His mouth dried up and his heart pounded, terror squeezing his throat. If he hadn’t already acknowledged the hold she had on him, he’d be severely wigged out by his own dramatic reaction. As it was, he couldn’t shake the fear that Penny was exposed. That she lacked protection as the Guild slithered into the city in ever-larger numbers.

The black mist of warning that had clouded his vision had promised some sort of demise for her…

“And she is in his care?” he said with a suddenly dry mouth.

Pride flashed across Callie’s expression before unease settled in. “No. As part of his training method, he tried to force her into survival mode. Well, he succeeded, all right. And she nearly blew his house apart.” She proceeded to tell him about Penny killing four new vampires, somehow scaring a fifth (he hadn’t realized that was possible) and awakening an extremely old vampire that had been in a sort of stupor.

She finished, “Darius was not expecting that dinner to go as it did.”

A grin worked through his concern. That was the thing about Penny: no one could ever predict the outcome of a situation when she was stuck in the middle of it. He loved that about her. The innocent volatility. The excitement and challenge that she created over the normal course of her day.

His heart ached. He missed her something rotten. Which would make it extremely awkward when he had to see her with someone else. Extremely awkward.

“Her power is unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed,” he said as she took down a bottle of whiskey. “I can see how she wouldn’t respond to the normal training. Though her choking in a mock battle is…”

“Alarming.” Callie nodded. “I know. It has made me wonder. Her survival magic hasn’t failed her yet, but she has absolutely no control over what she does with it.”

“And she was…unhurt after that dinner, I assume?” he asked tentatively, afraid of the answer. Afraid of how much he cared about the answer.

Callie paused in pouring drinks, her gaze roaming his face before resting on his eyes. “You really do care for her. Dizzy was right.”

“Yes, and I don’t want to see her come to harm.”

She went back to pouring drinks. “Other than a few blisters on her feet from those God-awful cheap shoes I told her to return, she was unhurt, yes. Though she did need to ask a bunch of derelict shifter barflies for help.”

He gripped the edge of the countertop. “What’s this now?”

“Don’t worry.” She patted his forearm. “Reagan came to the rescue. That’s whose house she is in now. No safer place, trust me. She probably should’ve gone there first.”

“Who is Reagan?”

“A friend of mine. She has very powerful magic and is bonded to Darius.”

“She’s—” He felt his eyes widen in surprise. “Darius bonded someone? I wouldn’t think he’d stoop to binding himself to a human, magical or otherwise.”

“She’s not just any magical human, and yeah, she bonded him. It was necessary at the time, and she says she’d do it again, but I think she’s a damn fool.”

“I’d have to agree.”

“So now Penny is training with Reagan, and it seems to be going really well. Or so Reagan says. If it couldn’t be me, at least it’s her and not some conniving, egotistical, selfish vampire.”

Emery ignored the smack talk about vampires. Darius had his uses, but Emery generally thought along the same lines. Most people who weren’t vampires did. “Reagan is a mage?”

“No. More of a…mutt.”

He was losing his patience for this conversation, hating these non-answers. “Does she know how big of a disaster Penny can be?”

“Trust me, Penny is nothing compared to Reagan.”

“And yet you think the setup is a good one?”

Callie’s eyebrows lowered. “There’s a difference between caring about someone and being overbearing. You’d do best to remember that. And yes, I do. Because Reagan can handle herself, and she can handle anything Penny might throw at her, including intense spells. That woman is a walking spell encyclopedia. Like I said, Penny is in good hands.”

“But what if Penny is out in the world and freezes up again?”

Callie took a sip of her whiskey. “Impossible. Penny is stuck working her butt off within an extremely powerful ward. So far as we know, the Guild hasn’t locked on her location yet. And before you ask how we could know that, just trust me. Reagan’s neighborhood watch is particularly vigilant. If Penny freezes up, it’ll be in the safety of Reagan’s house.”

“And if Penny leaves?”

“If you knew her at all, you’d know she’s a rule follower. She won’t leave.”

His knuckles turned white where they gripped the countertop. He did know her, and yes, she was a rule follower…up to a certain point. But if what she called her temperamental third eye convinced her to get into mischief, she’d run at it full steam. She wouldn’t stay put for long.

If she was freezing up, it meant something was blocking her use of her considerable power. Probably the integration of a different way of working magic, one that didn’t feel natural to her. Until that issue was completely worked out, she’d have times when the spells just wouldn’t come. He knew that from experience.

And if the Guild was there to cash in on just one of those occasions, she’d be a sitting duck, easy prey.

“Call her. Call them both. I need to speak to them. Now.”

25

Reagan’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She fished it out and glanced at the screen. “Callie calling. She needs her daily rant before she goes to bed.” Reagan silenced it and put it back in her pocket. “We’ll call her back when this is done. You might want to silence your phone, too. Or turn it off. If it goes off when we’re sneaking around, that could become a very bad situation.”

I tapped my pockets as I tiptoed through the grass behind her, completely exposed. “I left it in the car.”

“Not married to your phone, huh? I’m jealous.”

“Shouldn’t we have a plan? The others stayed behind to come up with a plan. I feel like a plan, even something totally basic, like what we’re doing right now, would serve us well.”

“Plans get you killed.”

I chewed my lip and avoided a reaching shadow from one of the enormous trees off to the right. “I feel like you’re mistaken on that one.”

“In situations involving wily creatures who excel at improvisation, the last thing you want to do is stay married to a plan. You’ll end up trapped. Trust me on that. This isn’t my first rodeo. What you have to do is know your opponent, and act accordingly.”

“Right, sure.” We angled to the left corner of the massive house in front of us, its front entrance still and silent. “Except I don’t know a poo-tossing monkey’s hindquarters about my opponent.”

Reagan glanced back. “A what? Never mind. Look, check it out.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder, pointing back the way we’d come. “First, their plans haven’t worked yet. This is their third attempt, and they are down peacekeepers—the people who are supposed to go after bad guys—because the banshee injured a few. They’re out of their league. The captain knows this. Usually at this point he’d hire me for the job and leave his people at home, but he probably suspects I can’t do it alone.”

“Then why did he send you in here alone?”

“He didn’t. He sent me with you.”

“I’m not sure I’ll be much help.”

“I was kidding. No, you probably won’t be much help, but at least you’ll get a little experience, amiright?” We reached the corner of the house and she slowed down, walking more quietly now. “He sent me alone and kept them back to ‘plan’ to give me a second to scout this on my own. He’ll see if I can handle it alone, and if not, he’ll rush in to save the day. That’s why he gave me the ear piece.” She touched her left ear.

“It would’ve been nice to get one of those,” I muttered.