“Nope.” A lazy answer from a smug wolf. “I have just the guy to handle this. Remember Tahvo? He’s a wannabe meteorologist who spends his downtime studying the rift with God only knows what equipment he hauled up here with him.”
“The name sounds familiar, but I didn’t greenlight the rift as a personal science project.” The problem with cerebral types being they liked to chat about their discoveries and write papers on them. Both forms of exposure were big no-noes in this case. “That much I do remember.”
“He’s a good strategist. That’s what got him a pass. He kept his true interest to himself.”
The wolf prowled through my mind. “Why didn’t you mention this before now?”
“Didn’t much see the point,” he answered. “We needed him, and he wasn’t making much progress. Nothing worth reporting, really.”
“That’s not your call to make,” I growled.
“You’re right.” A pulse of regret arrowed through the pack bond from him to me. “I should have told you once I figured out what he was up to, but you were bogged down with everything else—which is still no excuse for my actions—but the guys were getting such a kick out of screwing around with Tahvo, I let it slide for too long.”
Massaging my forehead, I considered buying stock in ibuprofen. “What do you mean?”
“Every night the guys take apart his equipment, so every morning Tahvo has to reassemble what he plans to use for the day. I found a sandwich bag full of ‘spare parts’ yesterday. I’m guessing that means the poor guy is down to using a weather rock for his forecasts.”
A weather rock being a tiny stone suspended by a leather strap from a small wooden tripod mounted on a base. Sold as souvenirs or gag gifts, weather rocks included printed instructions with sage advice like if the stone is wet, it’s raining or if the stone is missing, there was a tornado.
“I see.” I stifled a snort so as not to encourage his bad behavior. “How about give the man the baggie and keep an eye on him? All data comes to me.” Not that I had a clue what to do with his more technical findings. “We don’t want any leaks. And, Haden? Leave me out of the loop again, and I’ll put you on Aisha detail for a month.”
The ferocity of his mental groan earned him a teaspoon of sympathy. “Yes, Beta.”
A smile crept up on me. Yes, Beta. That never got old.
Teeth brushed, hair pulled into a ponytail, I joined Enzo in the full sun of a beautiful afternoon. He jumped to his feet and followed when I took the half-step to the ground and started walking toward the parking lot. I felt safe assuming he intended to drive me into town since the reverse was impossible without a loaner that would cost us both time and aggravation.
It wasn’t until we were in his car and rolling down the driveway that a cool, tingling sensation cascaded over my skin. The brisk magical shower could mean only one thing.
“The wards are active.” I couldn’t believe I had forgotten his plans so quickly. “Both sets?”
“Both sets,” he confirmed. “The one around the lake is being finicky. I’ll need to do some fine tuning over the next few days to get them properly harmonious. The one around the camp is rooted in solid ground and far enough away from water to only need minor tweaking.”
“Explain how this works.” When the questions started coming from the others, I wanted to have answers for them. Most wargs trusted witches as much as they trusted fae. Having working knowledge in my pocket might smooth over that gap. “Is there anything we need to do to get in and out? How will it block unfriendlies? How will it know who the unfriendlies are in the first place?”
The corner of his mouth hooked into a smile. “The wards are keyed primarily to keep any direct descendent of Faerie out of the park. It’s going to be tricky allowing earthborn fae in and out for the first month or so. They’ll likely need to be escorted on and off the property.”
No more surprise visits from Thierry? Yes, please. “What about Cam?”
“She can bleed for the ward, and it will recognize her. I’ll make sure of that. She’ll have the freedom to cross any wards I create without the hassle of the waiting period thanks to her connection to the pack bond.”
I relaxed a fraction into my seat.
“Since you missed breakfast, would you like to hit up the Waffle Iron?”
Tension sprang back into my shoulders. “Sure.”
He cut his eyes toward me. “I’m not going to insist on paying or eat off your plate, I promise.”
