Free Motor City Witch by Cindy Spencer Pape Page B

have the girl.”
    Elise bit her lip until it bled to cover a gasp.
    Aidan’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the phone. “What do you want?”
    “Actually, Lord Green Oak, what we want is you.”
    “Explain.” The sheer menace in his tone should have had whoever was on the other end shaking in his boots.
    Instead he chuckled. “It’s quite simple. We’re willing to trade the halfling for someone much more useful. You turn yourself over to us and we’ll return the brat.”
    “I want to hear her voice right now,” Aidan barked. “If I’m assured that she’s unharmed, I’m willing to make the switch.”
    There was a scuffling sound on the other end of the phone and Elise held her breath, praying to every god she’d ever heard of. Please, please let Dina be okay.
    “Hello?” Her light, high-pitched voice was strong and firm, thank the gods. “Mommy? Don’t cry.”
    Meagan’s arm wrapped around Elise and kept her from lunging for the phone, even as a choked sob escaped from between her bloody lips.
    “Adina, are you all right?” Aidan gentled his tone which was as unsteady as Elise had ever heard it. “Are you hurt?”
    “I’m okay, but I want to come home. This place is dark and cold.”
    After another scuffle, a man grunted and Dina yelled, “Let me go!” This time it took Meagan and Des to hold Elise in her seat and Aidan’s fingers were stark white where they gripped the table.
    “Convinced, my lord?” The man’s oily voice was back.
    “When and where?” Aidan’s dark brows furrowed together.
    “Sunset. There’s an old burial henge south of Edinburgh called Bald Tor. You can bring the girl’s mother. No one else.”
    “One other to guard them on the way back,” Aidan bargained. “Someone who can operate the old portal.”
    “Bring anyone else and they can each take back a part of the girl.”
    That time Elise did scream the word no out loud and lunge halfway out of her seat.
    The bastard laughed. “You. The woman. Unarmed. And you come through the henge portal—not from anywhere in Elfhame.” Interesting that he used the older name for Underhill. Great—a traditionalist kidnapper.
    Elise knew the old Celtic mounds and monuments were often early portals between worlds. But how were they supposed to get there from here? She’d only been Underhill with Aidan once and that had been to the palace. She had no idea where anything there was in relation to anything in this realm.
    “Done,” Aidan snapped. “We’ll be there at sunset. And if there’s so much as a scratch on that girl’s skin, you’ll be able to count the minutes you’ve left to breathe on the fingers of one hand.”
    “Your precious little witch is unharmed. Do as you’re told and she’ll remain that way.”
    There was a click as the other man hung up.
    Elise dragged in several deep breaths while Wallis’s fingers flew across the keyboard. Aidan hadn’t even hesitated to offer himself in trade for Dina. Her head swirled.
    “Sunset in Edinburgh is roughly 6:30 p.m. local, which is 1:30 here,” the security chief said. “That gives us five hours. The drive from the Edinburgh portal to Bald Tor is about 30 minutes.”
    Five hours? Was it really only eight-thirty? Time seemed to be crawling at an unnaturally slow pace, like in a bad stop-action film.
    “Elise and I will have to drive from the Edinburgh portal,” Aidan agreed. “I’ll call and arrange to have a car waiting there. I want a team to move in from somewhere Underhill and go overland to the circle. Wallis, pull up a map of Underhill Britain. See what estates are nearby.”
    “Closest friendlies look to be the Night Sky family, but that’s out on the Isle of Skye.” Wallis typed rapidly on a laptop. “There’s the queen’s hunting lodge in Edinburgh, though.”
    Ric whistled. “The Wild Hunt. Most of the regular members aren’t exactly dependable allies. But Her Majesty still owes me a favor or two. I can probably arrange for you to borrow