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“Hungry?” The tall one bared his teeth. “We’re notfood.”
Eerie cackles poured from the women flanking Nan as they lengthened their fingernails into talons.
“Make it quick.” Nan heaved a sigh as they sprung. “I’ll wait in the car.”
Palming her phone, she fell into conversation as she marched back to her ride.
The update I suspected she was giving Luca fell outside the range of Dad’s spell. All we got was surround sound for the carnage of the women feasting on the men’s hearts. Their joy in the viciousness of it made my stomach twist to recall I had once been just like them.
“Do we follow Nan to listen in, or do we take the three of them out now?”
“The Mayhews are closing in on the women.” He cut his eyes toward Nan. “Let her finish her update. That will buy us time before Luca realizes Nan has been taken.” He frowned. “Can Colby trace the call?”
“You’re picking up on the lingo fast.” I wondered how much of that was a result of osmosis from spending time around Colby. “She can do anything she sets her mind to and then some.”
“She’s lucky to have you.” His eyes softened when they shifted onto me. “She loves you very much.”
“Not half as much as I love her.” I trawled my brain for the right words to make up for their introduction. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
It felt like the right thing to say, even if I wasn’t convinced it was true.
“She’s your daughter.” His lips twitched over the words. “I understand why you kept her a secret.”
“It’s a habit.” I heard it for the cop-out it was. “And, okay, I didn’t want you to eat her.”
Before Mom factored into the equation, he had been dead set on fulfilling his animus vow. There hadn’t been a reason to entrust him with Colby. Now that he planned on sticking around, I didn’t have a choice.
If I wanted to reach a point where I had no secrets from the ones I loved, I had to start trusting them.
“You were right to protect her.” His gaze went distant. “I wasn’t myself when we first met.”
Before we could dig into that, snarls rent the air, and the witches hissed, hunched over their kills.
“Wait here.” Dad flexed his wings. “I’ll intercept Nan.”
Unsure what had tipped the Mayhews into motion before Dad gave the signal, I didn’t hold him up when Nan was our best hope of finding Luca. But I didn’t wait either. I hit the fire escapehanging over the side of the building and climbed down as fast as I dared, bumping into Blay when my feet hit the ground.
“Rue’s dad told Blay to watch Rue.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Rue not fight witches.”
Now that I had accepted I had value, with or without magic, they had to get onboard with letting me take risks too. “Did you find Clay?”
Regret pinched his features as he presented me with a ball of hair that I shook out into a familiar wig.
“The director must have sensed the spell.” I crumpled it in my fist. “This might prove Clay reported seeing us. As paranoid as the director is, he would have examined Clay.” He would have noticed Colby’s brightness countering his dark magic and known we were onto him. “Where did you find it?”
“Old car.” He gestured toward the road. “Driver dead.”
Chances were good the Hertzog coven had upped their security in response to last night’s attack. Had they wondered at their good luck when the cleaners didn’t record the mess they wiped away, allowing them to hope Luca wouldn’t catch wind of it and pull out?
The witches must have spotted the driver, determined Luca wasn’t with him, and killed him to avoid any potential interruptions. They hadn’t had time to dump the body before Nan arrived, which was good for us. It explained why there had been no hint of Clay then or now and gave us a window for time of death.
“Could you tell if the driver was a black witch?”
“Blay found ID.” He handed over a wallet. “Driver with Bureau.”
Talk about the right hand of an organization not knowing what the left was doing. I had known, of course, that the director had his loyalists. How could he not? He knew his agents’ secrets and was more than willing to wield them like blades against hispeople. But just how deep did this fissure run in the Bureau? That was what I had to figure out if I wanted control of the dangerous creatures in my employ.
“How did he die?”
