Nix’s car turned out to be a modified Hummer with fighting platforms on the front and back. No spikes on the sides, but massive tires gave the thing good clearance, and the engine was nothing to be trifled with.

I waved goodbye to Cass and pulled out of the alley, Cade at my side.

“You like your cars,” he said.

“Depends.” I turned off of Factory Row and headed out of town. “I like cars that help me fight. Beasts like this do that.”

He grinned, then looked at his phone, where he had the map. Cass had marked the house for us. “Go left up here.”

I turned at his directions, heading toward the forests that surrounded Magic’s Bend. Thirty minutes later, we neared our target. The woods had thickened, and the street had narrowed.

“You can tell they’re up to no good just by their location,” I muttered. We were well away from any of the perks of town. There weren’t even any other houses out here.

“Turn here.” Cade pointed to an even narrower road that cut through giant, twisted trees.

I turned onto the gravel lane, the car easily tackling the gravel road. “It’s like we’re headed into the Big Bad Wolf’s forest.”

“Dark magic can warp a place.” Cade leaned forward, studying the terrain. “Two hundred yards ahead.”

I peered through the trees, unable to see the house. It was darker here, unnaturally so. But magic sparked on the air, growing stronger. Like most protection charms, it stung the skin. Tiny bee stings that said get the hell out of here.

I pressed my foot to the gas, speeding up. Trees closed in. Magic vibrated on the air.

Then the ground began to rumble, rough and low. Moving earth.

I kicked into action, instinct born of years fighting in the desert. “Take the wheel!”

I hopped out of the seat, launching myself onto the front platform without waiting to see if Cade followed my orders. He was a smart guy. He’d figure it out.

Just as I landed on the small metal platform, one of the trees ahead burst out of the ground.

Ha! I’d known something was about to pop out.

Death Valley threw a lot of things at us, and monsters made of the terrain were common.

The massive tree vibrated with magic as it morphed into a giant boar made of wood and bark. Pine needles for hair stuck out wildly, and the eyes were gaping black pits.

Always the gaping black pits with these monsters.

I grinned, kinda liking it. Made it easier to destroy them if I didn’t have to look into their eyes. They weren’t real, but it was easy to pretend they were.

Cade kept the car on the lane as I powered up my magic and aimed for the boar that charged us. It was bigger than the car, its wooden hooves pounding the earth and its great tusks ready to flip the vehicle onto its back.

I sucked in a deep breath, then hurled my magic at the boar. It shot out of me like a deflating balloon.

Shit!

Totally unpredictable these days.

A deep growl rumbled from the boar’s chest as the beast thundered toward us, kicking up massive clods of earth. It was only twenty yards away now.

One shot.

I tried to grab the magic tumbling around inside my chest, a wild thing that refused to cooperate. Finally, I nabbed it, imagining a giant sonic boom and heaving it toward the monster.

It cracked on the air and bowled the beast over, slamming into the surrounding trees and uprooting two of them. The boar was now twigs.

I winced.

Slight overkill.

“Faster!” I shouted to Cade as I crouched on the platform and held on to the railing. Ana would not be pleased by my lack of safety harness. I didn’t know if we could outrun any of the protection charms, but we could sure as heck try.

“Aye!” Cade shouted.

The vehicle shot forward, racing past trees. Wind tore at my hair as I scanned the forest, searching for threats. The way the magic prickled on the air, there was something waiting for us.

When the ground ahead shifted, like something slithered under the leaves, I drew my sword and shield from the ether. They were familiar and comforting in my hands, but I’d really have to watch my balance without my harness.

“Something up ahead!” I shouted. “Be wary.”

A massive black snake burst from the ground ahead of us, to the right of the road, scales gleaming black in the light. Diamond eyes flared bright in its head.

Nothing this big could be natural—not in Oregon. And not with diamond eyes. Magic, then. Not living.

Whew.

Less on my conscience this way.

I shifted, ready for it.

The creature struck, fast as lightning, coming straight for me. Fangs glinted in its mouth. I raised my shield to block and swung my sword, going for the neck.

My sword sliced through the creature’s neck, and the head flew off. Sparkling gray blood sprayed from the neck, splattering my shield and sizzling.

Whoa. Definitely not blood.

The massive body thudded to the ground.

“Left!” Cade shouted.

I spun, catching sight of a second snake coming from the other side of the vehicle. I lunged for it. Too late for the sword. I crouched low, raising my shield as it struck. The head slammed into my shield, driving me backwards. I barely maintained my footing, my arm aching from the blow.

When I lowered my shield, the snake was rallying for a second hit. One of its foot-long fangs was broken, no doubt from its collision with my shield.

The snake’s diamond gaze darted between me and Cade.

“Shield!” I shouted, just as the snake struck out at Cade.

His magic surged on the air as he conjured his shield on the arm that faced the snake. It appeared just as the beast neared him.

I lunged, slicing the snake’s neck with my blade. The silvery gray blood sprayed again, sizzling as it struck Cade’s shield and the side of the car. I ducked, barely avoiding the spray, as Cade pressed his foot to the gas and the vehicle sped forward.

