by Lisa Plumley
“And I want to know all about it.” Mustering up as much patience as he could, T.J. gave her a smile. He leaned nearer, cupped her cheek in his hand, then kissed her with as much love as he could. “Later. Right now, I need to know you’re safe.”
“I’ll be safe with you,” Dayna insisted, her blue eyes unrelenting. She squeezed his hand. “I belong with you.”
“Forever.” T.J. kissed her again. “Now and later.”
“If that’s true, then take me with you. Show me that you believe in me.” Dayna stared mutinously at him. “At least you must, T.J., even if no one else does.”
He shook his head. “You’re asking too much.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes. “Believing in me is too much?”
“You don’t understand.” It bothered him that Dayna felt hurt, but he didn’t have time to charm her into feeling better. “That’s not what I mean. But thanks to my IAB work—”
“Which you didn’t bother to tell me you’d been suspended from,” Dayna pointed out in an accusatory tone. “Why, T.J.?”
“—I know where the largest contingent of Followers is likely to be,” he continued doggedly. He didn’t know how Dayna had found out about his suspension. Probably from Garmin. Right now, it didn’t matter. “That’s where Deuce and I are headed.”
Resolutely, T.J. gathered his supplies. He magiked a few things into existence, then took a sample of the potion from the kitchen. “You could still help,” he said to Dayna as he moved from one room to the next, the idea occurring to him even as he caught sight of her waiting there. “You could take a message to my magus for me. She needs to know what’s happening.”
Pausing, he explained how to find the wisewoman’s home. As he spoke, Deuce arrived beside him, equipped and ready to go.
“Do you understand?” T.J. asked Dayna. “Will you do it?”
“Mmm. I don’t think so.” Dayna folded her arms, her face filled with emotions he could not read. “I’ve decided that I can do more to fight against those Followers with my fellow vixen witches. As soon as we form a quad pact, we’ll be unstoppable.”
He frowned. “As soon as you do what?”
“Form a quad vixen pact. With my fellow vixen witches.”
Stunned, T.J. gawked at Dayna. Then, as though awakening from a bad dream, he remembered the things she’d said while she’d stumbled tipsily around Deuce’s apartment earlier.
My familiar likes you, just the way my fellow vixens like me. I’m in the cool-witches club now.
I have awesome magic skills. You have no idea.
I found out something important tonight.
T.J. didn’t know how it could be true. But he believed it was. Dayna was a vixen witch. And he’d never even guessed it.
“Surprised? Shocked?” With something akin to triumph—tinged with undeniable sadness—Dayna watched him. “I thought so. Too bad you blew off my offer to help you, isn’t it? I hope your supervixen juweel can do the job, because I’m out of here.”
He’d thought she hadn’t even registered his talk about finding the juweel for his magus. He’d thought her interest had ended at feeling competitive with the chosen vixen’s magic.
He hadn’t even bothered to tell her the juweel was Sumner.
Too astonished to speak, T.J. watched as Dayna turned away from him. With wounded grandeur, she flung her scarf around her neck, then marched to the door.
“Dayna, wait!” Deuce called. “Don’t leave like this.”
His partner shafted him a warning look. T.J. knew he had to move, had to speak, had to stop Dayna from leaving him. But if what she wanted from him was faith…He still couldn’t offer that. Feeling like the rock his magus had so often accused him of being, T.J. stood steady as Dayna wrenched open the door.
A group of IAB agents stood on the other side.
Dressed in the magical equivalent of riot gear, they wielded powerful governing charms. Magic whirled around them, visible in the dark. Their leader gave a signal.
They surged inside the apartment.
Startled, Dayna stepped back. The agents strode past her. Each paused long enough to give her a knowing look, a nod, or a brief word of acknowledgment. At the rear of the group of agents, Leo Garmin entered the apartment with a smug expression.
“Thanks for your help, Ms. Sterling,” he said. “You led us straight to Agent McAllister. And his fellow conspirator, Agent Bailey.” He glanced at the agents. “Restrain them.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Disbelieving, T.J. made ready to fight. Beside him, Deuce did the same. But even as T.J. inhaled a preparatory breath, getting ready to resist arrest, the awful truth struck him.
