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Rasmus grunted. “You can take my share, Aran. I do not need money to survive.”

“You have money already and an account for storing it,” Mulan said, giving Rasmus a hard stare. “Set up transfer to move wealth. You can use money to help pay for new house.”

“What new house?” Rasmus asked.

I turned to look at the guardian. I wanted to say something funny about losing what he didn’t use, but this discussion was serious. Why did Rasmus need no money? How did he get by?

“The new house ya would have had a say in if ya hadn’t run off yesterday. Conn and Mulan are already negotiating the deal.”

“Oh,thatnew house,” Rasmus said, scratching his bristly jaw. “Do I have a room in this house?”

I grinned at Rasmus. “Ya already have a bed ya’re welcome to sleep in. If ya want an entire room to yerself, well, that’s going to cost ya more than a few nights of your time.”

It took Rasmus far less time to figure out what I was implying about our sleeping arrangements than whether or not I could hook up a troll with a potential mate. His pleased smile at his cleverness made me hopeful that he’d get used to my teasing.

I took the pen a grinning Conn held out to me and signed the forms. I passed the pen back to him and pointed at my signature. “I’m not promising to do this work alone with a killer coming after me. Everybody signs.”

Snickering, Conn scrawled his signature under mine. Muttering in Chinese, Mulan signed hers under Conn’s. Because there wasn’t much room left, Rasmus wrote the fake name he’d been given off the side.

We were a family, a company, and now a team. From now on, everyone would have to agree to the work we did.

In a few short months, I’d gotten out of demon hunter prison, rescued my child from her father, jointly invested in a giant house I didn’t want to buy, and taken the most powerful being I’d ever met as a lover.

Chapter Four

The four of us voted unanimously to go after the troll animal breeder whose creatures were eating domestic cats and dogs. It was cruel of him to let it happen, but it was also dangerous. Once magickly enhanced to become hunters, tiger cats could escalate to seeing small humans as prey. Human children and their pets were at risk. Someone my size might also seem a possibility.

I had my way of stopping them but Conn loved chasing them down in one of his canine forms. Rasmus seemed to be content to tag along and wait to see how he could be helpful. I figured with his wings he could swoop down on them like a giant eagle. Did his control of them return with his memories? Or had he tried them since our fight with Zara? I’d guess we find out soon enough.

The demon wolves weren’t safe staying at the rental house alone, which is why we brought them along with us. If they could use their wolf senses to sniff out the troll’s lair, it would save me from having to scry for him.

We ended up driving in two cars again. Rasmus and I rode up front in mine with the demon wolves filling the whole back seat. Each stared silently out of a window. Maybe they weren’t happy with our intention to use them like search and rescue dogs. I had learned no way to communicate with them. Conn could pick up their bigger thoughts and had to power to control their actions. How we’d shift their loyalties back to Zara was something to worry about another day.

Mulan and Conn got to the location in her two-seater car. Mulan drove, which I doubted was a problem since Conn preferred being chauffeured around like he was our king as well. The next stupidly large purchase likely was going to be a vehicle bigger than Fiona’s SUV that could hold all of us. I felt sure it would be like driving a bus and rolled my eyes at how much dread I felt contemplating the purchase.

Ben included a set of coordinates with the report. The location ended up being twenty minutes north of Salem next to some farmer’s field. We pulled both vehicles off the edge of a small country road into the grass because we had to hike to the energy source.

I used to get a sensation in my fingers and hands as I got close to a troll lair, but today I felt whole-body discomfort. The increased awareness didn’t hurt—not exactly—but it made me suspect that the reason was in having shared magick with the man already peering into the troll-sized hole we’d found.

Conn assured us he had firm control over the demon wolves, but had shifted into his regular-sized demon form to make sure we were prepared. Rather than rush in and traumatize the troll’s animal captives, Conn waited to see how I wanted to do the rescue.

The trail through the field had led to the side of a hill. The troll had moved two large rocks to make a door in front of his opening. Since he hadn’t charged out at us with his club raised, it was a safe bet the troll was away.

A lot of barks and yowling came from the interior. Mulan’s jaw tightened as did her grip on her staff.

“This is where we earn our keep,” I said to no one in particular.

This felt a lot like the training jobs I used to do to break in new trainees. The last set I’d trained had included Hart, who was now training recruits himself. Had Hart ever fully embraced being a male witch? If so, it was news not shared in his records. I’d heard nothing of what happened to Jessing, either.

Seeing Ezra again made me homesick for Ireland and the life I left behind there. Nearly two decades had passed since I last saw my fellow paranormal agents and having to leave so abruptly still stung. Lots of things can happen in a single year of a person’s life. Being gone seven felt like an entire lifetime.

Maybe one day I’d give Ben a list of names and ask him to check into what my former trainees were doing now.

My lips twitched as I watched Mulan creeping ever closer to the opening in the hill. Her head tilted from side to side as she listened to some sound escaping from the hole’s interior. I covered my mouth to stifle a laugh while fervently wishing a troll would rush out and startle her. For sure, that wish made me a terrible friend, but it wasn’t like the talented Wu Shaman didn’t have the skills to handle a troll.

I glanced over at Conn who gave me a side-eye demon glance. I bit my lip at the mirth dancing in his gaze. We were terrible people—terrible.

Swearing in Chinese, Mulan jumped back a few steps when something furry burst out of the hole running straight at her. She pressed a hand to her chest and swore again as a yellow-striped kitten braked to a halt at her feet. It inspected Mulan and batted at one of her boots with its paw before its fierce little gaze took in the rest of us.