My foster mom leans over the map, her eyebrows drawing together with concentration. “And what exactly was funky about this rift?”

  It’s a little strange seeing Sorsha take anything very seriously. The phoenix shifter may be in the running for the position of most powerful shadowkind in existence—partly because she’s an incredibly rare hybrid, with strengths from both her human and monstrous sides—but she manages to approach nearly everything the world throws at her with a light-hearted attitude.

  As a kid, growing up under her watch, her breezy approach gave me a respite from the trauma of having my parents murdered in front of me. Which maybe she understood better than I realized at the time, considering I later found out that she went through a similar tragedy at close to the same age.

  As an adult, I appreciate how she mixes humor with compassion and determination. It often makes difficult situations a little less intimidating to tackle.

  But it also means that when even she turns solemn, I know the problem’s a big deal.

  “I couldn’t sense it the same way the shadowkind on my team could,” I admit, peering at the spot we’ve marked on the map at the coordinates where we found the rift. “It was definitely closer to the ground than any I’ve encountered before, so I don’t know if the sensations I could pick up on were because of proximity or something else. But the energy it gave off felt kind of… twitchy, erratic.”

  “Is that how the beings you were working with would describe it too?”

  I nod. “Something like that. Like it was larger, more imposing, and more unsettling than they’d have expected. None of them were willing to step through it to see what would happen, even though they’ve all traveled back and forth between the realms plenty of times before. It unnerved them enough that venturing inside felt like a significant risk.”

  Sorsha hums to herself, tucking a stray lock of bright red hair behind her ear. “I’ve definitely never come across a rift that shadowkind were repelled from. The weird, morphing creatures you said seem to have come out if it—do you think the rift changed them into something odd, or does it connect to an odd part of the shadow realm that we might be unaware of?”

  I spread my hands in a gesture of helplessness. “I have no idea. Have you heard of either of those things happening before?”

  “No.” She sucks her lower lip under her teeth to worry at it and then flashes a smile at me with more of her usual lively spirits. “But the mysteries this world offers us appear to be endless. It’ll be interesting seeing what comes of this one. At least the worst threat you’ve had to deal with is some minor sorcerer.”

  I don’t know how “minor” the sorcerer who’s been controlling some of the strange shadowkind creatures is, but it’s true that he hasn’t posed much of an obstacle to our investigations so far. We can’t be sure whether he intended that one aggressive pack to attack us in particular or just anyone their path crossed with.

  He might not even be aware that anyone’s investigating. We simply got caught in whatever mess he’s making for his own ends.

  I rub my jaw. “The creatures are some kind of threat too. From the reports we’ve gotten and what we’ve seen, they don’t have the normal shadowkind instincts to be wary of humans and avoid being spotted. Some of that could be due to the sorcerer’s influence, but at least one of them wasn’t under any sorcery at all and still frightening people.”

  Rollick’s voice carries through the doorway ahead of him. “And that’s why we need to get a better understanding of what exactly this unusual rift is about.”

  The demon strides into the small meeting room with his usual assured air—and with Peri hurrying along behind him. At the sight of her vibrant hair and shapely body, my pulse hiccups. I can’t help tensing up in an effort to lock my emotions down.

  I’ve been grappling with my attraction to her what feels like ages now, but it wasn’t that hard to keep under control even when we were traveling together. I’m one of the teachers here and the closest thing to an authority figure on our small team—she’s a student and dependent on my evaluation. Pursuing anything more than friendly with her would be wrong.

  But when she fell into my arms the other day, when I stared into her eyes just inches from mine and her brightly sweet scent flooded my lungs, all my better intentions flew out the window.

  She makes me feel brighter, from the inside out. Like a light flicks on inside me when she’s around, when she smiles at me, when she makes one of her encouraging remarks.

  I don’t know how to turn that light off anymore. Worse, an increasingly large part of me doesn’t want to.

  I’ve met a lot of shadowkind over the years, but never a being like her. Why did it have to be like this, in a position that compromises every shred of my integrity?

  Rollick doesn’t appear to notice my reaction. He strolls over to the table to join us in studying the map. Sorsha, knowing me much better than he does, raises one eyebrow slightly but doesn’t comment. She turns back to the demon.

  I keep my gaze away from Peri, figuring I’m less likely to reveal more if I pretend she’s simply not here.

  Sorsha taps the marked spot on the map. “I’d like to take an up-close look at this thing. It’d be good to bring Snap along and see what he can taste from it with his power too. Omen might be willing to take a leap through it and see what’s on the other side.”

  Her four partners—the men who acted as my squad of sort-of dads—stopped by the academy with her today to offer guest talks on their specialty subjects. My spirits lift at the thought of having my makeshift family mostly back together for our next road trip.

  But Rollick is shaking his head. “There’ll be time for that later. This little team has been making good progress, but my colleagues aren’t prepared to let them rejoin the regular school program yet. I’d like to give them more chance to prove themselves.”

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  He catches my eye. “I have a few instruments I’d like you to bring along on your next trip out there. The readings they take will help us make a more objective assessment of what exactly is different about this rift.”

