Page 10 of Stubborn as a Shadow

“You wouldn’t be going to all those other markets without a reason. Can’t I just want to help you?”

“And…?”

“And… I think a guy named Rudy Tada might be in trouble. I want you to keep an eye out for him. Maybe get him to safety if he looks like he needs help.”

I frowned. “The SC wants me to be some guy’s protection detail?”

“Not the SC,” she whispered. “This is a personal favor. I’ll owe you.”

I absorbed that for a minute. No one with magic like ours indebted themselves to someone if they didn’t have to. “Who is this guy?”

“I don’t really know…”

“You aren’t making any sense.”

She blew out what I could only imagine was a frustrated breath, since I could hear it through the phone. “I know. But I can’t get inside the market myself, because I’ll be stuck watching video feeds from a small hotel room down the road with two other SC agents. You’re the only one I can trust with this.”

I frowned. “Can you at least tell me about his magic? Because I draw the line at protecting assholes.”

Most people would refuse the job based on the guy’s presence at a black magic market alone, but I understood better than most that not everything was black and white, light and dark.

“No black magic,” Venus said quickly.

“So why is he going to a market like this? What else do you know about this guy?”

“All I can tell you is his name.”

That wasn’t quite the same as her not knowing anything about the guy, but… I thought about it. Did it matter? Maybe it didn’t. I needed to get the hell out of town for a while. Figure out my next steps without everyone watching me.

“Okay, tell me more.”

3

I NEED A WIN, DAMN IT

NELSON

I stayed outside long after the call ended, unwilling to face all those chatty Willow Lakers again. At least going to this market would get me away from here for a weekend.

When the cold finally got to be too much, I pushed away from the wall, only to find Gage stalking toward me. I leaned back against the building and waited for him to reach me. His skin had a red tinge to it, a sign his demon side was close to the surface. His hot breath formed little clouds in front of his face, which he burst through with each step he took.

“Who was that?” Gage demanded, gesturing at my phone.

“The SC.”

“Is this about the unicorn? Did you find him this afternoon?” Gage narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t report in yet. I didn’t even know you’d returned until Jake mentioned something just now.”

I wasn’t technically on Gage’s team any longer. None of us were. But he still expected updates. And he was right. I should have gone straight to him to debrief. I just hadn’t been ready to vocalize my latest failure yet.

“No unicorn,” I said, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice. I doubted I’d succeeded. “But it wasn’t a completely useless mission. I found the cage he’d been in. It was empty. No sign of a struggle, although there was some blood.”

Gage absorbed that for a moment. Then he nodded at my phone. “So, what did the SC want?”

“It was Venus. She had some intel.”

“About what? And why the hell is she phoning you directly?” His nostrils flared. Then his mouth twisted, and he rubbed his hand over his face. “Fuck. Never mind. Stupid question. I’m not officially your team lead anymore. I just… I don’t like it.” His gaze caught on mine. “What’s the intel? Do you want to talk about it?”

I didn’t mind Gage’s questions. He’d been in the SC a lot longer than I had. I respected his experience and knowledge. And I would always think of him as my team lead, even if my SC paperwork said otherwise. “Another market.”