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  I put my hands on my hips. “You know, for once couldn’t you just assume that my car was in the shop?”

  He shook his head. “Was it your fault or not?”

  “No, landslide took my car down a hill near my uncle’s house,” I grumbled and got into the passenger side of his car.

  He got in and started it up. “How did you survive that?”

  “Mario used his vampire trick and got us both out.”

  He nodded. “Then I’m glad he was there.”

  “Me too, because I would have been under a ton of dirt.” I shook my head. “But I don’t want to talk about it. What’s for lunch?”

  “I was thinking steak. That sound good? The steakhouse on the north end of town?”

  The thought of steak made my stomach growl. “That sounds great. Fill me in on pack stuff while we drive?”

  “Like what?”

  “Still two packs in the area or one?” I watched the cars go by on the street. Even though my magic protected the pack land, I wasn’t really part of the pack. Simon didn’t have to keep me up-to-date, but the pack was his life, much like work was mine, so there wasn’t a whole lot else to talk about.

  He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and took the exit to get on the highway. “Yeah, but it’s getting better. We’ve entered into negotiations with them on joining again. They’ve realized that splitting was a bad idea, especially since they don’t have Levi’s backing.”

  “How so?”

  “Other packs have been trying to take them over. It’s been a mess, but soon we’ll be a whole pack again.” He sounded tired for a moment, and I wondered if there was more to it then what he was saying.

  I knew the pack was like family, they’d do anything for each other, and the split had been hard, but I hadn’t realized that it’d been that hard for both sides of the pack. When I was investigating the murders in Simon’s part of the pack, I had originally suspected that the other part had something to do with it. Now that I knew they had other troubles, I felt kind of silly for the past suspicion. “How bad is it?”

  “They lost a third of their members trying to defend against attacking packs. A couple members just disappeared. Don’t worry about it though. It’s wolf business, and I don’t want you involved any more than you have to be.”

  I held my hands up. “Trust me; my plate is full enough as it is. I just want to know what’s going on in your life.”

  “How’s the um...elemental stuff going?” He kept his voice low as if he was worried someone was spying on us.

  I chuckled. “I haven’t set anyone on fire recently, so that’s good, but it’s becoming increasingly hard to keep it a secret. Seems someone wants people to know what I am.”

  “With you being a PIB agent, couldn’t that help keep you safe?”

  I nodded. “But people fear witches like me.” I sighed. “No matter what my position with PIB or in any supernatural circuit, elementals are loose cannons and no one understands them.”

  “So it’s someone who has it out for you then?” He pulled the car off the highway and onto a back road.

  “Yeah, but that’s just another story of my life, really, and just one small problem. If I keep low, it’ll blow over.”

  “So what’s the problem then?”

  I searched my brain for how much I wanted to tell him. He didn’t know the full story about Romania, he didn’t know about Levi, and he didn’t really understand magic, though he tried and continuously asked questions about it. “It’s becoming easier and easier to use. I keep finding myself in situations that are easily taken care of with that ability.” Or my magic. “Control of it comes easy now.”

  “Is it addicting?”

  I didn’t want to give him the truth, but I needed to. Someone needed to know. “Yes.”

  He pulled the car into the parking lot. “That’s what worries everyone.”

  “Everyone?”

  He nodded. “Levi, Clarissa, me.”

  “Is this going to be like an intervention?” I gave a short laugh.

  “No, it’s was just mentioned after Nick died.” He put the car in park and got out.

  I stayed in the car for a moment. Levi had sent Clarissa to the house a couple times to check on me because they were worried about me grieving, but maybe that really wasn’t all.

  Simon came around the car to let me out. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “No, I’m just thinking is all. But none of you guys need to worry about me, Merick is at the house in case I lose my temper, Oliver is always close by, and I’m fine. I promise.”

  He shut the door behind me when I got out. “Okay, I’ll let it be then. Let’s enjoy lunch.”

  We walked inside and were seated right off the bat. The person put us near the back in a booth, and I settled when I realized there wasn’t a huge lunchtime crowd yet.

  I went to say something, but someone stepped up to the table and cut me off.

  “Ms. Abigail Collins.” The tall man towered over the table, casting a shadow over the top. “You need to come with us.”

  I glanced at Simon who was tense and seemed ready to pounce. “And who are you?” He’d said us, so I knew he wasn’t alone.

  “Boss Man has sent us to retrieve you.”

  Interesting as I had just talked to him before I left for lunch. “If that’s true, then Boss Man would know that I need an explanation before I even consider going with you.”

  He nodded. “He said you would; the explanation is simply this, internal affairs has the leaked video. You need to come to the office now.”

  That wasn’t good at all. He’d said he needed to talk to his higher-ups, but I hadn’t expected to be called on again so soon. I wasn’t sure what internal affairs department would have gotten the video. PIB or the government. I stood, trying to keep my panic under control. “Okay. Simon—”

  “Yeah, I know, you’re sorry. We’ll try again another day,” he promised.

  I nodded and left the booth with the man in front of me.

  I pulled out my phone and texted Boss Man.

