“I felt something from you before in the alley outside of the Black Underbelly, and then again at your apartment after I let myself in and caught you unaware. I thought I’d imagined it, but now I know I didn’t. It felt as if my magic was being pulled from me, and you had the same reaction then as now. You’d doubled over and looked as if you were in pain.”

My heart skipped a beat. Holy shit. He was right. I’d felt intense, mind-blowing magic flowing into me those times too. Had that been the Fire Wolf’s magic? And maybe the half-demon’s magic as well? And just now, when the vileness had made me want to gag, had that been the warlock’s power? During all of those times, they’d been affected too, which would explain their strange reactions and crippling responses.

But if that was what was happening . . . What the actual fuck?

I tightened my arms around myself. “Look, I’m not hiding anything from you.” My words came out shaky, but I was damn near quivering in my boots at what he was implying. Nobody had power like that. “I’m being honest when I tell you I don’t understand this any more than you do.”

He cocked his head. Once again, his expression was schooled into an expressionless mask, as if wearing a veil of stoicism was the latest fashion.

I rolled my eyes, then waved my hand in the air. “But enough of all this, we need to find where they kept Tessa and see if there are any further clues. That’s what matters now.”

His nostrils flared. “We’re not done with this conversation, but I’ll table it for now.”

“Okay, Mr. CEO. We can address it at our next board meeting.”

He glowered, and I gave him a withering stare.

While he didn’t look happy that I hadn’t explained my newly acquired ability to suck people’s magic from them—which nearly killed me in the process, I might add—he did seem okay with getting back to our original plan. Thankfully.

He eyed the warlocks’ corpses again. “Why were these two waiting here?”

“Good question.”

His frown deepened. “Warlocks aren’t common. Most supernaturals don’t live to see their next day after they encounter one.” Everybody knew that warlocks’ dark magic came from sacrificing humans or supernaturals—hence, why those unfortunate enough to encounter a warlock usually ended up dead.

“And there were two waiting.” I cocked my head. “Do you think they brought Tessa here?”

He shook his head. “No, if they had, she would likely still be here, but she’s not, which leads me to believe that they were working for whoever did take her. And since whoever that person is positioned warlocks here, they didn’t want anybody who managed to hunt them this far to survive.”

“You’re right,” I said grimly.

“They’re covering their tracks well.”

“They have the same mark as Star Tattoo Guy.” I pointed at the tattoos on the warlocks’ shredded necks.

His eyebrows rose.

“That’s the name I gave the asshat who took my sister.”

“Noted.”

Together, we crouched down at the dead warlocks’ sides to inspect them. I had to cover my nose since their singed skin smelled like rotting carcasses. Even though the Fire Wolf had decapitated them, remnants of the tattoo remained on one. On the other, his skin was too scorched to make out the details, which reminded me again that the Fire Wolf could start a fire out of thin air.

“So that’s why they call you the Fire Wolf, huh?” Which was so normal . . . I could add it to the list of things I couldn’t explain about this hunter.

He grunted, which I took as a yes. “Is this what the tattoo looked like on the one who took your sister?” With one long, thick finger, he pointed at the tattoo on the less burned warlock.

There was some kind of constellation or star pattern which filled the middle of the tattoo. Around it was a circle with spikes piercing it and pointing toward the middle. There were triangles on the outside of the spikes, making them look like arrows.

I shuddered. “Yeah, that’s the same one.” I looked away from it. I had to. “So what does that mean? Are they in a gang or something? And why would they all wear the same tattoo? Wouldn’t that make them easier to identify?”

“Yes.”

I waited for him to say more. “Yes, what?”

“It makes them easier to identify.”

“So they are in a gang?”

He didn’t reply.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing.”

I rolled my eyes. So he expected me to explain what I knew, but he wouldn’t share jack shit with me. Irritation prickled my skin. “Shouldn’t you tell me since I’m employing you right now?”

He leveled me with a heavy stare. “Is that what you think you are? My boss?”

“No,” I replied, and I meant it. I wasn’t that entitled. “But I am paying you to do this job, so can’t you at least share what you’re thinking?”

He abruptly stood and took off down the hall again, going deeper into the asylum, his little glowing magical light following him. “No,” he called over his shoulder.

I seethed as I jogged to catch up. “Seriously? Whoever took my sister has warlocks on their payroll, and you won’t tell me what you know?”

He ground to a sudden stop, rounding on me. “My job is to find your sister. It’s not to reveal things I know.”

“I would just like to point out that your tone was not condescending at all,” I replied sarcastically.

His nostrils flared as energy rolled off him. I was reminded of how people had responded to him at the Underbelly. They’d parted like the tides for him, and now I understood why.

But I held my ground and crossed my arms. “So if you refuse to tell me everything, then what will you tell me?”

He turned away and began walking again, and damn me for noticing how his naked back was like a work of art. A huge tattoo spread across his shoulder blades in an inky, swirling black design. The muscles beneath it bulged and flexed as he moved. And his arms and chest were bare, his strength rippling beneath his skin. Dammit it all to hell, but my vagina was noticing again.

“I think this is bigger than either of us realize,” he called.

His comment jolted me out of my perving. “Do you think they have more warlocks who—” I couldn’t finish my sentence. If there were more warlocks, and they had my sister, I’d be lucky if she lived until tomorrow. My gut twisted.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think so. Most warlocks can’t control themselves if they have supernaturals they can sacrifice, so if whoever took your sister wants her to stay alive, I doubt they’re entrusting her care to one. I still think these two were a distraction, or to prevent anyone from discovering anything further.”

While his comment didn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, I did feel an overwhelming sense of relief, because his logic made sense. Tessa was still alive. I could feel it through the bond, so whoever had her wasn’t killing her . . . yet.

We rounded another corner, and the Fire Wolf tilted his head, inhaling. He stopped at an open doorway.

I eyed his magical light again that hung over us. “How come you didn’t light that earlier? It would have prevented me from bumping into you so much.”

“I didn’t want to draw attention to us.” He scented the air again.

I immediately tensed. “Do you sense something again? More warlocks?”

He shook his head. “No, but I can scent your sister. I think she was kept in here.” He veered through the door.

Inside, dim light dipped the room into shadows. Sunlight from outside penetrated one of the windows where a broken board hung down from its nail. Cobwebs and nests from various critters filled the large room that I guessed had once housed patients.

A dozen beds lined the wall. Their old metal frames were bare except for one.

A new mattress lay on it.

I rushed to it, my stomach sinking when I recognized a piece of torn floral fabric caught in one of the bedrails. “Oh gods.” I skidded to a stop next to the bed frame and picked up the remnant of fabric.