A laugh bubbled out of me, fracturing my unease. “I would like us to be friends.” I stressed the last word. “Friendships with clear boundaries tend to be the most successful.”
“Boundaries can expand,” he countered.
“Enzo, I don’t want to hurt you.” Not by getting his hopes up or by resorting to the two-by-four method of persuasion. “Friendship is all that’s on the table here. That’s all I’ve got to offer right now.”
“You must have loved him very much,” was all he said.
“I do.” A frustrated noise rose up my throat. “I did.”
“I understand.”
The scary thing was, I believed him.
I didn’t study the why of that too hard.
“So…” I frantically scrambled to save our lunch from becoming a wake for his shattered romantic dreams. “What’s next on your agenda?”
“Once the wards are stabilized, I’ll start work on the early-warning system. Think magical tornado siren.” A spark lit his eyes that my earlier shutdown hadn’t managed to douse. The man loved his work, there was no doubt about that. “Anyone inside the wards at the park will hear once it’s activated. The real trick will be homing in on the disturbance and translating that to a sound pattern that’s easily recognizable.”
“You mean like one burst for north, two for south, three for east, four for west?”
“Exactly that.” He cut the wheel, angling into one of the few spots available. “Simple works best. An early-warning system no one can decipher would be a waste.”
We strolled inside, picked a table with access to the emergency exit door and settled in to wait on our server. We didn’t have to wait long. The teen in charge of our section reminded me of a bee pollinating flowers as she flitted from table to table, checking on customers and topping off drinks. She greeted us with a smile and quick efficiency that had me mentally recalculating her tip. Considering how boisterously lascivious the waitress at our first meal had been, this girl was a welcome change.
Lunch flowed without any awkward silences…or personal topics. Enzo talked about magic theory and its application as it pertained to his projects. I spoke about concerns I had and asked questions to keep him loosened up for what came next.
Butler is a small town with few enough prime parking spaces to go around. It made sense to leave Enzo’s car at Waffle Iron while we walked across the street and up the few blocks to reach the Cantina. I had been too wound up on my first visit to appreciate the finality of the darkened storefront and the utter lack of activity in what was normally a bustling restaurant.
“The parking lot is this way.” I led him the short distance to the employee parking lot and stood back to watch his reaction. “Here we are.”
Eyes narrowed, he scanned the lot. “Fae magic was cast here.” He rubbed chills from his arms. “I can smell it.” He approached the affected area without any cues from me, cementing his claim to sense the glamour. “It’s not a strain I’m familiar with. It lacks the…” his lips parted, the comparison on the tip of his tongue, “…oaky undertones I associate with earthborn fae. The ‘scent’ builds up after a few years of pulling magic through this world, even with the ones who relocate here.” He glanced over his shoulder. “This might be the work of a deserter. Their ability to manipulate glamour would explain why you didn’t catch them when they came through the rift.”
Unsure whether to feel better about being duped this time or terrified there might have been other instances, I focused on a different portion
of his statement.
“You can smell magic?” Wargs could scent traces of it under the right circumstances, but it was more a tingle on the skin or in the nose than actual, identifiable fragrance. “Would you recognize it if you came across it again?”
Usually that was the question I got asked. It felt weird returning the favor.
“I don’t have a scent memory the way you do. If I hadn’t been using so much magic the last few days, I doubt I would have picked up on it.” He stuck out one hand and wobbled it back and forth. “So that’s a maybe?”
“I’ll take it.” After this we could stop by Panda and let him get a sniff of that area. The handwritten signs linked the sites, but knowing if we were up against one fae or many would be handy. “Are you picking up on anything else?”
His lips parted on a response, and then he was turning on his heel and walking toward me looking puzzled. I caught him by the shoulders, and a small shake snapped him back to attention.
“You okay?” I kept my hand on his arm until I was sure he was steady.
“I didn’t expect it to hit me that hard. Even after you warned me…” He stepped out of my grasp and faced the lot. “Most times awareness gives you an edge. Spells have a more difficult time sticking to you if you’re aware they’re there.”
