Ignoring the intensifying storm, Mys studied me a full twenty seconds before asking, "What's the ace up your sleeve?"

I shook my head. "You know how you say it's easier to show than tell? This is one of those moments. I was trying to explain before the Security forces dropped in on us, but perhaps it's better to reveal things when we get back to New Orleans. Did Kittie give you an ETA?"

"She left thirty minutes ago."

"Shit. We won't make it to the convenience store in time." I strained to hear a car in the distance. Nothing but silence. "No luck hitchhiking, either. How do you feel about being carried?" I raised a brow.

"You're serious?" Mys giggled.

"Yeah, I'm serious. Otherwise, what's the use of having greater than average strength?"

A shy Mitsuyo draped my back. My mind and body felt like I had been in a blender the past few hours, but the gentle touch of slender fingers clutching my shoulders and arms sliding around my neck soothed me. Their scent was intoxicating.

"How badly did she hurt you?" I murmured, nostrils stinging from the faint smell of blood.

"It's superficial. I'm okay."

I turned and kissed their lips. "I wish I could take away the pain."

"You just did." Mys stared into my eyes.

Blushing at the frank display of affection, I turned away and took off at a brisk pace. Perspiration beaded my skin, and endorphins rushed through me. My lungs expanded with air as my feet pounded the pavement. I ran as fast as I could through the night while the clouds overhead raced across the face of the moon. The dappled light plunged us in and out of shadows.

I hardly saw the otherworldly beauty of our surroundings. The only thing on my mind was Aurie. Whether I took down Darcy Cyprian, I had to tell her the truth before we were out of time. Things had gotten way out of hand. From the day I had met Aurie and Mys, I had imagined coming clean when I felt they were ready to know the most important details of her case. I hadn't factored in Cyprian ruining my career and leaving me feral.

The worst part was no one ever talked about how long it took to go completely wild. It seemed by evading the Fext soldiers I had remained a wolf longer than I should have. The tantalizing call of madness tickled the frayed edges of my consciousness.

I kept thinking of the savage ease of being the animal. How I had tricked the drones into anti-climactic crashes into trees. They were glorified toys. I had terrorized the lost soldiers, watching them bumble through the woods until their superiors airlifted them.

When the hunt was called off, I heard it on their radios and circled back to my property to ensure Yazeed was okay. After I saw them load him into the helicopter and leave, I briefly shifted to man-shape to investigate the burning cabin. I could have remained a man. Instead, I had shifted back into a wolf until I stumbled across Mys. I couldn't tell my lover how right things had felt in animal form and how wrong it now felt to be on two feet.

The high-spirited sprint to the store took an hour. I jogged onto the grass-studded, cracked and crumbling car park with Mys on my back as the cashier was locking the doors. I fell to my knees at the edge of the property, and Mys slid from my back and leaned over me.

"Are you okay?" my lover whispered empathetically.

Chest heaving, I inclined my head in the affirmative. The trip had been rigorous, but I was fine. Better than fine, even. The physical activity had pushed the most undisciplined parts of me to the background. The feral thoughts crept back into my head as I rose to my feet. I seemed to hear every prey in the night.

The cashier smoking a cigarette got my attention. "Y'all need some help?" she asked. She was turning the key in the double doors. I remembered her scent from the day Aurie and I had gotten supplies. It took a second to remember that had happened yesterday. It felt like lifetimes ago.

"No, we're, uh..." I headed toward her.

"Looking for your wife?" she supplied.

I stopped and cocked my head. "Have you...seen her?"

The woman with the missing tooth cast a worried glance over her shoulder before rushing to meet me by the pumps. "I don't want no trouble, okay? I seen the redhead girl hand her over to a man in a black car."

"Are you sure it was Aurie?" I described her, and my informant nodded emphatically. Mys migrated closer, realizing the woman had something important to say.

"Thought I was seeing things—sometimes I do, you know—but I seen the three of them get in his car and take off. Said something about gone to see a man about a dog in Ponch'toula," she stated.

"I'm Detective Zyr Ravani, ma'am. Can I get your name?"

"Kathleen," she said, sucking the cigarette fretfully and gazing around again.

"Kathleen, can you tell me what the man was like?" I implored.

She fondled a dime on a string around her neck as her gaze vacillated from me to Mys and again to me. "Something like you, Rougarou, but you don't scare me like he did."

I pulled back at the Cajun word for werewolf. "I promise you have nothing to worry about from me. Did he say where in Ponchatoula he was going?" I tried.

"His country house, that's all I know. Now, won't y'all wait over there off the store grounds. I don't rightly feel comfortable with you this close, being...you know."

I nodded, retreating with Mys. "Thank you for your time," I said in parting.

The Empath whispered, "What was that about?"

"She realized I wasn't human."

