Lost in Magic (Night Shadows Book 4)

by Wulf,Rose

  Rhea stopped and looked back over her shoulder at Ali. She studied Ali for a long second before inclining her head so slightly Allison wasn’t sure she hadn’t imagined it. Then she continued toward her hot tub without a word.

  Allison allowed Mick to lead her inside and quietly slid the door closed behind her, leaving it unlocked for when Rhea was done.

  And all of a sudden it hit her how close to over it was.

  Mick would leave with Rhea in the morning. Chances were good she’d never see him again. How messed up was it that only in the past few hours had she finally accepted the depth of her feelings for this man? And now she had to sit back and lose him?

  “You must be exhausted,” Mick said quietly. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Does anything hurt?”

  My heart. But it wouldn’t have been fair to utter those words out loud. She wasn’t sure where he stood, but she knew enough to know he wasn’t looking forward to the morning any more than she was. She couldn’t dump even more guilt on him. So she swallowed her initial response and said, “I don’t think so.” She was sore everywhere, but she doubted she had any injuries.

  “Ali,” Mick murmured, coming to stand closer to her, “I’m so sorry about earlier. About everything.”

  The guilt and sadness in his voice tugged at her and she lifted her gaze to his. She didn’t need to ask to know what he meant. And even though she was tired and she probably stank to high heaven, she rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his torso. “You don’t have to apologize. It wasn’t your fault.”

  “Yes, it was.” His arms came around her and held on tightly.

  Allison sighed and fought the urge to lift her head to kiss him. “Do you think there’s a spare toothbrush in this house somewhere? If nothing else, I desperately need to brush my teeth.”

  Mick dropped a kiss to the crown of her head and loosened his hold on her until he was holding her hand. “Let’s go looking,” he said. “Rhea might have a spare you can steal.”

  ****

  “Feel any better?” Mick asked as Allison curled up against his side in the queen-sized bed. They’d found an entire package of unused toothbrushes in the master bathroom and pilfered two—Mick figured he’d reimburse Rhea sometime later—and then they’d opted to take turns showering. He knew he was tired and as much as he’d have preferred to join Ali in the shower again, aside from how rude it would be knowing their makeshift hostess was just outside, he was fresh out of condoms.

  But it was probably better this way.

  He’d be leaving in the morning for the Council. He wasn’t exactly sure what fate awaited him or how long it would be until he was “free” again, but even then, if he knew the Council at all, he’d have eyes on him for years to come. If he ever managed to get back to Baltimore he’d be a lucky man. And he couldn’t express how much he hated that it had to be that way.

  He owed Ali so much more than this final night.

  He’d known from the moment he’d laid eyes on her on the ship that she was special. That she could captivate him in a way he’d never experienced before. But he’d never imagined, not until they’d made love for the first time, just how powerful a hold on him she could have. Even then, the true depth of his feelings didn’t make itself known to him until that fight. The moment before he’d realized Boris was going for Warner. The moment when Boris had appeared directly in front of Allison and she’d blindly thrown herself down in an effort to get away from him.

  Mick’s heart had stalled in his chest. He’d forgotten how to breathe, let alone move. Maybe if he’d been better prepared for that feeling, more aware of his own feelings, he’d have been able to stop what had happened next. But he hadn’t, and instead Warner had paid the ultimate price. That was something Mick would have to live with for the rest of his life. Something he could only atone for by training harder to make sure he never made such a sloppy mistake again.

  And he’d have years to dwell on that.

  Years without Allison by his side.

  Allison hummed an affirmative, oblivious to his spiraling thoughts, and snuggled closer. She wore nothing but a shirt she’d borrowed from Rhea’s closet and Mick himself wore only his boxers. Having her curled up next to him, one leg sliding over his and her fingers resting over his chest, was the best sensation. He hoped he’d be able to remember it on the nights he lost sleep over missing her.

  “What’s wrong?” Ali’s soft question drew him back to the present and he snaked an arm beneath her, curving it around in order to rest his hand on her hip.

  “Sorry,” he offered.

  Ali swatted lightly at his chest. “Don’t apologize. Talk to me. Tell me what’s got you so distracted.”

  Mick opened his mouth to try and answer her question but the words wouldn’t come. He just didn’t know quite what to say. Ultimately, he settled for the best he could muster. “Everything, I guess.”

  He could practically feel her frown of disapproval. He definitely heard it in her tone. “You can do better than that, Mick.” She paused. “Is it tomorrow? Are you worried about what the Council will do to you?”

  “Not really,” he replied. “I’m more worried … about how I’m going to handle losing you.” It was hard to be that open with someone. He hadn’t felt so vulnerable in a long time. Probably not since his parents had died.

  Allison’s hand stilled. “Do you have to?” Her question was soft and perfectly matched the way he felt.

  “Ali,” he said, “the Council’s not going to let me take a leave of absence just because I met a woman.” He swallowed and held her tighter. “Hell, if anything they’ll tell me the pain I feel in missing you is part of my punishment.”

  “Then you work for monsters,” Ali said. “Not allowing you basic human rights like time off is just cruel.”

