MAKING MAGICKAL ALLIANCES: A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Novel by Leigh Raventhorne (best color ereader .txt) 📗

not be together. We’re not even sure who took them,” he said cautiously. I felt my face fall. He held up a hand. “But . . . we can try. Just don’t get your hopes up. Jeremy has his people on Harris and I still think that will be our best lead, right now.”

Dorn growled with frustration. “We’ve found no signs of those that stole our children or that have given us any real direction of where to search. If this will give us any chance at all, we need to pursue it.”

Rand ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. There’s also a good chance the estate is compromised. The Draftmans and the pixies can handle most of the property. Can your people take the river and any other waterways leading to it?”

“We’ve already got extra patrols out because of the missing children, but we’ll do our part.”

“Good,” he said. “Let’s get back and see what the guys found in their search.”

The mood felt tense when Rand and I walked into the kitchen. Everyone else was there ahead of us. From the mouthwatering smell, Gloria had outdone herself with dinner once again.

“Hey, Roxie. You’ve got to taste this.” Tess shoved a plate piled high with pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, and a generous helping of steamed vegetables drowning in butter at me. Was she trying to distract me?

Balancing the plate in one hand and picking up the fork with the other, I took a bite of the baked macaroni and cheese. It was melt-in-your-mouth amazing. Before I could take another bite, Rand took the fork from me. I seriously thought about telling him to get his own, then caved and watched as he tasted it. His brows went up. He handed my fork back and headed straight for the food laid out on the counter.

“I think he likes it.” I waited while he got a plate together. Off to one side of the kitchen, I saw Sam slip Toby a bit of pulled pork. “Hey, if he gets gassy from that, he’s sleeping in your room tonight.” Tess snickered. When Rand finished filling his plate and rejoined us, I told everyone about our talk with Dorn between bites of food. When I’d finished, Clyde cast a dark look at his brother and reached for something in his pocket.

“We found these.” He held up two small black discs. “They’re magnetic. There was one on the Charger and one on the Hummer.” That must explain the atmosphere in the room.

“I think we were pretty much expecting it at this point,” Sam said, setting her plate down. “Here’s what we’ve found on this Paragon group so far. The delivery service is new and it’s only a small part of their holdings. The research team is still digging, but it would appear the company itself has been around for a long time, in one form or another. A very long time. They have their own symbol on the stock exchange and their holdings are strong, which means they’re probably extremely well funded. The only address they could find associated with the group is a P.O. Box in Massachusetts.”

“Ooh, let me guess,” Tess volunteered. “Salem?”

“You got it. Other than that, there’s not much information floating around about them.”

I took another bite, chewing slowly while I thought about that. “Okay, so they’re old, they’ve got money, and they’re going after fae children. We still don’t know why.”

“It doesn’t matter why. They’ve got them; we need to get them back.” Up until now Dutch had been quiet. The vehemence in his voice was mirrored by the determination on his face.

“Sam, is there any information about how dangerous they might be?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

Pointing at the discs Clyde still held, Rand said, “Trackers that small and that sophisticated aren’t cheap. They must mean business if they’re willing to spend so much money on the off chance that one of them might lead them to those kids. We still don’t even know if the kids were the targets or not. They might have been after one of the adults or even you, for that matter, Roxie. Why else would they have tracked your vehicles?”

I wondered if that was true. Could I have been the original target? “What would they want with me? I’m new to all of this.”

“Maybe that’s why they would want you,” Tess said, pointing her fork at me before taking another bite. “You’re new, you weren’t raised by witches, therefore, you might not have the same outlook when it comes to your own kind. You’ve given a couple of pretty impressive magickal shows over the past few months. If they got wind of you and did a little research, maybe watched you . . .  She shrugged. “It’s totally possible.”

I pondered her words. There was no way this group could possibly know I hadn’t been raised knowing about any of this, was there? Paulette hadn’t been able to dig anything up on me in relation to Stella, but she hadn’t really had anything to go on, either. With most of the legalities involved when I’d inherited Stella’s estate, maybe they could have found all of that out, though I knew Mr. Lido would have kept as much of it as he could private. I’d have to find out just how much was public about me now. The thought of being watched without realizing it just plain pissed me off, pushing any fear I’d initially felt away. “Okay, so how do Margo and Harris tie in to all of it?”

“Maybe they don’t.” She gave another shrug. “Or maybe they do. Margo might want you out of the way and she pointed these Paragon goons in your direction when she saw an opportunity. The kids could have been just collateral damage or a bonus or something.” At Dutch’s glower, she put her hands up. “Hey, I