Read Online Stone Cold by Devon Monk - Free Book Online Page B

her.
    â€œTell me you have someone tailing her,” I said to Dash.
    â€œSeveral someones. Want me to put in a call so they keep her in the city?”
    â€œShe’ll slip them,” Allie said. “She’s been a Hound for too long now not to expect someone to be shadowing her.”
    â€œSuggestions?” Dash said.
    â€œTell the Hounds to—” Allie stopped, took a deep breath, and held it.
    Zay shifted and looked down at her, his arm up off her as if she suddenly couldn’t bear the weight of it. He wasn’t breathing either.
    I scanned the room, expecting magic or some kind of attack. Nothing.
    â€œHello?” I said. “Are you two okay?”
    They exhaled in unison. Allie nodded. “Fine. False alarm.”
    â€œFalse alarm for what?” I asked.
    â€œContractions,” Zay said. He gave me a level look that did nothing to hide the fact that he’d gone a little wide-eyed for a minute there.
    â€œThe baby?” Dash asked. “Allie, do we need to get you to the hospital?”
    â€œNo.” She brushed her fingers back through her hair and tucked it behind her ears. “It’s false labor. Just giving us a preview for the big day.”
    I shifted my gaze back to Zay. He settled his arm around her again and was working the supercalm and supercollected. Nice cover-up, but I could see the panic in the twitch of his lips.
    â€œIsn’t it a little early for the baby?” I asked, just to watch Zay sweat.
    â€œA little, but I’m not having the baby yet,” Allie said. “This is fine.
Normal,
” she stressed, taking Zay’s hand and giving it a squeeze.
    I delighted in the faint sheen of sweat that broke out on his forehead.
    â€œYou sure it’s not the real deal?” I asked while Zay’s heart rate kicked up a bit. “Baby could be here any second, mate. You sure you’re ready for that?”
    â€œI’m not in labor,” Allie said, giving me a dirty look because she knew exactly what I was doing. “I’d know.”
    â€œOf course, darlin’, ’cause you’ve done this so many times yourself.”
    â€œShut up, Shame,” Terric said.
    â€œJust tell the Hounds to keep an eye on Sunny,” Allie told Dash. “Contact and pay a few of them between here and Spokane to look out for her. If Sunny goes after Davy, we’ll want to know where she is at all times.”
    â€œSure,” Dash said.
    â€œAnd what are we going to do about finding Davy?” Terric asked. “If Krogher and Eli are on the move, they might be vulnerable. This could be our chance to pinpoint him.”
    We were all quiet. We’d tried looking for him all the standard ways, and plenty of nonstandard ways, for months. But wherever Eli Collins had him hidden, it was buttoned up so tight we had gotten nowhere.
    That was the problem when your enemy buddied up with government insiders like Krogher. They suddenly had resources for a lot of things, including experimental magic tech.
    We were at a dead loss for anything else we could do to find him. Well, anything nonmagical.
    â€œIf the baby’s doing okay—” Allie started.
    â€œNo,” Zay said.
    â€œBut you could find him, couldn’t you, Zay?” she asked.
    â€œWe don’t know that,” he said.
    Actually we did kind of know that. One of the tricks that Zayvion had picked up from being Guardian of the gates was he could go into a sort of Zen state and locate people in the city. He was especially good at locating people he knew, and he knew Davy very well.
    Of course that was when magic was broken and strong.
    â€œWe could break magic,” Allie said. “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt the baby. I’m far enough along—”
    â€œNo,” Zay said. He closed his eyes for a moment, and Allie stared off into the middistance, then closed her eyes, listening to whatever he was saying to her in her mind.
    The