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“Yes. And if you’re done trying to delay me, I’d like to set things up for the next few days so I can go back and see what she needs.”

Bruiser’s mouth flapped. He tried to imagine where Uriel could’ve stashed a baby while on the mission. Surely it couldn’t be too far away? Didn’t babies need milk? And diapers? This mission had taken a while...

The mage wasn’t going to yield answers if he pressed, so Bruiser trailed after him, watching as Uriel drew spells into the walls of the building. When the spells were done, the entire building shimmered. Suddenly, it looked exactly as it had earlier, before they had crashed through its walls and burned it down.

It was a stunning illusion, Bruiser knew. He had lived long enough to tell the difference between shoddy spells, good ones, and something truly extraordinary.

Considering how fast Uriel had cast this illusion, this was... remarkable.

Bruiser might have even offered a compliment if Uriel weren’t the spell caster.

He followed the mage to the main road, where Uriel ordered him off the asphalt with a quick, decisive flick of his fingers. Uriel drew a series of shimmering gold runes in the air and sent them across the road, laying them down in a straight line.

“What spell is that?” Bruiser asked.

“It’ll sense multiple lives passing over it within a few seconds. Such as a large number of people in the same vehicle. When that happens, it’ll ping me.”

Bruiser tucked his hands into his pockets, stretching out his hearing in case there were hostiles nearby. “How close do you have to be to sense it?”

Uriel lifted a shoulder. “I’ll be in a cabin nearby.”

“You have a cabin?”

Uriel shrugged again, glancing away.

“You... broke into one?!”

Walnut-brown eyes glowered at Bruiser. “I couldn’t find anyone to watch my kid for ten hours, okay? A cabin here was the best I could manage.”

“But you know a ton of omegas. Any of them could help babysit.”

Uriel didn’t answer.

That was... odd.

There was no further explanation, so Bruiser stood around, keeping a lookout while the mage worked. When Uriel had laid down a few more tripwire spells, he straightened and headed back to the empty trafficking facility, covering the front courtyard with a wide-area spell.

“What’s that for?” Bruiser asked.

“To freeze all living creatures in place once they’ve landed here for a short time. So no one can pull a gun on the prisoners.”

“Huh,” Bruiser said, impressed despite himself.

Uriel shot him a look. “You thought I couldn’t do this?”

Actually, Uriel seemed competent with everything magic-related, but Bruiser wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging it. “It’s passable.”

“Fuck off.” Uriel grabbed his broom and made his way to the back of the compound. “I’m not giving you a ride.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to.”

It was deserted out here, and growing dark rapidly. Now that the risk of being seen wasn’t as great anymore, Bruiser hurriedly kicked off his clothes, shifting into an emerald dragon at the same time Uriel took off on his broomstick.

Bruiser grabbed his clothes and leaped into the air, flying close to the treetops, but high enough to spot cabins to avoid them in advance.

After some time, Uriel landed in front of a tiny cabin. Bruiser hovered in the air. Knowing the mage, there had to be defense spells in place that Bruiser couldn’t see.

Uriel twitched his fingers. “You may land now.”