Pamela wretched as she rolled the window down. “Ugh, that is fiercely awful.”

Milly’s face was green as she drove, her eyes darting all around as if expecting another ambush. “How did Ingers find us? And why would she throw grenades at the house?”

Liam snorted and took a deep breath, immediately regretting it. “She was trying to kill us, Milly. That’s why the grenades. And we asked after Agent Valley, that’s how she found us. Logic. She is an FBI Agent.”

“I … am … Valley.” Agent Valley wheezed from the back, his fingers gripping the back of the seat, juices flowing down around him. They had barely escaped the collapsing house, only to find Agent Ingers waiting for them outside. Pamela blew up the black sedans in the driveway. The necromancer called up dead insects to swarm Ingers and two Agents with her. The combined efforts between the young necromancer and witch had caused enough ruckus to give them time to get moving.

Liam looked to the necro kid next to him. Only minutes had passed since they’d all escaped being trapped in a house at the mercy of Ingers and her deadly accurate bullets. “How do you know Agent Valley?”

The kid shifted in his seat and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “He’s my uncle.”

Well, that explained a great deal. Agent Valley’s desire to help the supernatural world stemmed from the fact he had one in his family. It made perfect sense now, but still …

“Then why did you turn him into a zombie?”

The kids jaw trembled and then tightened. “Because Ingers had him killed. She doesn’t want him to help me. Us.” His light brown eyes flicked to Liam. “I thought you were on her side. She threatened to send people to finish the job [inio help .”

Damn, the woman was colder than he’d thought when first meeting her. But that didn’t matter, not right now. There were more pressing matters than a bitch having a hormonal day. “What do you know about the guns? Did your uncle tell you anything?”

Pamela turned in her seat. “Do you have a name, necromancer?”

He blinked several times. “Frank.”

“Aren’t you going to apologize for trying to shoot us? That is rather rude since we saved your scrawny ass back there.” She arched a delicate eyebrow at him and he flushed from his neck up to the roots of his light brown hair.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t know who you were, but I’d seen you going up and down the street with what I thought was a sniffer dog.” He paused and cleared his throat. “Did you get my gun?”

Liam snorted. “Not been around many other supernaturals, have you? And don’t worry about your gun, you don’t need it.” It pressed into the small of his back, the steady presence of an old friend.

Frank shook his head and swallowed hard. “No, my mom and Uncle Roger didn’t encourage me trying to find other supernaturals. They were trying too hard to keep me under wraps to let me meet anyone like me.”

Agent Valley shifted in the back. “O’Shea. Guns, manufactured … with … witchcraft.” The last words breathed out with a spray of spittle that splattered the seat.

Liam stared at Frank. “Do you have anything to add to that?”

The kid sat, unmoving before finally answering. “I followed my uncle once, to where they were making the guns. I could take you there.”

Pamela twisted in her seat again. “It will be dangerous. Are you sure you can handle that?”

Frank stiffened in his seat and Liam glanced up to see Milly flash a quick grin in the rearview mirror. Yeah, Pamela learned quickly. Part of it was truth it would be dangerous if other witches were involved, but if Frank knew where they were, then they needed him. And the best way to make sure he came of his own volition was to stick his pride.

“I’m not afraid of danger. But the place, it was way out of town, at least a four-hour drive.” Frank glanced back at his uncle. “And even I don’t want to be this close to him for four hours.”

Liam did a quick calculation. “Which direction?”

“Southwest.”

“Perfect, we’ll drop him off at the barn.”

Pamela blanched and Milly’s knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. Liam didn’t apologize or back down. While no one wanted to be there—the barn—hell, the farm was safe with Blaz there.

The drive was quiet, and the smell worsened each mile. By the time they pulled into the farmyard, they’d all had more than enough. Milly hit the brakes and slammed the Jeep into park, stumbling out with a wretch, her body heaving uncontrollably. Pamela wasn’t far behind.

But as bad as the smell was, Liam still remembered the man in the back of the Jeep had been his friend.

“Come on, Agent. Let’s get you settled in the barn.” He opened the back of the Jeep and helped Agent Valley shuffle out of the vehicle and toward the barn. The cold air was bracing and Liam took in a big drag of the clean scent.

A low rumble reached his ears a split second before Blaz slowly revealed himself coiled around the barn, his scales sparkling in the sharp winter sun. He blinked sleepy eyes at them, his jaw cracking in a hug [kined hime yawn that showed off every one of his massive pearly whites.

Hello, Wolf.

“Blaz. Rylee’s gone off on her own again.”

Pissed her off, did you? The dragon had the nerve to give him a wink. Liam didn’t think it was funny, nor did he feel like explaining himself to the dragon.

“No, I did not piss her off. She’s off on one errand, we are on another.” He waved at Agent Valley. “This one is going to stay here awhile in the barn. At least until we get back.”

He got his former boss settled into the barn and then stepped back into the cold, grateful for the fresh air.

Blaz reached out with one claw and drew a line in the snow in front of himself. You will have to let her go at some point. You know that, don’t you? She is for the world, not just you.

“I don’t need to be schooled by an oversized gecko,” he snapped, not caring that said gecko could tear him apart limb by limb, the only surefire way to kill a Guardian.

Blaz let out a low, rumbling laugh. The others cannot hear me, Wolf. Let me guess, you know the time of your death is coming, and Rylee does not? Yet she knows you carry a secret? It will drive her mad not to know. Give her something, a false secret.

Liam went very still, his heartbeat skipping into overdrive. How the hell could Blaz know what he himself had only just learned?