  “Need confirmation of pick up.” I hit send, and not a moment later I got back.

  “Confirmed.”

  Damn, I was hoping it was a ploy. It was suspicious that they interrupted my lunch for PIB business, but if it had to do with internal affairs, it was serious and couldn’t wait. I didn’t really want to get into a car with this mountain of a man, but at least I knew there wasn’t anything dangerous waiting for me.

  The man led me to a black SUV with government plates, that wasn’t unusual as PIB issued cars had them as well. He opened the back passenger door and there in the car sat a woman in a black suit with a tablet on her lap.

  She smiled at me and patted the seat next to her. “Hello Agent Collins, my name is Lyra Sinch, and I’m the director of internal affairs, and I’d like to speak to you about becoming a Special Agent.”

  Whatever I was expecting, that was not it.

  Chapter Eight

  I stared at the woman for a second, trying to process what she was trying to say. Boss Man had said there might be a promotion for me because of the video, but honestly, I wasn’t expecting a full rank.

  “I’m sorry, I’m in the middle of two cases right now,” was the only thing I could get to come out of my mouth.

  The car started moving, and I quickly buckled up as the woman laughed. “I’m well aware of that Agent Collins, and your promotion wouldn’t affect those.”

  “What would it affect?” I raised a brow. “Special Agents normally work with cases closely tied to paranormal politics.” Oh, wouldn’t Levi just love that? I kept the snarky thought to myself. “Like Special Agent Yorkingson.”

  She nodded. “Yes, but we want you on a different team than Yorkingson, we want you specifically for the black magic task force.”

  “Why me? Why now?”

  “Because we know you’re an elemental, and if you want us to keep you out of confinement and la
b tests, you’ll humor us.”

  Apparently, it wasn’t above PIB to blackmail agents. “I have a couple stipulations of my own.” I was thinking on my feet, but I could get it to work to my advantage. “I want top clearance for the database.”

  “Done.” There was no hesitation in her voice.

  Interesting. “I don’t want a partner.”

  Her hands tightened a little bit on her tablet. “I’ll see what I can do about that.”

  “Was there already a partner assigned to me?” I held my breath wondering if someone was finally going to tell me that Nick was alive and that he was also promoted and had reasons for faking his death.

  “Agent Grace.”

  “I thought Agent Grace was here temporarily.”

  “She requested to stay on until Brian Tomes sees trial. Boss Man has put her on the Black Magic task force as well. There was a request to be partnered with you.”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t want another partner. That’s stipulation number two.”

  “Do you realize that you’re really not in a position to negotiate?”

  I could throw out my connection to Levi, just as a territory leader, but I decided it was best not to. “You have video footage of me being an elemental. That gets out, I go to confinement, and I lose my life to become a lab rat.”

  “Good, do you have any other stipulations?” Her voice held a small warning to it.

  It wasn’t best to not trust my luck. “No.” I settled into my seat and pulled my phone back out. I thought about texting Levi, but he wouldn’t be awake for a while. I texted Oliver instead.

  ‘Something’s up with work, keep tabs on me.’ I put my phone back in my pocket.

  “You’re not very trusting, Agent Collins.” She gave me the side eye. “Who did you just text?”

  I shook my head. “I’ve had a lot happen in my life lately; there are very few people I trust.” And they aren’t the people I had expected to be able to trust. “I just texted my lunch date to let him know I wouldn’t be back.”

  “Okay.”

  Okay. As if she instantly believed me. “Who will I be answering to as a Special Agent?”

  “Boss Man is still your higher-up, but the leader of the task force is Special Agent Liz Jefferson.”

  It wasn’t a name I was familiar with. “Am I going to be expected to use my ability on this task force?”

  “You won’t have to be afraid of using it, but using it or not is up to you.”

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that option, but at least I knew I I could use it now instead of having to hide it. “And if someone wants to put me in containment?”

  “PIB will keep them from doing that, as long as you take this spot on the task force.”

  I crossed my arms. “And my stipulations?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Agent Grace had been my temporary partner after Nick was supposedly killed. I’d seen her in questionable places after that, and paranoia told me that this was her doing. She’d been an undercover agent at one point, but because of a case, that cover was blown.

  “Thank you.” I pulled my phone out and looked to see Oliver’s response.

  ‘Tracker on’

  That was comforting. “Will I be operating out of the normal PIB building?”

  “You’ll be going down to the south building again.”

  My heart dropped. I hadn’t been to the south building since they’d rebuilt it after the bombing. I was starting to feel like this was a setup. “Which office?”

  She turned toward me as if wanting to see my reaction. “Fourth floor.”

  I knew the rest of the answer. “Two offices down from the elevator. Is there a reason you put me in my old office?”

  “I didn’t make the call.”

  And I didn’t know if I wanted to face it. “Where are we heading now?”

  “Down there, Boss Man will be there to greet you and brief you on what happened with your old office.”

  I leaned back in the seat and let the idea settle in. I’d be back in my old office, with a new partner, and facing cases dealing in black magic. PIB was blackmailing me to switch jobs, and though I wasn’t happy about it, I had to go along with it.

