Motor City Witch

by Cindy Spencer Pape

  Still holding her, he backed over to the adjacent wall and sat down on the bench. His penis was still semi-erect inside her, so she straddled his lap and rested her head on his shoulder, enjoying the moment as he ran his hands through the wet length of her hair and cradled her close.

  Long moments later, she felt herself start to nod off and jerked her head up. The water had begun to turn cool. Considering the dozen or so people who’d needed showers, she was amazed the hot water had lasted this long.

  “Time to get clean, leannan,” He gave her a cheerful pat on the butt and lifted her off him before he stood as well.

  She reached for a bottle of shampoo—the same one she’d used that morning—or was it yesterday? Anyway, she took the travel-sized bottle and dumped some into her hand and started lathering her hair.

  “I was looking forward to doing that for you, but I don’t think we have time.” His slightly crooked grin made her smile back at him. Sometimes, when he forgot to be the arrogant tycoon or the mighty pirate, he was such a…guy. They both finished washing in record time as the water turned from cool to cold.

  “Since we’re all sharing the bed, you’ll need this.” He blinked in the nightgown she’d worn the night before, or one a lot like it. He handed it to her as soon as she finished toweling off, blinking in a pair of silk pajamas for himself.

  All sharing? She hadn’t thought about that, but she was too sated and tired to argue.

  “Let me do this. It’s quicker.” He ran his hands through her hair, muttering a quick spell to dry the thick, straight strands.

  “Cheater.” She poked him in the chest. “But thanks.” Fatigue was crashing in fast.

  “Your magic is a part of you—denying it does no one any good. But we’ll talk about that another time. Now, it’s time for bed.” He led her out of the bathroom, turning lights off behind them as they went. At the edge of his king-sized bed, he lifted the covers and motioned her in before him. “You get the middle.”

  Dina was sleeping peacefully, curled up with Peggy on the far edge of the bed. Elise crawled in to the middle and tucked one arm around her daughter, who snuggled back into her with a contented sigh.

  Aidan spooned up against Elise’s back and wrapped one long arm around them both. “Both my girls, safe and warm,” he whispered into Elise’s ear. “It’s a good night, love. Sleep tight.”

  Cocooned between the two people she loved more than anything else in the world, how could she do anything else?

  Chapter Ten

  Monday morning came far too early in Aidan’s opinion.

  He cracked one eye open to look at the bedside clock while he reached for the phone that was buzzing. Make that Monday afternoon. He hadn’t gotten to sleep until nearly dawn. Now it was ten past twelve.

  “Boss, you want me to cancel your conference call with the regional directors for one o’clock, or do you want to go ahead with it?” Mairead’s cheerful voice greeted him. Why was she so perky? It wasn’t as if she’d gotten any more sleep than the rest of them. “Also, Wallis wants to know if you want to be part of interrogating the prisoners. He’s getting sort of anxious about that.”

  Right.

  Aidan looked at the rumpled bed beside him, to discover that Elise was still asleep, but Dina wasn’t there. Panic rose in his throat for a moment, until he heard the toilet flush in the adjacent bathroom.

  “Cancel all business meetings until further notice. The regional directors can earn their pay for a change without me. Claim it’s a family emergency, tell them I’m sick, whatever you want. Let Wallis know I’ll be down in half an hour. And how do you feel about babysitting for a bit?”

  “Done and done.” Mairead chuckled. “Boss, if you want me to watch that adorable child, I’d be delighted. Quite honestly, I’d be willing to take it on full time as soon as you find yourself a new secretary.” She’d only filled in as his assistant out of need. Though she was good at it, Aidan knew it wasn’t her first choice of occupations.

  “Good to know—I’ll mention that to her mother after the confusion has died down.”

  Dina came back into the bedroom and grinned at Aidan who held his finger to his lips and pointed to Elise.

  Dina nodded, walked over and without any further sound climbed onto the bed next to Aidan and hugged him. He squeezed back, ignoring the dull ache in his chest. No, he wasn’t giving her up. No way, no how.

