“Why are you looking for him?”
“He’s in trouble.”
“Joe?” Maya shook her head. “I don’t believe it. That guy is indestructible.”
Tia might have agreed if Joe hadn’t spent the past months popping in and out of her castle as if he were a welcomed guest. Slowly she’d become accustomed to his presence, and if she was being honest, even looking forward to the nights he would magically appear to lessen the echoing emptiness of her castle. And during those nights she’d caught glimpses of the vast sense of duty that he shouldered and the relentless attacks against the peace he was struggling to protect. He might be close to a god, but he wasn’t impervious to danger.
“He pretends to be indestructible,” she agreed, “but he’s not.”
Maya stilled, staring at Tia in confusion. Then suddenly her eyes widened. “Wait. Are you two—”
“No,” Tia snapped, battling the revealing blush that threatened to stain her cheeks. It was nobody’s business if she spent her nights fantasizing about what she would do if she ever got the delectable male in her bed. “You know my feelings about domineering, arrogant jerks who think they can control a woman.”
Maya’s lips twitched. “But you rushed here from Colorado to check on him?”
“Because he won’t get out of my head.” It wasn’t a lie. The whispers had started last night and continued through the morning hours. At last she’d ordered her jet to be prepared so she could track down the bothersome pest. “He keeps saying the same word over and over and it’s driving me nuts.”
“Okay. What’s he saying?”
“Run.”
“Run?”
“That’s all I could make out, but there was pain in his voice, as if he’s being attacked.”
Maya’s amusement faded. She understood the danger, just like Tia did. It was one thing for the mysterious Watcher to be annoying. It was another for him to be in a situation that was causing him genuine pain. What could hurt a god-adjacent creature who had seemingly limitless powers?
The answer couldn’t be anything good.
“Can you contact him?” Maya asked.
Tia shook her head. “No, and when I try there’s a weird static hum. Like something is interfering in our connection.”
“You can’t determine if it’s a demon or vampire that’s creating the interference?”
“It doesn’t feel like it’s coming from an individual creature. It’s almost as if he’s being smothered by layers of magic that’s continuing to spread. Which is why I have to find him. The sooner the better.”
Maya nodded in sharp agreement. “What makes you think he’s here?”
“I’m following the static inside my head.”
“That’s a sentence you don’t hear every day.”
Tia ignored the woman’s teasing. “It brought me to New York. Naturally, I assumed he might have returned to visit you,” she grudgingly admitted, once again feeling a pang of emotion that was definitely, absolutely not jealousy.
“I haven’t seen him.”
Tia glanced toward the front window, futilely hoping to catch a glimpse of Joe, looking like a harmless drifter as he leaned against the lamppost. There was nothing.
With a shake of her head she returned her attention to Maya. “Has anything happened in the area that would have attracted his attention?”
“Not really. I...” Maya’s gaze narrowed. “Wait. You said there was some sort of interference?”
“Yes. Does that mean something to you?”
“It might. There’s been a series of burglaries up and down the East Coast.”
Tia made a sound of disappointment. She wasn’t going to waste her time chasing a petty criminal.
