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It made sense that someone would take her in such a remote place. It was clear that no one was looking for Elix out here.
“SAINT!” I screamed, my pulse racing.
My friend appeared at the threshold, and I waved him through. The guard stepped aside as Dimas tried to shrink his tiny form more. Saint scowled at him, top lip curling over his teeth like he wanted to bite the suspect-looking motel manager.
“Can you do anything with this?” I asked him, pointing at the computer.
“I told you, Alpha, the cameras don’t—” Dimas started to say.
“SHUT UP!” Saint and I whiplashed in unison, our attention fully on the screen. Saint leaned across me and started to tap on the keys, but his results proved as fruitless as mine.
“Go get Cirilla. We’re going to need magic for this.”
“I’m here.” Cirilla materialized behind us in a puff of crimson. Dimas gasped, shocked by her sudden arrival, but Saint and I barely turned.
“I need to find a way to pull up whatever footage was on those cameras,” I told her, ignoring the clerk now.
“I keep telling you, Alpha, there’s nothing to see because the cameras don’t work—” Dimas started to argue, but I cut him off.
“Take him out of here,” I told my guard.
“Alpha, no!” Dimas whimpered. “I’ll behave.”
I cast him a scathing look. “One more unsolicited word out of you, and you’ll never sit your ass back in that filthy chair again. Do you hear me?”
Cirilla put a calming hand on my shoulder, steering my eyes back toward the blank screen before us.
“What would you have me do, Jace?” she murmured, low enough that Dimas couldn’t overhear. “If the cameras aren’t in fact recording…”
“Do whatever you can,” I growled insistently. “I need to know what happened to Elix. She couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air.”
“The guard is out speaking to whomever he can find,” Cirilla reminded me. “And he’s called in reinforcements?—”
“That’s not good enough!” I muttered.
Her fingers curled tighter over my shoulder. “All right, Jace. I’ll see what I have to work with, but if the cameras genuinely weren’t recording…”
I glared, and she shrugged, releasing me to squeeze in between Saint and me.
Her slender but aging hands danced quickly, violet eyes widening. “One of the cameras is functional!”
My heart surged with excitement as Dimas gasped and sputtered. “I-I didn’t know that! I’ve always been told that they all don’t work!”
“It’s not fully working,” Cirilla corrected. “But it’s good enough that I can do something with it. Give me some time here. Go see if there is any luck with the witnesses.”
It was her way of telling us that she wanted us out of her way, and I was reluctant to go, but I didn’t have much of a choice.
Saint was already out the door, rounding the magic-protected inner office toward the front lobby. Several unsavory types lingered out front now, curiosity lighting their faces when they saw us.
“That’s the king!”
“We should get out of here!”
“There’s going to be trouble…”
My ears honed toward the last comment. A meek, breathless female lounged by the entrance, one high-heeled boot out the door, but her companion held fast to her wrist. She tried to pull away from him, her blonde wig falling askew in the tussle, but it was an exercise in futility.
I drew in closer, catching their conversation.