  Mick felt his lips twitch with wry humor. “Maybe,” he agreed. “But it’s out of my hands. Although I’m sure this stunt has cost me any chance at being indicted into the Council when I’m older.”

  “You would want that?”

  “I thought I did, once,” he admitted quietly. Again he remembered the frustration he’d felt at being stationed alone in California. Frustration that had been immediately followed with confusion after his life was saved by a kind-hearted werewolf. That experience, though one he’d initially resented, had changed the course of his life.

  It had led him to Allison.

  “And now?” Ali asked, digging her fingers a little into his chest as if in anticipation. “What do you want now?”

  Mick reached over with his free hand and covered hers. “Now I just want to stay with you. I’m tired of hunting, of fighting someone else’s war. Of constantly living with one eye open.”

  “Mick,” Ali said, her voice almost breathless and surprisingly watery. She slid her hand from his and lifted herself, leaning over him and letting her damp hair fall around them like a soft, brown curtain. “I don’t want to lose you.” A single tear escaped the corner of one eye and trailed down her cheek.

  And he knew then how much this was going to hurt her.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Mmm, Mick?”

  Allison rolled onto her back when she received no answer to her sleepy inquiry, her extended arm flopping onto a cool pillow. A cool, empty pillow.

  Immediately awake, Allison shot to a sitting position and looked around. The bed, the room, was empty save for her. It was a moment before she noticed the clothes she’d left in the washer the night before were folded on the lone chair across the room. And a piece of paper rested on top of the pile.

  A note.

  Lead weight sank to the bottom of her gut and she slid to her feet. She knew, without having to look, what that note would say. She just knew. But she also knew she’d look anyway. The rental house was eerily quiet as she crossed the room, the muffled sound of the ocean breaking on the shore her only company.

  Allison lifted the piece of notebook paper with a shaking hand. She’d neve
r seen Mick’s handwriting before, but this was definitely a man’s handwriting.

  Ali,

  I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to wake you when it took you so long to fall asleep last night.

  Please know that I’ll never forget you. I’m sorry, more than I can say, that it has to end this way.

  The house is paid for through the weekend. Rhea says you can take your time straightening yourself out before finding your way home. Baltimore’s just an hour or so from here.

  I hope you find something that makes you happy, baby.

  Love, Mick

  Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared at the last line of his letter. Those words … they were so similar to the fateful advice she’d given her once-best friend, Veronica, almost a year prior.

  “Be beautifully happy,” she’d said once.

  Allison’s throat swelled and she had to fight the urge to crumple the note. “You were my beautifully happy, you idiot!” She didn’t know who she was shouting at, but it was better than having nothing to fill the silence.

  Why hadn’t she told him? Why hadn’t she found the courage last night to say those three words to him? Her hand tightened over the paper and a portion of it folded over. For a moment she just started as she realized there was another type of handwriting on the back.

  Rhea.

  Rhea had left her a note? That seemed awfully … nice. And for as intelligent and dutiful as Rhea seemed, “nice” was not a word Allison would have applied to her. Then again, it could always have been a lecture for using one of her shirts. She was, after all, still wearing it. Still, Rhea had gone out of her way to write her something, so she flipped the paper over properly and wiped at her cheeks in an effort to clear her vision.

  Men are idiots.

  Beneath that was an address, somewhere in Michigan. No sign-off, no nothing in terms of identifying the significance of the address.

  But Allison was pretty sure she didn’t need an interpreter for this one. And all of a sudden she wanted to hug Rhea. Instead she grinned like an idiot and set the paper aside in order to quickly change back into her fortunately-clean clothes. She was starving, so she’d raid the refrigerator for some of the food they’d found the night before. Then she’d see about arranging transportation to Michigan.

  ****

  “Frankly,” Rhea declared as she unlocked the Michigan safe house, “I think you got off easy. You’re lucky your pal Doon’s on the Council.”

  “Lucky?” Mick repeated incredulously. He sure as hell didn’t feel lucky. It’d been three days since they’d left Maryland. Left Allison. Three days since he’d slept worth a damn. Leaving Allison behind, without even waking her up to steal one last kiss, had been the worst decision he’d ever made. Hands-down. And now that the Council had finally handed down judgment Rhea was accusing him of having luck?

  After a day and a half of “trials,” the Council had agreed to return him to work under supervision. He was on probation for a full year. His new supervisor, an older earth witch who’d taken the moniker of Terreus, was due to arrive sometime in the next forty-eight hours. Mick was under house arrest until then.

  “You’d rather have been arrested and locked down for months?” Rhea returned, leaning against the wall across from the chair Mick claimed.

  Mick let his gaze roll up to the ceiling. “Not what I meant.”

  “You’re the one who chose to leave without saying anything,” she said. “You get to live with that.”

  Mick ground his teeth but didn’t comment. She wasn’t wrong. The very fact that she’d said as much told him how obvious—and probably annoying—he was being. So he did his best to change the subject. “What are you still doing here, anyway? You didn’t have to come inside.”

  “And I’m not staying,” Rhea assured him. She straightened and held out her hand expectantly. “You owe me some money. Then I’m out and you’re on your own.”

