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HANK

Standing in front of the seemingly random house in the generic, nondescript neighborhood, the air still tinged with the power from the mother of the king, even though she walked away long ago. It lingered in the atmosphere like the pulsing energy after a lightning strike, and it was the reason my knees trembled and my head felt light.

But as I turn in the direction the orange cat had disappeared in and shake away the power of the old witch’s magic, I let the reality of what happened sink in. Callie had shifted into a cat. She is a shifter, and none of us had sensed it all along, and now the mother of the king is charging us to find and protect her.

Lucky for us, that’s exactly what I want to do.

"Where the hell did Callie go?"

The dowager queen had ridden with us to the neighborhood, and I'd spoken to her at the fire, but watching Callie shift into a cat had been a fucking trip, and it had messed with my mind.

The old woman had been the d owager queen. Big-time power. Right beside me. And she’d been at the fire. In the heat of the moment, I’d accepted who and what she was without question, but now that she’s gone, the enormity of her position has put me on edge. "I'm freaking out, guys. How did Callie turn into a cat if she’s not a shifter?"

Will hasn't said a word since Her Royal Highness walked away, just stared in silence at Callie's clothes on the floor of the garage with his jaw hanging open. After Callie had disappeared and Her Majesty had commanded us to find her, he’d collapsed to his knees at the Dowager Queen's feet and stayed there in shock.

James repeats himself. "I'm sure she's not a shifter. I'm sure."

“And yet we just saw her shift,” Will says.

James shakes his head. “There’s got to be another answer.”

"It doesn’t matter,” I murmur. "We gotta find her. Pronto."

"Where?" Will finally shakes off his stupor and drags himself to his feet, then picks up her clothes. "Her clothes were in the cell. I woke up, and she was gone, but her clothes were there."

He sniffs and buries his face in the material. "It doesn't smell like her. Where'd she get this?"

"Maybe someone did something to her in the castle," James suggests, his British accent thickening with his fear.

That could explain it. Some of my fear abates with this logical explanation.

I nod. "Most likely. Those people are vile. The king is a sociopath, at the least."

Cat or human, at least right now, she’s alive. We just have to find her.

"If you were a woman, scared, suddenly a cat, where would you run?" James asks.

"Home," I say flatly.

In her animal form, that would be her instinctual destination. At home, she could shift back—assuming she was able to—and dress, maybe find a weapon. She might need to grab personal items.

Is that what a frightened human would do? I bite my lip. Hopefully, she wouldn’t call the cops. Most of the department was in the king’s pocket. She’d be in danger the instant she dialed the number.

“Then that’s where we need to go,” Will says, heading for our rig.

We follow him slowly, and I know their thoughts must be turning the same way mine are as we try to make sense of what has just happened.

"Isn’t anybody going to mention the fact that it was the same cat we've had in the firehouse?" James asks.

I freeze. It had been the same cat with orange fur at the station! A tabby. "That's why Callie woke up in my bed."

If I could find a chair, I would sink into it. My knees are ready to collapse under me anyway. Shit. I reach out and steady myself on the side of our car. Had it really been her all along?

Suddenly, we hear a banging sound from the garage, and reality sets in. We’re fucking morons standing around the front yard of our enemies. If we don’t start moving faster, we might be the ones in trouble.

"We have to get out of here," James says, speaking my thoughts aloud. "I think they're coming."

"Oh, we left them plenty to be pissed about," Will says, sounding a little too proud of himself. "You're right. We gotta go."

We run for the truck, with James jumping into the driver's seat. We don't bother to buckle seat belts or bother with headphones but grab a handhold as James floors it, turning around in the cul-de-sac as fast as the bulky vehicle can handle it. As we pass by the house again, three men run out of the portal and point at the truck.

"We're in trouble!" I yell over the massive noise from the engine.

A lot of trouble.

The men don't chase after us, but they don't have to. They know who we are, where we live, and how to hurt us. We can't go back to the firehouse. Not for long, anyway. Maybe long enough to pop in and then out again.