  “We’ll be down for breakfast in a few minutes,” he murmured to Mairead. “Make those calls, please.” He turned to Dina and whispered, “Do you know how to blink yourself some clothes from your house?”

  Dina bit her lip, and her smooth brow furrowed for a second before she smiled and nodded. A few minutes later, a pair of jeans embroidered with pink butterflies appeared in her hands, followed by a green long-sleeved T-shirt.

  “Good girl,” he praised. “Underthings?” Hell, he wasn’t even sure what a girl that age would wear under her clothing.

  She concentrated again and came up with a pair of cotton panties. Aidan supposed that was all she’d need.

  “Okay. I’m going into the bathroom, so you can get dressed in here,” he told her. “Quietly, so you don’t wake Mommy, all right?”

  Dina nodded.

  Aidan ruffled her hair, kissed her cheek and headed toward the bathroom, a happy smile on his face. When he came out a few minutes later, shaved and dressed in clean jeans and a hunter green silk shirt, he saw her sitting cross-legged on the floor, wrestling with a hairbrush.

  “Come on, let’s do this out there.” He jerked his thumb at the hallway. At the last moment, Aidan remembered Elise threatening to gut him with a spoon if he left her to sleep again, so he leaned over and woke her with a kiss.

  “Dina and I are going down for breakfast. You want to come with us or catch some more sleep?”

  “Sleep.” She grinned up at him. “Thanks for checking.”

  Dina gave her mother a kiss and followed Aidan out into the hallway where she handed him the brush and a pair of plastic barrettes shaped like pink butterflies.

  “Wasn’t I supposed to take a shift?” Aidan asked Cynric and Clive who were standing guard, one on each end of the corridor.

  Cynric shrugged. “Would’ve woken you eventually, but figured you and your ladies could use some sleep.”

  “Thanks.” Aidan led Dina down to the stair landing, which opened into a small sitting area. Plopping on a chair, he pulled her to stand between his knees. Painstakingly he used the brush—and maybe a touch of magic—to smooth all the tangles from her shiny dark hair. It was as thick and straight as her mother’s and almost as dark, but there was the occasional glint of copper that might, just might have come from him.

  “What you did with your clothes?” he said. “You know you can’t do that in front of other people, right?”

  “I know. People who can’t do magic might get angry if they knew other people can.” She recited the words as though they’d been drilled into her from day one—which they probably had. “Mommy doesn’t like me to do magic at all. She’s scared of it.”

  Scared? Interesting. He eased a tangle out with his magic. “You’re very smart, aren’t you?”

  “Mommy says so,” she replied, yelping only once when he pulled her hair with the brush. When Aidan apologized, she shrugged. “It’s okay. Mommy does that too.”

  Once every snarl was gone, he turned her to look at him, used the barrettes to clip the sides back from her face and held her at arms length to check.

  “Well, it’s kind of lopsided, but I think it’ll stay long enough for us to get to the kitchen. What do you say, sweeting? Waffles or French toast?”

  She grinned back at him. “Waffles with strawberries?”

  “Sounds good to me.” Taking her hand, he led her down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Mairead, Bronwyn and Tara, the cook, all fussed over her endlessly—and of course provided Belgian waffles with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Aidan ate a more balanced brunch of an omelet w
ith ham and a fruit salad, but he paid no attention to the food as he was too busy laughing and talking to Dina.

  ***

  Maybe twenty minutes after Aidan and Dina left, Elise stirred from the warm, comfy bed. She found her clothing from the day before, fresh and clean on a chair in the bathroom. After she quickly washed and dressed, she called the gallery and had a chat with her manager, making sure he could handle things for another day or even two if necessary. Finally, she placed another call, letting Sylvia, Dina’s babysitter, know that Dina wouldn’t be in. After that was taken care of, she pulled on her boots and made the trip downstairs.

  The sight that met her eyes at the kitchen door stopped her in her tracks. Aidan and Dina weren’t eating in the formal dining room, they were at the worktable in the kitchen. Several of his staff was in there as well and a couple of the other overnight guests had gathered—she didn’t miss the fact that Morgan and another armed guard stood watch in two corners of the room. A few of the assembled group were still eating, but Aidan and Dina had obviously finished. Their chairs were pulled up right next to each others’ and both glossy dark heads were bent over a coloring book. Aidan worked on the left hand page, while Dina colored on the right.

