Page 32 of Gray Dawn

He.

Does.

“We found her, sir.” A man with a deep voice booms. “She’s moving her operation to Oak Lawn.”

“Are you certain?”

Master does not believe him. The golem can tell.

“We have witches spread throughout the city,” the man assures Master. “They’re using the samples you gave me to fuel the tracking spell.”

“All right.” Master sounds pleased with this turn of events. “I’ll be there soon.”

He snaps his fingers, and the golem ends the call.

“She thinks she’s hunting me.” He smiles to himself. “She doesn’t realize I’m hunting her.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Your aura is dimmer than before,” he says, his eyes cunning in the rearview mirror.

“I will recharge when we arrive at our destination.”

“Hmm.” Master continues to stare at him. “Curious.”

The golem doesn’t ask.

Master will tell him. What he needs to know.

But the master doesn’t. Need to know. About the moth.

Or how the golem…

…let her go.

CHAPTER TWELVE

We beat the director to Dallas. Dad confirmed it after we regrouped at a hotel to eat and rest. And wait.

I didn’t want to do any of those things, but my body had other ideas. I was punier without magic giving a boost to every aspect of my life. I hadn’t realized how much ambient magic I channeled until I had none.

Fergal, who was eager to stretch his legs after spending so much time cooped up in the SUV to hide from the sun, handled the meeting with the local police chief, an eagle shifter who wished to discuss strategy for eradicating the threat Luca posed to his city.

Arden, to no one’s surprise, tagged along after him. I was starting to think of her as his shadow.

That meant I got to sleep four hours, the maximum I allowed myself, and eat greasy fries and burgers.

The food scene in Dallas was incredible, but I still didn’t feel right enjoying it without Clay, so I stuck to fast food restaurants with three star Yelp ratings as penance.

As I exited the shower, tugging on clothes as I went, Asa updated me. “Moran texted.”

For that to happen, she had returned to the farm to use her phone, working against the time difference.

I hadn’t heard from Carver since I sent him to Hael, and I didn’t expect contact until after he returned unless it all went spectacularly wrong. Which, given Moran had crossed realms for reception, might have rendered that point moot. “How bad is it?”

“The skirmishes have escalated, and not by our choice.” His lips drew into a flat line. “It seems our strategic strikes have emboldened the people to join in.”

“We knew it was a risk.” I bit my tongue when my response came out sounding dismissive in the face of what he had risked for me. Namely the lives of his centuria. “What can we do? How do we help?”

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