"We gotta go somewhere safe and regroup," I yell.

"Yeah, but we can't do that in a firetruck," James responds. "Where should I go?"

"Do they know where Callie lives?" Will asked. "We could drop off the truck and sneak over there. See if she comes home."

It's not the best idea. We have no idea who she talked to at the castle or what she told them. "I think we should keep moving, keep trying to find her."

"Is she going to be like a real cat?" Will turns around in the front seat to face me. "Could we open a can of tuna and see if she comes running?"

That’s stupid… or brilliant, but I’m not sure which.

I shrug. "We don't know if she's a shifter or if it's a curse. Or she could have a shared body thing going on. I've heard of that, too."

“So,” Will draws out the word. “Tuna? Yay? Nay?”

I roll my eyes. “Let’s just focus on getting home for now.”

It doesn’t take James long to pull in at the firehouse. We jump down, looking all around as Sugar runs out of the building.

"What happened?" She asks, her gaze moving between us as she wrings her hands in a nervous way.

"Long story," James said. "We gotta find that cat."

"What cat?" Sugar's face scrunches up, totally bewildered.

"The one that's been hanging around here all the time," I reply for James. Then, hesitating only a second before deciding the hell with it, I tell her the truth. "It's Callie."

Sugar puts her hand on her hip. "You boys need to give me more of an explanation than that."

“Fine,” Will says, “but we’ll have to talk and walk at the same time. We’re in a bit of trouble.”

“What else is new?” Sugar mumbles under her breath but follows after us anyway.

I hurry into the building, speaking to her over my shoulder. "Callie is the cat that's been sneaking in here. We don't know any more details other than we saw her shift into the cat before she ran away."

James nods as he catches up to us after shutting down the rig. "And we have to find her."

"Well, why are you here? Why aren't you looking around the area where you saw her shift?" Sugar's facial expression makes me think she wants to slap me silly.

"Because she shifted at the entrance to the magical realm. Then she ran away like a bat out of hell," Will says. "More literally, like a cat out of hell. She could be anywhere."

Sugar rolls her eyes. "If only you were powerful beings capable of using magic to find her."

We stop mid-stride in the act of hurrying toward our rooms. I, for one, want to quickly throw on some clean clothes and go look at Callie's house before getting into complicated magic.

"A spell," James says, shaking his head. "I've been trying to pass for a human for so long I’ve forgotten the basics."

“What do you need to be able to do that?” Will asks with a frown.

James’s brows draw together. “It’s a basic tracking spell, so you guys get me something of hers. Clothes, hair, anything. I’ll take care of the rest.”

"Maybe she left some fur on one of our beds," I say as I take off for my room to comb the bed for a stray cat hair.

"I've been thinking," Will says in a casual tone, following me into my room. He turns on the overhead light as I throw back the blankets. "I don't think you and James are in any danger. All you did was drive me away from the neighborhood."

Looking away from the sheet, I nod. "Maybe. But they're not going to be happy with us, for sure."

"Not being happy with you and actively trying to punish you are two different things."

“Does it matter?” I ask.

Will has a strange look on his face when I turn away to continue searching my bed. “I was just thinking that, well, we don’t all need to?—”

"Why are these sheets so pristine?" I interrupt. "A cat slept on them; there's bound to be a hair left behind."

Sugar pops her head in the room. "I'd check the dryer if I were you. The filter. I changed all the sheets today while I waited on you to come back."

My jaw drops. "Why?" I ask.

"I was nervous," she says defensively. "I clean when I'm nervous. It keeps me from eating instead."

Climbing off the bed, I head for the laundry room, but the dryer-lint trap is clean, too. I look at Sugar with my eyebrows raised.

"Oh yeah," she whispers. "I forgot I cleaned it out.”

Will shakes his head at her.

I turn to the small trash can beside the industrial washing machine. A clump of dryer lint rests on top. And on top of the dryer lint was a perfect orange cat hair.

"Bingo!" I shout.

"Come in here." James's voice carries to me from the kitchen. "I found a map of the town."

