Her choice of somewhere was Rock Creek Park. Which reminded me of facing down the cultists.

“Okay. First of all, we need to get some of this anger out of your system. It’s just getting in the way. And we…tend to feel, as you might have noticed, everything far more intensely than mortals.”

I had rather noticed that. “I’m…but I have a right to be angry.”

“Of course you do, but we need to process the anger so you don’t hurt yourself, anyone not involved, and so you can actually find her. Heck, the fyrhund might be worried…”

I scowled. “I would not cuff him!”

“But do you blame him for staying away? And the best way to get rid of anger is to burn it off.”

And abruptly she set off running. I knew what she had in mind, resisted for a moment, then took off after her. Burn it off. She was, I knew, right. I needed to get rid of the excess negative energy. The idea that I might just be able to track Kanesha scared me, too. I didn’t want that level of responsibility for her.

No. I didn’t want to be her superior. I wanted to be her equal – something which could never happen, but I could pretend. I could pretend and she could pretend and we’d both live a white lie.

It was worth a little bit of self-deceit. Assuming… No. She was not dead. I knew that as keenly as I knew my own body, although the trail Thruor was taking was not particularly familiar. Or particularly easy. After a while I had to concentrate entirely on running. No doubt that was part of her plan.

Eventually, she stopped in a clearing. “Better?”

I breathed hard for a few, but rapidly began to recover. “Better.”

“Next time you aren’t even seeing straight, take it for a run. It always helps. Now…”

“I know she’s not dead. I’d know if she was dead.”

“You certainly would. But whoever took her isn’t going to kill her. If they were going to, they’d have killed her in the deli.”

“She’s bait,” I said, grimly.

“Or leverage.”

“I’m going to assume bait. That way I’ll be more ready for the traps when I go after her.”

“We,” Thruor said, grimly. “Mike will probably want to come too.”

Mike could at least look after himself. “But first, we need to find her. And if you’re right and I already know where she is…”

I rested a hand on a tree. “I just need to work it out.”