Heart of Ice

by Lisa Edmonds

  “You’re treating me like I’m a fragile flower who needs protecting,” I protested. “I’m a high-level mage and a private investigator. My whole life I’ve been in danger in one way or another and I survived. Stevens is no more of a threat than John West or Spencer Addison or a dozen other people I’ve faced. Why is this any different from a month ago, when I posed as a prostitute to get myself kidnapped and taken to the harnad warehouse?”

  Sean took a deep breath, exhaled, and gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “Alice, you know I don’t think you’re any kind of fragile flower. I didn’t try to talk you out of going into that warehouse or out of any other dangerous situation. I do try to protect you when I can, because it’s important to me that you’re as safe as you can be given your line of work and the kinds of threats you face. What’s different about Stevens versus someone like John West is that Stevens’s weapons aren’t magic—they’re grenades and high-powered rifles. I believed you could beat John West and you did. But when it comes to the kinds of weapons Stevens has, what can you do against someone who could shoot you from a hundred yards away?”

  “He won’t shoot me from a hundred yards away. If I’m any judge of character, Stevens will want to be up close and personal when he tries to take me out. He’ll want me to see him coming. He could have taken out Charles and Bryan that night from a distance if he’d wanted, but he came right at them. It’s personal for him. And if he’s anywhere near me, I can take him out before he gets me. I have more weapons at my disposal than my fire whip.”

  “You may be right about him wanting to face you.” He rubbed his chin and stared ahead through the windshield. “You asked what’s different now. It’s not just that Stevens is coming after you with rifles. My wolf thinks of you as his mate and he knows you’re in danger. He wants to kill the person who is a threat to you, but that isn’t an option right now and it’s hard for him to understand that. I want Stevens dead too, or at least taken off the board. We’re both angry and unhappy with the situation.”

  “And to top it off, you’re at odds with Jack and Delia because of me.”

  He took my hand, a sign that he needed my touch to calm himself and his wolf. “You aren’t the cause of the trouble; the disagreement over my ‘ideal’ mate predates you by a couple of years. Jack and some of the others have different ideas about what’s best for me and the pack and that’s what’s causing the conflict. What he can’t understand is that I believe—I know—you would be good for all of us.”

  My stomach knotted. I didn’t agree that I would necessarily be good for Sean or the pack as Sean’s mate. I’d always been a loner and as nice as Karen, Cole, Nan, and the others were, I couldn’t imagine ever being comfortable as part of a pack. Besides, I had a murderous crime lord grandfather. I was a danger to them, not a benefit.

  While I was thinking about that, Sean continued. “The other thing Jack doesn’t understand is human dating and human relationships. Both he and Delia were born shifters. They’ve never been human. Their courtship took all of a couple of weeks. The concept of dating for months or years before committing to a bond is as alien to them as the idea of the mating bond is to you. But I was human before I was a werewolf, and even if my wolf thinks of you as his mate, I’m not wired to think that way. I still think like a human most of the time, and my human self knows we’ve only been dating a couple of months—not nearly long enough for either of us to be sure about anything long-term.”

  He lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles. “Do I think you and I might have that bond someday? Yeah, I do. But I’m in no hurry to get there.”

  “Thank you.” I squeezed his hand. “I am sorry about your pack troubles, though.”

  “They’ll have to get used to you,” he said firmly. “They’ll come around, or they’ll learn to live with it.”

  We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Finally, I made a decision. “Let’s go take a look at that motel room. He’s either not there or he’s in there dead. Either way, I’m ready to find out.”

  “I agree.” He picked up his radio. “Mobile Unit.”

  Tom’s response was immediate. “Go for Mobile Unit.”

  “We’re getting a look at the room. Going to earpiece for contact. Keep your eyes open.”

  “Ten-four.”

  Sean stuck his earpiece in his left ear, turned down the volume of the walkie-talkie, and clipped it to his belt in the back under his jacket. I put my phone in my back pocket and waited while he exited the SUV and came around to my side.

