Priceless (26 page)

If unicorns could smile, this one did.
I have said too much already.

At some unspoken signal, the Crush of Unicorns spun in unison swirling around us, close enough to smell the lavender and whisper of jasmine
clinging
to their hides. Their split hooves pounded out a rhythm around us
, rattling my bones until my heart beat in time with theirs.

Just like that, they were gone. There was no malice in them, not even toward us
,
who
’
d brought their
age-
old neme
sis right into their territory.

The dust swirled and settled, the sun beat down
,
and it was like nothing had happened.
Minutes passed
;
the silence thick
and
heavy. It was O
’
Shea who finally broke the spell the Crush cast.

He
stepped in front of me
.
“
Question her. She
’
s our only chance for info on the
Coven
.
”

Though I didn
’
t need him to tell me what I already knew, he was right.
Turning, I headed over to the Harpy the unicorns had pinioned. She was barely breathing, blood pouring from multiple punctures.

“
Well played, Tracker
, well played
,
”
she
coughed out, her mouth twitching.

“
Why are you working for a rogue
Coven
?
”
The
sound of my voice seemed so
harsh and unreal after hearing the Stallion
’
s voice inside my head, feeling his emotions in my heart.

The Harpy shuddered.
“
They are powerful
;
they spelled us so w
e had no choice. Please, free my sister
.
S
he is young yet, a child in our years.
”

Ah, fuck.

I crouched down to her.
“
You know I can
’
t. I
’
m seeking another child, one the
Coven
stole.
”

“
You swore an oath once, Tracker. To seek out and save any child you could, for anyone who would ask for your help. Do you renounce this oath now?
”
Her eyes, though dulling as death stalked her body, filled with sharp intelligence.

There was no way around it.
“
No, I do
not
renounce my oath.
”

She twitched again, her eyes shifting to stare behind me. Alex crept forward, sniffing the blood, his lip curling
at the bitter scent
.

He got too close. She lashed out, pinning Alex to the ground with a claw, her eyes fierce.
“
Give me your word, Tracker. Free her from them, when you free the human child.
”
Her claws dug into Alex and he cried out, struggling against the impossibly strong claws.
Her meaning was crystal clear.

Double fuck.

“
I will free her, one way or another
,
”
I said.

Her eyes narrowed, understanding
exactly what I
said
, but more importantly, what I
had
n
’
t.
I would set her sister free
,
or I would kill her.
Either way, the
Coven
would no longer control the young Harpy.

She withdrew her claws from Alex
,
who scrambled backwards until he pressed up against O
’
Shea.
“
That will do
.
”
She coughed and shifted her weight. I couldn
’
t stop the involuntary tensing of my muscles. Even this close to death, she was a deadly adversary
, one that could kill me with barely a flick of one claw
.

“
Do you know why the
Coven
is stealing children?
”
After seeing the mineshaft I had no doubt the kidnapping
s had been going on for a while, which meant there was more than one kid down there.

The Harpy took a deep rattling breath, the scent of coppery blood on her words as she exhaled.
“
The
Coven
tagged us, with this.
”
She lifted a claw and I
saw
a ruby embedded in the top of her foot.

I bent over and put the edge of a knife to it, popping it free,
and
slid it into my pocket
.

The Harpy blinked twice, eyes
un-focusing
in between each movement.
“
That is what you must remove from
my sister
if you are to free her.
My sister
’
s
true
name
, call her by it and she will know you mean her no harm.
E
ve
, her name is Eve
.
“
Her chest stilled
,
and the last of her life escaped from her as she breathed her sister
’
s name. Damn it.

Standing up
,
I brushed the dirt off my jeans.
“
Let
’
s go.
”

O
’
Shea an
d
Alex climbed into the Jeep in silence, but it didn
’
t last for long.

“
I think we should pull up
the files on the other three kids that are missing
,
”
O
’
Shea said, his voice steady
,
considering the last half an hour.

