“I’m not sure.” Gunner looked appropriately apologetic as he settled his eyes on Zoe. “It was the shifters, the females. They were waiting for us. We sensed them at the last second. I ... I don’t think they were alone. We fought, and it should’ve been over quickly, but then there were more bodies than there should’ve been and I got really confused.” He rubbed his cheek. “I’m not sure where he ended up.”
“It’s possible he ran,” I offered helpfully.
Zoe shook her head, grim. “He wouldn’t have taken off and left Gunner. They have him.”
“Where?”
“Not far.” Zoe kept her gaze on Gunner. “Look at me.”
He did as instructed. My stomach shrank when I saw the guilt lurking in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s my fault.”
“It’s not.” Zoe wasn’t accusatory, something I didn’t understand. If I was in her position, I would be screaming, yelling, and pointing fingers in every direction. “This was a trap from the start. The weapon used on you was meant to kill you slowly. You were supposed to serve as a misdirection, which means they’ll do the same to Aric. I need you to get on your feet and tell me which direction they went in.”
Gunner furrowed his brow, confusion lining his face. “I don’t understand.”
“He’s very close.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “They’ve shrouded him somehow. I know he’s here, though. I can feel him. I need you to use that super sniffer of yours and tell me where.”
Gunner bobbed his head as her words sunk in.
He started circling, extending his senses, and I flicked my eyes to Zoe. “How did you know he was poisoned?”
“I’ve been around the block a few times. He wasn’t meant to survive. He was supposed to slow us down. I won’t let them do the same to Aric. I will find him, and then I’ll kill them.”
Her demeanor was icy enough that I shivered. “You really are as terrifying as they say.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Seventeen
Gunner immediately hopped to it, his fingers elongating as he tapped into his shifter side. His recovery was remarkable, which I was grateful for, but a small part of me remained wary.
“He’s okay, right?”
“Yes.” A muscle worked in Zoe’s jaw but otherwise her face was a blank slate.
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I’m good at what I do.” Impatience flashed in her eyes as she watched Gunner stalk from east to west. He looked frustrated, which was doing nothing to tamp down her anxiety. “Anything?”
“I’m working on it,” he growled.
She watched him for another few moments and then shook her head. “Okay, enough.”
Gunner jerked up his head, confusion etching across his handsome face. I was right there with him. She couldn’t be giving up. That wasn’t who she was. I opened my mouth to say just that, but I was cut off when she started zinging magic in a multitude of directions. I was so caught off guard, I could focus nowhere but her face, and for a moment — just a split-second — I thought her eyes had gone black.
And then the magic ricocheted against something hard to the west and she moved in that direction.
I was keyed up, ready for a fight, but it didn’t come to fruition. Instead, Zoe extended her hands and unloaded on the spot where the noise had emanated from. There was so much magic being unleashed on the small square that something began to smoke, and then flash.
One flash.
Two flashes.
Three flashes.
And then whatever was hiding Aric, an invisible wall that seemed somehow miraculous for her to find, fell with a whimper rather than a roar. Zoe raced to her husband’s side. He rested on his back, his eyes closed, and his forehead was beaded with sweat.
“Where?” Zoe demanded, wasting little time on preamble.
He weakly gestured toward his flank. Gunner dropped to his knees and helped her roll him and my heart caught in my throat when I saw the huge wound in his side. How he was still alive was beyond me, and I worried he wouldn’t be able to last much longer. There was no need to point out the obvious to Zoe. Her hand was already planted on the wound.
“Look at me,” she ordered.
Slowly, as if it took great effort, Aric opened his eyes and met his wife’s wild blue orbs. His lips curved into a lazy grin. “I knew you would find me.”
“Yes, I’m good at it.” She was calm as she poured magic into him, the blue of her healing fingers flaring so bright it illuminated her entire face, making her look like some otherworldly being. “Were you poisoned?”
He nodded, swallowing hard. “They said I wouldn’t last until you showed up but I knew otherwise.”
“The shifters?”
“Vampires, too.”
“Did you recognize any of them?” Zoe’s magic never faltered as she questioned her husband and I marveled at her strength. I wanted to be just like her one day, although I would have preferred an angelic child who never talked back to the one she had to regularly admonish. I recognized that was probably an unreasonable dream.
“The female shifters from the bar,” Aric replied. “They were here. They were ... excited. They kept talking about taking down a mage.” His hand moved to her face, fingers tracing over the tight lines of her forehead. “I told them they should be careful what they wished for. They didn’t care. Obviously that worked out to our advantage.”
“I don’t know what sort of advantage we have,” Zoe argued, letting out a breath when she’d finished healing him, her smile rueful. “We survived again. That’s all that matters.”
“Definitely,” he agreed. “And they’re dead. We won again. Yay.”
Zoe’s lips curved down. “They’re dead?” She joined me in glancing around, both of us looking for bodies. “How did they die?”
Aric’s forehead wrinkled. “I thought you killed them.”
“No.”
He licked his lips. “Then how did you find me?”
“Brute force. How