  We crossed the street and the motel parking lot to the stairs. I heard music playing and the sounds of televisions as we climbed up to the second floor and made our way down the walkway toward room 220.

  When we passed the window, I caught a glimpse of the small room. The bed was unmade, a towel tossed on top of the rumpled covers. Two suitcases and a duffel bag were piled in the corner. The room appeared to be empty.

  Sean touched his earpiece. “Raven and I are checking out the room. Keep an eye on traffic.” I assumed that meant listen in on the police scanner in case someone saw us and called the cops. That didn’t seem likely in this part of town, but I didn’t want to have to explain to anyone in uniform why we were breaking into the room, especially if there was a body in there.

  He slipped a small black case from his inside jacket pocket. I took it and crouched to look at the lock. “I’ll get the door. You keep watch.”

  As I went to work with his lock picking tools, Sean murmured, “I do love a woman of many talents.”

  “Which of my many talents do you like the most?”

  He pondered that. “It’s a tough call. It might be a tie between your precision with your fire whip and that thing you do with my—”

  The lock clicked. “Hold that thought,” I said. I handed him back the lock pick set and we slipped inside room 220.

  Sean closed the curtains as I took a quick look around. “No bodies,” I announced after I checked the tiny bathroom. “But I wish I’d thought to bring some gloves. I’m going to take a bath in hand sanitizer after we get done searching this place.”

  He reached into an inside jacket pocket and took out two pairs of black latex gloves. He held them aloft and raised his eyebrows.

  I sidled over and pulled him down for a kiss. “You know what I find sexy?” I asked softly, my lips against his.

  He rested his hand on my butt. “What do you find sexy?”

  “A man who knows not to leave fingerprints.” I took a pair of gloves from him and pulled them on.

  As the latex snapped against my hand, Sean grinned. “I don’t know how, but you make those gloves look hot.”

  I winked at him. “I think we need to explore your latex kink later when we’re somewhere a little more sanitary. You want to search the bags while I do the room?”

  “Let’s do it.”

  We worked in silence for a while. I started with the bed, checking between the sheets, inside the pillowcases, and even under the stained mattress. My kingdom for a hazmat suit, I thought as I dropped the mattress back onto the sagging box spring. I looked under the bed using my flashlight, then moved on to check the small dresser.

  Meanwhile, Sean was looking through John Doe’s suitcases and duffel bag. He was extremely thorough, checking each garment and even the lining of the suitcases and bag. Ordinarily, I would have felt compelled to double-check. It was nice to work with someone whose skills I could trust.

  When my search of the dresser came up empty, I searched Doe’s toiletries, which were expensive. “How many moisturizers do you have?” I asked as I rummaged through the bottles on the counter.

  “Uh, one, I think. Why? How many does he have?”

  “Three, and one of them has gold flakes in it.” I waved the bottle. “Maybe you should try it. It might make you sparkly.”

  “Werewolves do not sparkle under any circumstances,” he informed me. “You finding anything?”

  “Not a damn thing,
” I said grumpily. “You?”

  “Nope. Well-made but generic clothes only. No paperwork of any kind and nothing that might give us a hint to his identity. No identification. No pictures, nothing of any sentimental value.”

  “I’m not giving up. There’s something here; there has to be.” I searched under the sink, behind the toilet, and even inside the toilet tank, finding nothing.

  When I came back into the bedroom, Sean was standing by the door. “Ready to head out?”

  “In a second. There’s one more place I haven’t checked.” I went to the window A/C unit. “Got something I can use to pry the cover off?”

  He produced a pocketknife. I carefully slid the blade into the casing of the A/C. The plastic cover popped off easily. I handed Sean the knife and took the cover off. There was a key taped to the inside of the A/C cover.

  “I’ll be damned,” Sean said, impressed. “What made you think to look in here?”

