and lie back on the love seat. If someone had offered me a nice lap quilt and a pillow, I’d probably stay right where I was. But I wanted to leave this condo as quickly as was practical. There were too many memories ghosting me here.
I placed the glass on the table next to me so I wouldn’t be tempted to swig down the rest of it. I noticed Zayvion had not started on his second beer yet, either. Good. Maybe I’d be able to talk him into driving me home, or loaning me his car for the night.
“It felt more like feathers than ash,” I said. “And it melted at the slightest touch.”
“You touched it?” Violet asked.
“She tried to taste it,” Zay muttered.
“Oh, God, what were you thinking? Don’t ever do something like that! That is an untested, and possibly deadly, matter.”
“Hey,” I said with a smile, “get off my case. You’re not my mom.”
“Technically?” At that moment, I realized she and I could maybe be friends one day.
She took a deep breath. “Okay. At least we now know that the disks have been stolen, not destroyed.”
“What?” I said. “You knew there might be some of these disks out there?”
Violet nodded. “We had a fire a few months ago at one of the production labs. We thought everything had been destroyed, but there was some doubt. And other . . . things that hinted of a break-in. But the . . . investigation we implemented left us with very little to go on.”
“What did you have to go on?”
“A very slight indication that the person, or persons, who broke into the lab may have gone toward North Portland.”
“Shit,” I said. I didn’t like where this was heading. North Portland had more than its share of shady people. You could close your eyes and point anywhere along any of its streets and find a felon.
“Do you have any idea who would do this? There can’t be that many people who knew about the project or where the lab was.”
“We have ideas, but ideas are not proof,” she said, in a reasonable impersonation of my dad.
“So do you have some good reason why we shouldn’t go to the police with this?” I asked.
“I already have,” Violet said. “They hadn’t had much luck tracking the stolen items. It was one of the reasons we were hoping the disks had been destroyed in the fire.”
I rubbed at my eyes. I was tired and my head was starting to hurt. There had to be an easy way to figure out who had access to the technology. And to draw some sort of connection between that person or persons, Cody, Bonnie, and Snake man, if Snake man was real and not just some kind of imaginary friend—or worse, a pet—of Cody’s, and of course me, and maybe even the hit on Boy that pointed back to my dad and his death. What were we missing?
Nothing besides a suspect, a motive, and some hard proof.
Hells.
I needed to find Bonnie and wring her thick neck. No, I needed to get the information out of her about who she was working for and how she pulled her smoke and mirrors act. Then wring her thick neck. Which meant I needed to Hound her. But not tonight. Tonight I wanted sleep. Tomorrow I’d take on the world.
I also did not want Violet to set a bodyguard on me, or try to force me into staying safely trapped here until things sorted out. It would be easy to Influence her, to break my promise not to use people like my father had. I had used it on his secretary, so I’d already fallen off the wagon. Just one more time wouldn’t kill me.
“So it’s agreed,” I said, pouring Influence behind my words. “I’ll Hound around the city for Cody tomorrow.”
“Uh, no, it is not agreed,” Violet said. “First of all, I cannot be Influenced, so you can stop wasting your time. Second of all, we weren’t even talking about finding Cody. And even if we were, I am sure I have far more resources at my disposal than you do. The police are looking for you, Allie. If you draw on magic to so much as light a candle, they’ll know where you are and will haul you in for questioning.”
Well, hells. There was an angle I hadn’t thought of. This secret technology was probably still a secret from the law around these parts. I had not only become a new friend to Violet, I’d also become a new liability if I were caught and indiscreetly questioned.
Still, she could send her men and women off to find the kid, all she wanted. And if they found him and either brought him back here or turned him in to the police, I figured he’d be in pretty good hands until I got done wringing the truth out of Bonnie.
“Sorry,” I said. “You’re right.”
Zayvion turned and looked at me, probably surprised at my apology. I gave him an innocent glance. He wasn’t buying it, but covered his scowl by taking a swig of beer.
“Good,” Violet said. “Why don’t you stay here tonight? There is still a bed in your old room. Or the guest suite is available if you’d rather.”
Oh, hells, no.
I said good riddance to this place years ago. I had never come running home when things had gotten tough in the last seven years. I was not going to come running home now.
“Thanks, but I have somewhere else to be.”
“Where?” She took a drink of wine. She didn’t look like she believed me.
“I don’t think I’ll say. That way if you’re asked you won’t have to lie when you say you don’t know.”
“I don’t like you going off alone, Allie. You do understand you’re being
“Oh, yeah. I have the bruises to show for it.” I stood. “Thanks for worrying, but I’m a big girl. I’ll be fine.”
Zayvion stood too.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Thought I’d see you to the door.” He put his beer on the table. “Good night, Mrs. Beckstrom.”
“Take care, Zayvion. Be careful, Allie. And if you change your mind, the door is always open.”
“Thanks,” I said. And I meant it.
Kevin walked to the doorway and released the spell with a flick of his fingers, the sort of subtle motion that looked like he was adjusting the ring on his middle finger with his thumb. Oh, this guy was good. Very good.
Kevin allowed us through the door, then followed us to the elevator. He used the remote to open the doors, and I felt my shoulders crawl up to my ears at the small, mirrored space.
“Take it easy, Zay,” he said.
“You too,” Zayvion said. “And next time the drinks are on me.”
They shook hands, and I stood there and broke into a cold sweat. How had the elevator gotten smaller? I’d just been in there. With two men. There had to be enough room for me to step in. But try as I might, and I mighted my best, I could not force my foot to lift and take me one step closer to that mirrored coffin.
Kevin turned and walked back down the wide,
“Allie?” Zay said.
“What?”
He didn’t answer, so I looked over at him. He put one hand on the unmarked, left side of my sweaty face and kissed me. Hard.
Oh. The prickly spikes of panic in my chest melted and a whole bunch of other pleasant feelings took their place. Oh. Yes.
I kissed him back just as hard.
“Elevators can be fun,” he murmured against my lips.
I bit at his bottom lip and pulled away. “Over my dead body,” I said.
But that kiss had broken my panic and put me in another mood entirely.
I strode into the elevator and punched the button. Zayvion stepped in too, then stood directly behind me. The door closed. In the mirror I watched his hands wrap around my waist, saw the slight smile as he pressed his body against my back, then pressed his mouth against the side of my neck.
It was too small here for this. Too small for him to be so close. And I was going crazy for him to be
