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Wasted.

Pointless.

Shay flicked off the kitchen light, plunging the house into shadow, and grabbed Roman’s phone off the island on her way over. “Someone keeps messaging you.”

“Who is it?”

She checked the screen. “Willow Adams?”

Shit—Willow. Roman was ashamed to admit he had totally forgotten about her during all this insanity. And now he felt sick with guilt. Time had flown by, his search for Pax and his worry for Travis occupying so much thought space that he hadn’t had a second to think of much else. Meanwhile his Third was still somewhere in the city.

He had to warn her. Tell her to get out.

Roman straightened. “What did she say?”

Shay was frowning at the phone. “She said…” Her baffled eyes flicked up to meet Roman’s. “She’s in your house.”

Roman blinked. “What?”

Shay shrugged. “That’s what she said.”

“Let me see.” He beckoned.

She came over and showed him the message.

“Maybe these were sent earlier,” Roman mused, taking the phone from her. “And I’m just getting them now,” he added. With the cell towers being down for so many hours, it wasn’t impossible.

“The time stamp was two minutes ago,” Shay pointed out as Roman read the messages for a second, third, fourth time.

Willow

I’m at your house.

Meet me here?

His brows pulled together. “What the fuck?”

He blinked the Sight into place and scanned the top and bottom floors.

There was no one here but them.

The sound he heard next was almost imperceptible—a deep, familiar growl of an engine approaching the neighborhood. It could have belonged to any car, but he’d heard this one enough times that he had a full-body reaction to the sound. Muscles locking, chest tightening, heart racing.

He paled, the puzzle pieces sliding into place with a sickeningclick. “Oh gods.”

43

West Financial District

YVESWICH, STATE OF KER

Max trackedMaya to a construction site in the Financial District.

When he’d pulled over for all of five minutes to pinpoint her location, Dallas had raised valid concerns that Maya’s aura could be masked by a substance or a talisman. It wasn’t, though, which was why he’d made the decision to go after her in the first place. Had her aura been veiled, he would’ve had zero chance of success. But he’d already read her yesterday, while they were walking the streets. Before she’d up and disappeared without even saying goodbye.

Not only was her aura visible, but it had changed during the years they were apart. She was still Maya ‘MJ’ Reacher, sure, but…different, somehow. He didn’t know how to explain it. It was like there were new threads woven into her very being, whole new layers and facets, which would have made it impossible for him to track her without first seeing and reading thenewMaya.

All that genetic modification had really done a number on her.