It happened so fast, I didn’t have time to move. An invisible wave of energy hit me with such force that it knocked the wind out of me and sent me flying backward to land on my ass, leaves and small bits of lawn flying in my face.

The scent of dirt and tangy green grass filled the air; some of it, I was certain, had gone up my nose. I scrambled up, body shaking, and spit a leaf fragment from the corner of my mouth.

Emma remained still, like a tiny ball of fury. She wasn’t done. The only things that moved on her were her hair and her clothes, which fluttered with each strong burst of wind through the backyard. The trees bent and rubbed together. Green flashed in the darkness overhead.

And then her lips started moving.

“Emma …” I warned.

A metal clang cut through the morning. I glanced beyond her shoulder to see the kennel door swing wide and Brim bound out. Four blindingly fast, gigantic strides later, he slid to a stop at her side, his claws cutting deep ruts into the grass. He was poised, battle-ready, looking very much like the pregnant hellhound in the warehouse. Defend to the death.

“Emma Kate Garrity …” I warned again, hardly able to hear myself over the rush of my pulse.

I had no weapons. Not even the protection of jeans and a jacket as I was dressed pretty much the same as my kid. My own hands flexed at my sides. Energy grew from my core and cut a vibrating path through my body. Wind whipped around my child and the snarling beast. Brim made her look so small, his back coming to her elbow.

“I wanted to learn crafting from Aunt Bryn and you said no,” she said. “I wanted to learn how to fight and you said no. I wanted to … be like you.” Tears erupted in her wide eyes. Her lip quivered, and she couldn’t finish her sentence, her innocent face a canvas of despair and disappointment. “You always say no.”

A dull ache coiled around my heart and a strong, sickening sense of foreboding came over me. I stepped forward. Brim growled. “Emma, please don’t …”

Her head shook as the tears streamed down her face, making her nose bright red. “I never want to be like you.”

And with that, she did the unthinkable, the thing that I feared the most.

She leapt onto Brim’s back, flung her arms around his neck, and the two bounded out of the backyard.

“EMMA!”

I ran after them, fueled by panic, crashing through the bushes, into the neighbor’s side yard and across the street, as my daughter and her hellhound loped over the soccer fields, drawing farther and farther away from me until they were just a dark shadow disappearing into the park.

Still I sprinted until I couldn’t see them anymore, until my lungs burned so hot and the air being sucked down my throat so cold that I felt sick to my stomach.

She’ll come back. She’ll come back, I kept repeating to myself as I finally stopped.

I jogged back to the house in my sweat-soaked tank, hair tangled, a nest for grass and earth and leaves. My bare feet were scratched and cold, covered in dew and dirt. Small pebbles stuck to the bottoms.

Rex was standing on the porch, his face pale. “She’ll come back,” he echoed as I wiped my feet. “As soon as she cools off, she’ll come back.” It sounded more like he was trying to assure himself than me.

I pushed past him, immediately going for the phone to put out an APB to every branch of the ITF in Atlanta to be on the lookout for my kid and her hellhound. The order was very clear: Locate only. Engage my kid and her protector and face serious fucking consequences. I was not playing.

I sensed Rex behind me, but didn’t turn and instead went for the stairs. “Call Bryn, Aaron, Marti, the school, everyone we know …”

“What are you going to do?”

“Look for her. What else can I do?” My eyes burned. “She doesn’t even have a jacket.”

Rex took a step forward and grabbed the railing. “She won’t get hurt, Charlie. You saw what she can do. You’re overreacting.” He held up his hands. “With cause, though. Who can blame you after what happened with Mynogan? But we have the world’s strongest ward room. That kid is loaded down with protection amulets every time she goes anywhere. Give her some time to chill out. She’ll come back. You should go to work.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind? I’m not going to work while my kid is out there lost and—” My teeth ground together, forcing down the intense wave of loss and fear rising to the surface.

“Well, you need to do something. No offense, but you’re the last person she wants to see or talk to right now anyway.”

My fingers curled around the railing as my temper flared, blinding me for a second. The wood cracked under my nails. “Fuck you, Rex.”

Ninety minutes later, after I’d driven around Druid Hills, and then tried repeatedly to connect with Emma only to be blocked by her every time, I got a call from Titus. My daughter had gone to Mott Tech. I had to take several deep, shuddering breaths with that one. Relieved beyond comprehension? Yes. But that she’d made it all the way out of the city where a thousand different, horrible things could have happened? Furious.

Part of me, though, was glad for the darkness and the cover it had provided them. Besides Em being hurt, I’d begun to second guess my hasty decision to call in the troops and worry that some noob would find them, fire on Brim, and end up creating a really bad situation. That they ended up making it to Mott Tech unseen was a miracle. I supposed the darkness did have its uses on occasion.

At first, I wanted to turn the vehicle around and race to the lab, but Emma didn’t want to see me or even talk to me on the phone just yet, which left me feeling stung, rejected, and hurt.

If she wanted time alone, she could have it.

I pulled my Tahoe to the curb on a residential street and just sat there for a long time. I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to deal with this divide or her sudden anger. She meant more to me than anything else on this Earth, and it seemed like I was constantly doing the wrong things and failing miserably in her eyes. I only wanted to keep her happy. Healthy. Alive. And, yeah, maybe I was smothering her in the process, but under the circumstances, I didn’t think I was being all that protective.

The ringer on my cell jerked me out of my thoughts. “Madigan.”

“It’s me. You find her?”

“Yeah. She’s at Mott Tech with Titus.”

Hank’s sigh blew through the phone speaker like a heavy wind. “Thank God. How you holding up?”

I laughed at that one. “Not even sure I can answer that question. Give me a distraction, Hank. Tell me we have a lead. Something. Anything.”

He chuckled. “It’s your lucky day then, kiddo. I’ve got Llyran’s medical file. You want to meet at the warehouse?”

“Sure. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

I slowed my vehicle, flashed my badge to the officer in the patrol car, and drove into the parking lot, aimed for the double space between Liz’s black ITF van and Hank’s Mercedes.

As I pulled into the spot, Hank ducked out of the coupe. He leaned against the car’s shiny black paint job, holding the file in front of him with both hands, one foot crossed over the other. He wore tan cargo pants and a long-sleeved, white crew. Calvin Klein could sell an incredible amount of underwear, or anything else for that matter, if they put Hank’s photo on a billboard.

My stomach did a light flip. Last time I’d seen Hank, I almost killed him and kissed him all in the span of a few minutes. Hard to forget—

Partner, Charlie, he’s your partner and your best friend. Just chill with the hormones.

I shoved the gear into park and drew in an uneasy breath. No big deal. Just get it over with. I grabbed my jacket off the passenger seat and then went to face my partner.