“That’s what we’re thinking. It doesn’t quite add up.”

“We being the shifters?” I asked.

He looked toward the door again. “Yeah. So we’ve been looking for any other explanation.”

“And you heard about a mage,” I surmised.

A troubled look crossed his face. He ran his finger down the sweating bottle of beer. “I’ve heard about a few, actually. All of a sudden, it seems like mages in this area have gotten really powerful. Like…one can create hellfire.” He shook his head. “He went missing a couple days ago, but they say he does that often. He disappears for a while, but he always comes back, usually with some spells.”

That sounded like the guy I’d taken out, though the spell he’d thrown at me hadn’t been hellfire. Close, but it wouldn’t have killed a vampire. It hadn’t been hot enough. “Where does he disappear to?”

Red shrugged, glanced at the door, and lowered his voice. “The witch who was telling me was really drunk. He didn’t think it was the Realm, but he wasn’t sure where else the mage would go. Maybe he disappeared to re-up his supply of the blood?”

“That’s all you’ve got?”

His eyes turned shifty. “Yeah.”

He was the worst liar. I said as much.

“That’s it. He’s been gone a while.” Red fidgeted.

“You guys killed him, then?” I tried, watching closely. His head jerked, like he stopped himself saying no, and his shoulder ticked upward, like a shrug in process, but there was no surprise or defensiveness in his expression.

The shifters knew the mage was dead, but they didn’t know I’d killed him. Huh. Captain Lox was keeping his secrets, and so were the mage’s neighbors. That was good.

“What else?” I asked.

Red shifted in his seat. He licked his lips and eyed the door.

“What else?” I repeated before upending the bottle and gulping down the liquid. For some reason, my heavy drinking scared him more than an out-and-out threat.

“The rumor is, there are a few mages involved,” he said in a shaky voice. “They’re selling the blood, but that’s just a monetary scheme. They’re also trying to amass power.”

I rolled my eyes. “They are always trying to amass power. Is this all you’ve got?”

“No!” He scooted toward me. When the man had information, he hated to be disbelieved. Hence the shifters keeping most of the juicy bits from him. “Rumor has it, they’ve enlisted a few covens of witches for their army. Those witches have somehow turned into full-scale mages. Their power has doubled. Doubled. Now, the witch who told me was drunk, as I said, so he could’ve exaggerated, but still…a witch who couldn’t even get into the Realm, suddenly talking about it as a second home?”

That was something.

I leaned back, not liking that news at all.

“Exactly,” he said, matching my lean. “Exactly. We’re a little worried about what this might mean. And even more worried that the vampires will stumble onto all this, and try to bring the leader into their fold. Can you imagine if the vampires suddenly had access to this much power? They could easily use the mages to force us out of the Brink…and, eventually, maybe even take on the elves.”

I couldn’t hold back a dark look as I remembered what Darius had said: “We won’t bow forever.”

Red had a point. My job had started as a bounty hunter gig, but now it seemed like I’d be leading them to a large source of power with an amassing army. Not to mention, I had a lot of power myself. Once I found the mage in charge, the vampires would have both of us in the same place, ripe for capture. I was pretty sure this hadn’t started as a setup, but if the shifters had made this connection, I could damn well bet it had occurred to Vlad and Darius.

“Not good,” I mumbled.

Before Red could reply, a burly man walked through the door. Stacked with muscle that didn’t steal any of his grace, complete with a barrel chest and heavy tree-trunk arms, he held himself like he owned the world and everything breathing within it. I groaned when I caught sight of his eye color. One blue and one green.

The most powerful of the shifters in North America had just walked into the bar. My day couldn’t get worse if I intentionally sabotaged it.

Chapter Fourteen

“Hey, Roger. Nice to see you. I was just leaving.” I got out of my seat as he stalked up.

“Sit,” he barked. Full of power and force and intensity, his words demanded obedience. Red quailed and stooped in his seat. If he were in dog form, he would’ve rolled over and showed his belly.

“Gotta go. I’m working.” I took a step away from the table, shamefully ready to run. Downing a guy like Roger would not be easy. Maybe not possible, even for me. I was lucky he couldn’t change into shifter form in front of all the humans. Still, if it came to a fight, the whole bar would be taken out.

“Working. Is that what you call constantly badgering my employee for information you are not entitled to?” He stepped in my path.

“Yes. Why, what do you call it?”

Roger’s face was a terrible mask of violence. Shivers of apprehension worked up my spine. “This ends, now,” he snarled.

Fire sparked in my gut, my automatic response to bullying. Logic told me to run, but my contrariness had always been stronger than my logic. I sometimes hated that part of myself. “You can’t be here all the time, Roger.”

His eyes flashed. “I don’t need to be here all the time. I can find you anywhere.”

“And do what? Hump my leg?” I smirked, the fire spreading through my middle and tingling my fingers.

“I should drag you out of here right now.” He took a step toward me. “You’ve caused a lot of problems for my people.”

“I haven’t done dick to your people. You hang around like gremlins, hoping I’ll slip up so you can haul me into the Realm and get someone to check out my funky smell. I have a legit job, you harassing douche. Spoiler alert: that job doesn’t answer to you. You have no power in the Brink magical law enforcement. You are allowed to work here because you help them with a few of the outliers. Start messing with their employees, and that might not be the case anymore.”

He stared at me, and though he was about my height, it felt like he was looking down at me. Lava replaced the heat in my body—survival mode. It was about to get real, I could tell. Shifters didn’t reprimand with words; they did it with actions. They battled to get to the top of their hierarchy. He was ruthless, vicious, and at the top of his game. Quite possibly, I was in over my head on this one.

I wonder how fast he can run…

Roger’s tone lowered into not much more than a growl. The small hairs rose all over my body. “I will only say this one more time, Reagan Somerset. Keep my employee out of your schemes, or I will be forced to make good on my warning.”

“I didn’t remember hearing a warning in your dull sermon.” Darius strolled into the bar with a calm expression, all infallible confidence.

I jumped, only then noticing full night had fallen. Roger stiffened and turned around extremely slowly, coiled and ready to strike. Green shimmered around his body, a shifter’s magic, making their form change possible. The power of it stung my eyes.

Red hunched so low in his chair that I could barely see his head above the table.

Darius tsked. A little smile played across his lips as he crossed much too closely to the fuming shifter and took his place by my side. “Careful there, little doggie. You wouldn’t want the humans to know how furry you can get. That might get you in some trouble. You’d be on the other end of the law, then, would you not?”

“An elder among us. How did I get so lucky?” Roger grinned, a terrifying sight filled with violent promise.

“You turn into an animal. You didn’t,” Darius replied with nonchalance.

“Given your other form, you probably shouldn’t throw stones regarding what he turns into,” I murmured.

“You openly feed on human blood,” Roger said quietly, his voice muted by the jazz music. “I am authorized to take you down. Do you want a head start?”