building’s main lobby, closer. Shoving Tabby behind him, he summoned the last of his energy and flung a fireball at the nearest one, felling him instantly. Another ran for them, sending streams of something that looked like red water headed their way. Tabitha gasped, and he tried to think of a defensive spell, but his overtaxed body was diverting energy from his brain.
The next thing he knew, Tabby reached him and flicked her wand. “Damn it, I put you behind me.”
She just pushed him forward, then grabbed his shirt to hold him behind the thick clear protective wall she’d erected.
“It won’t block much or hold for long. Maybe two minutes.” Her voice shook with exhaustion.
He needed to get her out of there now.
The rage and frustration he felt at Tabby and the baby’s being in danger he funneled into a wall of wind he hurled toward the remaining dozen Anarki. It swept the lobby furniture, then began whipping bodies into its frenzy, at least for the precious seconds he and Tabby needed to escape.
They rushed outside, into the winter dusk. Raiden clamped an arm around her and thought of Ice’s caves in Wales. After a few disorienting moments, they hovered outside the dwelling on the windswept rocks, looking into the sea.
Tabby staggered, and he held her steady in his grip, panting with exhaustion.
“It’s safe here,” he murmured. “Let’s get inside.”
She nodded and followed him through the arched entrance. “That was the most frightening thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Raiden couldn’t disagree.
“How will you and the other wizards ever be able to fight him off?”
That reality ate at his insides. The last thing he wanted to do was give her to Sean Blackbourne, but it was for the best, especially now that he’d failed her at Lowery’s office.
“Raiden—”
“No. It’s true. And I’m doubly sorry that you risked your life to go to your father’s office, only to come away empty-handed.”
“But I didn’t.” She peeled her hand away from her chest and revealed the family photo that had been on her father’s desk.
His spirits sank. He’d been hoping for something useful, rather than sentimental. “I’m glad you’ve come away with something meaningful.”
She shook her head, all that gorgeous red hair that had tumbled from her proper clips tousling on her shoulders, reminding him yet again of one of the million reasons he always wanted her.
Tabby grabbed his arm. “I know what Mathias wants. I found the tree.”
Chapter Eight
From the back of the picture frame, Tabitha extracted a long piece of paper. Raiden sidled closer as she unfolded it. Names, dates, multiple branches on one long tree stretching back thousands of years. Throughout, a handful of names had been highlighted.
“What does it mean?” He had no damn clue.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged.
Raiden looked it over again, but he might as well have been reading gibberish. However, the bottom of the page had been altered. On the last entry in the family tree, the child’s date of birth remained, but the name, once highlighted, had been deleted.
“I think I know someone who might be able to help us,” Raiden mused. “Come with me.”
“Someone trustworthy?”
“There’s no one I’d trust more.”
He took Tabby’s hand and prowled the caves until he found Bram’s sister, Sabelle, who sat in the kitchen, drinking tea. After introductions, the beautiful witch looked between him and Tabitha and smiled.
“Did you finally pull your head out of your arse? I’m hoping so, and that the fact you haven’t mated with her is merely temporary. Ronan says you love her.”
Raiden resisted the urge to throttle Sabelle. “Stifle the matchmaking. We were chased minutes ago by Mathias and some of his goons while retrieving this. What is it?”
He thrust the paper under her nose and Sabelle took it, studying it intently, her blue eyes growing wider and wider. Then she peered up at him, looking suddenly pale. “Where did you get this?”
Tabitha grabbed the scroll back, defending their find. “It was my father’s, Nigel Lowery.”
“The record keeper?”
“Yes. Mathias killed my family for this, I think. My father’s last words were to protect the secret tree and —”
“This is, indeed, a great secret.” Sabelle hesitated, as if she was searching for the right words to impart bad news. “It’s the family tree of the Untouchables.”
Raiden felt his stomach drop to his knees.
Beside him, Tabby gasped. “Oh, dear God.”
A sacred race, the Untouchables had blended in with humans long ago. In fact, most
“The hospital we visited when I was just a girl!” Tabby covered her gaping mouth.
Raiden nodded. “The Untouchable’s sire persuaded your father to keep her name secret.”
“Yes, and they gave the baby, a little girl, up for adoption that very night.”
“To protect her, I imagine.” Sabelle’s face softened with compassion.
Any business involving Untouchables was always dangerous. They were often killed not only for their seeming immunity to magic but also for their ability to suppress magic near them. Likely, Matthias saw her as a threat. Whoever this girl was, she was in terrible danger if Mathias learned her name.
“Look here.” Raiden pointed to the mother’s name on the parchment. “The Untouchable’s mother died shortly after giving birth.”
“I wonder if it was for refusing to divulge her daughter’s name.” Tabby looked discomfited by that possibility. “And her father passed just a few weeks ago.”
And he’d been far too young to die of natural causes. Raiden’s gut clenched with worry. Clearly, Mathias hadn’t yet learned the woman’s identity if he still sought this page. And all of the deaths in the evil wizard’s wake showed that he’d have no problem killing Tabitha to get what he wanted.
“Do you think Mathias plans to kill the Untouchable?” Raiden asked.
“If he learns the woman’s identity, likely so.” Sabelle frowned suddenly. “Except… why find her now? If she could derail his plans, why didn’t Mathias hunt for her immediately after he’d risen from exile? What’s changed?”
A terrible possibility hit Raiden. “Or perhaps the Untouchable is to be a weapon used against the Doomsday Brethren, meant to disable our magic long enough for Mathias to wage some terrible attack on magickind and gain control.”
“A very real possibility.” Sabelle shook her head. “Let me think on it. And I’ll take it up with Bram when he returns. But regardless, in case Mathias could somehow use this record, it must be protected.”
“Agreed. Where is Bram?”
She shrugged. “He left with Duke, Ice, and Marrok about an hour ago. Said something about solving a
