Page 120 of Cold Curses

He leaned in. “Thank you for telling me that. And I’m sorry Ididn’t mention the magic before.” He rubbed the back of his neck, smiled. “I assumed you could feel it, but apparently you can’t.”

I shook my head.

“It’s there. Close your eyes.”

I rolled my shoulders and did so, there in the parking lot beneath the single overhead light, and I heard the hum of moths attracted to its brilliance.

I let my senses expand from my body outward, and when my mind was open and aware, I turned back toward Connor. His magic felt bright, warm, peppery with earthy power. And beside it, in cool contrast, was my own, pale and iridescent. Monster was like a knot in the grain of it, a thick spot in the pattern.

“Look in a little more,” he said, and I felt further, past vampire and Egregore to the shimmering edge of gold that nested inside it. Not my magic, but his. The Pack’s magic mixed into my aura. It was there, even if I couldn’t sense it right now without the extra effort.

I opened my eyes, found him watching me with just a tiny mode of worry.

“I feel like I’ve had spinach in my teeth all week and no one told me.”

His expression flattened. “Pack magic is spinach?”

“In this analogy, yes.” I breathed out, tried to focus my swirling thoughts. “I already feel like I’m on the verge of losing myself, because I don’t know what I might be without monster. It’s just a lot.”

His brow furrowed. In worry, not in anger. But still…I could feel the gap between us now, like shining light through a cracked door.

“I just need time,” I said.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go home.” He unlocked the vehicle.

“I need to go to the office.”

He met my gaze over the hood. “That’s the first place Black will look. Have the Ombuds come to the town house if you want. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know where I live. And I’ll feel better if I’m with you.”

I wanted to argue, to reassert my sense of self, but he was right about all of it.

“Okay,” I said, and climbed into the vehicle. And stared at that new edge of magic all the way home.

* * *

Lulu had already set out research materials—electronic and analog—by the time we returned. And Alexei was at the espresso machine preparing an array of drinks. They knew how to support an Ombud.

Gwen and Theo were in the field. Roger and Petra were at the office, but they’d secured the building and were comfortable there. While it was possible Black would look for me there, I didn’t think he’d harm them if he found me absent. Not because he was kind, but he wouldn’t see much benefit in it.

Petra had shared her demon identification chart with Lulu, and she was digging into their adventures in Chicago, in hopes it would lead us to Black’s larger plan.

I was poring over the minimal background information Petra had been able to find on Black; even with her remarkable honey-badger-level extraction skills, there wasn’t much. But I was distracted, and my brain kept returning to the extra magic I was carrying. I hadn’t asked for either monster’s or the Pack’s, and I was feeling very conflicted about both.

Focus,I told myself, and turned back to my screen.

Black didn’t have any social media, an office site, or a physical office location. There was no biographical information about him online other than a form he had completed to register a business—Black Consulting LLC. Frankly, it sounded like the kind of fake business mobsters would use to hide funds, but Black had nocriminal record. Not even a speeding ticket, which was suspicious at best. I also found no reviews of his business from satisfied or furious customers, nothing about his family or life before Chicago. Jonathan Black was a ghost. And I concluded he’d wiped his online history.

I needed to think big picture. He had destroyed a cornerstone and allowed demons into Chicago because he thought the city needed a change. But he was a sorcerer, or at least he had sorcerer genetics in addition to elf genetics.

He was one hundred percent supernatural. So why hadn’t we seen it before now?

“Is his magic broken?” I asked aloud to no one in particular.

Lulu, gummy worm hanging from her mouth, looked at me. “Who?”

“Black.”

“Oh. I don’t know.” She bit the worm in half, chewed. “I haven’t been around him much.”