From an overgrown open field across from the store we watched the lights of the establishment flicker out one by one. The woman anxiously emptied rubbish into the garbage bin and made sure the doors were locked. Then she climbed into a dusty yellow Volkswagen and hightailed it.

"Humans are weird," Mys uttered.

"I think I know where Darcy is," I whispered. "As far as I know, he doesn't have a country house. He owns a luxury condo in the city, but his lawyers have a place just outside Ponchatoula. My money is on it."

I heard the tell-tale crunch of tires on concrete signaling Kittie Cad's imminent arrival. Her timing was impeccable. Mys beamed as the champagne Nissan skidded past the convenience store, which was harder to see with the lights out. Kittie braked, rolling down a window.

"Mitsuyo?" she squawked.

"Over here!" Mys called out as we ran to the car.

"Alright, what the hell is going on, Detective? What did you do?" Kittie hopped out and came at me with a high heel.

Rejoicing at the sight of her, I wrapped her in a hug, and the shoe dangled ineffectively. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you," I professed.

"This isn't about a broken heart?" She side-eyed me as she stepped out of my embrace.

"Cut it out, Ms. Cad," Mys called her off. "I just got him back. Don't hurt him."

"Mm-hmm. I hear you. I'm still keeping my eye on him, boo-boo."

Laughing, we climbed in the car. It felt good to laugh after the harrowing day. I instructed Kittie to take the fastest route to Bayou General. But with each mile, my anxiety escalated. When Mys bubbled with more questions, I shook my head. I couldn't say anything. I was too on edge. It was an agonizing two-hour drive that Kittie Cad managed to shave down to an hour and a half.

The Nissan swerved into the hospital car park on two wheels. The building was a square block of concrete and glass nestled in a well-lit corner of the city. A navy blue-black sky provided a stark backdrop. Kittie's car was barely in park when Mys pointed in surprise at young teenager pacing in front of the entrance to the hospital.

"Zyr, isn't that—?"

"Haley," I finished the question.

My eyebrows shot up. The seventeen-year-old had traded in psych ward scrubs for a floral smock, but she was definitely the girl from the picture I'd shown them earlier in the week. The young witch appeared to be waiting for us. I hopped from the Nissan and trotted toward her.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. Mys and Kittie Cad were on my heels. Haley yanked me toward the automatic doors of the hospital.

"We have to hurry," she urged. "By now, Mom has been notified I ditched the therapy center. We don't have much time before they come for me."

"How did you find out?" I asked, at a loss for more words.

She flashed a wry grin. "Mom tried her best to keep it from me, but I knew my dreams had to mean something. All the signs led me here...now."

Mys and Kittie Cad matched her long-legged stride wearing matching perplexed expressions. Upon our speedy approach, the elevator doors dinged open like magic. A tall, unassuming man in a grey suit beamed at us as we crowded the lift.

"Wallace?" I greeted him in surprise.

"Right on time," the Guardian Angel said in a deep bass.

"I've never seen you farther than a few feet from the hospital room. Uh, Kittie and Mys, this is Haley and Aurie's late father, Wallace Edison," I introduced.

"L-late for what?" Kittie asked.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Edison. I, erm, didn't expect someone so young to have two teenagers," Mys commented.

Wallace shrugged and smiled. "This is the ideal version of my body. Sadly, I don't remember my time on earth, but it's been exciting reacquainting with my daughters, even if the circumstances haven't been ideal."

Haley grinned at her father before turning to me and explaining, "I managed to draw the storm inland to give you cover."

"That storm is your doing? I'm...deeply impressed and scared of you," I said in awe.

"Please, the storm was easy. A simple chat with the ancestors already whirling off the Savannah. I can see pieces of the future and work basic spells, but what we're about to do is the real tough stuff. Facts."

The elevator doors opened on our floor, and the five of us filed from the carriage. Under the fluorescent lights, Aurie's sister did a double take of Mys. "Damn. Hella lucky, sis," she whispered to herself with a grunt. I smiled in agreement while the Empath blushed. "Anyway, the visions took forever to figure out, but I think I finally got it. Detective, you know what you have to do?"

"I'm pretty sure," I answered.

Mys raised a hand, vaping. "I wish I knew what was going on here," they said with a wisp of white clouds surrounding their beautiful face.

"Mages and witches aren't quite Supernaturals," I whispered, "but they have an understanding of magic that surpasses human knowledge, which gives them insight into our world. In some ways, you might say they're more powerful than even us. That makes them an asset."

"And a threat," Haley added.

Signaling for quiet, we snuck past nurses and security guards, and I opened the door on the private room where I had met with Mrs. Edison along with Tegan weeks before. I wondered how much my partner had known at that point. As we rushed inside the room and closed the door behind us, Wallace further expounded on Mys' question.

"You asked what's going on here?" the angel rumbled. "Darcy Cyprian doesn't have Aurie. I never would've let that happen...Aurie's been right here from the start."