“Good job,” he shouted.

“You too!” I turned for the front of the truck, searching for more protection charms.

Instead, pain flared in my chest like an explosion of acid, making me gasp and double over. I barely kept my footing on the platform. The Lithica poison was really hitting me now. I sucked in ragged breaths, trying to get it together.

“Are you all right?” Cade shouted.

“Fine.” I bit out the words, straightening as the pain faded to a dull roar. Still there, but not incapacitating. These flare-ups were getting worse and worse.

Ahead of us, there was a massive mansion, sitting on the cliff. It gleamed with metal and glass, a modern construction that looked like a rectangular spaceship. If that kind of thing even existed.

Two men stood on the porch, magic glowing around them like a threat.

“Looks like we lost the element of surprise!” I shouted. “Let’s ditch the car!”

I really didn’t want to hurt it more than we already had. I’d definitely be repairing those burns in the paint from the snake’s weird blood—I didn’t want to actually total the whole car.

Cade slowed the vehicle about twenty yards from the house. Before he could stop, I leapt off the platform, running full out for the mages, shield and sword raised.

One looked just like the dead mage who’d nailed me with the poison—his twin brother. Unlike the mage who had hit me with the potion bomb and had worn a hideous blue leather jacket, this one wore a sleek three-piece suit. The other was a hulking blond man wearing a horrible gold track suit.

“Where is Ricketts?” I demanded as I neared. Maybe we’d get lucky and they’d tell us.

“Hell if we’re telling you.” The mage’s brother flung out his hand. An electrical whip snapped through the air, coming right for me.

Right. So that had failed.

I raised my shield. The electric whip cracked off the metal. The shock sent vibrations up my arm, but it didn’t electrocute me. The shield was backed by rubber—I wasn’t a total newb.

But Cade needed to park the car and get here ASAP, because magic was starting to glow around Goldie. He was about to get into the action, and I didn’t want to fight off two.

“Your brother hit me with the Lithica poison,” I shouted. “That means Ricketts wants me to come to him. Where is he?”

“Like I can trust you.” He struck again, this time going low.

I barely managed to shield myself in time. The whip cracked against the metal.

The man next to him growled, his magic glowing even stronger, a bright light that flared as he grew larger. His muscles popped, and he shot up four feet in height—like some transformer doll or the Hulk.

Except that he was an unfortunate peachy color and looked like a twelve-foot-tall ‘roided up body builder. Cade’s footsteps thundered behind me as he approached. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shift into a massive wolf, then lunge for the giant.

Holy crap.

He was no ordinary Shifter. Apparently the god thing gave him some extra juice, because he was four times the size of a normal wolf.

I left him to it, raising my blade as the mage across from me powered up his magic. Fortunately, he needed a few seconds between blasts.

“Seriously, man,” I shouted. “I need to know where Ricketts is. The potion proves he wants to see me.”

“Tony didn’t mention ‘nothin about no Lithica potion.” He snapped out with his whip, which I barely avoided. “You think we’re idiots? We got protocol, lady! Ricketts keeps his location a secret. Lotta people want him dead, but none of us squeal on him. That’s the point! If you have to nail someone with the Lithica curse, only you deliver Ricketts’s location.”

Dang, he was red in the face. Pretty pissed, really.

And he was not gonna give up the location of Ricketts. I knew what commitment looked like, and this guy had it. That meant we had to search the house.

The growls and shrieks from nearby indicated that Cade was taking care of his goon, so I just had to handle mine.

I lunged for him just as he struck out with his electrical whip. I blocked it, then swung my sword. He danced back, faster than I could see.

“Super speed, too.” He grinned evilly, raising his hand again. “I am going to fuck you up. Rip out your intestines and turn them into a bow.”

Right, then. Super speed plus electrical whip equaled this was not a sword fight.

I stashed my sword in the ether, then flung out my hand, aiming a moderate sized sonic boom at him. I’d just knock him unconscious and start searching the house.

It exploded out of me like a freight train, bowling him over and destroying half of the house in a shower of glass and metal.

Shit.

I stumbled back, muscles suddenly weak. I’d blown all my magic in one go. And that dude was definitely dead.

Okay, that had been bad. I looked over in time to see Cade tear the throat out of the big man and leap off of him. Blood and gore dripped down his muzzle. He was as tall as me in this form, and a good two or three hundred pounds heavier.

I swallowed hard. “Hey, Cade.”

Please don’t eat me.

I’d used up all my magic—unintentionally—and did not want to get eaten as a result.

Silver light swirled around him, and he transformed back to human, dressed and with no blood coating his face. His gaze traveled over the half destroyed house.

“It’s hard to search a house when it’s rubble,” he said.

“I know.” But I really didn’t want to explain how I lost control. “You’re half Shifter?”

“No. Wolves were important to the Celts. Warrior dogs. It’s part of my god power. I don’t qualify as a Shifter and wouldn’t be welcome at Glencarrough.”

Glencarrough was the Alpha Council’s secretive headquarters. If they knew what an ally Cade could be, I’d bet they’d invite him in.