I put the Jeep in gear and headed out, taking a long loop back
to the highway.
“
At this point it doesn
’
t matter. We
’
ll find the other kids when we find India
.
”
I tapped the steering wheel with my left hand.
“
They
’
re looking for something, children with certain abilities. Don
’
t you ever wonder about those cases where kids just up and vanish? They
’
re stolen by people like the
Coven
.
But
we
’
re running out of time
if we are going to get any of them back
.
”

“
Stolen
,
”
Alex grumbled from the back.

I glanced back at him to see his lip curling up,
and
looked back to where I was going. The light start
ed
to fade, our day almost done
.
W
e would need the cover of night to break into the
Coven
’
s stronghold and get India out. And maybe a pile of other kids.

“
I wish Milly was with us
,
”
I said softly.

“
Why
isn
’
t she
here?
”
O
’
Shea asked.

“
Sorry, I
’
m not used to anyone
but her
riding along with me
.
”
I
turned back onto the highway and headed into Bismark. Giselle
’
s place was loaded with gear, ready as my backup stash.

“
You didn
’
t answer the question.
”

My shoulders tightened, and I had to resist the urge to push O
’
Shea out of the Jeep at high speed. Taking one long, slow breath, I answered him, albeit through gritted teeth.

“
Milly
’
s a Witch, a damn good one
, but she
’
s finally been accepted into the
Coven
, which means she can
’
t have contact with anyone outside of the group
.
In the past, s
he
’
s gone with me, always been my partner on the
hard salvages. The ones I couldn
’
t do on my own
.
”

Silence reigned for all of three seconds.
“
You
’
ve got me, you don
’
t need Milly.
”

I wanted to bash my head into the steering wheel; it would be less painful than trying to explain a lifetime of knowledge to one oblivious agent who thought he understood. I settled for shouting at said former FBI agent.
“
YOU AREN
’
T A WITCH.
”

“
So?
”

Unbelievable. The arrogance of some people truly astounded me. Again, I struggled for control; a slight glance at O
’
Shea stiffened my spine. He enjoy
ed
this back and forth. A smile curv
ed
up the edge of his lips and his eyes definitely spark
ed
with humour. The bastard.

Slamming my mouth shut on the response I
’
d been prepared to assault him with, like how stupid could he possibly be and what was he thinking taking on supernaturals as a human, I swallowed the words down instead.

“
You going to go all Ice Queen on me now?
”

Alex barked from the back.
“
Icy
Queenie!
”

Good grief. Alex
’
s excitement and apparent happiness was infectious
,
and it took all I had not to laugh out loud.

Biting down on the laughter that bubbled up, I stared at the road, focusing on the need to get to Giselle
’
s and get loaded up. My humour faded. This was going to be a bad hunt
;
really, really bad. Nothing had gone right so far, and my gut feeling was that
it
wasn
’
t going to change.

The sky
was dark when
we pulled into Giselle
’
s yard
, and I wasn
’
t expecting company
,
which was my bad. L
ights flicked on, sirens came alive
,
and we were surrounded by police officers with guns drawn and pointed at us
before the Jeep rolled to a stop
.

I glared at O
’
Shea next to me, wishing again it was Milly in the passenger seat.

I hated being right.

The processing took about three minutes tops. O
’
Shea was cuffed and flung into the back of a police cruiser
,
and I was hauled out to the back of the Jeep for questioning, my hand never leaving Alex
’
s collar. If it came off, everyone would see him for what he was
,
which would create a shit storm of problems we did
not
need.

From what pick
ed
up
in the scattered radio squawks I could hear
, there was an anonymous tip that O’Shea was with me and we were headed to Giselle’s. My gut was telling me that it was the black Coven
getting inventive with ways to slow me down. I couldn’t prove my theory, but it was the only thing that made sense.

Alex pressed hard against my leg, his teeth chattering, but he had enough
understanding of the situation
not to say anything. I tried my best to focus on what the officer in front of me
said
.