by Dianna Love
“Not really. They seemed below that level. If it was a family connection, why have them land here and go to a decrepit building? I would have thought they’d go right to their superior and deliver Phoedra.”
Quinn said, “I agree. In that case, they might have bought or traded for a majik-infused object that would open the bolthole. If we don’t find Phoedra here, I’ll put someone on tracking down a trade of that kind.”
Reese’s heart stuttered when he said we.
Then her brain bitch-slapped the unreliable organ so she could stay on track.
“Got it,” she replied. “Here’s what I’ve covered.” She told him of the half-mile long streets fanning away from the center and he gave her his progress.
He hadn’t covered nearly as much area as she had, but then he’d been going out a mile.
She acknowledged, “Based on where we’ve both been and the fact that you went further than I did, we only have two more streets to check. If she’s not there, we’ll have to fan out farther.”
“Agreed.”
She led the way back to Denver Avenue and watched for traffic to clear out before she dropped the twenty feet to street level.
She hated to jump this far. If she broke something, healing would cost time and medallion energy she didn’t want to spend. But the medallion had helped her jump up here, so maybe she wasn’t as limited—
An arm hooked around her waist just as she started to leap.
She went airborne, landing softly, and stood there a moment, enjoying the feel of Quinn’s body against hers.
He removed his arm before her hormones got out of hand. With a touch of his hand lightly against her back, she got moving.
As she walked, she tried to convince herself not to be nice and thank him.
Damn. She wanted to stay pissed at him, but guilt weighed too much to tote around. She quipped, “Thanks for saving my knees.”
“You’re welcome. I wasn’t sure if you had kinetics since you didn’t seem to last time.”
“No, but I have more of my powers this time.” She kept searching the area as she walked. The possibility that the kidnappers had parked the van inside remained a constant worry since she’d arrived.
“What are your powers?”
Should she tell him? Why not? “I have this raw energy inside me that I can wield. You probably saw when I used it on the troll back there. It’s what I used to crack that energy canopy over the gorge when we were in Atlanta. I have a remote viewing ability, which you also know about, but it’s not a perfect science. If I’m not distracted by something like fighting to stay alive, I can hide the pull of my blood from demons, but it takes effort to do that. Sometimes my powers work great and sometimes they just confuse me, because I never had training or enough time to become confident in wielding them. Other than when I saw you in Atlanta, I haven’t used any of them in a long time.”
She expected Quinn to ask again who had locked away her powers, but he surprised her by returning to Phoedra.
“About not seeing Phoedra before now, I didn’t know she existed until Kizira told me as she bled out in my arms. Kizira died before she could tell me where she’d hidden our daughter. She said only that I must find her and protect her, and now some very dangerous people are hunting my child.”
Reese tried to swallow the giant lump of guilt that formed instantly in her throat. She’d chastised him for being an absentee father. “Is the Medb queen hunting Phoedra?”
“Possibly, but we’ve had a powerful witch escape from VIPER lockdown who is looking for her as well. I have to find Phoedra first. I can’t live if I let her down, too.”
The pain in his voice hurt to hear.
Did Yáahl know about Quinn? Of course, he did. Why hadn’t Yáahl helped Quinn find Phoedra after Kizira died?
Reese wanted to pluck a few feathers right now. She turned at the next left she could take and Quinn stepped up beside her.
She had to deal with her guilt before it ate a hole in her chest. “I’m sorry about busting on you, but I’ve known Phoedra for over two years and I never saw Kizira or anyone else nonhuman around her until now. I didn’t know Kizira was her mother until today.”
He gave her an odd look. “Who told you?”
“Someone who helped me get here.” When Yáahl had offered Reese sanctuary when she was pregnant, he had required her agreement to never share anything about his existence without his permission. Holding up a hand, she said, “There are some things I can’t tell you, Quinn, but this person is not a threat to Phoedra.”
“Is it the same person who sent you for Kizira’s body?”
“Yes, but he only wanted me to bring Kizira’s body back to keep it from the Medb.” Before he could prod further, she added, “I made a choice to leave Kizira’s body with you and explained to him that you were the Belador Maistir and had a personal interest in protecting it from the Medb.”
At the next corner, which was quick to reach since they were cutting from one long street to the next, Reese turned left again and grumbled, “If they parked the van inside the building, we may have to backtrack and look through all the windows.”
“Actually, we won’t.”
“Why not?”
“My cousin has a different type of viewing ability. She located Phoedra and the kidnappers near BOK Center. She said to look for a two-story, pale-yellow building with boarded-up windows on the ground floor and NO TRESPASSING signs. Look up ahead on the right.”
Reese paused and realized she would never have found that building without Quinn.
She understood Quinn’s investment in this, but she’d made a promise to Yáahl to bring Phoedra back to him. She’d speak up for Quinn to see his daughter, but she could not let him leave with Phoedra, who didn’t even know Quinn.
Thankfully, Reese had one teleportation left, which meant all she had to do was get a hand on Phoedra and she could vanish.
