Page 88 of Contested Crown

“Stay here. I shouldn’t be long.” In the mirror, the wrong-color eyes blinked back at me.

I got out of the car, shutting the door behind me quickly before anyone could see Cade inside. Waiting for a gap in traffic, I jogged across the street, but as soon as I hit the pavement, I could tell something was wrong.

My plan had been to go around back, find a window I could break into. But on the sidewalk, I could smell the smoke and feel the heat. Approaching the front door, I put out my hand just to be sure.

There was a fire inside.

Freezing, I looked around, but no one else seemed to be paying attention. I grabbed the nearest person, and she blinked, looking up from typing into her phone.

“You need to call 911. There’s a fire in there.” I gestured at the door.

The woman frowned, taking a half step back, and I realized what it looked like. A large man, accosting her on the street for a threat that, with her human nose, she couldn’t smell.

She didn’t say anything as she walked around me but kept glancing over her shoulder at me. By the time I found someone who would call the fire department, by the time they got to the club, everything Declan wanted destroyed inside would be gone.

But I could feel the flames, smell the smoke. If I went in now, trying to find whatever evidence was left, I was much more likely to get killed than find anything.

Shaking my head, I jogged back across the street, getting into the car.

“What’s wrong?” Cade asked sharply. He was much more alert now, his eyes darting between me and the club door.

“Declan had his guys set a fire. After they destroyed whatever was inside.” That had to have been why they were in there for so long. Destroying evidence.

But evidence of what? Other than serving ridiculously overpriced drinks, this club wasn’t known for anything specific. No illegal kinks, no drugs that you could only get on premises, no fight clubs, nothing that would make it enough of a liability to burn down.

But this hadn’t been the only club Declan had burned. I looked down at my list.

Firefly Lounge and Lion.

“We have to go back to Firefly Lounge,” I said.

Cade frowned. “Why? Whatever happened there happened weeks ago. Do you really think that’s where Declan is?”

“No. He’s not there. But setting fire to things is becoming his MO when he wants to hide something.” I started the car. “I want to know what he’s hiding.”

If we had walked, it probably would’ve been only half an hour. But with city traffic and then having to find parking, it was over an hour later by the time we pulled up outside what had been a trendy bar. The neighborhood around it was glamorous, high-end shopping, boutique hair salons.

The boarded-up windows and caution tape on Firefly Lounge’s doorway looked out of place.

“Stay here,” I said.

Cade shot me a flat look. “Oh, because splitting up has gone so well for us in the past.”

Gritting my teeth, I tried not to glare when I said, “And how many places have you broken into, Prince Bartlett?”

Raising his chin, Cade brought his hands to his face, his magic flowing up his fingers, and for half a moment, tattoos covered his cheeks and forehead. Then, they seemed to sink in, and he looked like someone else.

When he turned to me, he spoke with the same chilly annoyance I was used to. “Why amIdoing the breaking? That’s whatyouare for.”

I couldn’t help the smirk that curved my lips. We got out of the car, crossing the street until we were on the same side as Firefly. Before we reached it, I tugged Cade down a side alley so we were walking behind the storefronts.

The back of Firefly looked the same as the front—boarded-up windows, caution tape. The back door was sealed with police evidence tape that had already been sliced open. I frowned at it.

If Declan had done it, he would have found a way to replace it, to wipe away any trace that he had ever been there. So who was breaking into Firefly?

I didn’t even have to kick in the door. When I raised a hand, it swung in, almost like it was waiting for me.

Cade picked up on my unease. “Are you sure?”