Windburn

A chill swept through me. I had a feeling I knew what she was going to say. “Should I guess, or are you going to tell me?”

With a shrug and her tiny cat smile, she shook her head. “You know already, I see it in your eyes. The Tracker has Spirit Elemental blood running through her veins, as do they all.”

I slid to a stop at the base of the sandy valley. Once more I planted my spear haft into the sand. “My name is Larkspur, and I need you to Track my father.”

The dark-haired Tracker arched an eyebrow at me. Her eyes were tri-colored: emerald green, chocolate brown, and a deep gold that swirled within and around one another. She didn’t hold her hand out, only tipped her head ever so slightly forward as her eyes narrowed.

“My name is Elle, and you already know I’m a Tracker. But what the fuck are you?”

CHAPTER 13

Teeth and muscles clenched, I had to fight the response that rose to the tip of my tongue.

“Tell her you’re a witch. It will explain any usage of your elemental power around her,” Peta said.

Elle’s eyes never wavered from my face. I mimicked her head-tipping motion. “I’m a magic user, as you thought.”

“Weird fucking way to say witch.” Her eyes narrowed until they were mere slits.

“Not as strange as a Tracker having a Slayer’s dragon with her as protection,” I countered.

She grinned, a flash of white teeth and a smile that softened her face immensely. “Ah, Ophelia isn’t mine. She belongs to my husband, Bram.”

Bram . . . could it be? No, I must have heard wrong. “What is his name?”

The smile disappeared and her gaze darkened once more. “Bram.”

I gripped the spear until I was sure I would break it in half. “Is he here?”

Her frown deepened. “Why?”

Calm, I had to remain calm. The chances that my brother had somehow survived Cassava’s attack were slim, and the rational part of my mind knew that. But my heart . . . ahhh how my heart hoped it was possible. “I knew someone by that name. It is an uncommon one. I wonder if he is the same Bram.”

“A lover?” Her eyebrows went up at the same time. She tried too hard to look like it wouldn’t bother her if that were the case. I shook my head and laughed quietly.

“No. Someone I knew a long time ago.”

“Couldn’t have been that fucking long, you aren’t much older than me.” She turned as she spoke. It was only then I realized I’d lost Cactus somewhere along the way.

I turned to see both Ophelia the dragon and The Bastard staring toward the water’s edge, away from Elle and me. Shit on green sticks . . . I had a bad feeling about what exactly they were staring at. A shout floated down to us. I looked at Elle, our eyes met, and we scrambled up the slippery slope at the same time.

We reached the top, me a few steps ahead of the Tracker. Cactus and the man I assumed was Bram circled one another with their fists up.

“Bram, what the fuck are you doing?” Elle hollered. Bram glanced at her and it was enough of a distraction. Cactus shot out a fist that caught Bram in the side of the head and he went down in a heap. “Hah! You owe me.”

What in all that was holy was this nonsense?

“Cactus,” I strode toward him, “what is going on?”

“Oh, well, it’s funny really.”

Bram let out a groan from where he lay in the wet sand. “Not all that funny, if you ask me.”

I allowed myself to really look at him now that I was closer. His hair was a dark auburn, and his eyes were hazel. Nothing like my Bramley, who’d been blond-haired and blue-eyed. Disappointment, and at the same time relief, flooded me.

Introductions were made all around.

“Cactus, what were you two doing?”

He grinned at me. “It’s funny, really.”

“That’s what you said, but I doubt it.” My tone was about as dry as the desert sand we stood on.

Not that it stopped Cactus from grinning like a fool. “I could have killed him, but I knew you wouldn’t want that. He really wanted to fight. I suggested fists only. Loser buys drinks.”

Elle rolled her eyes heavenward. “Bram, seriously?”

He shrugged. “He’s scrawny, I figured I could take him. Little buggar is fast, though.”

Little was not the word I would use for Cactus. Then again, Bram was a big man, solid muscle, and probably had two stones on Cactus and a good four inches.

“Fine, we’re all getting along now,” I said. “Elle, I need you to Track for me.”

She folded her arms and squinted her eyes. “Your father is missing, that’s what you said.”

“Yes.”

She held a hand out, palm up. “Fees are steep. A thousand dollars a day, bonus for bringing him home alive. No deductions if he’s dead.” Her eyes were hard with no sign of mercy in them. That was not going to be good, since I had no idea what she was even talking about, dollars and bonuses.

“A way of paying for things, Lark,” Peta said, and from my other side Cactus nodded.

“I have no money or bonuses to give you, but—”

Elle shrugged and walked away, speaking over her shoulder. “Then you’re wasting my fucking time and yours.”

Damn her and her greed. Obviously she had too much human blood running in her veins, and whatever Spirit she had in her was not enough to combat it. But I needed her, which meant I had to play by her rules.