Dayna had betrayed him.
The witch who knew him best, the witch who claimed to love him most, the witch who’d lain with him and laughed with him and brought him closer to vulnerability than anyone ever had, his bonded witch, the witch he’d trusted…had turned him in.
At the realization of her treachery, T.J. nearly did turn to stone. Except stones couldn’t hurt…and he did. The pain of her betrayal doubled him over. Exactly as it had in Garmin’s office, his heart faltered, then squeezed in agony. He groaned.
Two agents hexed him into immobility. Another added magical bonds to restrain him. T.J. couldn’t move. Dimly, he heard Deuce punch someone. He heard a gust of exhaled air, felt the floor vibrate as an IAB agent hit the ground. He saw more agents swarm inside the apartment, moving past Dayna with their magic ready.
His bonded witch only stood, unmoving, beside Garmin.
“This concludes things between us,” Garmin told her curtly. He watched with feigned regret as Deuce was restrained—and as T.J. was hit with another hex. “Thank you again.”
Dayna gave Garmin an unreadable look. If T.J. had been able to detect her emotions—if he’d been capable of doing anything except reeling beneath the pain of her betrayal—he might have deciphered it. As it was, he only buckled in anguish.
“I’ve decided to forget about your parents’…indiscretion.” Garmin smiled. “You’re free to go, Ms. Sterling. Unless you have more information to offer me?”
In the pause that followed his question, T.J. felt his heart spasm. It clenched in his chest like a painful fist.
“I should tell you about the Followers,” came Dayna’s tentative voice. “About their conversion plans.”
“We already know about that. It’s being handled.”
“Then I guess…there’s nothing to keep me here.”
T.J. wasn’t sure if he heard Dayna’s voice or imagined it. Sweating and shaking, he lurched in the IAB agents’ grasp. From between two of them, he saw Dayna sling her backpack over her shoulder, exactly as though she were preparing to run again.
He needed the strength to call her back. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to trace her again—if he’d be able to bring her in.
Somehow, T.J. found it. Barely. “Dayna.”
Her name scraped through his chest, stealing his breath. All the same, his bonded witch heard it. Already in motion, she turned her head to look at him. Through the hazy grip of his betrayal, T.J. glimpsed her pale face, her hurt eyes.
“Don’t go,” he rasped. “I need you.”
That stopped her. Filled with hopefulness, T.J. waited.
“Why?” Dayna clenched her backpack, her knuckles white on its straps. “Do you need me because you love me? Or because I’m a kickass vixen witch who’s going to rule the world?”
Yes. Both. No. Love. In that moment, T.J. didn’t know which was true. He could barely think. Beneath a fresh onslaught of pain, he closed his eyes, trying to find the answer she needed.
An IAB agent gave him a jostling shove in the other direction. “Get moving, half-breed. We don’t have all night.”
With an unwanted jolt of clarity, T.J. remembered that he had defied his IAB suspension. That was a punishable offense. Depending on how lenient Garmin felt, his punishment might be severe. It paled beside the threat of losing Dayna.
His gaze met hers. Desperately, T.J. tried to form words.
“If you can’t tell me that,” Dayna said with tears in her eyes, “at least tell me this: Do you trust me, T.J.? Because I swear—I didn’t do this to you. I don’t know how it happened.”
She nodded at the burly agents. One of them snickered.
T.J. couldn’t believe it had come down to this. He had a chance to trust her—to put all his faith in his bonded witch—and he couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t speak.
Beside him, Deuce jabbed him. “Jesus, T.J. Tell her you trust her. Before it’s too late.”
Garmin watched, his aura muted and his gaze shuttered.
T.J. looked at Dayna again. But by then, it was too late.
All he saw was her lithe form, slipping away through the doorway to Deuce’s apartment…escaping from him all over again.
This time, he wouldn’t be able to track her down and bring her back. This time, Dayna—as a vixen witch—would know how to elude him for good. If she didn’t, she would learn quickly.
Almost as quickly as he’d learned to love her.