  We pulled up to the south PIB building. Three months ago was the last time I’d seen it, the building was just being finished, the windows still had coverings on it, and no one had been moving in. Now there were several cars in the parking lot and a few agents walking in and out of the building.

  I wondered if our receptionists were going to transfer back down here, I really like Mandy and Kathy. I got out of the car and stared at the building. Six stories of tall glass windows and concrete. It looked exactly like it did before, couldn’t even tell that it had been blown up. I, however, didn’t want to think about the bomb and the changes.

  Taking a deep breath, I walked toward the building and entered. A new receptionist was sitting at the desk. She looked up and glanced at my badge and nodded. No hello, no smile, no joking around. Great, she didn’t have a personality.

  Lyra walked behind me, our paths deviated, and she went to the elevator. “Agent Collins?” She stopped and called for me.

  I was already at the door that led to the stairwell. “I’ll meet you up there. Don’t worry; I’m not running away.”

  She shook her head and pressed the button. I walked up the stairs and paused before I entered the floor. This was a different building; it didn’t matter that it looked the same. There was no reason for me to be this anxious about it. Besides, Nick wasn’t dead. My gut told me that. This wasn’t his death place.

  I pushed the door open and walked into the hallway. A few offices down was my office. I’d go in there, and it’d look just like it had before it exploded. I would talk to Boss Man, and then I’d get down to work. Solve my cases and then take on my new promotion. If only things would go that smoothly.

  I swiped my key card over the sensor not really expecting it to let me in. To my surprise, the little red light turned green, and the tumbler clicked. I heard the elevator ding, and I waited to see Lyra coming down the hall.

  I held my door open for her, and we walked into the office together. My heart stopped beating at the sight of a second desk in the office. It wasn’t in the same spot as Nick’s who had been off to the left of the door. No, it was only a few feet from my desk, and it felt like an invasion of privacy.

  I glanced at Lyra. “You said you’d see what we could do about the partner.”

  “I will see what I can do, but my hands may be tied on that one.” She motioned to Boss Man who was standing in the corner. “I’ll leave you two to chat and then I’ll be in touch.”

  She walked off, and I wondered why she even bothered to come upstairs with me. Maybe she really did think I was going to run.

  “Boss Man.” I crossed my arms. “That was a hell of a quick promotion.”

  “I see Lyra convinced you to take the deal.” He turned around and motioned to the two desks. “I know you don’t like to work with a partner, so I’ll see what we can do about Agent Grace.”

  I snorted. “Lyra didn’t give me much of a choice, so here I am. Black magic task force I hear. Any particular reason why that force?”

  “Because you’re studying the linguistics of the Cult of Ra, you know other rune bases, and you’re one of the few who can conjure many types of circles without a physical guide. You were born for this Agent Collins, and when I hired you, it’s where I always intended to put you.”

  That wasn’t something I knew. It made sense, Boss Man told me at graduation that I was meant for great things, but I thought he was full of shit at the time. “Why now?”

  “Because it’s the only way that I’m not going to lose you as my agent. You’ll be fine, Special Agent Collins. Grace requested to be your partner because you worked well together after Nick’s death, but I know you. I know how you work.”

  He turned around and finally faced me. “Now about what happened to
your other office. Someone put a hex on it using your own rune.”

  I knew that much, and the look on my face clearly said that.

  “The security camera had been compromised with looped feed. Whoever did it knew what they were doing, and judging by the swipes on the keypad, they had a key card. They didn’t intend to kill you, but it was certainly a warning. Do you think you could trace the spell?”

  The scene with the little girl and the dolls came back to my mind, and I knew I wanted to know who was behind the spell. “Yeah, I probably can. I’ll need access to that room.”

  “Your key card will still work. I’ll make sure not to send our cleaning crew into it. You talk to security already?”

  “Sure did, they said they’d pull the tapes for me and let me know if there was something strange on them.”

  “Good.” He started to walk out of the office. “Congratulations on your promotion Special Agent Collins, I look forward to the work you will do with the Black Magic task force.”

  So did I, because I wasn’t even sure what to expect. He left and the door shut behind him with a small click. I stood in the empty office and looked over the view of the mountains. The room had a clean smell to it with a hint of carpet glue that new buildings sometimes had. The windows were perfectly clear, not worn by the weather, but the view hadn’t changed at all. It was the same view I’d started my job with, and staring at it made me feel like I was back on track with my life.

  I hadn’t known that I missed the south office that much until now.

  My phone rang and I picked it up. “Agent Collins speaking.”

  “All good?” Oliver’s voice came over the phone. “You’re at the south PIB building.”

  I closed my eyes. “Yeah, all good. I was promoted.”

  “And that caused you to send me a cryptic text.”

  “They blackmailed me, said they’d turn me over to confinement if I didn’t take the position.”

  He was silent for a moment. “Abigail, what did they promote you to?”

  “Special Agent, working with the Black Magic Task Force.”

  He said something in a language I didn’t know and I could only assume that he was cussing. “Anything else I should know?”