by Lisa Edmonds
“That’s not a good sign,” I said. “So, what is it you want me to do?”
“I doubt there’s much chance of recovering any cash or the jewelry, but I want the magical objects recovered. I am willing to pay double your standard rate for your undivided attention and a fifty-percent bonus if all three objects are returned within the week.”
“What about the wards the mage placed? Do you want me to remove them?”
Her eyes flashed. “I want those wards gone and replaced with a new security system.” She turned to Sean. “I understand you own a security company, Mr. Maclin. How soon would your company be able to install a new system?”
“Let me look at our schedule.” Sean pulled out his phone and checked a calendar. He looked up. “I can have our crew at your house by six o’clock.”
“Do it,” Esther said.
As he texted his staff to set up the installation, I turned to Esther. “Meanwhile, I’ll need full access to your home and grounds, photos of the missing objects, and everything you have on the mage who set up the wards.”
“Agreed,” she said briskly.
Sean spoke up. “With your permission, I’ll look into the breach of your security system, unless you would prefer that the company that installed it run the diagnostic?”
“The fewer people who know about the situation, the better, so I would prefer not to involve the other security company,” she told him. “You have free access to the system. I’ll see that you get the necessary codes.”
“A question,” I said. “Is it only the items you are interested in, or do you want the thieves found and arrested?”
“Only the items. I’m not interested in prosecuting the thieves or anyone else involved in the robbery; I want no part of any trial or publicity.”
I’d expected as much. “Has your friend who recommended this mage also been a victim of a burglary?”
“I suppose it is possible, but I do not intend to ask, and nor should you.”
I tilted my head. “Why is that?”
She set her water glass down. “Ms. Worth, there are good reasons I have called you and not the police to track down my missing items. First, I am a private person. Second, the missing objects are of questionable legal status. Third, they must be handled with care, by someone who understands magic. Fourth, I don’t want anyone to know I was the victim of a burglary, and if my friends were also victims, they would feel the same way. If they were burgled, they may have hired someone like yourself to go after the thieves and their missing valuables. They are looking after their own interests; I must look after mine.”
“I understand. Do you have the photos of the missing items?”
At Esther’s nod, Aaron slid a folder over to me. I opened it.
The first magical object was a wide bronze or brass arm cuff. On the next page was a photo of a battered cup that looked to be made of pewter. The third item was a beautiful silver hand mirror.
I looked up at Esther. “What magical properties do these items have?”
She narrowed her eyes at me and said nothing.
I put down my pen. “I have to know what they do, Ms. Aldridge. Magic is volatile. Magical objects often have a mind of their own, sometimes quite literally. I’m not going to get killed because I don’t know what I’ve got my hands on. I need full disclosure on this or I’m out. You can try to find someone else who’s willing to go after magical objects without knowing what they do. Good luck with that.”
We stared at each other across the table while the men were silent. Finally, she crossed her arms and spoke. “None of them are volatile. Drinking from the cup permits a vampire to walk in daylight for one hour. The mirror allows glimpses into one’s forgotten memories. The cuff…” She coughed delicately. “The cuff belonged to my husband. It made him strong and quite virile.”
Oh good Lord, I did not need any details. “Ms. Aldridge, just because their magic seems tame doesn’t mean they aren’t volatile.” I was relieved, however, to hear that none of them contained the vengeful spirit of a five-hundred-year-old blood mage or the power to lay waste to a hundred square miles at a time. I could probably handle a cup, a mirror, and a magical Viagra bracelet, assuming I didn’t break the damn mirror and net myself seven years of bad luck—or something much worse.
“Let’s say I find one or more of these objects. There are a couple of possible scenarios for recovery.” I ticked them off on my fingers. “One, someone is careless and leaves them lying around.”
“Obviously, the ideal situation,” Aaron said.
“Ideal, but unlikely. Two, they are available for purchase from someone who has acquired them.”
“Safe to assume that said agent will not be willing to return them as stolen property.” The lawyer exchanged a glance with his client. “Ms. Aldridge is willing to negotiate for the return of the items. Obviously, we want to limit both our expense and our exposure, so you are authorized to act as our agent if you believe the items can be bought for a reasonable amount.”
“Define ‘reasonable.’”
Esther spoke. “Six thousand for the mirror and cuff and ten thousand for the cup, to be paid in cash or bearer bonds. You will deliver the payment and collect the items yourself.”
“The third possible scenario is that the items may be in a location that is very hard to get to. Before I or anyone else gets too deep in recovery efforts, I have to ask: what’s special about these three items? Why not just buy new stuff? I get that the cuff belonged to your late husband, but—”
She interrupted me, her eyes flashing. “This is not about some sentimental attachment to a couple of knickknacks. Someone has stolen from me, and that cannot stand.”
I raised my hands. “Okay, I can understand that. You want your stuff back, I’ll get it back.”
She gave me a nod. “Any special efforts required to reclaim the items will be justly compensated, as per our contract.”
“Naturally, neither Ms. Aldridge nor I condone any actions that violate the law,” Aaron said, his eyes twinkling.