He looked like he was about to ask me about the catastrophe that I’d caused, so I jumped in. “Cool. Let’s go check the house.”

I hurried toward the front door. It’d once been a double door, but only one was left. The whole right side of the house was now rubble.

Please let their rooms be on the left.

I yanked open the remaining door and hurried into a massive living room that was half destroyed.

Cade followed. “We’ll talk about this later.”

Not if I can help it. “Can’t wait.”

All the couches were gone, but an urn sat on the coffee table. “There’s the mage.”

“Aye. Brother must have brought him back.”

I winced, guilt streaking through me over the death of two brothers. They’d been evil assholes out to kill me, but still…

Ignoring the urn, I hurried toward the door on the left. A quick survey showed a closet full of three-piece suits. “It’s the brother’s room.”

Cade looked up from where he’d been looking into the small garbage bin. “Trash is full of receipts from Venice. Dated last month.”

“Hmmm. That’s in Europe.” I left the room, going to the next. The closet in this one revealed a collection of giant track suits. “Strike out.”

“Let’s look anyway.”

We found more receipts from Venice from six weeks ago.

“Looks like more than a coincidence,” I said.

“Here’s hoping for three.”

We left the room and found the final bedroom on the upper floor. The closet contained colorful leather jackets. Red, orange, blue. Bingo. Thank fates I hadn’t destroyed this room. “This is his room.”

I hurried to the desk, while Cade grabbed the little garbage bin. I riffled through papers for a few moments while he searched.

“Nothing in here,” he said.

“That’s because he hasn’t thrown them out yet.” I held up a handful of receipts. “Also Venice. Dated last week.”

“Then none of them were traveling together.”

“Not a vacation. They were going to get their orders. And it seems that Ricketts runs an organized operation. They saved their receipts so they could submit them for reimbursement.”

Cade nodded. “Good work.”

“Stupid trail, though.” But I grinned, grateful for the slip up. We needed all the help we could get. “This place was protected, but not well enough.”

“Not from us.” Cade smiled warmly at me, the corners of his beautiful eyes crinkling. Wind swept his dark hair off his face and pressed his sweater to his muscular chest. Butterflies started dancing in my stomach. “We make a good team.”

Warmth glowed in my chest, joining the butterflies down below.

A connection. We definitely had one. And we’d done this together.

Oooohkay, whoa, Nelly.

Feeling warm fuzzies about a dude was the first step toward a…relationship. Yikes.

Relationships were a bad idea. They required trust. I was not good at that, and I couldn’t afford it anyway—not with the way my magic was going haywire lately.

If they knew what I really was? Ana and I would be out on our asses—no more help from the Undercover Protectorate. And I wanted to be damned sure I’d get my hands on that cure before we parted ways.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said. “I bet more than three people lived in a house this big. The others might be back soon.”

“Good plan.”

We hurried out of the house, headed back toward Nix’s car. Exhaustion pulled at me as I climbed into the passenger seat. Cade had the keys, and I was on shaky legs already. He could drive. I’d used up all my magic and hadn’t actually slept in what felt like days. We’d gone straight from Death Valley to this.

Cade turned the car on and pulled away from the house. “I have an underworld contact in Venice. If Ricketts is there, she’ll probably know about them.”

“Good. Another lead.”

“It’ll be evening in Scotland. We’ll sleep tonight and start in the morning.”

As much as I wanted to start hunting the cure immediately, I desperately needed a bit of sleep. And my magic was totally out. It’d take a while to recoup all that I’d blown. “All right.”

After a few moments, Cade broke the silence. “Did you mean to destroy the house?”

I wanted to say yes—not to admit to my wonky magic—but there was literally no way I could. No one would destroy the house they wanted to search. “Sometimes I put a little too much juice on my magic.”

“Hmmm.” His gaze turned to my face, thoughtful. “And your friend said that your magic is stronger.”

Shit. He had been listening. But I couldn’t let him realize that’s what was happening to me. That I was maybe changing from an Unknown into….what? “I wore a magic repressing charm when I saw her last.”

Please buy that.

Those things did technically exist, though I’d never gotten my hands on one.

“Really?” He sounded skeptical.

“Yep.”

“Either way, your lack of control could be a problem in Venice.”

No kidding. My magic was all about blowing stuff up, and everywhere I looked, there were either people or valuable historic buildings.

Not the place for me.

“I’ll just stick to my weapons. I can handle anything with those.”

The corner of his mouth tugged up. “I believe that. You’re damned skilled.” He drove down Factory Row and parked the truck in the alley. “I think I can probably get you a charm that will help you control your magic. It’s a temporary fix because the charm’s magic fades. You’ll have to train hard to get your magic under control, but this could help in the meantime.”

“Really?” That’d be handy.

“Aye. There’s an armory at the Protectorate. They can make one. It’ll take the night, but they’ll do it.”

“For the god of war.”

“Aye. But for any member who needs it.”

“Is that me?”

“If you complete your training.” He turned off the car and met my gaze. “Which I hope you will.”

“Caro said it can be a real bitch.”

He grinned. “Of course. That’s how you join the most elite secret organization in the world.”

“I’d expect nothing less.”