I grinned, but didn’t answer. I simply called to the Aedh, then whisked upward, slipping in through the small gap and cautiously looking around. The room appeared to be some sort of storeroom – metal shelving lined the walls, but there was little else here other than dust. I scooted under the small gap between the door and the concrete floor, then checked out the various rooms – all of which were empty – before making my way downstairs. Other than the offices that lined the road side of the building, it was a vast, empty space. Once I’d checked there were no hidden security cams, I shifted back to human form.
The madmen in my head went a little crazy with their knives, making my eyes water and my stomach twist alarmingly. But that was to be expected. Not only had I changed shape a fair bit so far today, but I’d yet to eat anything other than a few mouthfuls of bread. I waited until the ache eased and my stomach seemed less inclined to jump up my throat, then slowly rose. The chill air caressed my body, hardening my nipples and sending goose bumps skittering across my skin. But there was no sense of magic in its touch, nothing that suggested anything or anyone had been in here for some time.
“Jak? You there?”
“Right outside the loading bay door. You see anything?”
“No.” I spun around, my gaze sweeping the area. There was nothing here that prickled my psychic senses, either. “The place is empty.”
“The warehouse near Stane’s that we searched a few days ago looked empty,” he pointed out. “Until we fell through the damn floor and almost ended up a hellhound’s dinner.”
“Yeah, but we knew something had to be there because of the hellhound reports.”
“Lucian wouldn’t have hidden the coordinates of this place for no reason,” Jak said. “There has to be something – you just can’t see it.”
“Well, I certainly don’t want to find it by falling into it.”
But the truth was that might be the only way we would uncover what secrets this place might hold. I walked over and opened the window, but the bars were welded securely in place. As werewolves, we could have ripped them off easily enough, but again, that would only announce our presence to whoever owned this place. “How high can you jump?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Fairly high, especially with a run up.”
“Then go around the back. I’ll open that top window wider for you.”
He nodded, and disappeared. I ran back upstairs, and five seconds later he was scrambling in – sans my dress. I peered out the window. It was neatly folded next to the wall. “Why the hell did you leave it there?”
He grinned. “I may not be able to touch these days, but no wolf in his right mind is going to pass on the chance to look. Besides, we have to leave this place as we found it, and that means you closing the window and slipping back out in that other form of yours.”
“It’s bloody cold in this building, you know.”
He sighed dramatically, and proceeded to take off his cotton sweater. “You do spoil all my fun.”
“Sorry. But thanks.” I pulled it on. It was long enough to cover my butt, and was filled with the warm spicy scent of him. As I rolled up the sleeves, I added, “We do this the old-fashioned way – search every room carefully and see if we spring any traps.”>As much as I hated that he’d taken away my right to die as I was destined, it seemed very wrong that he’d also suffer the loss of his own dreams. Becoming a Mijai had been a punishment for him, and it wasn’t something he’d wanted to spend eternity doing.
So when he’d put the mission first and dragged me back to life, had the cost been as great to him as it had been for me?
God, I hope not. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep, shuddery breath. It was time, I thought, I not only started acting like a rational adult, but thinking like one.
And that meant putting on my big girl knickers to not only confront the man I’d banished, but sit down to discuss where the hell we now went relationship-wise.
Or even if we had a relationship.
But I couldn’t do that here. It would have to wait until later, after I’d gotten home and contacted Hunter.
I tugged on the dress, finger-combed my hair, then went in search of Jak. I found him in the study.
“Did you find out where those coordinates were?” I asked.
His gaze skimmed my body as he swiveled around in his chair. “Always did like you in that dress. The lilac matches your eyes. And yeah, it’s smack bang in the middle of an old Department of Defense site in Maribyrnong. They sold it off thirty years ago for development.”
I frowned. “That’s nowhere near the other warehouse.”
“No, but it is on a ley line.”
My eyebrows rose. “Since when did you become an expert on ley-line location?”
“Since you dragged me into this goddamn quest. I thought it might benefit the story if I actually knew what I was writing about.” His expression was somewhat wry. “That’s presuming I’m actually allowed to write about it once it’s all over.”
“Uncle Rhoan said you could.”