Mate Bond

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Bowman studied Gil in great distrust. He’d known something was off about him, even before Kenzie’s discovery that he wasn’t really Gil Ramirez, police officer.

“Your name’s not Ben either, is it?” Bowman asked, amazed at how steady his voice was. “Who are you?”

Gil abruptly stood taller and shook Graham’s hold off with ease. His appearance didn’t change, but his nice-guy helpfulness faded, and something old looked out of his eyes. He had a strength that had nothing to do with physical prowess; it was the strength of a boulder that had endured centuries of wind and rain.

“What happened to your prison tatts?” Graham growled at him. “You look the same, but not exactly the same.”

“As I explained to Misty,” Gil said in a firm voice, “I have learned to alter my appearance and blend in with the human world over the centuries. In Las Vegas, I was an ex-con. Here, I am a police officer when I need to be, or the beloved hired hand who became the bed-and-breakfast ghost in Fayboro.”

“And what is a gnome?” Cristian asked. “I have not heard of this outside human children’s stories.”

“It is what my race called itself,” Gil answered. “We’ve also been called goblins. The Fae killed and banished us long ago, exiling us to this world, where most of us didn’t survive. We hate Fae as much as Shifters do.” His gaze went to Brigid. “I see that you caught one. What does she know?”

Bowman leaned to him, barely containing his rage. “Don’t fuck with me, whoever you are. Kenzie was following you when she vanished, and you were with Ryan when he went. If any of this is your fault, you’re dead. I don’t care if you’re a thousand years old; you won’t live to see a thousand and one.”

Gil met his gaze without fear. “I swear to you, I did nothing. I tried to stop them both being taken, but I failed. The gates won’t work for me, as I said—the Fae saw to it that they work for none of my people. I can sense them when they appear, but not use them.”

Bowman looked at Reid. “And you say the sword won’t open the way again, not for me?”

Reid shook his head. “You can try, of course. I might be wrong.”

The Fae woman broke in. “But Kenzie has been taken away somewhere by this man called Turner. She is no longer in the mists. I searched for her, and did not find her.”

Cristian nodded. “She is correct, I think. Pierce has told me that Turner has made for himself a network of people to help him—such as the man who drove the truck with the beast, and the man who shot at us and the unfortunate Serena. He could have taken Kenzie and Ryan away anywhere.”

“Then why didn’t we see Turner come out with them here?” Bowman asked. “The Fae woman emerged in these woods.”

Gil broke in. “As I explained before, the pockets have more than one entrance, and if one knows how to manipulate them, each entrance can go to several different pockets, which can in turn have many exits. Pockets are sort of like an interconnected hive, with passages and rooms going every which way. This is why Kenzie went in near Fayboro, when she was chasing me, and yet Turner could come out here, near his house—or wherever he likes. Someone with a talisman who has learned to navigate the pockets can travel anywhere, though it’s highly dangerous. There are worlds out there far more deadly than Faerie or this one.”

Bowman turned to his trackers and Pierce. “All right, then tell me where he might have taken her and Ryan. You were tasked to find out all about Turner. What do you know?”

“If they’re out in this world, he’d have taken her one of four places,” Cade said without hesitation. “His lab at the university. His apartment in Asheville, but that’s pretty public. This trailer, where he obviously isn’t.” He waved a large hand toward the torn-up trailer. “And a house in South Carolina, which used to be his mother’s. His mother has passed, but he still keeps it.”

“The university,” Cristian said with conviction.

“How do you know that?” Graham asked.

“Because he hasn’t played his end game yet,” Bowman said before Cristian could answer. “He wants to be the foremost expert on Shifters, and he wants his colleagues to see that he is. Kenzie is a means to that end—I don’t know how yet.” His fear boiled up to mix with his anger. “I’m going to the university.”

Cristian stepped in front of him. “Do you not think that he has taken Kenzie and Ryan in order to trap you? If you run to him, he will have his wish. You do not think he baited this trap well?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m going in to get her and my cub. The rest of you are coming as my backup—I’m not stupid enough to go alone.”

“Bowman,” Cristian said sharply. “This is my niece’s and your son’s life you play with. Do you not believe that a contingent of Shifters arriving at a human university and killing a professor there will bring the wrath of the humans down on every Shifter in Shiftertown?”

Bowman shrugged, though his heart was pounding, and the whole of him needed to find Kenzie and his son. “We’ll be stealthy.”

“I’ll suck at the stealth part,” Graham said. “But if you need to take this guy down, you should let me do it. I’m not from around here. I can disappear with him and do him far, far away, to keep the blowback from you.”