Relief fluttered through me on butterfly wings. “Thank—”
“I can’t allow this investigation to continue without pack oversight.”
“—you,” I finished dumbly.
“Ford.” He gestured for him to join us. “You’re with Ms. Whitaker.”
Surprise flickered in Ford’s eyes, but he smothered it quickly. “Happy to oblige.”
Bishop, who filled the roll of aide to me when I wasn’t doing the same for Linus, goggled.
“Looks like it’s you and me against the world, darlin’.” Ford grinned at me. “Let’s give it a swift kick in its axis.”
A soft laugh escaped me, totally inappropriate given the location, and I caught Midas staring at me, watching my mouth like he expected me to crack up again. Blanking my expression, I angled my chin higher. “Anything else?”
“Give me your number.”
The moisture evaporated from my mouth when he captured me in his gaze, but I found enough spit to lubricate my tongue. “Ask me nicely, and I might.”
“Please,” he said flatly. “Give me your number.”
Figuring that was as good as I was going to get, I rattled off my digits and waited, but Midas didn’t offer his in return.
He didn’t say goodbye, either. Just turned on his heel and left me questioning who had won our rematch. Bishop trotted after him, likely hoping to clarify our arrangements, but I was done here.
“Women.” Ford blasted out a sigh as I watched Midas go. “Y’all always want what you can’t have.”
“True.” I reeled my attention back to him. “I want to be home watching TV with a bowl of extra buttery, extra salty popcorn on my lap while I marathon the Robot Space Tentacles trilogy, but it doesn’t look like that’s happening.”
“You’re a geek.”
I swung my head toward him. “So?”
“A huge geek.” He flared his nostrils. “That’s probably what Midas smelled earlier.”
“And?” Used to being picked on, I reined in my temper. “There’s no law against being a geek.”
As a matter of fact, Atlanta hosted one of the largest science fiction and fantasy conventions in the world.
“You, being a geek, would know.”
A flicker of shadow coiled near Ford’s boots, but I stomped on it and sent it skittering.
“Fire ant,” I mumbled when his brows winged higher. “Little bastards.”
The rest of the on-site work fell to the cleaners. A neutral entity comprised of all supernatural factions in any given area, they documented each paranormal crime scene in photos and video, collected blood and tissue samples, then made it all disappear before humans caught wind of a disturbance. There wasn’t much I could do until they finished and uploaded their findings into their database, so I was done here.
“Come on, Lee.” He reached in his pocket. “Can I call you Lee?”
“Sure.” The almost familiar ring of the nickname shot a pang through me. “Where are we going?”
“Dawn will be here soon.” He squinted at the sky. “I’m driving you home.”
“Necromancers don’t have sun allergies like vampires do.”
“I know.” He jingled his keys. “Hurry and you can still catch Robot Space Tentacles Encircle the Earth.”
“Ah.” I nodded sagely. “I thought I caught a whiff, but I wasn’t sure.”
“This isn’t the start of a wet-dog joke, is it?” He pointed out a jacked-up white pickup truck, a gleaming off-roader without a speck of dirt marring its glossy wheels, one I would need a boost or a ladder to climb in. “I’ll warn you now, I’ve heard ’em all, and not a single one made me laugh.”
“No.” I made a show of sniffing him. “Geek.” I wiggled my nose. “You reek of it.”
Grinning when he hooted with laughter, I headed for his truck, shadow obediently in tow. For now.
Two
Ford drove the posted speed limit, always used his turn signals, and kept to the slow lane, proving he was every bit the gentleman behind the wheel as he was on the street. Even the classic R&B station he hummed along with registered as an indistinct murmur to my less sensitive ears.
Without prompting, he took me straight to the Faraday, and I wasn’t sure how that made me feel.
The Faraday was all glass, gloss, and glitter. It was also a human-free zone where paranormals in the city could relax, unwind, and be themselves without censure or fear of inciting a panic. Its trendy address was so exclusive, I half expected the doormen to charge admission on the rare occasions when I had no choice but to enter through the lobby.
The security staff was also one hundred percent gwyllgi, explaining how he knew my address.
“You look right put out with me, darlin’.” The smile on his lips crept into his eyes. “You’ll have to forgive me, but I asked around about you.”
Pins and needles swept through my arms, a primal warning a predator had me in its sights. “Why?”
Intrigued by my panic, a curl of darkness slithered across the seat, its jack-o’-lantern grin sinister.
“You’re easy on the eyes,” he flattered as he idled at the curb in front of my building.
Flattening my palm on top of the creeping stain, I dug in my nails until it quit spreading. “Try again.”
“And…you’re attached to the Office of the Potentate.”
Professional curiosity I could handle, as long as it didn’t go any deeper. “What did you find out?”
“That you’re Adelaide Whitaker’s little sister. That you suffered from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome all your life and became a shut-in to the point most folks thought you had died. Until Adelaide got herself engaged to Boaz Pritchard, who is family friends with Grier Woolworth, who happens to be engaged to your boss.” He slid his gaze toward me. “Most folks now believe Linus cured you using one of his experimental sigils as a favor to his fiancée. He brought you to Atlanta with him, and he’s training you in his place supports the conjecture. Some of the less charitable speculate it was a trade—your life in exchange for his.” At my startled look, he clarified, “His fiancée went and named herself the new Potentate of Savannah. He won’t want to stay here while she’s there. He might have given you a second chance at life, but he’s getting one out of the bargain too.”
The facts were close enough to the truth to make me sweat, but they fit my cover story like the lid on a pressure cooker.
All warm drawl and kind eyes, he asked, “Any reason why digging into your past would bother you?”
“It’s hard for me to talk about that period of my life with new people,” I said, and I wasn’t lying. I just wasn’t telling the truth.
“I get that.” He let himself relax. “You spent so many years isolated, it’s got to be strange moving to a big city, being all on your own. You must miss your family.”
Family was a sore topic with me, one I didn’t want anyone else poking, so I let it pass.
“Yeah.” I hit the release on my seat belt and told him another truth. “I’m a new person here, with a whole new life.”