“Here’s a map, not that you should need it, but I’ve marked where you can find others who will help you if you have need of it.”

Grateful for his foresight, I took the map and had a look at it. Half a dozen places were marked with red dots. Al put his finger at the top center. “You’re starting here, we’re on the Cape York Peninsula.” He moved to the back of the Jeep. “Extra water and fuel in the back.” Al tapped two canisters marked diesel, then a third marked drinking water. “This one is in case you get stuck out there when my drink wears off.”

Alex yipped and leapt into the back, his front paws on top of the cab. “Car riiiiiiiiiiide!”

I slid into the driver’s seat without asking Doran if he wanted to drive. “Thank you, Al. I’ll be back for that journal.”

The old shaman winked at me. “Of that, Rylee, I have no doubt.”

We drove out of his place and I locked onto the threads of the Blood. They were a fucking long ways away. Like I barely felt them. Only enough to know what direction.

“How far do you think?” Doran rested his arm on the door of the Jeep, the wind whipping in around him.

I focused on the threads, their signature weak inside my head. “Could be on the other side of the continent, or could be they are just faint. Fucked if I know; I don’t have a sense of distance here like at home. They’ve been closed off for how long?”

Doran grunted. “I don’t know for sure. Several thousand years, at least. There are secrets held by these vampires, the Blood are a mystery, even us Daywalkers don’t know. It is part of how they keep us in line.”

I laughed at him. “That, and the fact they can kick your fangy butts into next week.”

“Smart ass.”

“Better than a dumb ass.” I grinned at him, feeling light, and better. Belief—who the hell knew that a little faith, a little hope, could give me so much?

We drove south until the Willy was nearly out of gas, stopped, fueled up, and continued on. We were well into the interior, and the landscape was nothing short of mind boggling. Blazing blue sky, empty as far as I could see, and the ground wasn’t any better. Scrub grasses and the occasional lone tree.

“Pretty barren.” I found myself driving more to the west now, heading toward what I knew was the center of Australia.

The desert. Even with Al’s drink {Aldumcoursing through my veins, I was soaked, the backs of my knees dripped sweat onto the floorboards and my back stuck to the seat. A glance at Doran showed me he was soaked too, his shirt clinging to his chest and abs, clearly showing he had at least one piercing I’d not known about.

I squinted against the bright, hot sunlight pouring in around us. If Al’s drink ran out on us, we were so screwed.

Killing someone with premeditation was not really his forte, and while he knew Ingers had to die, planning it was not easy. So he avoided it.

He stood with Milly and Pamela, watching Eve and Frank take off to bring the Harpies to their side. Good thing Rylee had a harness made for the Harpy, or he wasn’t sure they would have gotten Frank onto her back.

But to be fair, Liam could hardly keep his mind on the task at hand. Morning had come and gone, and Rylee hadn’t come back. Ingers would have to wait.

“If the task was so easy, why isn’t she back yet?” Pamela moved to his side and he glanced down at her.

“Where did she go, Pamela?”

She let out a sigh and seemed to struggle for a moment before spilling the beans. “She went to see Doran. That’s it.”

Liam frowned at this revelation, and not because he didn’t like the Daywalker. Pamela was right; Rylee should have been fine. Faris wasn’t due to show up for at least another five days.

His heart clenched, and a heavy premonition settled over his whole body. “Faris came early for her.”

Milly spun to face him, her feet slipping in the snow. Out of instinct, he reached out and grabbed her, stopped her from hitting the ground.

She pulled out of his hands, her eyes more than a little disbelieving. “How do you know that?”

He wiped his hand on his pants and headed toward the house. “Doran would have been a pain in the ass, but there was no reason for her not to come back. The only thing that makes sense is Faris. He’s a liar, we know that.”

Which meant Liam had to hold to his word, and let Rylee do her job. And he had to do his. In the doorway of the farmhouse, he paused, struggling with his wolf and the desire to run after his mate, to keep her safe until his very last breath. A hand settled on his shoulder.

“Liam, she’s strong enough to survive this.” Milly’s scent and voice wrapped around him and his reaction was as instinctive as the one to catch her from falling.

His hand snapped out and wrapped around her tiny throat, the growl in his chest rumbling outward. “Do not touch me, witch.”

He dropped her before he could do any real harm, but it took more than an effort to do.

On his way to the house, he saw her slump to the ground, her hands going to her throat, but she said nothing.

Smart witch.

He strode through the house and into Rylee’s room, slamming the door behind him. Her scent filled his nose and the anger in him soothed away slowly with each breath.

One way to make sure she stayed safe was to get these guns off the market. To make sure no one could take her out from a distance. That much he could do.

A timid knock on the door turned him around. Pamela, he smelled her.

“Liam, are you okay?”

He sat on the edge of the { edher handsbed and put his hands in his lap. “Come in, Pam.”

She opened the door, her movements uncertain and her eyes full of fear. “Is your wolf going to attack me?”

“No. You aren’t Milly.”

Pamela let out a quick breath and then got right down to it. “I think we should just hit the FBI office, and take all the information they have. Then we go after the coven.”

He couldn’t help the way his eyebrows shot upward. “You’ve thought this all through?”

She stepped in the room and began to pace. “Well, that seems like the best place to start; humans are easier to take out than a whole coven of witches. And you and Rylee pointed out they already have some technology to block us. They use it on their planes.”

Her ability to break it down to such simple terms both impressed and worried him. She spoke about killing as if it were easy.