When I enter the kitchen, I see James has spread a map out on the table. Even the weakest wizard can create a tracking spell, but it’s been so long since I’ve done one that I’m glad James is taking the lead.

The firehouse has technology to get the trucks from house to house, but in the event of a disaster, we have to have physical maps in case the GPS doesn't work.

I sit the hair in the middle of the map and stand, focusing on the little stripe of orange. Magic is strongly about intent. I focus on the little hair, willing it to tell us where Callie is. I’m sure James is doing the same beside me because the hair soon jerks across the map, landing on the beach and then whips back to town. Then, back to the beach in rapid succession.

"Geez," Will whispers when it whips around to land on the firehouse. I focus harder, and the hair moves faster, round and round the map.

"Somebody's breathing on it," Sugar says suspiciously, staring us down.

"We’re not," I say as I try to focus harder. "It's going nuts." With a huff, I stop the spell, and the hair flutters to the center of the map again. I look at Will and Sugar. "Apparently, she can't be tracked with magic. Whatever spell they put on her at the castle to make her shift is strong because this tracking block is seriously powerful. I don’t know if any one witch or wizard is capable of doing one.” As an elemental, I’m pretty sure that Will knows about tracking blocks, but Sugar’s a shifter. She won’t know much about spells.

James sighs. "Anybody know a good hound dog?"

We all chuckle, but Sugar moans. "If I could shift, I'd be able to find her in a hot minute, but in this form, my nose is just like a human's."

I raise my eyebrows at her. "Really? Dragons can track?"

"Oh, yes," she says, grinning. "Better than anything or anyone else." We walk toward the front doors. "All the old myths about treasure are true. Give me one whiff of a man or beast that’s stolen from me? Shoot. I'll have my stuff back in a hot minute."

“How about shifting for us?” Will asks, giving her his most pleading eyes.

She raises a brow. “Yeah, because no one would notice a giant dragon flying around.”

He sighs. “Then you got my hopes up for nothing.”

She smiles ruefully. “I honestly wish I could, more than you know. But I guess you boys will have to do this the old-fashioned way.”

"Okay," James says in his leadership voice. "I'm going to go look in town. Hank, stay here. I doubt they saw you in the truck since you were in back. You should have the least amount of anger funneling toward you. Keep an eye on Callie's place. Maybe she'll come home. Will, hit the beach. This time of year, it's more likely to be empty. Fewer eyes if you do have to defend yourself."

We nod, looking out at the sky. "It'll be dark soon," I whisper. "I hope she's okay."

Sugar puts her hand on my arm and her arm around James. "Everyone keep your cell on you and check it often. I'll go with James. I hate that damn sand."

James hands Will a small bag. I already know it’s got a first aid kit and probably a bit of food to eat. Standard when looking for a missing person. Will peers up and down the street, and when he sees nobody, he darts across to cut through the neighborhood toward the water. James and Sugar take off at a brisk walk up the road.

Instead of standing around and watching them go, I head over to Callie's house. It's probably locked, but I can get past that easily enough. Whatever kind of shifter she is, there is zero smell of magic in her home, so the lock isn't sealed with a spell.

I funnel a small bit of magic toward the lock, and it pops open. Like taking candy from a baby.

The home feels strangely lonely without Callie's bright eyes in it. I carefully check each room, closing doors to the ones I'm confident she's not in—as a cat or a human. When I check the whole house, I snag a piece of paper from the desk in her room.

Callie,

Please let us help you. If you see this, call me. You've got my number.

-Hank

After one last walk-around, I head back to the station. It's going to be a long afternoon of running back and forth. I wish we could've made Will stay at the station. I could’ve gone to check the beach instead, but with his frame of mind, if they did follow us to the station, he’d probably burn it down just for a chance at them. James had the right idea, sending Will out to an open area.

Even if he could still run into danger from the witches out there.

After a run-through of the station, I sit down on the front porch and wait. My head swinging back and forth constantly, looking for any sign of movement.

Where the hell are you, Callie?