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I vowed to myself that if we all survived—no,whenwe all survived, to take a page from Connor’s Optimistic Handbook—I would do anything to make everything up to her. She’d donenothingto earn those ugly words I’d spat. It’d been my irrational panic that another woman might have the power to break my heart again.
But fuck. Witnessing how much Maddox had loved Kayleigh—even if I never understood why, since she reallywastoo much like her grandmother—and how he’d placed his body between her and danger before they died made me realize I felt the same damn way for Ava. I would step in front of a hundred bullets for her. Without hesitation.
And I knew her well enough now to believe she’d do the same.
Alexander’s voice broke into my thoughts. “West from here.”
The chauffeur nodded—something I could see since the partition between us was lowered—and altered course. The next 15 minutes passed the same way. Alexander calling out a direction, if at slower intervals than Ava had, and our driver adjusting as necessary. The two SUVs kept pace behind. Everything seemed to be going according to plan, but uneasiness began humming within my skin.
I maintained an impassive face but tapped into that primal nature that always lurked just beneath the surface. There was a reason I had the reputation for being a brutal warrior; not to mention why I had a more difficult time leashing my inner wolf than my brothers. Normally, I resented that animalistic instinct as being a personal weakness. But right now, I fucking welcomed it.
My eyes closed briefly as I coaxed my inner wolf to the forefront. During times like this, it was hard to tell where human psyche began and canine consciousness began. When I opened my eyes, human half glanced at the passing scenery as inner wolf sifted through everything we’d recently experienced. Working out exactlywhathad sent my instincts buzzing. At first, nothing jumped out at me. But then both human and wolf caught on to something jarring. We’d just passed the same intersection for the third time.
Meaning we’d been driving around in circles.
I second-guessed myself for a moment. Maybe Alexander was simply having a harder time than Ava at tracking the girls. But that really only explained why it was taking him longer, not why he was directing us to retrace the exact same ground repeatedly. Unless it was possible for another caster to interfere with his spell? To be honest, I had little patience for things I had zero interest in learning about. Like spellbinding…
Besides, I trusted Uncle Alexander completely.
Which was why I kept my voice casual when I brought up the subject. “Not to question your methods, Uncle, but I’ve seen that same gas station at least twice now.”
Alexander’s eyes flashed open and he sighed in frustration. “I didn’t want to alarm anyone, but I think they’re moving the girls around. My magic is showing their direction compared to ours quite clearly. But itdoesfeel like they—and consequently we—are moving in circles.”
My nervousness faded significantly. That explanation made perfect sense. Ava hadn’t caught on to that fact because we’d been far enough away from the girls while she’d been tracking them that it hadn’t mattered. Only when we drew closer to them could Alexander tell they were being moved.
“Do you think that’s a deliberate tactic to prevent us from catching up?”
He hesitated briefly. “Certainly a possibility. Although…a stronger Radiant casterorlarge group of Spellbinderscouldbe using magic to deliberately confuse my own spell.”
I scowled. “Is there no way to tell whether that’s what’s going on?”
He shook his head regretfully. “I’m afraid not. Well, not if it’s a stronger Radiant than me or a large group working together.”
“Is Regina stronger than you?”
Alexander pursed his lips. “I’d say she and I are about evenly matched.”
“How many Radiantsarestronger than you?”
“Honestly? Not very many. Ava Sheridan, of course, and her grandmother. Perhaps Muriel’s daughter Bridget. A few other Sheridan Radiants sprinkled throughout the country. Their family tends to produce quite powerful casters. A handful of others, all serving in the Circle of Dawn and Dusk.”
His voice remained matter-of-fact. Not empty boasting on his part. And it made sense. Alexander had been set to take over as Beacon of Los Angeles when he’d met and fallen in love with our aunt instead. He’d petitioned the Circle to be assigned to San Francisco instead—and remarkably enough, had his request immediately granted. No need to secretly elope andthenpetition the Circle, as was sometimes the case.
I remembered our mother had joked Alexander must have had a little dirt on Muriel Sheridan herself for it to have been that easy. One of the few times I’d paid attention to political gossip, since it had affected her Pack so directly.
A little bit of Connor’s humor must have rubbed off on me, because I twisted my lips wryly and asked, “So what? Are we supposed to joyride in circles all night?”
Alexander flashed a brief smile. “Not exactly an efficient search method.” He glanced across the aisle to Rodrick and Zarya. “I think we should try combining our abilities. That would give us the edge over any single Radiant and certainly most small groups of Spellbinders.”
My brow furrowed for a moment as instinct flared again. Why hadn’t Alexander suggested that strategy sooner? He knew that time was short. We needed to find Rory and Sorshafast. Why let us us drive around in circles when he could have tried linking with the two Spellbinders he’dspecificallyrequested Ava allow to accompany us?
And why did my inner wolf keep getting suspicious of someone we hadnoreason not to trust?
I shook my head and watched as the two Spellbinders scooted closer to Alexander. One of the few things I did know about magic was that physical touch helped in forming a connection with casters who either weren’t emotionally close or hadn’t worked together in the past. The three casters were eerily silent as they did whatever it was magic users did. Leaving me more time to brood.
My gaze returned once more to my uncle’s face. His eyes were currently closed, and he had one hand touching the hand of the Spellbinder to each side. Both Spellbinders also had their eyes screwed shut and their breathing seemed to be in perfect sync. The game tokens clasped between each pair of hands briefly caught my attention. And then the thing that had been bugging me since Alexander pulled those tokens back out hit me like a sledgehammer.
Ava had been using the green and blue tokens to track Rory and Sorsha earlier. That made perfect sense, because the girls were fanatical about always using the same colors each time they played. Roryalwaysinsisted on the green and Sorsha the blue. But Alexander had been using the red and yellow tokens even though Ava had handed him the green and blue ones before we left the first limo.