“Naturally,” I said dryly.
Esther leaned forward to pick up her glass of water. “So, how do we begin?”
“We need to sign a contract, and I need a retainer.”
Alex produced paperwork and Aaron handed it to me. “I took the liberty of preparing a contract based on your standard terms and the special conditions we discussed here today.”
I looked through it, then initialed, signed, and dated it and passed it back. He gave it to Esther, who signed and dated it as well.
Aaron slid an envelope across the table toward me. “Is this amount sufficient for a retainer?”
I opened the envelope, peeked at the check, and nodded. “Yes, that will work. I need all the information about the mage you hired to install the wards. Sean and I need to go to your house so he can see how they got past your security system and I can examine the wards and their anchor.”
“Very well.” Esther handed me a file. “This is my agreement with the mage who provided the wards. I’ll let my assistant know you’ll be by this afternoon. Her name is Christina Harris. If you need anything, she will provide it. I have meetings at the museum this afternoon and then dinner with friends, but I should be back home around seven.”
I put the files and my notepad back into my briefcase and zipped it closed. We rose and shook hands. “Would you prefer that I call Aaron with updates?” I asked Esther.
She nodded. “Please. He will pass the information along to me.”
We said our goodbyes. Alex escorted Sean and me back to the main lobby, where Jack sat leafing through a travel magazine.
He rose when we appeared. “Are we ready to go?”
Sean turned to me. “Where are we headed?”
“Home first so I can change, and then we’ll head over to her house.”
“By that point, it will be time for a shift change,” Jack said as we entered the elevator and Sean hit the button for parking level two. “Should I
have Team Two meet us at the nest?”
“Let’s do that,” Sean said. “I want to meet with both teams.”
Jack pulled out his phone and sent a couple of texts as we descended in the elevator.
When we arrived on the parking deck, Karen waited by the SUVs. “Nothing to report,” she said as we approached, giving me a smile. “All’s quiet.”
“Good. Let’s head back to the nest, secondary route,” Sean told Jack.
The blond man grunted assent and the mobile team got into their SUV as Sean loaded me into ours.
As we approached the exit of the parking garage, I said, “So, what have you been telling your pack about me?”
“Not as much as they would like,” Sean said, turning onto the street. “I know you’re a private person, so I really haven’t said a lot. That’s somewhat unusual; most werewolves bring their significant others around the pack so everyone can get used to each other.”
“So, is keeping me away from them and not telling them about me causing friction?”
He hesitated. “Yes.”
We drove in silence while I thought about that. On the one hand, I was a private person whose life depended on staying below the radar, but I didn’t want to cause problems for Sean with his pack. If we were going to try to make this work, I would have to observe some shifter customs, including socializing, or at least interacting, with his pack.
“I guess I need to get to know your people,” I said as we slowed and stopped at a traffic light.
Sean looked at me with a strange expression.
“What?” I asked, frowning.
“When we get home, I am going to kiss you,” he said, his attention back on the traffic as we started to move again. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear you say that, Alice.”
“When we get home, I suppose I will permit you to kiss me,” I said haughtily.
He gave me a wolfy grin that made me warm all the way down to my toes.
Things were changing between us. I’d once been so afraid of letting anyone in past the walls I’d built around myself that I’d driven him away. Now I realized that I very much liked the change he’d brought into my life, so much so that I was willing to put my fear aside and meet his pack. I’d been safe behind my walls, but I’d been very lonely too. I hadn’t really been living then, only existing. In a way, it wasn’t much different from my life with Moses.
Little by little, one step at a time, I was freeing myself from my past and the fortress I’d built for myself.
I smiled and gazed out the window as Sean drove us home.
6
The closer we got to my house, the more tense Sean became.
By the time we parked in the driveway, he was on high alert, his face hard and eyes golden. He moved quickly, exiting the driver’s side of the SUV and coming around to mine. As soon as I stepped out of the vehicle, he was practically wrapped around me, hustling me up the sidewalk and the steps to the front door so quickly that I almost tripped several times.
I unlocked the door and in a flash we were inside. He shut and locked the door behind us, leaving Jack and Karen in the SUV outside on watch.
I scowled as I set down my briefcase and removed my jacket and blouse. “Why don’t you just carry me inside next time?” I took off the bulletproof vest with a sigh of relief.
Sean took the vest from me and kissed me very thoroughly. “I need my hands free.”
I sniffed and headed upstairs to change, carrying my jacket and top. “You’re lucky I like you. Anybody else who tried to herd me like that would still be smoking on the ground outside.”
When I came down fifteen minutes later, wearing a button-up shirt and khakis, Sean was in the living room with Jack, Karen, and two young men I took to be Team Two. Everyone was ominously silent.
The tension in the room went up a few notches as I reached the bottom of the stairs. Sean looked grim, Jack’s expression was a combination of anger and annoyance, and none of the others looked at me. Fantastic. It wasn’t hard to figure out what they’d been discussing before I came downstairs.
Sean spoke. “Alice, this is Team Two, Philip and Tom.”
