“Did she pass out?” a man asked—voice coming from front left. So she was in the back seat of the car. That would be the driver. That made three potential enemies.
“Zedi, you can uncover our guest.”
Guest, my ass, Jen thought. The new voice—heavy accent—was from the front right. Four enemies.
To Jen’s left, someone sighed, fingers tugged at the cloth, then pulled it away from her face, but kept the rest wound tightly around her body. Sweet, cool air rushed in. Jen set her jaw as she took in four faces: woman to the left, her size maybe bigger than Jen, though a little shorter. A guy the size of a fullback to the right, the top of his head brushing the car’s ceiling.
Be passive. Quiet . . . she told herself. You can handle this. Don’t move until you’ve got a clear line of—
The driver’s eyes widened over a pug nose. “Whoa, that’s the blonde who took out Rafe!”
In the shotgun seat sat a tall, shaggy-haired Asian man, wearing a duster over a black turtleneck. “What?” he rapped out with an air of command.
“That’s her! That’s the blonde we told you about! She was one of the dragon’s posse. Fights like Bruce Lee.”
“Really! That,” said Duster Guy, “changes things. Peke, get us out of here.”
The driver slammed the car into gear. It jerked into motion.
TEN
NIKOS
Nikos forced himself to keep from leaping to his feet, and shot a glance at Mikhail, who was always alert to his environment. Their eyes met, then Mikhail stilled, closing his eyes. He was the most skilled at sifting the mythic plane in his human form, though Joey was not far behind.
Yes, Joey’s ever-present smile had faded. He leaned over and whispered something to Doris, then said a little louder, “Excuse me. Restroom . . .”
Nikos’s throat was too tight for words. He rose, aware of people blinking at him. Let them think what they wanted—he had to find Jen.
Godiva’s voice faded behind them as they moved to the bakery. The empty bakery. No sign of Jen.
Joey gazed around with the intent expression of someone scanning on the mythic plane. Inside Nikos, his unicorn pulled him to the left.
At that same moment Joey said, “Let’s try through there.” He pointed to the swi
nging door left of the meeting room.
They hustled through a kitchen, past a machine slowly churning dough, to a storage area smelling of cinnamon and spices, and through that to the door that opened onto an alley.
Nikos ran out, searching wildly.
Nothing, except a trash can lying on its side, its contents spilling into the alley. Glass shards glittered coldly.
Nikos shifted to his unicorn, hooves pawing the cement and striking sparks as his wings extended wide. He threw back his head, horn aloft. The limitations of his human form fell away and the mythic realm flashed into brightness, like the night sky going suddenly from city-dim to mountain-top brilliant.
And right through the center extended that golden link—but almost immediately it blurred, until it stopped suddenly. Despair washed through him. Even in his unicorn form, he knew the mate link wasn’t complete. Jen was human, and they had not yet mated—in ordinary circumstances he could find her, but not if other magic interfered. And it clearly had.
Ward, came Mikhail’s voice on the mythic plane. She is behind a ward. But they cannot hide the direction.
Nikos already knew. The oracle stone, he replied.
His human self faltered, bitter, bewildered, angry, anxious: this was exactly what he’d feared. But in unicorn form, he struck the ground again with his forefoot, sending fiery sparks spiraling upward.
Fear belonged to the past, to the errors of his young manhood.
Though he was a healer, and had dedicated his life to found families, he had never truly understood the mate bond until now.
Jen Carlsen was his mate—his partner. Though he could not feel her exact location, and could not yet speak mind to mind, he trusted her. Believed in her. Four days—four hours—four hundred years since they first met, time didn’t matter: he had found his mate and now he understood the strength of that bond.