Cipher

So somewhere, not too far away, a spell caster or a psychic was watching their power drip away as they fought to keep Kat and Ben contained. “Then I’m going to make life hell on whoever’s shielding us.

I’ve got psychic fuel to burn.”

Ben’s eyes gleamed with a surprisingly feral light. “Together, we can make one hell of a headache.”

Across the room, Julio stirred with a low grunt. His chains rattled, and he mumbled something unintelligible.

Relief surged. Whatever they’d done to Julio, he was strong enough to survive it. All they needed to do was get free. “Wake up, Julio. Wake up. There’s beer. And naked women.”

Another mutter was all she got as his head fell back and lolled to one side.

Kat closed her eyes and gathered her will. Slowly, like a hard drive spooling up, until she was wound tight and damn near vibrating with the need to let go. To push. “Ready?”

Ben’s handcuffs clinked as he clenched his fists. “Ready.”

“Me first,” she whispered. “Give me ten seconds, then throw everything you’ve got at them.”

“Got it.”

Maybe she’d learned something from watching the wolves circle, but her strategy was pure Zola. A testing jab against the shields, then a strong push with half of her strength. No projection—not when breaking through could injure Ben and Julio—but every scrap of sensory empathy she had.

For eight seconds she pushed against the barrier. It stretched with her, like a rubber band pulling taut, but didn’t snap. On the ninth beat, she eased back, as if giving up, and for the briefest moment she swore she sensed satisfaction lacing the walls of her mental prison.

Zola’s favorite trick—encouraging an opponent to underestimate her.

On ten, Kat gathered her strength and slammed it outward.

For one moment, one heartbeat, the iron cracked.

The man who slammed through the door held a gun in his outstretched hand. He pointed it in Kat’s direction for a moment, then lowered it. “That’s a bad idea, Miss Gabriel. Len is here to protect you and your friends, and you’re making that difficult.”

If it had just been her…but it wasn’t. Ben and Julio were just as helpless as she was. Gritting her teeth, Kat let the mental attack fade away. “Tying us to chairs and drugging us was part of the protection too?”

“Yes.” He held up the gun, its barrel pointing at the ceiling as he brandished it. “Otherwise, we may have no choice but to kill anyone who may not have the information we need.”

The collar, Ben had said. Clearly whoever had kidnapped him didn’t realize Jackson had already destroyed it.

If she told them, they might not believe her. If they did believe her…

Time, that was what they needed now. Time for Jackson to cast a spell or for Anna to use her contacts.

Kat licked her chapped lips and winced. “May I have a glass of water?”

“No.”

Without empathy, Kat had to fall back on the lessons Callum had forced her to learn. Body language.

She took in the blank expression, the cold eyes, the easy grip on the gun. This wasn’t a tense man, or a frightened one. This was a man so far gone into madness that he wasn’t even angry.

Dangerous. He was dangerous, and he clearly wanted her to start talking. Fast.

Kat swallowed. “What do you want to know?”

His jaw clenched. “Where is the collar?”

Truth or lie. She had a split second to decide. “I don’t know.”

The man shook his head. “Try again, Miss Gabriel.”

We don’t have it. An answer guaranteed to make them all useless—and therefore expendable. So she met his gaze and put everything into the lie. “I told you, I don’t—” His dispassionate expression didn’t change as he lowered his arm and shot Ben.

The sound was deafening. Like thunder in a closet, rattling through her almost hard enough to distract her from the sick feeling of something wet and warm splattering across her face.

The shot.

He’d shot Ben.

He’d shot Ben.

Shock held her rooted in place as the man turned without a sound and left, leaving Kat alone in a room with an unconscious shapeshifter and the lifeless body of her friend.

Chapter Eighteen

Most of the faint hope Andrew still harbored died when he found Kat’s cell phone wedged in a storm drain outside the warehouse. Julio’s car was still parked on the street, and there was no sign of either of them.

He kept it under control as he drove to Kat’s apartment. Mackenzie and Jackson would be checking any and all of the public places they could have gone, like Mahalia’s or Dixie John’s, so he could do this.

With any luck, they’d be watching an old sci-fi movie with the lights down and the telephone ringer off, and they wouldn’t even realize Kat had dropped her phone.

The last shred of possibility, and it flared into desperation as he stood outside the apartment and heard movement inside. He pounded on the door. “Kat?”

He had to knock again before the door popped open. Sera stood there in sweatpants and an inside-out tank top, both clearly hastily donned. “Kat’s still at Julio’s…” She trailed off as she studied his face, then swore softly. “What happened?”

He gripped the edge of the doorframe. “They’re not here?”

“No.” Sera pivoted and got to the dining room table in two steps. She picked up her phone and flipped through the screen. “She texted me…this afternoon. Said she was going to help Julio paint a room, and they might go out later. That was the last I heard.”

If anyone had unearthed them somewhere, getting drunk and playing pool, Andrew would’ve gotten a call. “They’re missing.”

“Shit.” Sera shoved her phone into her pocket and snatched up a hair elastic from the kitchen table.

“Where’s the last place anyone saw them?”

“I found Kat’s phone over at the warehouse.” His heart thumped painfully. “I was about to go back to Jackson’s office. He’s—he’s already looking.”

“I’m coming with you.” She shoved her foot into a shoe while twisting her wet hair into a knot at the back of her head. “Grab my keys off the counter, will you? Do we need something of Kat’s? For Jackson, if he needs to try to use magic?”

“I’ve got her phone.”

Sera hopped on one foot and pulled her other shoe on. “What about Julio’s phone? Maybe her friend from Birmingham can track the phone to Julio, if he’s still got it. Trigger the GPS or something?”

“Ben’s missing too.” He shoved her keys at her and turned for the door. “We’ve got to move.”

She did, grabbing a leather jacket off the back of a chair without bothering to find a warmer shirt. “Is Anna on her way?”

“Should be.” And Patrick too, someone with reason enough to hunt down the bastards who’d done this.

“I’m driving.”

He counted the streets and turns between the apartment building and Jackson’s office, trying to find a way to keep himself centered and calm. Using the little things to distract himself from disaster.

Anna’s car was parked in front of the office, but it was Miguel who met them at the door. “Nothing?”

“No,” Andrew said shortly. “Jackson?”

Miguel shook his head. “Patrick sent Anna some info, and Jackson’s been helping her run some of it down.”

The inside of the office didn’t look like chaos had descended. Jackson and