  “I still say the unicorn can be any color you want him to be,” Aidan said. “It’s only a drawing. Who says they have to be white or black like real horses? Have you ever seen a unicorn? How do you know they don’t come in blue?”

  Several of the others around the wide oak table laughed.

  “I saw one once.” Colin looked fully recovered in his chain-covered pants and rock band T-shirt. “It was black, but that doesn’t mean all of them are.”

  “This one is white.” Dina gripped the white crayon tightly. “Daddy, your dragon is supposed to be green, not purple.”

  Aidan obediently switched crayons.

  I can never separate them now. Elise knew that as well as she knew her own name. And sometime today, she had to tell Aidan that there was a good chance Dina really was his biological daughter. Her heart broke at the years the two of them would never get back—all because of her. Still, the camaraderie between them made her smile, despite her misgivings.

  He looked up and saw her, and his face brightened. “Good morning—well, afternoon. You look rested.”

  “I am, thanks.” She moved into the room and all the males stood. Colin instantly shifted over, leaving the seat on Dina’s other side empty. Elise smiled to thank him. “Tara, I’d kill for a cup of tea if you can manage. Hope I didn’t miss brunch. I had to call in to my gallery and let them know I was going to be out today.”

  “Actually, your timing is perfect.” Aidan handed over the box of crayons. “You can take over the dragon. Wallis is waiting for me in the basement. I’ll be up in a while to let you all know how things went.”

  He stood, kissed the top of Dina’s head, gave Elise a more grown-up kiss on the mouth and whistled a cheery tune as he left the room.

  Des cleared his throat from across the table and raised one eyebrow, making Elise flush and shake her head. “I think I’ll go see what’s going on in the basement.” He smiled around the table. “The League is going to need to know about this too. Excuse me, please.” As he passed Elise’s chair, he leaned down to whisper, “I’ll talk to you later.”

  Yeah, she’d look forward to that—like a root canal.

  ***

  Aidan met up with Wallis in the security office, unsurprised to find Greg with him, swilling coffee.

  Desmond, who’d caught up with Aidan in the hallway, scowled at the werewolf as he came in. “Should have known you’d be in here.”

  Greg raised one bushy eyebrow. “One of these days, Sutton, we’re going to have it out. But not today. Whatever the hell is going on here effects my people as well as yours, so we’ll put the pissing match on hold. That work for you?”

  “As long as you think you can keep from lifting your leg to mark your territory, yeah.” Des leaned against the doorframe, ignoring Greg’s glower. “So, have we learned anything from the goblins yet?”

  “Most of them are barely smart enough to know their own names, let alone spell them.” Wallis shook his head in disgust. “The orc is even dumber. Just knows he’s supposed to not let anyone into the building or out of the cells and honestly, I think that much was a geas spell. We’re going to question the wolves next. Figured the boss would want to be there for that. Odds are, they were in charge.”

  “Have you traced any ownership on the Zug Island property?” Aidan looked over Wallis’s shoulder at the computer screen. “Any way we can link Oswald to that?”

  “No, the whole area belongs to a steel company. About half of it is still in operation, making parts for what’s left of the auto industry.” Wallis typed away on his keyboard. “If Oswald had an arrangement to use the place, it was strictly off the books. More likely, he simply took over the building and masked their presence with enough magic to make the guards look the other way.”

  Aidan grunted. “Anything on the phone numbers?” He’d handed Wallis the sticky note the night before, on the way back from the island.

  “They’re all disposable cell phones. No help there. The phones on the wolves were too. Only calls dialed were the ones on that sheet and I didn’t get answers from any of those numbers when I tried.” Wallis shut down his computer screen. “Shall we go talk to the wolves?”

  “Care to let me take point?” Greg tipped his head at Aidan.

  Aidan shrugged. “Works for me.”

