of the restaurant. He knew there was nothing casual about this meeting. Never was with Mack.
Mack unhurriedly opened a pack of cigarettes and pulled one out. 'Weren't you in Atlanta last week?'
He nodded. Another missing child had turned up. Another murder yet to be solved. 'Met your partner there.'
'So I heard.' Mack lit his cigarette and puffed on it thoughtfully. 'Find any clues yourself?'
'No.' As usual, the only sign of injury had been the small wound on the kid's wrist—a cut so small it might have been missed. Only there wasn't a drop of blood left in the child's veins. But Mack knew that—he would have seen the same coroner's reports that Jon had.
'Then why are you here?'
Why was Mack here? There was no such thing as a coincidence where the FBI agent was concerned 'Maybe I'm just taking a break.'
Mack exhaled a long plume of smoke. 'Yeah. And I just might sprout wings and fly.'
His gaze narrowed. Had Mack been digging around? Though where he would look for such information, Jon couldn't even begin to guess. It wasn't the sort of thing kept in any official records he knew of.
'What can I do for you, Mack?'
'You know another kid went missing a week ago.'
Jon nodded. He wasn't about to tell the big man about Maddie's nephew. He had a feeling she didn't want to get involved with cops—of any variety.
'Well, this time they've taken two.' Mack reached inside his jacket and pulled out a photo. 'Seen this woman around?'
It was Maddie standing beside a lanky kid who could have easily been her son. Evan, obviously. She looked different, he thought, staring at the photo. It was Maddie as she should be. Happy and laughing.
He studied it a moment longer then handed the photo back to Mack. 'Why do you expect me to know every pretty lady in the district?'
Mack smiled. A shark with a dental problem, Jon thought.
'The woman went missing several hours after her nephew disappeared. The kid's father is the local detective, and he's raising a hell of a stink. Seems to think she knows more than she was telling. It just might be the break we're looking for.'
Maddie was only a few steps away from being in deep trouble. And though it would have been easy to let Mack grab her and haul her in for questioning, it wasn't fair. Not when she'd saved his life. He owed her more respect than that.
'What has all this got to do with me?' he asked casually.
Mack took a final puff on the cigarette, then threw it on the ground and crushed it under his heel. 'I want to know what you know, Barnett.' His cold gaze fixed onto Jon's. 'We know you're working on this case for the parents of several missing kids. We know you work for the Damask Circle, a supposedly charitable, worldwide organization. Yet you, and others, curiously turn up to investigate the more bizarre police cases—and often get there before the police do. I want to know why you're in Taurin Bay, and what you know about the kids that have gone missing.'
Jon smiled grimly. Mack had obviously been doing some research into the Circle. Professional or personal curiosity? 'I don't know much.' And wasn't that the damn truth.
'Ante up what you do have, then.'
He had nothing to lose by doing so. Besides, it was always better to keep on the FBI agent's good side.
Things got dangerous when you didn't.
'Whoever is taking these kids is using them for some sort of ritual that's performed on the night of the new moon. If we don't find them before then, we won't find them alive.'
'Why Taurin Bay?'
'The bodies of four of the kids currently missing have turned up in nearby areas. The nick on the wrist, the lack of blood—it's all exactly the same as the five that have been found along the West Coast.' He shrugged lightly. 'Taurin Bay is the one thing all the recent disappearances have in common—they were all at school camps here sometime within the last year.'
'Interesting,' Mack drawled softly. 'We've just found another body.'
He stood up straight. 'One of the missing kids?'
The big man nodded. 'Found him up on Saddle Mountain.'
The same area where he'd been shot down. 'Which kid?'
'Samuels. The kid was only missing a month.'
'They're getting careless,' Jon commented softly.
'Or getting ready to leave the area and just don't care any more.'
So Mack thought the people behind all this were in Taurin Bay, too. 'Any suspects?'
The agent just gave him a toothy smile. 'I want you to keep in contact with me. I want to know if you see this woman, or find any information. I want the people who did this alive and unharmed and in prison.
Clear?'
Jon wondered if the man knew he was parked next to Maddie's truck. Probably, he thought, returning Mack's hard gaze. 'Very. Anything else?'
Mack's gaze narrowed. 'Don't mess with me, Barnett. Not on this.'
Jon nodded, not moving until the agent had climbed into his car and driven away. Then he turned and made his way to the cafe's entrance.
A woman opened the door as he approached, and a familiar tingle ran across his skin. He stopped at the base of the steps and studied the woman's dark eyes. A brief flash of confusion, even fear, ran through her gaze. He didn't think its origin was something as simple as being confronted by another shapeshifter in her territory.
Then she smiled. He couldn't help responding.
'I do believe we've met before.' She tossed back her mane of golden hair, her voice as smooth as a fine malt whiskey.
Designed for seduction, he thought. There was something about her that seemed oddly familiar, yet her eyes were dark, not the green of the cat he'd seen in the forest.
'Surely not,' he replied lightly. 'I'd never forget such a beautiful face.'
Maddie, he thought with amusement, would probably have made a face at such an obvious line. Or gone into fits of laughter. This woman merely smiled, though he felt a wariness in her that matched his own.
And it wasn't the usual wariness of two shapeshifters meeting for the first time.
'Eleanor Dumaresq,' she said. 'Perhaps you have time for a cup of coffee?'
He took her offered hand. Her fingers were warm and pliant against his, yet he felt an inner core of strength in them. The woman was more than simply a shapeshifter. Old magic swirled about her, a sense so strong he could almost taste it.
He let his touch linger a little longer than was necessary and studied her eyes. Her gaze called to the wildness in him.
Old magic was the key—and the danger—Seline had warned of when she'd sent him to Taurin Bay. It was an image that seemed to fit Eleanor well. Yet there was nothing more than a gut feeling and the words of an old witch tying Eleanor to the disappearances.
But as much as he would have loved to accept Eleanor's invitation and pursue the mystery she presented, he couldn't. Not with Maddie waiting for him in the cafe. He didn't want to endanger her by introducing her to someone who might well be involved in the attempt on his life.
'I'm afraid I can't just now,' he said, glancing past her to study the restaurant's interior. Why did he suddenly feel Maddie needed his help?
'A shame,' Eleanor replied warmly. 'But I'm sure we'll meet again. Taurin Bay is such a small town, after all.'
He glanced at her sharply. There was definitely an edge of warning in her mellow tones. 'I'm sure we