  “It’s the sort of place I’d hide something in a room like this.” I pulled the key free and studied it. “Looks like the key to a heavy-duty disc padlock. He could have a storage unit somewhere, if this is his key.”

  He leaned in to get a closer look at the A/C cover. “There’s no dust or dirt on top of the tape. I’d say there’s a good chance this is John Doe’s key.”

  “Yeah, but where’s the lock it goes to?” I scrutinized the inside of the A/C but couldn’t see anything else inside it. “I think that’s all there is. We should probably skedaddle.”

  I pocketed the key and put the cover back on the A/C as Sean alerted the mobile team that we were heading out. Once we got the all-clear from Tom, we left the room and locked the door on the way out. We took off our gloves and I stuck mine in my pocket in case I needed them again. I was hoping for at least one more B&E opportunity in the near future.

  By the time we got back to the SUV, I had a plan for that. I knew from Cait’s report that John Doe had been leasing an Infiniti while in the city. The car was still parked in front of the condo, but it might still be of use.

  “I have a job for Cyro,” I told Sean as he got in and shut his door. “It’s a long shot, but I’m sure John Doe’s fancy car has a built-in navigation system.”

  He smiled. “And you’re wondering if it could tell us if he’s been visiting a self-storage facility?”

  “Bingo.”

  “Let’s find out.” He took a burner phone from the center console and sent a text. “In the meantime, do we stay and watch the room or go home?”

  I thought about it. “We should stay,” I decided. “The towel on the bed was still damp, so he’s been in the room recently.”

  “The only thing in that room worth going back for is the key,” Sean pointed out. “The rest of it he could leave, but if that key goes to a storage unit, either he’s going to need it or someone else is. Either way, it’s your best lead unless something else turns up.”

  “Exactly. I hate to say it, but I think we have to stay.”

  Sean informed the mobile team that we were going to stay to watch the room. Tom had just radioed his acknowledgment when Sean’s burner phone rang. He answered. “This is Sean.”

  I heard Cyro’s familiar electronic voice on the other end. Sean explained what we needed, then held the phone out to me. “He’d like to speak to you.”

  I took the phone. “This is Alice.”

  “Hello, Alice,” the electronic voice said. Keyboard keys clicked rapidly in the background. “I like this challenge. You bring me the most interesting projects.”

  “I do try.”

  “I’m intrigued by this man who calls himself Kendall. He’s very good at covering his tracks and hiding his real identity—better than most people I run into. I might have to make identifying and finding him a personal project.”

  “He certainly has a lot to answer for.”

  “Oh, not because he’s a thief,” Cyro said. “I couldn’t care less that he travels from city to city swindling rich people out of their junk. It’s more about the challenge. I get bored.”

  “I can see that.” I hesitated. “I don’t know if it matters, but when I went to my client’s home yesterday I discovered Kendall had been using a ghost trapped in a crystal as a power source. She’d been in there for years. It was his magic binding her to the crystal, so he’s the one who put her in there.”

  A long pause. “Where is she now?” I could hear his anger even through the electronically modulated voice.

  “She passed on and he won’t be able to get her back.”

  “Thank you for that,” Cyro said. “I’ll bump this to top priority. You’ll have the info from the car’s navigation system as soon as I can get it. You’re looking for a self-storage facility?”

  “Thank you. Yes, we believe so. We have a key we think goes to a heavy-duty padlock. If you don’t find a storage facility, I’ll take the raw records. Maybe we can retrace his movements and figure out what the key goes to if it isn’t storage.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. Take care.” The call ended.

  I handed the phone back to Sean, who frowned. “What are you thinking about?” I asked.

  He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “I’ve been talking to Cyro for almost five years. He’s always been all business. He’s never made small talk, revealed anything personal, or told me to ‘take care.’ And he’s certainly never wanted to speak to anyone else when I ask about a project, even if it would be easier to get the information he needs directly from the client instead of relaying it through me. These conversations between you are completely different from any I’ve ever had and I’d like to know why.”

