Grayson watches it peel away until it merges with noon traffic and becomes just another black shape among a thousand others.
Only then does Grayson feel his legs start to shake.
Only then do his ribs remember they hurt.
Only then does the reality settle into him like a stone dropped into water, rippling outward.
He lowers the staff. It melts in his hand in a hiss of steam and cold, the last of it evaporating into the air as if it never existed at all.
“Leo!” Jay has Leo in his arms before he hits the ground, unconscious.
That explains the grin. He hadn’t noticed that the woman’s parting shot had been to hurt his mate.
There’s a deep, rage-filled rumble beside him, and the only thing stopping Nix from chasing the SUV down the street is Grayson’s arm around his waist while he growls creative threats.
“Come back here, you crazy shit! How dare you—”
“Nix. Stop. I’m alright.” Leo’s eyes open slowly, flinching at the bright light as if he has a migraine or a concussion.
“Are you sure? I could track them. They stink.” Nix rubs his nose in Leo’s hair, while wiping the blood from Jay’s forehead with the hem of hisIt’sBitch O’ClockT-shirt. “I’m not wrong thinking that, am I?”
Leo groans, turns away, and throws up. “Fuck. Can’t smell anything but that crispy chick.” He gags again, even greener than before.
“Yeah, sorry.” Nix frowns. “But it wasn’t that. It’s not like Withers. More like patchouli that’s gone rancid. Know what I mean?”
Grayson tries to remember what the woman had smelled like when he’d been close, the wind swirling around him, her throat under the tip of his staff. He hadn’t noticed, but maybe that’s Nix’s sensitive Omega nose.
“Smelled like magic to me,” Jay says. “Should we have let them leave?”
Leo curls into Jay’s chest, eyes squeezed shut. “What would we have done with them? It’s not like we have a dungeon where we can keep crazy magical henchmen.” He pauses before cracking an eyelid. “We don’t, right?”
“Too bad,” Nix snorts. “Cuz that’s going to piss Gideon off when he gets here.”
The words drop like a bomb, and Grayson remembers what Nix said on the hood of the car.Do we want to hold on to him until Gideon gets here or…?He’d assumed that Nix had meant they would be calling Gideon, not that Gideon was on his way right now.
“You didn’t—” Jay groans.
“Well, Gray has broken ribs.” Nix shrugs. “I had to tell Finnie. He was worried. And you’re hardly a criminal mastermind, Jamie.”
He runs a soft hand over Jay’s head in consolation. “But you kicked that guy’s ass like a pro! I’m impressed. Super hot, Alpha.” He looks toward the empty entrance to the lot. “They’re here.”
“Why does it feel like you’re humoring me? Did youletme beat that guy?” Jay asks incredulously.
“Well, you enjoyed it. I could tell.” Nix is grinning like he’s given Jay the best gift ever.
Finn’s Land Rover peels into the parking lot and slams to a stop in front of the Lexus. He’s kneeling beside Leo before Gideon even gets out of the car.
Finn looks harried. Hair sticking up all over, med-bag in hand. “You said it was just Gray’s ribs, Nix.”
“Sorry, I didn’t want you to crash the car.”
“What happened? Did you fall?” Finn shines a light into Leo’s eyes.
“Ow. Fuck. No, I didn’t fall,” Leo croaks. “Felt like a knife to the brain.”
“There was a magic user. She was cuckoo as cocoa puffs. When she was running away, there was a slash of green light.” Nix volunteers the information while digging around in Finn’smedical bag. He comes up with a bar of Grayson’s favorite chocolate.
“You didn’t say that you could see magic!” Jay accuses.