Quinn would hate her, but Reese could not let her growing—and unrealistic—attachment to him get in the way like last time.
Yáahl hadn’t been joking when he said to return with Phoedra or don’t come back. Until someone convinced her that doing anything else was in Phoedra’s best interest, Reese was sticking to her plan.
Chapter 18
Easing up to the corner of the faded yellow building, Quinn turned to Reese and whispered, “If I get eyes on one of them, I’m going to slip into his mind to search for their end game.”
“Sure you want to do that?”
He always suffered a moment of mental flagellation when he entered a mind, but these beings had kidnapped a child.
His child.
They were monsters as far as he was concerned.
Reese had been present when Quinn voiced reservations about entering someone’s mind without permission. Over the years, he’d struggled with the moral dilemma of practicing the equivalent of mind rape by jumping into someone’s head without warning.
But he had a personal code of honor. He would take that step only when someone’s life was on the line or the person whose mind he entered had been committing a serious crime.
Touching his child soared to the top of both lists.
He said very clearly, “I will crack their heads open to see what pours out if I think it will get Phoedra back safely.”
She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t questioning your reason for using your mind lock. I only wanted to point out that we don’t know what these three beings are or who controls opening a bolthole. What if you jump into a mind and it starts some kind of chain reaction that puts Phoedra at risk?”
He had to give Reese credit. He’d entered the mind of a Laochra Fola during a mission in Atlanta six weeks ago. Someone had planted a self-destruct spell that killed the man when his mind was breached. That mental foray had almost taken Quinn with the Laochra Fola, whose head imploded.
“Good point,” Quinn said.
“See, I’m not evil after all,” she quipped.
Had he tr
eated her so badly earlier that she thought he held such low opinion of her? “I don’t think you’re evil, Reese.”
“You also don’t believe that I’m friends with Phoedra or that I’m here just to save her.”
“I haven’t said that, either.”
“You know what, Quinn? Sometimes you say a lot with your silence.” She cocked her chin to stall his next words. “Save it. We can’t afford this conversation right now. If you’re willing to show me some trust, then you continue down this front side of the building and I’ll go around back to see what I can find out. We can meet around the corners at the other end.”
He was torn between allowing her to continue on her own where something might happen to her and showing that he was capable of giving her some trust. She’d tracked Phoedra to this city and nothing Reese had done in Atlanta caused him to think she’d harm his daughter.
But it was hard to get past the fact that someone else pulled her strings. Whoever it was had sent her to Atlanta more than a month ago to get her hands on Kizira’s body and now this person knew Phoedra.
That left a few holes in her story about who she was and why she had this connection to his daughter.
Quinn had no idea who the mystery man was other than being a common thread between Kizira, Reese and Phoedra.
He didn’t believe for a minute that Reese had accidentally met Phoedra, which raised serious concerns about how long she’d known his child.
Tired of the battle raging in his mind and heart, he gave up when his protective side won. “I agree with the plan, but you go along this front side and I’ll go to the back.”
“What-ever, your lordship.”
His lips twitched with a smile. He’d love to kiss that mouth into silence.
I’m officially out of my mind to be thinking about anything except getting inside this building right now.
Reese stepped away before anything else could be said. He should thank her.
Quinn moved toward the back, trying to shake off the feelings Reese dragged to the surface.
What was it about her that had kept her on his mind? She’d clearly burrowed under his skin too far to ignore.
He and Kizira had burned fast and hot for two weeks when they were both very young. He’d cared for her deeply at the time.
Who was he kidding? He’d loved her to the point of madness at first, but then she disappeared and he never saw her again for years.
When he finally did see her again, every time they crossed paths since then they’d been adversaries, and Kizira had been compelled to commit crimes against the Beladors. Wounds and the subsequent scars had built up over time, turning the passion they’d once shared into something bittersweet.
It had taken meeting Reese for him to realize a truth he’d avoided admitting to himself. Because of having no idea of his history with Kizira when Reese met him, she’d forced him to take stock of his life and stop feeding into the ugly cycle of survivor’s guilt.
He’d finally accepted that Kizira’s death was not his fault.
During the months since she’d died, Quinn had done some hard soul-searching. He now realized that if the war between Beladors and Medb had somehow miraculously ceased, he and Kizira could never have had what they’d once shared when they were young. They would never have managed a stable life with mutual trust and affection at its center.
Too much heartache under the bridge.
The hardest thing he’d been forced to accept was that Kizira had never fully trusted him with the knowledge of their daughter or she’d have told him sooner, before the point of her death. She allowed Phoedra to live for thirteen years with no father. No parent at all it seemed, if what Reese insinuated was true—that Kizira had not been part of Phoedra’s life either.
Quinn struggled to process that last part.
He wouldn’t hold it against her.
As a child of the Medb, Kizira had been taught to never trust anyone. The fact that she’d successfully hidden Phoedra from the powerful coven spoke of Kizira’s true nature and her love for their child.
If he could find his daughter now, he’d have the chance to explain all of that to Phoedra and then work to gain her trust.
