“How’s your head?” Emery asked me as Darius stalked toward us, followed by Moss and Reagan.

“Good. Hardly hurts anymore.” I flicked my hair, trying to look blasé about the lie.

His lingering gaze said he didn’t believe me. He’d been peppering me with questions about the goblin’s magic—how I’d dealt with it, what it had felt like, and how it had felt when Reagan helped me. They all ended the same way—his confused brow furrow and silence.

But honestly, except for the stupid perpetual headache and the heightened sense of other creatures’ magic, nothing had changed. I really, truly believed that I’d just figured some different things out about my magic. Maybe now that we were settling in at our battle headquarters, I’d have time to show Emery what was what. Then we’d both have constant headaches. Yippee!

Darius had a stern face and hard eyes, his movements as graceful as ever but now with an added edge of viciousness. Magic rolled and boiled around him. He was in the battle zone, and it showed.

“What’s the situation here?” Emery asked with an air of command. Electricity kissed my skin and warmth expanded through my middle.

I sucked in a sweet breath, savoring his natural scent. A pleasant dizziness rolled over me. For a moment, my headache cleared, and I felt utterly at peace. Balanced and whole, as if my being had reached across the universe, dug deeply into the ground, and spread out through the air. Whole.

So sure, I was still cracking up a little, but this one aspect of the weirdness felt too good for me to want to fix it. It was best not to mention it.

“We’ve got our core team set up,” Darius said, falling in beside Emery. The two of them strutting toward the house like they were on a rough-and-tumble style runway. “We’re the last pieces. Vlad has secured his own locations for himself and his people. He did not want to stay in any of my properties—”

“Because of the territory-marking thing, right?” I asked. I now felt that marking situation every time I went into a shifter or vampire establishment. Thankfully, mages and humans didn’t do it. It really was disconcerting.

Emery studied me again.

Darius hesitated for a beat before saying, “Yes.” The word rode a release of breath; he seemed slightly derailed by my question. That, or he wasn’t being entirely truthful on why Vlad was choosing to stay removed. He recovered quickly. “Roger is bringing in the shifters who are best suited for this situation. He has an estate in the hills that he has fortified. He says the location is locked down. We’ll see.”

“I’ve heard he is extremely capable.” Emery stopped near the mouth of the walkway to the front door.

“He is, I’m loath to admit. He has cut down the number of our children who survive adolescence by half. He’s a remarkable leader, which will benefit us greatly in this endeavor…”

A grin slowly spread across Emery’s face. “But any other time, he makes your life hell, is that it?”

Darius spared Emery a glance. “Just so. That is easily remedied, of course. Or was…” I took a step back when Darius unintentionally blasted me with a wave of his spicy magic. “Rex is useless. His people were always in complete disarray. I often took my business into his territory. They never noticed my presence. I have a feeling that territory will soon change, forcing me to change with it.”

“Not my problem you’re breaking the rules,” I said, standing my ground. “Rex was a gobbleturd. He shouldn’t have been in charge of people.”

“A gobbleturd?” Reagan moved up next to me, her spiky eyebrow hairs looking like two mini porcupines crawling across her forehead. Her hair didn’t grow as fast as it needed to, given her skin’s ability to withstand the effects of fire. Emery and I had tried to fix it, but Callie’s healing magic was a gift. One Emery and I didn’t possess.

“You can use it. I don’t mind.” I gave her a thumbs-up as Emery started chuckling.

“We’re at least a few days out from any real strategizing,” Darius said, and I wondered why we were standing around in the chill outside the house. Yesterday had been my first fever-free day, and I wanted to keep it that way. “We need more information. Updated numbers.”

Emery and Reagan both nodded, businesslike, each facing a different direction.

“I want to talk to a few people,” Emery said, squinting in the darkness. A form stood sentry within the branches of the tree, mostly masked by the night. The movement had been so slight—barely a flicker—that I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t been watching Emery. “And see a few things for myself. Tomorrow we’ll go in town around twilight and feel things out.”

“That’s not wise,” Darius said. “You’re easily recognizable.”

Emery’s smile said Darius was missing something.

“Of course,” Darius said, his tone implying he was rolling his eyes at himself. A vampire would never stoop to actually rolling his eyes. “Then be wary of other mages hunting for those using magic.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo.” Emery’s voice was low and rough. “This has been my life for the last three and a half years. I know where I stand.”

“I suppose I don’t have to tell you to watch her.” I got another flick of Darius’s eyes.

“He means you.” Reagan nudged me.

“Yes, I gathered.” I pulled my sweater tighter around me.

Emery didn’t answer. Instead, he waited quietly for something.

Darius nodded and started for the door. “I’ll leave you to it. My people know to heed your word. I expect to be updated in all matters. No detail is too small.”

“We’ll see,” Reagan muttered.

“I’ll be grilling you especially, mon ange. Privately.” I didn’t miss the sudden warmth in Darius’s voice. His magic changed, too, a floral sweetness riding the vampire spice, reminding me of the flowers draped from the banister in his French Quarter house. Beautiful and elegant. Freshness among the death.

“I guess we’re stuck with you, huh?” Emery barely turned, but it was clear he meant Reagan.

“Are you kidding? He’s letting me out to cause havoc. I’m not passing that up!” She shook her head, looking at the sentry Emery and I had noticed earlier. “He’s too young for such a prominent spot. He twitches too much. He’ll have to be moved.”

“I agree.” Emery took a few steps toward the house, his gaze taking in the structure.

I raised my hand. “We’re not going to be causing havoc. Just FYI. We’re still lying low, at least until Darius has a plan.”

Emery chuckled softly. “Who are you fooling, Turdswallop? You cause havoc as a normal course of your day.”

“No. Not anymore. I’ve turned over a new leaf.” I lurched forward when Emery started walking again, cutting across the decorative mulch.

“We’ll need to tear down whatever ward is here and put up another.”

I nodded, not able to see the magic of the ward, which was normal with a lesser, run-of-the-mill variety spell. I could feel the pulse of it, though. Keep out.

I rolled up my sleeves, the cold around Seattle milder than in Ireland. I didn’t immediately have to pull them back down again. It took another few seconds.

“Reagan, take a tour around the property.” Emery pointed to the side. “Check for any magical tripwires or traps. If you find any, don’t take them down—I want to analyze them. Look for any trails around the area. Anything that looks out of whack.”

“On it.” She took off at a faster-than-human walk.

“We’ll need to set some new magical tripwires,” Emery continued, turning to look at the driveway. “If someone knows about this place, and they probably do, since Darius had a breach of loyalty, then I want to know who’s visiting. I want to know which species. The age of any vampires. The type of shifters.” He looked down at me. “Do you think you can work that? I can’t do the details of age and type.”

“Oh.” I glanced back at the house. Clearly he didn’t mean to do all of this now. We hadn’t even gone inside yet. “Yeah, sure. Probably. I don’t know. We’ll see.”