Page 13 of Magic Betrayed

If they were in hiding, they would have come out by now. If they were safe, Kes would have found a way to send me a message. Even if she’d turned off the phone so our enemies couldn’t track her, she would havecalledsomeone first.

And she would never have just left without telling me.

“I will find them,” Faris promised in an iron-hard tone—the sound of unstoppable elemental rage. “And if they were taken or hurt, I will find whoever dared kidnap my people and I willendthem.”

His gaze sharpened on my face. “After I obliterate whoever did this to you.”

It was possible my attackers were the same ones who had taken Kes and the kids. But then, why had they been lurking in an empty apartment, only to run away at the first sign of my magic?

“I don’t know who attacked me,” I croaked. “They didn’t even use magic.” They’d defeated me with good old-fashioned human means, and I was honestly a little humiliated by how badly I’d been beaten.

“They still hit you pretty hard.” His jaw seemed to clench for a moment before he continued. “At least they didn’t…”

Didn’t what? Kill me? Capture me?

I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry and parched as that half a sentence took me back to the attack. It had happened so fast that I couldn’t quite be sure what their goals had been. If they’d been waiting for Kes, they might have realized I wasn’t their target and run away. But surely they would have noticed my identity after that first blow to the head. The boot to my ribs had seemed like a deliberate attempt to inflict damage.

Had they wanted to kill or capture me? Or possibly just to frighten me? I recalled the two dark figures bending closer, but then my magic had flared and they’d run. As if terrified by my power.

That suggested humans. Could it be Blake’s people, after all? Maybe they’d chosen not to use their magic artifacts to throw us off the scent. But then, why hire mercenaries if he still intended to do the work himself?

The trouble was, I couldn’t think of any other reason for humans to be breaking into my apartment. Unless it was a simple case of theft… They’d broken in, seen we had nothing, and been trapped there when I came home unexpectedly.

But that also made no sense. Out of all apartments in that building, why choose to rob one on the fourth floor? Not to mention that we probably had the least worth stealing. Also, the theory of mundane thieves did nothing to explain Kes’s disappearance. It would mean that two separate groups had decided to break into our apartment last night, which stretched the bounds of credulity even farther.

The facts simply didn’t add up, and I couldn’t think my way through the problem while I was still in this bed, in an unfamiliar room. I needed to get out of here. Get back to my place. Look for clues. Look for…

“You’re not going anywhere,” Faris ordered gruffly, eyeing me as if he could see every thought running through my head. “Yes, you have shapeshifter healing. I don’t care. Those bastards gave you a concussion last night, and you’re staying here until the medic clears you for action.”

“You’re not the boss of me,” I muttered, knowing full well both that he actuallywas, and that I was being absurd. “I need to be there in case they come home. Or call. And if they don’t come home, I need to look for clues. Figure out who took them. You… have a wedding to plan. Family in town. This isn’t your problem, it’s mine.”

One terrifying eyebrow lifted and those green eyes pinned me in place. “Nice try, Raine. But I think you know my answer.”

I did. And I was in equal measures grateful and frustrated. Because even though I knew he was right, I also could not imagine staying in this bed even one second longer.

“I’m heading back over to West Village to scan the area for anything we might have missed. If you remember anything relevant from last night, tell Callum and he’ll pass word on to me.”

I froze with my mouth still hanging open as that one word echoed around my aching head.

Callum.

So I hadn’t dreamed it. He really was here. My former boss was staying in Oklahoma City, and he’d made no attempt to contact me. Which meant he probably never wanted to see me again, and I’d ruined it by showing up on his doorstep and practically throwing myself at him.

My panic must have shown on my face, because Faris looked almost sympathetic.

Almost.

“You did say you’d have to face it eventually,” he reminded me. “You just got your chance sooner than you thought.” And then he disappeared, leaving the door open, and leaving me to an unenviable confrontation with my regrets, my embarrassment, and the dragon who’d caught me breaking and entering last night.

Oh joy.

* * *

Except the dragondidn’t appear. My heart was racing, my stomach insisted it was going to be sick, and I could barely swallow. But after four or five minutes of anxiously waiting and watching the open doorway, I felt like I’d been kicked in the ribs yet again.

Fine. I would go find him. Teeth gritted firmly against the pain, I swung my legs out of bed, set my feet carefully on the floor, and stood up. The world swooped crazily, and I caught myself on the corner of the headboard, clinging to it for a moment until the room stopped spinning.

This stupid head injury wasn’t going to win. Not today.

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