As he made it to the rear of the building, he stepped onto a dirt-and-gravel parking area ravaged with weeds. He suddenly realized that if the kidnappers were actually here, he’d finally see Phoedra for the first time.
And she’d see him.
Hell of a way to be introduced to your child.
His heart jumped into hyperdrive the closer he moved toward the walk-in door next to a tall garage door. The harsh cut of tire tracks showed someone had been in a rush and turned hard on their way into the building. He was no tracker like Storm, but those tracks appeared to be fairly new compared to softer-edged ones nearby.
Pausing at the walk-in door, he leaned his ear close, listening for voices.
He heard nothing at first and tested the rusted doorknob. Locked.
Using his kinetics, he slowly turned the tumblers until a tiny click sounded. He opened the door and stepped inside the pitch-black space.
When his eyes adjusted, he made out the walls of a hallway with a door on each side. Offices, most likely. Slowing to listen at each door and hearing silence, he continued moving to the one at the end, which he hoped allowed him to peek into the garage without drawing attention yet.
He listened and caught a conversation.
Someone with a deep baritone voice was saying, “... and that’s not okay. You said we could turn this bounty quick. What are we doing here? I need my money.”
A younger, less gruff male voice replied, “I did not say it would happen in a day. Didn’t I pick the perfect spot to grab her and get us out of there? No one is following us through that bolthole, but I can’t just jump to the next spot without sending word first.”
“That’s bullshit, man. Where are we going next and when are we getting paid?”
“You’re on a need-to-know basis, Charlie.”
“Well I fuckin’ need to know now, Turbo. I can’t stay around that ... that, hell whatever she is. She hurts my head.”
Was Phoedra using a power? Were her abilities already evident? What were her gifts?
Or had being under duress caused her gifts to surface?
Who knew, since she was the product of a powerful Belador and Medb priestess?
Turbo said, “Her hands are contained. Stay away from her and you’ll be fine. Touch her and you’ll hurt a lot worse when I’m through with you.”
“I’m not going near that thing. She’s your problem.”
They were afraid of Phoedra.
Those words were music to Quinn’s ears right now, but that didn’t dismiss whoever was paying Turbo to kidnap her.
Quinn had his hand on the doorknob to open it when Charlie said, “What’s that noise outside?”
Quinn dropped his head against the door. Was Reese trying to get in?
“Shit, man, someone’s fighting out there.”
“Take Buzz and go check it out.”
Quinn jerked upright. Had a demon attacked Reese? He turned to rush out, then hesitated. What about Phoedra?
He had to keep them both safe.
He had seconds to make a decision.
If he could take down two of the kidnappers outside where Phoedra wouldn’t be caught in an energy crossfire, that would up his odds of getting to Phoedra before the third guy could use her as a hostage or turn her into a human shield.
Plus, he couldn’t leave Reese to fight off a demon even if she had her powers. She’d admitted that she hadn’t practiced with them much.
Quinn raced outside where light flashed from the far end of the building.
When he made the corner, ashes were floating in the air.
Reese had disposed of what had probably been a demon, but two guys with nonhuman energy—had to be the kidnappers—had her by her arms, which meant she couldn’t get her fingers on her medallion.
She
dropped to her knees.
That pulled the one on her right off balance.
She jerked her left hand free and nailed him in the groin. He doubled over, cursing, and reached for a fist of her hair, yanking her onto her back.
The man on her left lifted a hand and swirled it into a fireball, preparing to strike Reese with it.
Quinn dove into his mind and drove energy into it, then withdrew just as quickly.
Fireball guy’s eyes rolled up in his head. He fell to the ground, slapping his body with the fiery hand, which caught his clothes on fire, but he was stone-cold dead in the next second.
With that one down, Quinn ran to Reese, who was still pinned to the ground by the one she fought. Quinn didn’t want to kill that one yet if it wasn’t necessary.
She grabbed her medallion and hammered a wild chop of power across the back of the guy who still cupped his groin with one hand.
His hand fell away from her hair as he dropped face-forward, and she sat up, shoving hair out of her face by the time Quinn reached her.
Lifting her so she could stand, he asked, “Are you okay?”
She looked at what was left of the body smoldering on the ground. “What’d you do to him?”
“I stopped him from hitting you with a fist of fire. The rest was self-inflicted.”
Reese twisted around toward the front of the building. “They came out of the street-side door. But there’s one more in there.”
“I know. I was inside when the third one sent them out here because they heard you fighting what I assume was a demon.”
She whipped her head back to him. “You were inside? Is Phoedra in there?”
“Sounds like it. Now we have two against one. Let’s do this. When we get inside, I’ll take on the last guy and you protect Phoedra.”
Amazingly, Reese didn’t argue. “I’m in. Let’s go.”
Quinn led the way, sneaking up to the rear entrance of the building again. He’d made it inside and down the hallway with Reese right behind him, when he heard a grinding noise that caused his heart to miss a beat.
The garage door motor had been engaged and the van engine cranked.
Shoving the door open, Quinn ran into the garage, but fifty-gallon barrels blocked his way.