe. “You’d better not.”

“I promise.” She wriggles deliciously. Unfortunately,it’s the wriggle of someone who wants to get free and not someone who wants toget closer. “Your shirt smells like burnt rubber.”

Not very romantic. And, unfortunately,true. I force my arms to let her go. “Change. Something practical, okay? Bedownstairs in five minutes.”

Time to rescue a kid and kick somewarlock ass.