40. Tuvid

40

TUVID

I got to my feet. "I'm on it." A leap, and I took flight, leaving Jasper to catch his breath and Angie to explain—or not. It was up to her whether she wanted to maintain the ruse of being my red-skinned brother or fess up to being Angie. If I was her, I'd get into the other truck, lock the doors, and remain a gargoyle until she heard I'd caught Jake, taken away the keys to his truck, and had him under arrest. I'd notify Detective Carter after that and when Jake was booked, we could straighten this out down at the station.

I had my suspicions that Jake, the incubus, might also be Jularin, Emma's boyfriend. The whys of all this still needed solid explanations.

Flying ahead of the truck, I landed in the middle of the logging road, but rather than stop, Jake gave the vehicle more fuel. If I hadn't leaped up, he would've run me over.

I called for reinforcements. Elrik wouldn't start until he'd gotten final approval from Katar, but he had said he planned to remain in town for a few weeks to look at houses to buy and if I ran into any issues, to give him a call.

"Glad to help," he said shortly. Or icily. I was going to have to work hard not to tease him about being an ice lord. The title was ancient, and his people no longer supported a royal family, but there were so many opportunities right there. I mean, his last name of Nivalis was pretty close to nix or nivis, which was Latin for snow. "See if you can get him to head south."

"Will do." I ended the call and flew ahead of Jake, landing in the northbound lane as he was pulling out onto the main road. As I'd assumed, he turned away from me rather than issue another challenge. He seemed willing to run me over, but why bother if there was another route he could take instead?

I flew above him as he barreled down the road, going much too fast for this area of town. Hopefully, we wouldn't encounter anyone else before Elrik's plan was put into place.

The vehicle approached the sharp turn where Elrik was waiting, and I held my breath, wondering what he had in store for the incubus.

When the truck swung around the sharp curve, a huge bang rang out as it plowed into a wall of ice. Elrik stood on the opposite side, a grim look on his stoic face, satisfaction gleaming in his icy blue eyes.

I landed lightly beside the truck and wrenched open the door, hauling Jake out of the vehicle. Blood gushed down his face from an injury to his forehead, and he appeared groggy, barely able to remain on his feet .

"Sit," I said when I reached the back bumper. I pulled the cuffs from my back pocket, and Elrik arrived in time to help me haul Jake's arms behind his back and secure the male to the vehicle.

"Shall I notify Detective Carter now?" Elrik asked in the flinty voice I was coming to know quite well. I might tease him about being icy, but I could already tell he was going to be an asset to our team.

"Thanks," I said.

Angie pulled the rental truck into the breakdown lane behind us. I didn't know where Jasper had gone, but it wouldn't be hard to track him down. I doubted he was involved as more than the person procuring the beer, but if he was, it was going to come out and his plan would be over. Detective Carter had more than one cell waiting inside the station.

And Jasper still might be the one sabotaging her business to get her to sell.

Angie rushed over and stood beside us. "I know why he— she ran," she panted, wrenching off her gargoyle hood. She glared down at the incubus before stepping forward and tugging a similar, fake face off Jake.

"Want to tell me what's going on, Emma?" she asked the manager who'd worked at her microbrewery for years.