We exchanged subdued greetings.
“I’ve briefed them on who you’re working for,” Sean added. “Team One is going off duty, so Team Two will be accompanying us to the Aldridge home and standing watch while we work.”
“Okay. I’m going to the basement while you guys wrap up your meeting. I’ll be back up in a minute.”
I headed for the basement door. Sean intercepted me and kissed my cheek. I felt the weight of Jack’s stare as Sean squeezed my hand.
I opened the basement door, waited a moment in case Malcolm was in the middle of spellwork, then headed down the stairs, closing the door behind me. After a beat, I heard Jack’s angry voice, but his words were indistinct.
Malcolm met me at the bottom of the stairs. He read my expression and asked, “You want me to go up there and find out what they’re saying?”
I shook my head. “Shifters are more sensitive to the presence of ghosts, and I don’t want them to know about you. I’ll get the details from Sean later.” And wouldn’t that be a fun conversation?
I put that aside and focused on the task at hand. “Good news: we’ve got a case.” I told Malcolm about Esther Aldridge’s burglary and our mission to retrieve her stolen magical objects.
The ghost was even more excited than I was at the prospect of checking out the wards at Esther’s house and going after the missing items. “A cup that lets vamps walk in daylight and a mirror that shows forgotten memories? Very cool.”
“Very,” I agreed. “I’m going to head there first and get a sense of what we’re dealing with, but I might want help with the wards and the trace, if there is any. I’ll summon you when I know the situation is secure.”
“Sounds good. I’ll hang out here until you’re ready for me.”
Back upstairs, I found Sean waiting alone in the foyer, holding my vest. “Team One left.” His voice was tight with suppressed anger. “Philip and Tom are waiting in their SUV.”
I took the vest from him and put it on. “You planning on telling me what’s going on?”
“On the way, if that’s okay.”
“All right.” I put on a blazer over the vest and checked my reflection in the mirror by the door. I made a face, picked up my shoulder bag, and sighed. “Ready.”
Sean got the all-clear from the mobile team and we headed out.
We drove in silence for a while. Sean’s jaw was so tight that it made mine ache.
“Let’s hear it,” I said finally.
He sighed. “I mentioned that my not being forthcoming about you has been causing some tension, but there’s more to it than that. A few members of the pack would prefer I date a shifter. There’s no rule saying an alpha has to have a werewolf mate, but it’s traditional. It’s only a couple of people causing problems; the rest have no issue with you being a human mage.”
I said nothing.
“My relationship with you is not open to debate or contingent upon anyone’s approval,” Sean said flatly when I was quiet. “You have nothing to prove to them. All that matters is you and me.”
“That’s not exactly true, is it? If they don’t like that you’re dating someone who isn’t a shifter—”
“Then they are more than welcome to take it up with me, in whatever manner they see fit,” he broke in. “As I said, who I date is not subject to a vote. A pack is not a democracy. You don’t need anyone’s approval.”
“Is Jack one of the people who wants you to have a werewolf mate?”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
“Jack’s mate Delia. Eddie and his mate Thea. Caleb because he follows Jack’s lead. A few others are concerned about it but haven’t voiced objections.”
“So, that’s five or more out of how many total pack members?”
“Fifteen at the moment, not counting the kids or human spouses.”
I stared out the window.
“What are you thinking?” Sean asked.
“Is this likely to cause someone to challenge you?”
He shook his head. “I doubt it. They may be angry, but they know it’s not worth dying over. I’m sure once they get to know you, they’ll come around.”
“I don’t think Jack is going to ‘come around.’ He seems to feel pretty strongly about it.”
“Like I said, it doesn’t matter,” Sean stated. “If anyone has a problem, I’ll deal with them.”
In a werewolf pack, “dealing” with a problem almost always involved bloodshed. The question was, whose blood would be shed: Sean’s, Jack’s, or mine?
According to the paperwork Esther gave me, the mage who had installed her wards was a man named Joseph Kendall. Like many self-employed mage security consultants, he had a small office downtown. His website was very professional and he clearly catered to wealthy clients. His photo showed a smiling, dark-haired man of about forty-five in a tailored suit.
As Sean drove, I called Caitlyn Morse, a freelance researcher who used to work for Mark Dunlap Investigations but had quit after Mark’s murder, unwilling to put up with the new management. As usual, I felt a stab of grief when I thought of my former mentor.
Cait’s cheery voice distracted me from unpleasant memories. “Alice! How are you?”
“Doing well, Cait. You looking for a project?”
“Always. What do you have?”
“I need a background check on a man named Joseph Kendall.” I gave her the information I had for him.
Computer keys clicked rapidly. “How deep do I need to go? Vitals only, or do you need his first-grade teacher’s name?”
“I need the works,” I said. “Particular emphasis on any known criminal associates and any past history of shenanigans. I’m on a time crunch and my client’s paying for express service, so when you invoice me, figure your fees appropriately.”
“That’s what I like to hear. I’ll get right on it and e-mail you the files when I’ve got them. Anything else?”
