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hurt?”
    He swallowed, holding her gaze as heat worked through his body. “Not badly.”
    She looked away, busied about with fresh bandages. He desperately wanted to shower but could forgo rising for another couple of hours. His stomach twisted hungrily and she seemed to sense it.
    “I’ll make breakfast,” she said as she taped fresh gauze to his side. “Any requests? Provided the power’s back on.”
    “Anything. Everything .”
    A small smile curved her lips. She closed the first aid kit with a snap. “Coming right up.”
    “Adelaide.” Erik grasped her wrist before she rose, his firm, calloused fingers firm enough to hold her without squeezing. She froze and her gaze was wary but she didn’t tense. He let her go as he didn’t want to frighten her. “Thank you.”
    “I will want an explanation at some point.”
    He hoped to be gone before he had to give it to her. “I know.”
    “And it’s Addie. You stay, I’ll get breakfast.”
    Erik nodded and stared up at the ceiling while she stood. The floor creaked under her quick steps as she headed for the kitchen.
    Wherever he’d landed last night, it seemed about the luckiest place in the world.

 
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
    Rain-soaked fields spread before him in the pale light of dawn.
    Lincoln stared, his head tilted to the side. Dark, alert eyes scanned the hills, the trees. A brutal storm had ripped through several counties, hampering search efforts through the night.
    A tall, reedy man loped through the trees toward him. Even before the man opened his mouth, Lincoln felt rage brushing his skin. He knew exactly what he’d say.
    Tall grass swished as he stopped at Lincoln’s side, his lips parting.
    “Save it, Rogers.”
    Rogers’ mouth snapped closed again and his head bowed.
    Lincoln took a few steps forward, staring down at the fields and woods. Dampness hung in the air and a chilled breeze rushed past him, stirring his long, slate-gray coat to swirl around his legs. His cold blue eyes narrowed on the hazy gray horizon but though he pressed with his magic and let it roll outward with curling tendrils that felt and tasted, he sensed...nothing.
    Hmm.
    Soft steps parted the grass behind him. A woman came to stand at his side, peering in the same direction he did. He waited, but the more silence stretched on, the more uneasy he became.
    “Nothing,” she said in a low voice barely above a whisper.
    He watched her from the corner of his eye. Her long dark red hair whirled around her shoulders but her lithe body was stock-still, a tall, unmoving form encased in black leather.
    If Angelica couldn’t sense anything... “Could he be dead?”
    Her head shook just slightly. “His soul would be in the ether. I’d call it, tear it, make it weep. But nothing. He is not dead. But he is...shielded.”
    Shielded . He knew anyone with that kind of power in the area—in the hemisphere . Knew them, used them.
    No one would cross him and house a stray like this.
    His eyes narrowed. Angelica remained at his side and behind them the others, all waiting for instructions.
    Instructions he didn’t have for them yet. This was not the way things were supposed to go.
    “Ignorant beast,” Rogers muttered. “No consequence.”
    “The beasts stay ignorant because punishment is swift and consistent,” Angelica said sharply without turning, and Lincoln allowed her to speak for him in this instance because he would not dignify stupidity with a response of his own. “Where one escapes, it allows a path for others to follow.” Her voice pitched lower. “And we will make an example out of this one.”
    The rain had washed away any scents his trackers could follow and now no trace remained, not even a slight pull as his tendrils of magic uncoiled and probed. Unexpected but he would deal.
    “Find me someone to interrogate,” he said and he turned, coat fanning, as he stalked back toward the helicopter. One of his men saw his approach and immediately rushed for the