Circle of Fire (Damask Circle 1)

Maddie studied her. Eleanor stood in the doorway, a shadow outlined by sunlight. You didn’t need to see her face or her eyes to taste the evil in her soul. It wrapped around her as closely as the coat she wore. Maddie licked her lips and hoped that Eleanor, like Hank, saw her as a form of insurance against Jon. Otherwise, Eleanor would have no qualms about killing her. She was certain of that much, if nothing else.

The heat in the room leaped several notches. She clenched her fists and felt the cool silver of Jon’s ring bite into her skin. Its touch seemed to calm the fires somehow. Not much, but enough.

Eleanor stepped into the room and slammed the door shut. The look she gave Maddie was that of a cat about to devour a mouse. Appropriate, she thought with a shiver, considering Eleanor’s other shape.

“What is she doing here?” Eleanor all but snarled.

“The shapeshifter was sniffing around here. I used her to ensure he left.”

Eleanor shrugged eloquently, her gaze running past them. “So why keep her? Get rid of her.”

Maddie edged forward, getting ready to fight. Even if it meant letting the fires loose and killing them all.

Then Hank’s gaze met hers and she stilled. Something in his eyes warned her not to move. Her gaze dropped to the knife he still held in one hand. Her blood was a small dark stain across its blade. It could so easily be more, his eyes seemed to warn, if you try anything.

“She’s insurance against his return, Lennie,” he said. “Through her, we can control him. At least until the ceremony.”

Maddie stared at him. Lennie. That was what he’d called the cat at the inn. Did Eleanor have more than one shape?

“He can’t touch us, anyway. He’s nothing but a weak fool—” Eleanor hesitated, then stiffened. “Where the hell is the second kid?”

Hank jerked around, staring at the bundles in the corner. “What do you mean?”

Eleanor strode across the room and flipped the blankets away, revealing only one form—a girl, not a boy. Jon must have gotten Evan out of the cabin somehow. But the relief Maddie felt was tempered by the knowledge that while Evan might be free, the other teenager was not.

“Where’s the other kid, Hank? What in hell have you done?”

Hank swung his fist, connecting with Maddie’s chin before she had time to react. The force of the punch threw her backward, over the arm of the sofa and onto the floor. Her head smacked against something hard, and a kaleidoscope of color rushed past her eyes.

Hank leaped forward and grabbed her coat. He drew her upward, so she was close to his face. “Tell me what you’ve done with the kid!”

He looks old, she thought weakly. Old and frightened. His mouth moved again, but his voice seemed to be coming from a great distance, almost drowned out by the roaring in her ears.

He shook her so hard it felt as if her teeth were rattling. His eyes were dark pools that promised death. “Tell me,” he repeated, his voice suddenly a roar that re

verberated through her brain.

I can’t, she wanted to say, because I just don’t know. And she smiled as the darkness rushed through her mind and took the words away.

JON GLANCED AT HIS WATCH FOR WHAT SEEMED LIKE THE thousandth time. Nearly two hours had passed since he’d left Maddie in Hank’s clutches. It seemed like an eternity.

He thumped his hand against the wall, then stared out the window, watching the rain dance across the pavement. There was nothing more he could do now but wait. He had to ensure Evan’s safety before he did anything else.

He glanced toward the bed. The teenager was still in a drugged sleep. In the last ten minutes he had at least shown some sign of stirring, but the process of waking was taking entirely too long.

Jon shifted his stance impatiently, then studied the white mark around his ring finger. He still had no idea why he’d given Maddie his father’s ring. Granted, he didn’t want to lose it, but he’d made the change with the ring on his finger before and had just scooped it up in his talons and taken it with him. So why give it to her when he’d sworn never to give it to any woman except the one he loved?

Because it’s something of me she can hold on to. It’s all I can give her, all that I’m free to give.

The thought shook him. But what shook him more was the sudden, desperate need to have her close, to hold on tight and never let her go.

His father had told him long ago that a hunter gave his heart only once, to one special lady. Well, he’d long ago dedicated his heart and his soul to his work. There was no room for anything else. No room to worry about anyone else. He just couldn’t afford any sort of entanglements in his work.

Wasn’t that why he’d cut himself off from his family so long ago, why he continued to rebuff their efforts to talk to him, to understand why he’d become such a stranger? It was safer that way. If he had no one to love, he had no one to become a target for his many enemies. And once Evan was safe, Maddie could go home and be safe, as she’d wanted all along. And he could get on with the job of apprehending Eleanor and Hank without having to worry about her.

There was a slight rustle of blankets from the bed. Jon turned and met the teenager’s wide eyes—eyes that were the same warm amber as Maddie’s.

Finally, he thought, and forced a smile. “You’re safe, Evan. There’s no need to worry.”