Free Chaos Burning by Lauren Dane Page B

was done with a run she was fully charged, even as she’d physically gotten her ass kicked.
    The automatic nature of running or walking always opened her mind up to thinking over problems. It was one of the reasons why she so often went for long walks or runs. Just to turn her body over to something physical while her mind would be free to mull over things.
    They ran and she thought. The tragedy in Toronto was heavy on her mind and her heart. She’d failed to help them find the kidnapped witches until after they’d been murdered. She hated to fail on normal stuff; failing when people’s lives were at stake left her tied in knots.
    And left her with the inescapable belief that this was so much more than junkie turned witches and mages getting afix. They were organized. The disappearances happened too close together to be the same group of witches they’d dealt with here in Seattle a few months back. So there appeared to be several teams at work.
    The kidnappings had similar patterns, which was another point in the organized column. Operating in several cities and with some basic knowledge of the most often hidden lives of Others.
    The new mafia? After all, hadn’t human organized crime started with illegal drugs and other forbidden pleasures like prostitution and gambling? Which meant looking for one or two people was a waste of time. Because someone, or some group of someones, was at the top giving orders. So then who was the boss? A turned witch, even one with a very long life, still had an expiration date. Who was in charge then and why?
    And now it had jumped from witches as the sole victims to include more than one type of Other like Weres. Which meant there was a greater hunger for the trafficked magic. If it was for recreational use, it would indicate thousands of mages hungering for stolen magic for their power. So where did they come from all the sudden? It didn’t entirely make sense.
    Another scary thing was that the mages and turned witches had no way to hold the stolen magic for later use. While witches like Lark and those in the Owen and Gennessee clans had the use of a font, non-witches lacked the ability to create or hold a font together.
    Mages used the power they stole to enhance their own spells. So when they drained a witch, they took all the power, using it immediately. Turned witches fed their hunger immediately as well.
    So what was their purpose? Why work together? Was there something out there she hadn’t factored in? Was there another threat they weren’t seeing? Or had underestimated?
    Until she understood them, she wouldn’t be able to catch them. Sure, she could catch the turned witch here and there, but this was a conspiracy of sorts and the why was integral to stopping it.

Chapter 7
    “IF you were any other person, I think I’d be worried about your penchant for going on long walks alone at two in the morning.” Simon looked her up and down after she’d proclaimed she needed to go for a long walk. This witch and her walks. Didn’t she remember there were people out there trying to hurt her?
    And she happened to look like an easy target that night. Albeit a pretty one. She wore a short skirt showcasing legs he thought he’d been the only one to see when she swam in his pool or ran on his land.
    But she’d come to his club after her date. He reminded himself of this fact. And she’d returned from her date with a giant slice of cheesecake that she’d presented to him with a grin.
    He was defenseless against cheesecake. And it was pretty delicious. She’d situated herself at his table and chattered away while he’d wondered just exactly how her date had ended.
    Early enough, he thought somewhat triumphantly. It had been just after midnight when she’d shown up.
    Was there a kiss? Probably not. He’d have scented that. “So I didn’t know you liked shifters.”
    She snorted and stole a strawberry from his plate. “Are we on that again? What’s not to like, anyway? When