“A nice turn.”
“Something is coming.”
He snorted. “Don’t be like that, Abby.”
I shook my head. “No, I can feel the magic. Something is coming.”
He looked up in his review mirror. “We’re being followed.”
The black SUV was staying close to our tail. The front license plate was missing, and the windows tinted too dark to see inside. It wasn’t a car I knew, and I had a feeling it wasn’t friendly. “Try to lose them. Do not lead them to the house.”
Simon nodded and sped up down the highway. I kept an eye on the car behind us as Simon continued to swerve in and out of traffic. I didn’t know where he was going, but I didn’t care as long as we weren’t leading them to the house.
I texted Merrick to meet us at PIB. “Circle back.”
“What?”
“Just trust me. I want you to drop be back of at PIB. Leave and see if the person follows you.”
He twisted his hands on the wheel. “And what about you?”
“Merrick is going to meet me back at the office. He can get me home from there. If the person doesn’t follow you, then you head to my house. If he does, call me, and I’ll figure something else out.”
He nodded and pulled off the highway. He circled back, and the person continued to follow us.
We got to the office, and the car pulled in two spots away from Simon. It wasn’t subtle at all, which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I was prepared for an attack.
I stepped out of the truck and motioned for Simon to stay in. Travis was still standing by my car a couple spots away. He took a step closer toward me, and I shook my head.
“Just forgot something in the office.”
He nodded slightly. As soon as I was out of reach of Simon’s truck, magic surrounded me.
I threw up my circle, the purple haze of my magic slid over me, and the attacking magic bounced off. I felt the impact physically and let out a grunt as it hit a second time.
I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was there.
“Show yourself,” I snapped, staring at the car. “You want to fight magic with magic, I’ll gladly take you on.”
The magic fell, and the car sped away.
I waited a moment before I let my circle drop. Simon took it as a sign that it was safe to get out of the truck. “Any idea who that was?”
I shook my head. “No, and they are a coward if they didn’t want to show their face.”
“Someone just trying to scare you,” Travis offered. “You’re still a newly announced ‘Princess of Vampires.’ There are people out there who are going to want to test your resolve. Like stronger members of a pack will test a new alpha.”
I didn’t like that idea. “Yeah, maybe.” Or maybe it was related to the shooting. I hoped not because I was trying to chalk that up to random violence, not an attack on me.
“Merick’s here.” Simon motioned to the front of the PIB office.
“That was eventful,” he said as he walked up to us. “You alright?”
“Yeah, I don’t think they were serious.” I glanced at Travis. “I think you’re right, I think they were just trying to scare me.”
Merrick put a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll see you at the house then. I want to let you know, though, I saw O’Donald around your office.”
“He won’t enter it. I don’t know if it’s because he intends to harm me, but for some reason, he will not cross that threshold.”
“Even after you’ve invited him in?”
I nodded. “The doll must be doing her work because he hasn’t come into my office once.”
“Interesting. I’d stay away from him if I could.”
“That’s the plan. I’m on vacation now. Simon’s going to give me a ride back to the house while Travis fixes my car.”
Merrick eyed the car. “What did you do to it?”
“The battery died, thank you. It’s still in one piece, and it’s a perfectly normal thing to happen to a car.”
“Nothing is normal when it comes to you, Abby. Now, if the excitement is over, I’m going to go back to my visit with my sister, and you two can head home.” Merrick bowed his head and disappeared.
I felt guilty that I had interrupted his family time.
Simon frowned. “He has a sister?”
I nodded. “Yeah, she’s pretty nice too. I met her once when someone was trying to drown me.”
Simon ran a hand over his eyes. “I’m going to remind myself that you survived.”
I took his hand and squeezed it. “These things keep our lives interesting.”
“This is true.”
And he had no room to talk, seeing as he’d almost died on me during a pack battle. He walked me back to the truck, we got in, and headed home.
When we walked into the house, I went straight to the coffee machine, and Simon followed me.
“You want to tell me what you actually plan on doing on this vacation?”
I nodded. “Working with Mason to help Liz and him on their case.”
“And they need help?” Simon grabbed mugs for us as I started putting the grounds in the machine.
“No one has heard from Liz in at least twenty-four hours.” I glanced at him. “O’Donald told me that she was undercover, but she’s sent me two texts. Mason can’t get a hold of her. And I don’t want to reach out in case she actually is undercover.”
Simon leaned against the counter while we waited for the coffee to brew. “You don’t believe O’Donald?”
“When I was shot the other day, Liz helped me to get back to headquarters. She told me she thought O’Donald
