He wasn’t bad looking, actually. In fact, he was very good looking. Tall and strong, with dark auburn hair and tanned skin. His arms were big enough that he looked like he doubled as a bouncer.
One dark red eyebrow rose on his forehead, and I realized I’d been staring.
Shit.
His green eyes studied my face as he approached. “Got a new friend, Mac?” His voice had a pleasantly deep timbre.
“Yep!” Mac grinned widely and gestured between us. “Carrow, this is Quinn. He’s a panther shifter. Big one, too. Quinn, Carrow.”
“Hey.” Quinn’s lips tugged up at the corner in a sexy smile. “You’re something special, aren’t you?”
What a flirt. I couldn’t acknowledge the special comment, so I just said, “Hi.”
“Afternoon shift is best, you know,” he said. “Come back when I’m on. I’ll make you the best drink you’ve ever had.”
Mac slapped him on the arm playfully. “You flirt. Lay off.”
He grinned at her, shooting me another look. “Can’t help it. Never met a girl I didn’t like.”
“That’s true.” Mac rolled her eyes at him, and then looked at me. “Come on, Carrow. We’re going to blow this joint and leave this loser to hit on whoever comes in next. With any luck, it will be old Mrs. Wunklebotten.”
Quinn laughed, a rich, good-natured sound. “Don’t have too much fun without me.”
Mac came around the bar and grabbed my arm, pulling me behind her. For the briefest moment, I felt a warm feeling, like being in a fluffy cloud of friendship. Like this was a place and a group of people where I could belong. Where I might not be alone and looked at as the weirdo.
I shook my head, trying to drive the thought off. I wasn’t that lame. Seriously.
Mac hurried through the bar, headed toward the back corner. Quinn had come from this direction, but it looked like it just led to the toilets.
“Where are we going?”
She looked back at me with a grin. “Guild City, of course.”
“Is it in the toilets?”
Mac laughed. “Almost.”
She tugged me into a dark hallway. One side was lined with shelves of liquor bottles, but the rest was empty. It was dark and quiet back there.
A frisson of nerves skated across my skin. I trusted her. I did. I could feel it.
But still…a lifetime of wariness left its mark.
In my pocket, my mobile vibrated. Dread unfurled in my stomach as I pulled it out and looked at the screen. A text from Corrigan.
Turn yourself in, Carrow Burton. If the city finds you through a manhunt, the judge will be less lenient.
I swallowed hard, ice chilling my skin. The city was gearing up for a manhunt.
“You okay?” Mac asked.
I jerked my head up, startled. “Yeah, yeah.” I shoved the mobile into my pocket. “Just nervous.”
“Don’t worry, it’s cool. You’ll see.”
She could sense my unease. Because she was a…seer?
Did I even believe this?
“Okay, we’re going to see if you can get in on your own,” Mac said. “I feel your magic, so it should be possible.”
“What do you mean?”
“Press your hands against the wall.” She grabbed both my hands and moved them into place. “The ether will pull you in, but you’ll be okay.”
“What’s the ether?”
“It’s the stuff that’s between everything. Like air, but magic. You can’t see it, but you can feel it.”
The plaster was cool under my palms, and then there was a fizzing feeling.
My hands sunk into the wall before my eyes. Shock made my stomach drop, but then the air pulled at me. It sucked me into the darkness, and then I was spinning. Spinning and spinning in the middle of nowhere. I wanted to scream, to run.
But I was trapped.
In the flash of a second, I felt my feet hit solid ground, and I stopped spinning.
Holy crap, the ether was strong.
I blinked into the daylight, shocked by my change of location. I stood in front of a massive wooden gate. A huge stone building was built over it, the glass windows winking in the pale sunlight. Two conical towers extended up from the building, flanked by stone walls on either side.
A freaking castle?
I spun to look behind and saw nothing but thick mist.
What the hell?
Mac appeared next to me half a second later, a big grin on her face. “Looks like you're as magical as I thought.”
“What?” I gasped, my mind still doing an insane tornado thing inside my head.
She gestured to the wall in front of me. “You crossed over into Guild City on your own. Only people with magic can do that.”
“We’re…where?”
“We’re in another realm, but we’re still on earth. Magic created this place hundreds of years ago within the city of London, a place for supernaturals to live where humans wouldn’t find them, and voila!” She gestured to the city wall. “Some say that the Devil of Darkvale himself created it, but I don’t know if that’s true.”
“The suspect?”
She nodded. “One and the same.”
I tilted my head back to inspect the enormous gate. This was not happening.
But it was.
And I needed to get my head together and not lose it.
Mac grabbed my arm and tugged me toward the gate. “The Haunted Hound is one of the multiple entrance points to Guild City. Once you go through the pub, you arrive at one of two gates that lead into the city itself.”
She pulled me to the left, moving away from the huge gate toward a smaller door that was more suited to a human than a lorry.
“There are guards in the tower,” she said, “but they don’t check everyone who enters. Your magic alone should be enough to gain you entrance, though the guards will know when it happens.”
“They keep track?” My head was spinning.
“Yeah. And if the city is ever attacked, they’ll defend. Along with the guilds.”
“Attacked? Guilds?”
“Guild City is based on the medieval walled cities in Romania.” Her green eyes met mine, excitement flashing within. “Some say that the Devil of Darkvale is Vlad the Impaler himself. That he moved here hundreds of years ago when he could no longer stay in Romania, and he designed a city like the one he left behind.”
“So he’s…immortal?”
Mac shrugged. “That’s what they say. Now touch the door.”
Warily, I raised my hand. Part of me screamed to run. But a way bigger part of me wanted to shove that door open and race inside. My life on the outside was…nothing.
This, though? This had potential.
I pressed my hand to the door, gasping when the magic sparkled against my palm.
“It’s working.” Mac clapped her hands.
The door opened, and I grinned back at her.
“Go in.” A huge smile stretched across her face.
I pushed open the door to reveal a long, dark corridor. The top was arched, and on the other side, cool gray light shone on old buildings. Wary but excited, I stepped into the tunnel, Mac close behind.
Again, the briefest bit of wariness prickled my skin. I’d spent too much of my life afraid and at the bottom of the heap—first with my “family,” and then at police training and in the real world—to not be afraid.