He wished he was there.

“I wish I was there with you right now.”

“You do say the best things. Makes my knees rubbery. Have fun with your friends and don’t let the maidens get too fresh or I’ll be forced to not only maim you, but perhaps make your nose five times larger and give you impotence.”

“You can’t do that!” He laughed, but he wasn’t too sure where she was concerned.

Her laugh made him smile even though he knew he’d be interrogated the moment he hung up.

“But you’ll always wonder now. My gift to you.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow. Any new developments in the Rhode Island situation?” He knew it was on the other side of the country from her. Knew it probably had nothing to do with her or threatened her just then. But he hated it anyway. Made him worry.

“Nothing I can talk about on the phone. But not much more than we already knew.”

“Well, regardless, take care of yourself. Keep an eye out.”

“I’m with Nell. She’s badass and will kick someone’s face to protect me. Oh! Food’s here and you have to go off and look handsome while I am here in sweats and a ratty T-shirt. Have something sufficiently glamorous in a glass for me.”

Next time he came back to New York it would be with her and he’d take her to the Met. She’d dress up, he knew after they’d gone to the opera. She’d had her hair done. Her cocktail dress was classic Calvin Klein beauty. It fit her. Clean lines to highlight her body. So beautiful. Regal.

He could probably shuffle his schedule and go home early.

“Sweet dreams, Dominic Bright. I miss you.”

“You too.”

He slipped the phone into his pocket, missing her more than he wanted to allow.

“Sweet witch?” Trey looked him over, one brow raised.

“I’m seeing someone. Seriously.”

“Come on, let’s go. You can pay for the cab and I’ll buy the next round,” Evan called out as they left the table. “You can tell us about this mystery woman on the way.”

Chapter 12

SHE did her work and cleared out by just a little after eight. Edwina showed up at nine exactly and she stayed until seven. So wedded to her schedule was she that Meriel was pretty sure she could avoid her mother for at least the next few days. Maybe the whole week if she played it right.

A court commissioner’s hearing, two land use committees, a strategy meeting with a few of the attorneys Meriel used for contract work when more came up than she could handle on her own, even a trip to DDES and she found herself free and heading back to her apartment by four thirty that afternoon.

Only, as she stood in the aisle of her favorite local grocery store, unease slithered through her. Someone was watching her. Broad daylight, the place filled with people and the edge of whatever danger lurked was still sharp.

Regular sight showed her nothing. No one out of the ordinary lurking around. No obvious signs of magick being used. Aside from general annoyance and traffic grump, there were no signs of extreme emotion from anyone in the immediate area.

She paid quickly and headed to her car. No one was following her that she could see. No one looked out of the ordinary. Everyone in the lot was human and posed her no threat at all.

And yet …

She used her othersight and still saw nothing but a slight smudge at the very corner of her eye. Her personal protection wards were intact and hadn’t risen to action so there was no direct magickal attack on her.

Her eyes told her everything was okay. Her magick told her everything was okay. But her gut didn’t agree.

She went home, not taking a direct route, watching to see if she was being followed, but she wasn’t as far as she could tell.

She locked the door and closed the wards and headed straight to the phone to call Nell.

“Nell, I need you to come by when you can,” Meriel said as Nell picked up.

“What is it?”

Meriel gave her a brief rundown. “It’s probably nothing. But my gut …” She shook her head. “It feels like it’s something. I used my othersight, there was nothing there. But it’s not that, it feels like I was blind to something. There was this thing at the very edge of my vision. Like a smudge. But I get headaches sometimes and that happens. I don’t know if I’m explaining this well enough. But your eyes will be better.”

“I’ll be over shortly.”

She needed to be busy so she began to prepare dinner and listened to her messages.

Uh-oh, one from her mother wanting to meet. She’d have to return that call when Edwina was sure to be out of the office.

More than her concern that Edwina would shove the ascension in her face, Meriel worried that her mother would make Dominic feel small. That she’d take his plusses and make them minuses.

She toyed with the idea of going to her father first. Her father did tend to run interference for their mother. He was softer, easier with people. He adored his wife and understood her in a way most everyone else couldn’t. Meriel thought it quite sweet.

On the day she graduated from law school, he’d taken her aside. “Your mother loves you and she’s proud of you. I think sometimes she’s just terrified of making herself vulnerable enough to say it the way you need to hear it.”

Edwina loved her, she knew it. They just had trouble getting along. But the foundation was of mother and daughter and Meriel trusted that part would carry them through the rough times.

The sound of Nell’s knock caught Meriel’s attention and she opened the wards as Nell unlocked the door with her key and came in.

“So there’s nothing on your car or in the garage. Gage went to the market; he says there’s some odd energy there, but he doesn’t recognize it.”

Nell interrogated her until Meriel felt like a total wuss and that she’d overreacted. She said as much.

“We all have magickal abilities. It’s what makes us witches. Your magick is intuitive in a way few others possess. If your gut told you to leave, pushed you to go, I have zero doubt there was a threat. It’s your internal alarm system and that’s why clan leaders stay alive. If it happens again, I want you to get the fuck out of there and call me immediately. Just what you did this time.”

“Stay for dinner. Call Gage too. There’s plenty.”

“Cripes, I hope this shit isn’t connected to that stuff on the East Coast.” Nell hopped up on the stool and accepted a slice of cheese Meriel offered. “I spoke with the Rodas hunter today and he was helpful. We’ve set up an account where we can input information. Sort of a magickal wiki page.” She snorted. “This could be something related to those mages. Maybe they’re scouting around and found you because you’re powerful. It’s not like it’s a really big secret who the next in line to run Owen is. But I don’t want to jump to conclusions. But what they’re facing is scary shit, Meriel. If that’s what we have, if these mages have sent out teams or scouts to track and stalk witches they’ll target to take and drain, we need to step it up. I’m adding some personnel to do some daily sweeps of the area around the building and the residences of all the full-council witches. We’ll start with that while we work out more info.”

Meriel’s phone rang and she looked at the screen. Dominic.

DOMINIC had been in a meeting with a group of boutique small-batch liquor companies when he’d come over feeling quite strange. A flash of energy shot up his spine and brought the hair on the back of his neck to stand.

He didn’t quite know what to think at first. He wondered if he was coming down with something or if perhaps the ahi he’d had for lunch might have been off. Nervousness brought his knee to bounce until he forced himself to stop.

As he sipped icy vodka served to him on a tray held by a rather ridiculously beautiful woman who leaned enough to give him a glimpse of her body to her belly button, he couldn’t relax enough to enjoy it. The pretty woman or the vodka.