  Sighing, Mick stood and dug out his wallet. He’d left the cash he’d had on hand in the rental house in Maryland for Allison, knowing she hadn’t had her wallet on her when they’d gone overboard. But the nice thing about having been returned to the Council was that he’d had an easy time reconnecting with his bank account. Not that having money was any kind of consolation. He dug out a fifty and pressed it into Rhea’s palm. “I don’t suppose I can ask a favor of you?”

  She arched a brow but took the cash. “You can ask.”

  Accepting her response as the best he was going to get, Mick tucked his wallet away and swallowed his pride. “Could you check up on her? Just … make sure she made it home safely?”

  Rhea’s face fell into an unreadable neutral. “If you cared about that you should’ve made arrangements. I’m not your messenger.” She turned, her loose hair swishing and exaggerating the movement. “Goodbye, Thare.”

  Mick watched her leave with an odd sort of weight settling on his chest. Of course Rhea would have refused his request. Even voicing it was stupid. He’d let himself forget, for a moment, who he was dealing with. She faked being personable fairly well, considering her reputation. But at the end of the day she was a soldier for the Council—the very same Council he’d pissed off when he fled California. Which was, of course, where he’d be headed as soon as Terreus arrived.

  “This is it, then,” he muttered to himself as the door locked behind her. It was him on his own for a day or two. And in three days’ time he’d probably miss that fact. Life was a bitch sometimes. But standing around and dwelling on it wasn’t going to make him feel any better, so he took a breath and turned to face the small house that had been, and would continue to be, his home for a couple of days.

  Try as he might, though, he couldn’t stop thinking about Allison.

  He should have betrayed Rhea that last night. Should have left her soaking in her hot tub, exhausted from having carried all three of them to shore. He should have taken Ali into his arms and run as far and as fast as he could. He could have ditched his credit cards, he’d already lost his phone. It would have been easy enough to disappear.

  Then he could have been with Allison instead of standing alone, facing a lifetime of never seeing her beautiful face again.

  He could run again, try to go find her, but he knew he wouldn’t get far. Especially if Rhea was the one who gave chase again. She of all people would know exactly where he was heading. He’d be intercepted before he ever made it out of the airport.

  Mick dragged a hand through his hair and moved toward the kitchen, looking for something to do. Something to keep his mind busy.

  It was no use.

  The stench of burnt cake filled the kitchen sometime later and Mick chucked the mess into the garbage with a grunt of frustration. He couldn’t believe he’d turned to baking. He was skilled enough with savory foods, a good breakfast or anything on the grill, but baking? Talk about desperate.

  Hesitant knocking sounded on the door and startled him out of his thoughts.

  Was this some kind of test?

  Mick frowned and moved to the door, making a mental note to open a window or three once this was done. Burnt cake didn’t smell very appetizing.

  He pulled the door open and found himself staring into the most beautiful hazel eyes he’d ever seen.

  “Ali?”

  ****

  Here she was. She’d finally found the address Rhea had left for her. It’d taken some effort to get enough funds together to get up to Michigan, especially since her ID was all she’d had on her when they’d gone overboard. But that and some cash had finally allowed her get a rental car—after sufficient begging—and from there it had been pretty easy to make her way out of Maryland.

  None of which would matter if this was some sort of joke. Or if she was just too late. Really, it would be so easy for this part to go wrong that all of a sudden she was nearly overcome with nerves. But she made herself knock, knowing she’d never forgive herself if she gave up when he could be so close. This could be her very last chance to fix he
r mistake. To finally tell him her feelings.

  The door swung open after several agonizing seconds and she held her breath until she finally caught sight of brilliant green eyes.

  “Ali?”

  The surprise in his voice assured her he had no idea she might have been showing up.

  Somehow that felt better.

  “Hi,” she said, feeling entirely ridiculous.

  But it triggered something, because Mick pulled her roughly into his arms without another word. He buried a hand in her hair and locked his lips over hers, his other arm tight around her waist. He held her as close as possible as he devoured her mouth with his. His tongue was everywhere, stroking, sliding, and pulling moans from deep in her throat without her conscious thought.

  Allison let go and curled her arms around his shoulders, holding him close. Reciprocating his kiss as best she could.

  Seconds, maybe minutes, ticked by before he eased back and rested his forehead on hers. “Ali, I’m so sorry,” he said.

  “Stop saying that,” she interrupted, trailing her fingers along his jaw. “I didn’t come after you for apologies. I came after you for you.”

  He grinned at her brushed a lingering kiss over her lips. “How did you find me?”

  It took all of her control not to laugh at the surprise she had for him, because she was sure he wasn’t prepared for her answer. “Rhea left me a note.”

  Mick blinked at her. “She what?”

  “Yeah.” Ali pulled back a little and framed his face in her hands. “Mick … I love you.”

  He swallowed visibly and his grin softened into a sweet smile. Both hands on her hips, he whispered, “I love you, too.”

  She fought the tears that stung her eyes and leaned up, pressing her mouth over his for a long minute. When she broke the kiss she softly asked, “So what are we going to do about this?” She didn’t know what was going on with him and the Council. She only knew that she couldn’t be without him anymore. Whatever that meant.