everyone.'
He was fighting a losing battle, and he knew it. Still, he had to try one more time. 'You've never met her like. You have no understanding what you're about to go up against.'
Mack gave him a wolflike grin. 'I've never met your like before, either, but I've survived our ten year association.'
Jon glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes gone. 'You'll slow me down. I can fly faster than you could ever drive.'
'Which is a point I'd like to discuss on our way. Come along, son. We have no time to waste.'
Jon smacked the wall in frustration. No one seemed to be listening to common sense these days—especially when he was speaking it. But with Maddie's life now on the line, he could think of no other human he'd rather have at his back than Terry Mackeral. With a final glance at his watch, he followed the FBI agent out the door.
'We're running out of time.'
'I know.' If Mack was at all concerned, Jon certainly couldn't see it. 'We're almost there.'
Jon turned his gaze to the skyline. Dawn was beginning to creep through the darkness, spreading red fingers of light across the stormy skies. An hour and a half had passed. And there was snow up on the mountain peaks.
Maddie was still alive, but he wasn't certain of anything more than that. He rubbed a hand across gritty- feeling eyes. This was exactly the situation he'd spent half his life trying to avoid—someone he cared about getting caught in the line of fire. It was the reason he'd walked away from his family, the reason he'd tried to convince himself his heart could only belong to his work.
And it was the reason he would continue to push Maddie away from him once they'd rescued her. He couldn't let her go through this type of hell a second time.
Mack slowed the car and turned into a driveway. The headlights picked out a small cabin not far from the road.
'Place belongs to a friend of mine. Evan and his family were only here until this morning, then we were moving them interstate.'
At least the police weren't taking any chances with Evan's safety. 'I just need to talk to the kid.'
Mack nodded. 'And the ring?'
'Will let us know what Eleanor plans next.' He climbed out of the car as soon as it stopped. The wind moaned through the trees, and its touch was bitterly cold. And Maddie was out in it, wearing only a T-shirt.
He slammed the car door shut and stalked up to the front door. Mack caught his arm only feet away and pulled him to a halt. 'The father's a cop with a trigger temper. Best let me handle this.'
He nodded and stepped away. Mack thumped on the door. The only reply was the unmistakable sound of a rifle being loaded.
'Who is it?' a voice called.
'FBI. Open the door, Steve.'
'Put your badge against the window.'
Mack muttered something under his breath, then glanced back at Jon. 'The man can be a pain in the backside, but it's good to see he's being this cautious.'
Jon bit down on the urge to smash past Mack and the fool with the gun. 'Caution won't save Evan or Maddie. Hurry up.'
Mack slapped his badge against the window. After a moment, the door opened.
'Who's your friend?' the bear-like figure asked, pointing the rifle in Jon's direction.
Mack pushed the weapon aside. 'He's helping with inquiries. We need to talk to your son, Steve.'
The big man shook his head. 'He's asleep, and I don't want to wake him.'
Mack's sharklike smile flashed briefly. 'Neither do I, but we have no choice. Which room?'
'Second on the right down the hall.' Steve eyed Jon with distrust then swung his gaze back to Mack.
'I'm coming with you.'
'Fine. Just don't interfere, or I'll have you hauled up on charges so fast your head will spin.'
Steve blinked in surprise, then nodded. Jon glanced at his watch again as they walked up the hall.
Twenty-five minutes left.
Mack knocked lightly on the door, then opened it up and switched on the light. Evan shot up in bed, his face screwed up in fright.
Steve pushed past them both and walked across the room, placing a reassuring arm around his son's shoulders. 'It's okay, Evan. The police just need to talk to you again.'
Evan nodded, but his wide, amber gaze was aimed directly at Jon. 'Why haven't you rescued her? You promised.'
Jon ignored Mack's raised eyebrow. The teenager's gaze was full of fear. He knew, or at least suspected, why they were there. 'I did. Eleanor took her again.' He hesitated, then added softly, 'She wants to exchange Maddie for you.'
The teenager shrank back into his father's arms. Steve held him tight and glared at the two of them. 'You can't seriously be thinking of complying.'
'Of course not.' Mack's voice held a soothing note. 'But we do need Evan's help to locate his aunt.'
'For God's sake, he's just a kid. Why don't you leave him alone?'
There was a desperate edge of denial in Steve's voice, and his fear curled through the room. Jon smiled grimly. Steve didn't want his son to be different. Didn't want him to be gifted, like his aunt.
But it was fools like Steve who had put Maddie through hell for so long. Anger shot through him, but he held it in check. 'Like it or not, your son has inherited psychic abilities similar to his aunt's. Denying it won't change anything. It might even make it worse.' Might eventually make him kill someone because he'd been forced to deny his gifts too long. 'But that's not what we're here for, either.'
'I can't find her,' Evan said, a tremor of fear running through his soft voice. 'There's some sort of wall between us.'
'I don't want you to find her.' Jon took the ring out of his pocket. The light sparked the panther's eyes to life, shooting pale red rays through the room. 'This ring belongs to Eleanor. If you touch it, she'll know we've found you and will tell us where to meet her.'
Evan shrank back against his father again. 'She'll come here?'
'Only as a wraith, a ghost. She won't be real, and she won't be able to hurt you.'
'This is ridiculous,' Steve growled. The fear in his eyes was almost as bright as the fear in his son's eyes.
'Be quiet or leave.' Mack moved to stand halfway between the two of them, as if he feared some sort of confrontation. 'Go ahead, Jon.'
Jon kept his gaze on the teenager. After a moment, Evan nodded and held his hand out. Jon placed the ring in the middle of Evan's palm, and the boy closed his fingers around it. Nothing happened for several heartbeats, then smoke began to curl through his fingers.
Evan yelped in surprise and would have thrown the ring away if Jon hadn't clamped his hand around the teenager's.
'It's okay,' he soothed. 'It's only smoke. It won't hurt you.'
Evan licked his lips and nodded. It was a gesture so reminiscent of Maddie that Jon's gut twisted painfully. Time was running out, and he was no closer to finding her now than he had been nearly two hours before.
The smoke twisted and turned and finally found shape. Eleanor's malevolent gaze swept across the four of them. Steve and Mack made surprised noises, but Jon kept his eyes on the wraith—just in case it tried anything.
'I've kept my end of the bargain, Eleanor.'
She smiled. It might well have been a cat snarling. 'So you have, Shapeshifter. And just in time. Your poor, dear girlfriend was turning a little blue.'
It felt as if someone had grabbed his heart and squeezed tight. 'The deal's off if she's dead, witch.' His voice sounded amazingly detached considering he was barely resisting the urge to smash the wraith's face in. Not that it would have done him any good. The wraith was as insubstantial as a ghost.
'Oh, she's not dead. Not yet.' The wraith eyed him in amusement. 'Come to the old cave up on Maxus Peak