  “I’d like to know why too.” I kept my tone light, but Sean’s words were troubling.

  I didn’t need a hacker like Cyro sniffing around me. As secure as I felt that my identity was safely hidden, if anyone could uncover the truth—that I was not the real Alice Worth, or that I was Moses Murphy’s granddaughter—it would be someone like Cyro. I was beginning to regret coming to his attention in any way. I did not want a talented hacker to find me interesting. I didn’t want anyone to find me interesting.

  Sean took my hand. “After this, we don’t need to contact Cyro for anything anymore. We both have other resources we can call on. They might not be as good or as fast or as willing to break federal law as him, but they’re a safer option. No case or client is worth endangering you.”

  For a moment, I didn’t know what to say to that. Sean knew I had secrets. He’d figured out that I was probably hiding from someone and my life before I arrived in the city had been dangerous and violent. If I acknowledged that I needed to distance myself from Cyro, I was more or less confirming that I didn’t want a hacker getting interested enough about me to dig into my past. I was so paranoid about revealing anything about my previous life that I didn’t even want to confirm that I’d had one.

  I should run.

  The thought popped into my head out of nowhere. Just a few months ago, I’d felt reasonably secure in my new life. It had been lonely, but was as safe as I could be given the circumstances. Things changed quickly around the time I’d met Sean. Malcolm showed up, bound to me as a result of things I’d done while part of the cabal. Then Charles bit me and discovered I wasn’t a mid-level mage. Federal agent Trent Lake figured out I wasn’t really Alice Worth, and I worried Sean might be getting perilously close to coming to the same conclusion.

  Now I’d come to the attention of a hacker who liked challenges and finding out people’s real identities. If he figured out who I was, the best I could hope for was probably that I’d be blackmailed. At worst, he’d sell me out to Moses. And it wasn’t even just my own life that might be in jeopardy—now it was Malcolm, Sean, and Sean’s pack too. All those lives depended on Moses not finding me.

  I didn’t want to run. This mess with Kent Stevens aside, I liked my life as Alice Worth. I liked being a mage private investigator. I liked my home and the small group of people I called friends. I
liked Sean. I liked the idea of having a family in the form of a pack, even if it scared me too.

  If I had to run, I had options. Alice Worth wasn’t the only identity I had. There were others, sitting on digital shelves across the country and even in Europe. I could leave Alice behind and become one of a dozen women anywhere from Dallas to Dublin.

  I thought of John Doe, who ran from city to city with nothing but a couple of suitcases. Would that be my fate? Was it delusional of me to think I could have anything more than that? To think that I deserved to have anything more? Wasn’t it entirely selfish of me to put everyone around me in danger by staying?

  “Alice, please stop.” Sean’s firm voice broke into my thoughts. “I can feel how dark it just got in your head. I think I know what you’re thinking about.” He squeezed my hand. “I’m going to say this, even if it pisses you off. If someone comes looking for you, they will have to go through me. I don’t care if it’s an ex-Marine with a grudge or an army. Don’t run because you think it’s the best option you have. You have a better one: staying here. Out there, you’re alone and vulnerable. Here, you are not alone.”

  “I’d only run if I had to.”

  His eyes went golden. “I’m telling you that you don’t have to.”

  “Aren’t I the best judge of that?”

  “Aren’t I the best judge of whether I want to fight for you or not?” he countered. “I thought we settled this when we faced the demon Ravan together. You told me it was my decision to make. You trusted me to make that choice then. Unless something’s changed, you should still trust me now.”

  “I do trust you to make that decision. That doesn’t mean it’s ever going to be easy for me to see you put yourself in danger.”

  “It’s never going to be easy for me to let you go into harm’s way either. I guess the only thing we can do about it is face threats together.”

  I wanted to punch the dashboard in frustration. “Why is this so stressful?”

  He grinned. “Us caring about each other is causing you stress?”