  I lift my chin, ignoring the knot that’s formed in my gut. I’m going to be in charge again, wrangling the four very different shadowkind who sometimes seem more interested in fighting each other than finishing our mission.

  We have made it through without killing each other so far, though. Peri deserves a chance to prove herself even if I’m not sure about the others.

  “Of course,” I say. “It shouldn’t take long now that we know exactly where to go.”

  “I’ll be sending equipment for trapping one of the strange creatures as well, if you have the opportunity,” the demon adds. “But that’s a lower priority at the moment. I’d also like you to test if you can ‘convince’ the rift to shrink even a small amount with your sorcery. Its size and power concern me.”

  That makes two of us. I swallow past the sudden dryness in my throat. “I’ll give it my best shot. I’ve never tried to use sorcery on a rift before.”

  He claps me on the shoulder. “There’s a first time for everything. You can have the rest of the day to take your leisure—no teaching necessary. I’ll have all you require loaded onto the jet for a departure tomorrow morning.”

  Sorsha folds her arms over her chest. “You really believe in throwing people into the deep end, don’t you, Rollick?”

  He grins at her crookedly. “At least I don’t have any intention of burning the whole world down. But they won’t be lacking backup. I was hoping you and your associates would show off the speeds that RV of yours is capable of and take me on a trip up the same way, so we’ll be nearby if the team needs additional assistance.”

  Knowing he’ll be close by eases most of my nerves and appears to mollify Sorsha too. She swipes her hands together with a satisfied expression. “There’s room in the Everymobile for one more. Or two or three, if your associates—”

  Rollick cuts her off with a raised hand. “We have other matters that are keeping us busy, or I’d have been more involved already. I’m hoping this will be a quick trip as it is.”

  Sorsha laughs as if accepting a challenge. “Omen will make sure of that.”

  Rollick pats Peri on the shoulder. “You wanted to take another look at the map, so go ahead. Then you should get some rest too, shiny one.”

  As he ambles out of the room, my gaze follows him. I want to ask what other business has been keeping him and his colleagues busy, but I don’t think he’d tell me. The demon tends to keep his cards close to the chest.

  I hope Quinn, the woman he’s committed to alongside three of those colleagues, is all right. Her health has always been shaky. But it’s thanks to her strength that I’m alive at all.

  Sorsha lopes out after Rollick, and my skin tingles with the awareness that I’m now alone with Peri.

  I step to the side to put more distance between us, with an easy excuse. “I’ll get out of your way. If you notice anything new that you think might be useful, let the rest of us know.”

  I’m planning on walking out of there as casually as I can, but Peri fixes me with her vivid blue gaze. My legs stall.

  A worried crease has formed on her forehead. She hesitates before speaking. “Did I do something to upset you?”

  My stomach drops. I haven’t been hiding my internal conflict well enough.

  “Not at all,” I say as firmly as I can. “You’ve been great, Peri. I’m not sure we’d have gotten this far into the mission without you.”

  She only looks more puzzled. “Something’s been making you uncomfortable around me in the past couple of days. You don’t have to talk about it, but if there’s anything I can do to fix what went wrong, I’d want you to tell me.”

  I know she would. Fuck, what do I even say?

  I grope for an answer. “It really isn’t your fault. I’m just sorting some things out that are mine to deal with.”

  She steps closer, making my pulse skip a beat. Then she touches my forearm as if trying to solidify a connection between us. “You’ve helped me a lot too, you know. The one thing I’m good at is helping people sort through their feelings. If you’d ever want a hand with that.”

  Heat blooms through my arm where she’s touching me. I ease back as gently as I can so I’m out of reach. “Thank you for the offer. This is the kind of thing it’s better that I work out on my own.”

  Peri is watching me even more intently now. She takes another step toward me as if checking for something.

  The wall stops me from retreating any farther. She lifts her hand to trace her fingers along my jaw, and a zing of desire shoots to my groin.

  I’m about to yank myself away even knowing it’ll confuse her more when she pulls back instead. Her eyes widen.

  Her voice comes out even softer than before. “Why does it bother you that you like being close to me? I wouldn’t expect anything from you or—”

  Shit. The cat’s out of the bag now.

  I interrupt before she can spiral any further into anxiety. “Like I said, it isn’t your fault, Peri. It’s just not… appropriate, when I’m your teacher and evaluating your performance on the mission. We can’t control our feelings, but we can control how we act based on them. And I can’t act on those feelings at all.”

  I’m afraid she might not understand the subtleties of those dynamics, but a ruddy orange sheen ripples over her hair as a blush crosses her cheeks. “Oh. Oh, I didn’t even think about— I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be pushy.”

  “I know.” I manage a small smile that’s genuine enough. “It’s all right. I’m just being careful to make sure I don’t do anything that wouldn’t be fair. You really don’t have to worry about me. I’ll leave you to the map.”

  I duck out of the room without looking back, hoping that explanation will satisfy her… and regretting how much I’ve already inadvertently revealed.