  “Good. Give me a pair of gloves and something silver.”

  Desmond scowled. “No torture. They’re scum, but we can’t sink to their level.”

  “I know.” Greg winked at him. “But they don’t know that.”

  Wallis handed the wolf a pair of leather work gloves, while Aidan ported in a silver signet ring. “Will this work?” He handed the ring to Greg, who slid it on over the glove.

  The werewolf’s smile was wicked. “Perfect.” Along with the others, he followed Aidan toward the stairway.

  At the bottom of the basement stairs, Aidan worked another secret door. This one led to an underground area that wasn’t beneath the actual house and didn’t show on any blueprints or city assessment forms.

  The holding area wasn’t large—three cells, each ten by twelve feet, were equipped similarly to the one where Aidan and Dina had been kept. The differences were significant, though. There were at least thin mattresses on the bunks, the prisoners had access to water for drinking or washing and Aidan had never shoved innocent children in there. The cells filled three corners of the space, with a guard post and the exit in the fourth. Another door stood open, revealing a concrete room about six by six, with a single light bulb in the ceiling and runes carved into the walls. It was meant to contain serious magical threats, but sometime in the night, Wallis must have turned it into an interrogation room. The stainless steel table and two metal chairs were new, making it look a lot like something off a TV cop show.

  The orc and five of the goblins shared one cell, the other six goblins were in another. In the center, the two werewolves paced in wolf form, though divested of their silver shackles.

  “One at a time?” Aidan asked, letting Greg take charge.

  Greg showed a hint of fang as he grinned. “Yep. Got a Taser in this place, Wallis?”

  Wallis opened a drawer in the guard’s console and pulled one out.

  “Good.” Greg bared his fangs at the wolves in the cell. “Little known fact—though wizard-boy here has probably heard about it.” They all ignored Desmond’s low snarl. “Electricity shocks shifters into changing—and knocks them for a loop. Stun ’em both and haul one in there with your silver handcuffs.”

  Without a word of protest, Wallis walked up to the bars.

  “No!” One of the wolves changed into a naked—and filthy—human and gripped the bars of the cell door. “Please don’t—we’ll come out on our own.”

  Greg showed some more fang and gr
owled low in his chest. “Just you. Walk out that door and into the other room. Try anything and my friend here will shoot you with his toy. Then I’ll have you for lunch.” He glared at the other wolf, still on four legs and cowering in the corner. “You. Stay. Good dog.” He snorted and stepped back so Aidan could unlock the cell.

  Wallis kept the Taser trained on the werewolf as he walked out of the cell, fingers laced on top of his head. Aidan relocked the cell behind him, as Greg prodded him into the questioning room and pushed him none too gently into one of the chairs.

  Des closed the door to the small chamber behind them and leaned against it, blocking any attempt the wolf might make to escape. Wallis and Aidan stepped back to either side of the door, watching Greg establish his dominance over the other wolf.

  “Make a move and the silver cuffs come back.” Greg’s voice was low and menacing. He loomed over the other werewolf at his full height of perhaps six feet, legs splayed and hands on hips, all alpha wolf. He growled softly and spit on the floor beside the chair. “Poor little omega wolf cub. Tell us who you work for and we might spare your miserable life.” The term cub was pure insult—based on the gray streaks in his hair and his lined face, this wolf looked quite a bit older than Greg.

  The other wolf found some spine and hissed, spitting back directly into Greg’s face.

  “Oh, yeah, I’m glad you did that, you pathetic pissant.” Greg grinned and held up his gloved hand, with the bulk of the silver signet ring turned inward toward the palm. He drew his hand back for a strike.

  Aidan thought about reminding Greg they’d agreed on no torture, but he trusted Greg not to cross the line—not by too much anyway. All Aidan had to do was remember Dina in that tiny, grungy cell and his scruples pretty much disappeared.

  The wolf cringed and lowered his head, exposing his neck to Greg. “No. Please don’t. What do you want to know?”

  “Take away all my fun,” Greg grumbled. “Fine. Let’s start with your name and where you’re from. I’ve never seen you in the Detroit area before.”