A heartbeat later, T.J.’s chest clenched again. Doubled over with pain, he gritted his teeth, holding back a moan.
He gasped…and everything went dark.
Stepping onto the front stoop outside Deuce’s apartment, Dayna felt her whole body sag. Weak and trembling, she fell against the hard stucco wall outside the front door, still hearing reverberations of the IAB agents’ activities inside.
The autumn air bit into her skin. The cold Samhain wind coursed through the oleander and bougainvillea, stirring their branches. Overhead, the moon cast just enough light that she could see the grass in the courtyard, trampled carelessly by the IAB agents’ boots. It would be weeks before the turf recovered.
It would be even longer before she felt…anything again.
T.J. didn’t trust her. He didn’t believe in her. And he hadn’t even been able to give her a warlock’s charming lie to pretend he did. He couldn’t love her. If he ever had, he didn’t now.
Obviously, T.J. believed she’d set Garmin and his agents on him and Deuce. He believed she’d turned him in.
The idea was laughable. She hadn’t even known about his suspension until tonight. But with tears welling in her eyes and her heart filled with what felt like a stony ache, Dayna didn’t feel much like laughing. She’d thought T.J. was the one person she could count on in the magical world. It was a bad end to a bad night to realize that she could count on him least of all.
At her feet, a noise caught her attention. A meow.
With a muffled sob, Dayna spotted her kitten familiar. She scooped it into her arms, her backpack swaying clumsily with the movement, then cradled it gently to her cheek. It purred.
Beside her, the apartment door opened. Leo Garmin emerged, then shut the door on the chaos and curse words behind him.
With easy familiarity, Garmin nodded at her familiar. “The kitten suits you. You should keep it.”
She frowned. “Of course I’ll keep it. It’s mine.”
“Actually…it’s mine. I conjured it. When we took our trolley ride, I planted it in your backpack. Then I spelled you to make you believe it was yours.”
It was his? She hadn’t even conjured her own familiar?
Dayna opened her mouth to argue. She’d been so proud of that kitten familiar—and the burgeoning magic she’d thought she’d used to conjure it. But what Garmin was saying made sense.
Feeling newly defeated, Dayna slumped against the wall.
“It’s clearly imprinted on you.” The agent gave the kitten a contemplative look. “Besides, it’s done its work now.”
“What work?” Protectively, Dayna tucked the kitten in its habitual spot in her hoodie. “I don’t know what you mean.”
He shrugged. “You couldn’t be expected to. Although your magic has improved greatly.” Garmin gazed at her with flattering interest, his face enigmatic. “I’ve never met an untried vixen.”
“You can forget you ever met me. I’m going to do the same for you.” Shocked out of her misery, Dayna straightened to confront him. “Exactly what work did my familiar do for you?”
“It led me to Agent McAllister, of course. I knew you were with him. You admitted as much to me when we met. After that, all I needed was an in.” Garmin gave her a disturbingly astute look. “Your desperation to do well with magic provided it.”
She frowned. “I was never desperate enough to turn in T.J.”
“You didn’t have to be. The kitten was enchanted to react to Agent McAllister’s touch. As soon as he touched your familiar tonight, it brought a message to me.” Garmin smiled. “I didn’t think it would take so long, though. I guess I underestimated Agent McAllister’s animosity toward kittens?”
“You underestimated a lot of things. Including me.”
At that, Garmin laughed outright. “You led me straight to what I wanted. I think I can cope with my disappointment.”
“Can you cope with being wrong about T.J.?” Dayna asked. “Because you are. He’s not on the wrong side of anything.”
“So you said when you phoned me. You should have used a persuasion spell along with your lie. It might have worked.” He eyed her with interest. “I have a soft spot for innocents.”
Dayna quirked her lips. “Then you won’t be interested in me. After tonight, I doubt I’ll ever feel innocent again.”
Garmin laughed at that, too, but Dayna turned away.
With his amusement still ringing in her ears, she left at least one of her most regrettable mistakes behind her for good. No matter what Garmin had done to her, she had her big chance now to save the day for the people of Covenhaven. With T.J. and Deuce in custody, it was up to her to stop the Followers.