“That makes sense.” It was tougher fooling someone when they expected the trick. “I wasn’t strong enough to break out of the repetitive loop. I was aware I was acting under the influence, but that didn’t stop me from doing what I was told.”
A glimmer of anticipation flushed his cheeks. “This should be fun.”
“Do you think you can counteract it?” What I really wanted to know was, “Can you remove it? It’s got to be protecting something, right? Why else shoo people away from an empty parking lot?”
“Have you considered it might be…?” He left the thought hanging.
“I want to believe that if Mr. O was in there, I would have smelled him by now.” My gut curdled. “He’s been missing for days.”
Enzo didn’t have a response to that, and even if he had, I doubt I would have wanted to hear it.
“I have supplies in my car,” he said at last. “I didn’t want to haul the whole case down here until I had a better idea of what we’re up against.” He glanced around. “Do you think Mrs. O’Malley would mind if I parked back here?”
“She’ll vouch for us if anyone asks.” Though most folks didn’t enforce employee-only parking with the tenacity of Joann. “I’ll hang out here if it’s all the same to you.” I wiggled my fingers. “You can do that invisible thing you do, right?”
His answer was to disappear into thin air.
A chill swept over me at the reminder of his power. “I guess that’s a yes.”
Too much coming and going from an area restricted from the public put us at risk of drawing attention we didn’t want if we were going to get to the bottom of this glamour. Creepy or not, playing invisible man was the way to go.
“I’ll make it quick,” a tinny voice promised from the general area where Enzo had been standing.
“I’ll be waiting.”
Footsteps crunched on gravel, betraying his location. Minutes later his shoes scuffed the sidewalk. My ears strained until the silence of the parking lot rushed in to fill the void. Only then did the wolf in me relax. Had he been upwind, she could have scented him. As it was, the predator in my middle wasn’t thrilled with having a dangerous ally we couldn’t see in such close proximity.
Behind me, the deep bass honk of a truck horn blasted. I startled and spun toward the road, and the bottom dropped out of my stomach into the soles of my feet, which itched to turn and run. Toward or away from the vehicle and its driver, I wasn’t sure.
The wolf, being an eternal optimist, bounded through my subconscious with puppylike glee.
The woman, being far more pessimistic, crushed every single butterfly cocoon between shaking fingers before they hatched and started hope fluttering in her chest.
I held my ground while the crew-cab pickup bumped into the lot and claimed a spot on the fringes. I didn’t budge until the driver opened his door and joined me in the shadow of the restaurant.
The unruly ends of his dirty-blond hair tickled his eyelids, and he raked a long-fingered hand through the strands to shove them off his forehead. Had I waited for a perfect summer day and cut a swath of fabric from the sky, I might have had some comparison for the endless blue depths of his eyes.
Faded jeans incased his long legs, and scuffed black boots covered his feet. A plain white tee, rumpled from his seat belt, had been topped off with a red-and-black flannel shirt. More black leather wrapped around his wrist, and his belt matched too.
I took in all those details without once allowing my lungs to expand, because once they did, it was over. A miserable moment passed where I had to choose oxygen or passing out at his feet, and I sucked in air rich with the tang of hot metal and ozone.
Only my teeth anchored in my bottom lip kept me from whimpering.
Isaac Cahill, the last man I ever wanted to see again, tipped his chin. “Dell.”
Mimicking the gesture was out. I was too afraid my chin would start wobbling. “Isaac.”
His gaze slid over me without sticking to land on the mystery spot. “Cam mentioned your glamour problem.”
“Funny, she didn’t mention you were coming for a visit.” The sharpness of my voice should have disemboweled him on the spot.
“She doesn’t know I’m here.” He left me—big surprise—and went to investigate the glamour. “I’ll call her tonight and let her know I’ll be staying on at Stone’s Throw for a while.”
“What?” I jogged to catch up to him. “Why?”
