He paused for a moment and then laughed. “God, I’ve missed you. We talked about the whole thing with my family. He just reminded me of who I was. I want to talk to you about all this face-to-face.”

“I’ll be home tomorrow morning. Eleven thirty. You can pick me up from the airport. Call Gage and tell him.”

By the time they hung up she felt a lot better.

HE was there where the gates dumped passengers. A huge bouquet of red roses in one hand. He looked so good she sighed.

Many women paused as they passed him, taking a long look, trying to get his attention but he had nothing for any of them. He looked at no one and nothing but Meriel. And when she reached him, he put his free arm around her and hauled her up to her toes to receive the kind of kiss she’d missed so very much.

“You’re back.”

She nodded.

“Are you free for the day or do I have to share you with work?”

“I’m all yours.”

“Yeah. I’m a lucky guy that way.”

She took the bouquet and buried her face in the silk of the blooms, breathing in deep. He had no idea but she loved getting flowers.

He got her settled in the car and she relaxed for probably the first time since he’d dropped her at her door on Sunday night.

“So I talked with Nell earlier today.”

She nodded. “Yeah, me too.” In the time since they’d learned about Gloria Ochoa’s existence, Meriel had come to believe that the only way to exorcise her from Dominic’s mind and heart was to find her and get rid of her. Nell had suggested, and Meriel agreed, that Gloria would probably be amenable to a cash inducement. But the next in line and the part of her that was Dominic’s woman was pretty sure there was only one way to deal with Gloria. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but it if did, Gloria would deserve it. Besides, Nell was only tossing that out because Meriel had demanded some nonlethal remedies as well as the numerous violence-filled ones.

Nell had found someone who might just be Gloria. She’d been living in Canada for several years, but had recently shown up in Michigan. Coincidentally, they’d recently gotten a report of a witch in Detroit who’d been attacked and drained. Someone had approached mid-attack and they’d left the witch for dead. It was a silly thing, but Meriel was totally sure Gloria also had something to do with the recent attacks in Seattle.

“You think she’s part of the attack.” He said it flatly, totally able to read her.

“Yes. I do. And the ones here as well. I have no reason to believe anything else. Given her history, it’s clear to me that if she’s in the same place as an attack against a witch or the site of some sort of ugly ritual, she’s part of it. I’m sorry for that. But I can’t pretend it’s not true. Even to make you happy.”

He was quiet awhile as he drove. “I don’t want to write her off entirely.”

She was quiet, just listening to him process as the miles passed.

“Simon didn’t actually punch me in the face. He just threatened to,” he said suddenly.

“I know. He told me.” She didn’t want to keep that communication between them secret. Dominic needed to know that he had people around him who cared enough to make him upset if that’s what it took to get him to face the truth.

“He was right. You’re right.”

She took his hand and he squeezed. “I’m sorry I’m right. I wish I wasn’t.”

“Yeah well, me too. Nell yelled at me.”

That was a surprise. Nell hadn’t mentioned it. “She did? I didn’t know.”

“She told me I made you cry.”

“She had no right.”

“Don’t get mad. She was right to make me see what a dick I was being. I just wanted to believe she wanted me. Not Nell,” he added quickly, “my mother.”

Meriel wanted to laugh at that, but he was so sad. “I want you. Tom wants you. Edwina is charmed silly by you. My dad thinks you’re wonderful. If Nell yelled at you, it means she likes you, just sayin’. I know this is hard. But this is about what she’s missing. Not what you’re lacking. She had a gorgeous little boy and she hurt you. What she is repudiates all of what we are. What we stand for. And that people like her are joining with humans who want to erase us from the face of the earth makes it even worse. She’s a threat to me and mine. You’re mine. I won’t let her hurt you again. Are we clear on that?”

He sighed. “I don’t know how you manage to always say what I need to hear, but thank you. However, I don’t want you going to meet her on your own. If this is her and you manage to track her down, let Nell and her people take care of this.”

Meriel said nothing.

This was personal. This woman had used and abused Dominic. She’d left a swath of pain in her wake and that had to be answered. Meriel wanted this bitch to understand just what she was dealing with and that was best done face-to-face.

“Meriel, I can hear the gears turning in your head.”

“Dominic, I need to confess something to you.”

“Do you? Crap, Meriel, are you going to tell me you have to? I really think you don’t need to go there.”

She raised one brow and waited until he got himself calm again. “I’m aware that many believe I’m too mellow to run a clan. I’m efficient, yes; they trust my brain and even my magick. But they don’t know if I’m tough enough. Mainly because really, unless I started going Godzilla and tearing cities apart, how can I outdo my mother in that department?”

He laughed.

“In any case, in general, I prefer to avoid conflict when I can. Not because I’m afraid of it or because I’m too weak to fight back. But because conflict eats up your time. It is exhaustive in terms of energy you have to expend to be involved in it. More if you mean to win, and I’d never do it if I didn’t mean to win. I’d rather spend my time on other things and in general, most people aren’t worth that much of my time and energy.

“But sometimes, well, sometimes we need to show and not tell. If you get my meaning. This woman has harmed the people I love. The people I’m honor bound to protect. I will be involved in whatever it takes to eradicate any threat she may pose.”

He was silent a long time as they approached her building.

“I agree, that we are honor bound to protect Owen witches.” He touched her face. “And each other.”

“I can hear the unspoken but at the end of that sentence.” He took her bags and escorted her upstairs.

“Before we continue this discussion, let’s try something. I learned something in San Francisco. Use your othersight.” She took his hand and opened her own. “You can see how everything here has an energy signature. Plants look a certain way, inanimate things like benches or walls have that flat, opaque feel.”

He nodded.

“Just beneath that there’s another kind of signature. But I didn’t know what to even look for until one of the witches I met day before yesterday showed me something.”

Meriel drew the sigils in the air. This sort of magick was older than spoken spellwork and varied all across the world. The witch in San Francisco had learned it while she’d been in Tibet.

“Do you see how it all works together?” she asked Dominic, indicating the symbols she’d drawn in the air.

“It’s like calculus. Holy shit, this is beautiful and really old.” He looked at it and added something and then adjusted a symbol earlier on in the spell. Their intent made it real and suddenly the hallway to her apartment exploded into a wash of colors. Of ebbs and flows of the kinds of energies lining the place.

“How did you know how to do that?” Whatever he’d done to adjust the spell, it made everything else fade into the background, enabling her to focus on these energy swirls.

“I aced calculus.” He shrugged. “You told me to let my gut have its say. It seemed right to fix it the way I did.”

“That was awesome.”

Surprise washed over his face. He dipped to kiss her. “Thank you.”