But first, she needed some help. When it came to saving the world, there was no way Dayna could do it alone.
Bereft and forlorn, Dayna arrived at Janus well after midnight. The resort’s landscape lighting was dimmed; the valets were inside, with no cars idling beside the fountain to deliver new arrivals. Even the usual ambient music had been turned off for the night, leaving only the ghostly wail of the canyon wind to accompany her descent from the last running trolley.
“Thank you,” she told the driver with a sad wave. “I’m sorry to keep you working so late. You’ve been very helpful.”
“Not a problem, ma’am. Enjoy your stay in Covenhaven.”
At that, Dayna gave a bitter laugh. When she’d arrived in town—by force, in T.J.’s grasp—she’d expected to encounter magical disappointments. She hadn’t expected heartbreak.
On the other hand, she realized as the trolley trundled away behind her, she hadn’t expected a group of evil Followers to be plotting to take over all of human and witchkind either. And that was happening, too. So she’d just have to roll with it.
Drawing in a deep breath, Dayna headed for the lobby.
After only a few steps, though, she stopped. She could sense activity inside Janus. She could feel the magic whirling through the place. She was even aware of the cusping witches who’d gathered there, all their magical skills surging in readiness.
Maybe if she connected them all, it occurred to her, she could convince them to help. Maybe the key to defeating the Followers was linking all the other witches more strongly than ever—relying on witches who weren’t myrmidon and didn’t want to awaken humans against their will. Maybe that would work.
Maybe it wouldn’t. Dayna didn’t know. In that moment, she felt too overwhelmed to try. Despite her vaunted research and organizational skills, she wasn’t up for the task. Even if she had been, she didn’t have the necessary magic to defeat the Followers on her own. T.J. had made that abundantly clear.
Shaken by his lack of faith, still hurt by her parents’ deception, and troubled by everything she’d seen tonight, Dayna stared into the waters of the Janus fountain.
Maybe she should run. She could be gone before morning…<
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“Dayna!” Lily Abbot appeared beneath the porte cochere, shivering in the chilly night, her expression welcoming. “What are you doing out here? Francesca sent me to come and get you.”
“Francesca?”
“She sensed you were here.” As though such clairvoyance were an everyday occurrence, Lily wrapped a pashmina around Dayna’s shoulders. She hurried her inside the luxurious warmth of the resort’s lobby. “We’re all in the ballroom, making final preparations for graduation and the Hallowe’en Festival.”
Lily hustled in that direction, clearly expecting Dayna to follow her. Instead, Dayna lingered in the curiously deserted lobby. She stared at her fellow vixen’s departing figure.
All at once, Dayna felt woozy again—not intoxicated and giddy, the way she had while slurping down Francesca’s special-blend cocktails earlier—but dizzy. Uneasy. Really strange.
Baffled by the sensation, Dayna struggled against it. She blinked. Then she remembered at least part of what was wrong tonight. “Lily. Your conversion elixir almost killed Deuce.”
“What?” Lily turned to her, her beautiful face punctuated by an expression of childlike surprise. “What elixir?”
“He told us what you did.” Struck by a wave of vertigo, Dayna grabbed the concierge desk. It wavered in her vision. So did Lily. The vixen witch stepped toward her. With effort, Dayna clutched her borrowed pashmina, trembling beneath an onslaught of shivering. “He told us about the potion. He told us—”
“Then Deuce is awake?” Lily asked. “He’s all right?”
Was that relief on her face? Dayna wasn’t sure.
Nausea hit her. The lobby went dark, as though shutters had dropped in front of her eyes. The room flickered, then tilted.
“Dayna?” came Lily’s muffled voice. “Are you okay?”
“I—” Dimly, Dayna felt her hand slide off the concierge desk. The lamp on top of it fell and shattered. Her pashmina slipped from her shoulders, down…down…down. “I don’t—”
I don’t know, she meant to say. But suddenly she couldn’t speak. Her mind refused to participate in the effort. Her mouth moved, but none of the words she wanted emerged. She groaned.