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“She said he couldn’t come. She sent a text and said only you and me. Or Ella, but Ella is on lockdown. But she doesn’t want me going alone in case there’s a problem. Which means she cares about me, Kimber. She cares. Please go with me before Dice gets back. He’ll ask questions and probably follow me.”
Groaning internally, I acquiesce and tell
her to meet me downstairs in two minutes. Hell, maybe she can help me figure out how to get this damn necklace off.
Chapter 23
GAGE
“You’re sure this is the place where Kimber came to find Kya?” I ask skeptically, looking at the pawnshop that doesn’t promise too many answers.
“Yes,” Thad growls. “I wasn’t here, but she told me this is where they were going. For the record, I’m helping you out under extreme protest.”
I roll my eyes while tugging at the locked door. The Closed sign is up even though it’s business hours.
“I had to do it, Thad.”
“You had to leave her powerless? Because we could have tossed his ass into purgatory, you asshole.”
I turn to face him, looking around first to make sure no one is within earshot. “Could you have promised me that he wouldn’t have killed her first? Could you have promised me that you could have tossed him in before he crushed her with barely a flick of his wrist? She’s not strong enough to face him, and neither of you could have stopped him from killing you before you executed this half-baked plan.”
He tightens his lips, knowing I’m right, and I back away. “The shop owner’s car is here, so he has to be inside.”
Thad says nothing as I move back to the door and use my mind to unlock it. He follows me in as the obnoxious ding alerts the owner to our presence.
Thad’s phone rings, but he silences it instead of answering. I look over to him, and he shrugs. “Dice. I’ll call him back.”
I nod and turn back to walk around the empty shop. Maybe the owner really isn’t here.
Thad looks around, then stops to sniff the air.
“Gage, I smell blood. A lot of it.”
Ah, fuck. “Where?”
He sniffs again, and then curses. “Not sure. This fucking place has all kinds of weird smelling shit that is messing me up.”
I walk long the glass counter, searching the room for a clue, until I come across a speck of blood. I lean over the glass to inspect it, and I tilt my head when I see it’s not an old spot. Leaning over farther, my breath catches in my throat. Behind the counter is the owner, and he’s lying in a pool of his own blood.
Red stains the entire area, and I turn away when I see his head is severed from his body. Motherfucker.
“Shop owner is dead,” I say to Thad just as his phone rings again.
He comes over and investigates for himself, and he sucks in a deep breath. “Fuck. That’s not good. This guy knows the whereabouts of many of the refugees, including Karma’s sister.”
Shit.
His phone rings again, and he growls while snapping, “What?”
“I can’t find Karma,” Dice says on the other side, sounding breathless. “She left me a note saying that Kimber and she were going to see her sister, but I took so much longer than I originally thought. So when she wasn’t answering her phone, I thought she was just pissed at me for taking days instead of hours.”
“Get the fuck on with it, Dice,” Thad grumbles.
“When I got back from Drackus’s house yesterday, I found it. She left the fucking note two days ago. I thought maybe she needed some time with her sister, but she won’t answer her phone. So I came to the cabin. She’s not here, but there’s blood. There’s no sign of her sister. It looks like the cabin has been cleared out, and everything is gone.”
I slam my fist down on the glass counter, and it shatters all the way down, exploding the glass into the shop as my fury bubbles over. My magic leaks out, and shit starts flying off the walls as the entire shop rattles.
“What the hell is going on?” Dice asks.
