He laughed, and delight skated through me. I cupped his cheek and lightly brushed my thumb across the small laugh lines near his mouth. Lines that hadn’t been there when he’d first made an appearance in my life. “You should do that more often.”
“Once we are through this, perhaps I will.”
And with that, he swept us to Stane’s.
Only Stane wasn’t alone. Tao was with him.
I stared at him for a moment, taking in the haunted eyes, hollowed cheeks, and dusty, partially burned clothing, then all but threw myself into his arms. He caught me with a grunt and his arms wrapped around me, his grip so fierce my ribs were in danger of cracking. I didn’t care. He was here, he was whole, and that was all that mattered.
“God,” I muttered, wrapping my arms around his neck and holding him as fiercely as he held me. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”
“So am I,” he said softly. “So am I.”
I pulled back, my gaze searching his. The flames had totally retreated and there was little more than ash and desperation in his eyes.
“What happened?”
He shrugged and scraped one hand across his chin. “I don’t really know. One minute I was home, and the next I was flat on my face in a field the other side of Sunbury, near the landfill center there.”
“The elemental was heading back to where it was created again.”
“Yes.” He shook his head. “And it was close to getting there by the time I regained control. Up until that point I was —” He paused and a shudder went through him. He briefly closed his eyes, his voice breaking as he added, “I was nowhere. I was nothing. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I fought, all there was were flames and heat and endless agony. I think I’d rather be dead than go through that again.”
“Tao —”
His gaze hit mine. Fierce. Angry. “Don’t say it, Ris. Don’t you dare say it. You have no idea what it’s like to lose your entire being to another force, and until you do, don’t lecture me or feed me platitudes.”
I didn’t say anything. Couldn’t really, simply because anything I did say probably would come off sounding like one or the other.
Tao knew how I felt and what I believed. I’d told him often enough already. He knew we were there for him, no matter what. Just as I knew that, right now, he was angry and scared; who wouldn’t be, placed in the same position?
So I simply dropped a kiss on his ash-stained cheek, then stepped back, took the index cards from Azriel, and handed them to Stane. His gaze, when it met mine, was sympathetic. Maybe he’d tried comforting Tao as well, only to receive a similar response.
“Where did you get these?” He flicked through the cards with a slight frown. “It’s very old-fashioned to store information in this form these days.”
“They were stolen from the premises of a dead man. Maybe he didn’t trust computers.”
Stane snorted. “It’s far easier to steal information from these things than it is from computers.”
“Says the man who hacks for fun and profit.”
He grinned. “Well, yeah, but I’m an extraordinary individual. The common man generally isn’t as clever as me and my kind.”
His kind meaning hackers and black marketeers, not werewolves, obviously. “If we haven’t already overwhelmed you and your computers with requests, could you do a search through these and see if there’s any link – however tenuous – to Lauren Macintyre?”
“Sure. Could take a while, though. There’s a fair few names in here, by the look of it.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, but it could be the only way we’re going to track down our sorceress.” And maybe the only way to save Mirri. But there was no point adding that. Stane would do his best, as usual. “We need to know the minute you find anything.”
“Speaking of findings, I managed to get the autopsy results for the body parts and teeth the cops found at the storage place that blew up.” Stane reached over to the second of his desks and flicked a screen. Several documents flashed onto it. “Long story short, the bits did belong to Genevieve Sands. Problem is, she was dead long before this blast tore her apart. The coroner picked up evidence that the body had been frozen.”
“Just like the real John Nadler.” My voice was grim. “It’s beginning to look more and more likely that we’re dealing with not only a full-body face shifter, but one capable of taking multiple male and female forms.”
“If that is the case,” Azriel said, “then it is possible the clothes we saw in Lauren’s wardrobe might well have belonged to her alternate male identity.”
I glanced at him. “Yes. Which means that cuff link might yet lead us to her, even if a search through the index cards doesn’t.”
He raised an eyebrow. “How? It is an inanimate object, and in and of itself can provide no clues.”