Chapter 35
Chapter
Thirty-Five
REID
“Follow the thread,” Nathaniel—he’d insisted I call him that—urged as I did my best to trace the last wearer of the shirt he’d handed me this morning. “You’ve said the words. You’ve got the connection. Now picture it as a fine gold string in your mind’s eye and follow it back to its origin.”
I envisioned the thread as he’d instructed, but when I tried to follow it, I reached a broken-off and fraying end. I opened my eyes and blinked against the glare of the cloudy sky. We were out near the woods and although it wasn’t particularly cold, I wasn’t exactly enjoying the weather either.
I huffed. “I can’t make it work.”
Nathaniel took the shirt from me. “Perhaps because it’s been too long since it was worn. Let’s try something else.” He passed me a button. His hands were gloved so as not to interfere with the spell. “This was handled only an hour ago. See where it leads.”
I took the button from him, uttered the words of the spell, and closed my eyes. This time, the invisible string connecting the button to the last person who touched it was larger and stronger—more of a rope than a thread.
I mentally seized hold of it and pictured following it down the street, past the playground, around the corner, and all the way to the Children’s Home.
“It’s George’s,” I said with certainty, opening my eyes again.
I was proud of the progress I’d made since he’d begun teaching me.
I just wished I could relax enough to enjoy it.
I’d been tense every day since Hephaestes left, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
That first night, I’d woken screaming because I could sense his magic searching for me, but thanks to Nathaniel’s shielding spells, it hadn’t locked on.
Nathaniel grinned. “Very good, Reid. I want you to keep practicing that spell. You can use it on nearly anything, and the more you practice, the fainter the signals you’ll pick up on and the more accurate your spell will become.”
“Okay, I will.” I’d track every freaking thing I came across if it would give me better control over my magic.
“Speaking of mates…” He trailed off, as if uncertain whether to continue.
“What?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know,
“If you ever want that mating scar removed and the remnants of the bond cleared away, I can do that for you.”
The breath punched out of me in the best possible way. “You can?”
“Yeah.” He gave me a soft smile. “Just think about it. There’s no rush. I could do it anytime. The magic won’t be dangerous to your baby. If you want me to do it right now, I can, or if you’d like to wait for a while, that’s fine too.”
My mind spun, flipping through the implications. I’d never have to see that awful scar again. I’d lose the permanent reminder of Trent.
“Yes,” I exclaimed, more loudly than I’d meant to. “Please get rid of it.”
He chuckled, and Jilly leaned against his leg, her head tilted up questioningly. “Now?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Of course not. Can I see it?”
I grabbed the collar of my shirt and tugged it aside to expose the damaged skin. My stomach rolled and I rubbed my belly, silently assuring my little one that we’d be better without a connection to the shifter who donated his sperm.
He wasn’t a father, and he never would be.
Nathaniel laid his hand gently on the scar and closed his eyes.
After a moment, my skin warmed, and then he murmured a handful of words from the dead language.
I gasped as, before my eyes, the skin knitted itself back together, absorbing the scar tissue as if it had never been there and leaving a smooth, unblemished shoulder behind.
Tears filled my eyes and I blinked rapidly, my throat tight.
“Thank you. You have no idea how much I needed that.”
He moved his hand away and smiled softly. “You’re most welcome.”
Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention and I turned toward it.
A pair of men were strolling along the side of the road a couple of hundred yards away. It was a strange place to be out for a walk. Reasonably far from the center of town, with nothing commercial around. Perhaps they were just out for some air.
I squinted at their faces. My stomach plummeted when I recognized one of the men. It was the same associate of Trent’s who I’d seen in the car outside the Omega House.
My heart raced; I was grateful that Nathaniel was a warlock rather than a shifter or he’d definitely have sensed my panic.
I opened my mouth to tell him who they were but then closed it without saying a word. Maybe they hadn’t noticed us, but if we started discussing them, that would change immediately. They’d be able to hear us even from that distance.
“Nature calls,” I said, then got up as casually as I could and walked into the trees. I kept going until I was out of Nathaniel’s line of sight and muttered the spell that silenced footsteps, hoping it might also soften voices. I phoned Zander.
“Hey, Reid.” His voice was warm and reminded me of hot chocolate on a cold night. “Is everything okay?”
“Two wolves who knew Trent just walked past the place where Nathaniel is teaching me magic,” I whispered, knowing that there was a chance their sensitive ears would hear me. Hopefully they were too far away for that.
Zander’s breath caught. “Are they approaching you?”
“They weren’t when I was with Nathaniel but I went into the woods to call you so they might be now.” I lowered my voice even further. “I didn’t say anything to him. I was worried they might hear. Was it wrong of me to leave him alone?”
“He knows how to take care of himself,” Zander assured me.
“Listen, Reid, I’m going to come straight over. Can you return to Nathaniel? He’s powerful enough to protect you if they try anything.”
I bit my lip, reluctant to venture back out there, but it wasn’t as if I’d be able to outrun a shifter, so if they came after me, it would be best for me to have protection.
“Fine.” I sighed, hoping I wouldn’t regret it. “See you soon.”
I hung up, turned, and trudged back out. The wolves had reached the end of the field and were just standing there, talking.
I didn’t trust them.
“Is everything all right?” Nathaniel asked as I drew close enough for us to speak without shouting.
“My tummy is a bit unsettled,” I lied, afraid that the wolves might be able to hear me and that if they knew I was on to them, they might step up their plan—whatever that was.
“Would you like me to take a look at it? Healing magic isn’t my specialty but all PBI warlocks get basic healing training. Kind of the equivalent of a workplace first aid course.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s fine.”
I glanced at the wolves again and jerked when I realized they’d started walking back toward us, having turned around for no apparent reason.
That didn’t bode well.
Nathaniel frowned and looked over his shoulder. “Are they—”
I put my finger to my lips, motioning for him to be quiet, then transitioned the movement to cover my mouth as if I was yawning, hoping that neither of the wolves would have noticed. I looked at him meaningfully, silently willing him not to ask questions that the men might overhear.
Just as they were almost level with us, the sheriff’s vehicle came into sight and parked at the curb. A deputy spilled from the passenger side and Zander leapt out from behind the steering wheel. Both of them made quickly for the men, who immediately started stripping their clothes.
One of the wolves shifted and bolted for the woods. The deputy tried to tase him but he was too far away. Frustrated, the deputy tore off his uniform, shifted into a large grizzly bear and lumbered after him.
Meanwhile, the other guy—the one I recognized—had tripped over his pants while trying to remove them, and before he was able to recover, Zander leapt on him and pinned him to the ground.