“I’m Gemini,” he said, as if that explained the mysteries of the universe.
Except maybe it did. Cam saw through glamour the way I saw through glass. Not only could she taste a person’s heritage with a single handshake, but she could assume some of those traits with a drop of their blood. Touch was required to pierce the veil shrouding a person, but the rules changed with terrestrial glamour. Magic anchored to a place was in the air, or so Cam had explained, and breathing it in was enough to allow a Gemini to unravel its hidden secrets.
“Well?” I cocked my hip and waited.
Isaac ignored me, shocker, and continued his slow circle of the area. Part of my brain was too preoccupied with absorbing all the minute changes in him since the last time we met. The other part kept being drawn back to his left hand, where a hardened spur hid beneath a fingernail. He had taken my blood once. How many others had he sampled in the time we had been apart?
“The glamour is concealing an old Jetta.” He angled until he faced me, gaze distant on the unseen car before him. “It’s green with black trim and in cherry condition.”
“I’ll bet you five bucks it belongs to Mr. O’Malley.” Confirmation of the make and model of his vehicle was one more reason I couldn’t put off calling Mrs. O any longer. “Is the car…empty?”
“There are no dead bodies slumped over the steering wheel if that’s what you mean.”
The whirr of an engine caught my attention as Enzo drove into the parking lot. He got out slowly and joined me, giving me an assessing glance before shifting his focus to Isaac.
“I didn’t know we were expecting company,” Enzo murmured.
“I had no idea he was coming.” Even with my eyes fixed on Isaac, I had trouble believing he was here.
Gemini traveled in caravans. Our pack’s new digs reflected that aspect of Cam’s heritage. Isaac showing up alone, in his personal vehicle, set alarm bells clanging in the back of my mind.
Last I’d heard, Isaac and Dot were cruising around with Cam’s parents. I had no idea if Isaac’s identical twin brother, Theo, was with them. Dot’s most recent correspondence came from somewhere in New Mexico about a week ago, if that. It gave the group plenty of time to make a leisurely trip back to Tennessee, but why would they? Why would he? Ca
m wasn’t here. There was nothing for him here. And he must know that if they had conferred about my problem. Meaning he had undertaken the journey before O’Malley vanished. Whatever his reason for chasing a change of scenery, it wasn’t to help crack this case.
“Are you done yet?” Enzo called as he checked his bulky silver watch.
Isaac lifted his head, blinking free of the tangle of illusion. “Sure.” A half-cocked smile curled his lips. “You want to take a crack at it?”
The witch arched one eyebrow. “Unless you’re planning on saving me the hassle.”
“The ability to see through illusions is an insular talent.” He extended his hand toward me. He still hadn’t looked me in the eye. “There’s a chance since we’ve shared blood I can draw you into the illusion if you’d like to take a look around for yourself.”
An almost imperceptible stiffening in Enzo’s shoulders left me gnawing on the inside of my cheek like it was bubble gum. “Enzo?”
“I can break it.” Gone was his earlier uncertainty, erased by Isaac’s annoyingly smug jab. “I’m sure Mrs. O’Malley would like the car back and the lot cleared, even if we don’t learn anything new.”
“Can you afford his help?” Isaac canted his head to one side. “My offer is free.”
No strings attached. Yep. That summed him up to perfection.
“Enzo has generously offered his services to Lorimar, and he’s willing to extend his expertise this far without us incurring additional costs.”
A slight narrowing of Isaac’s eyes betrayed his disbelief. “Is that right?”
The fae studied the witch, and the warg… Well, she just felt nauseous.
“My bill has been paid.” Enzo raised his chin. “Dell and I are square until I say otherwise.”
I did a double take. That sounded like a far too dangerous offer for me to accept, and yet the only alternative was to slight him in front of Isaac, who was too damn pleased with himself for his own good.
Pivoting toward Enzo, I peered over his shoulder toward the car. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“I can handle it.” A brief smile touched his lips. “Assuming you want me to?”
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