by Lisa Edmonds
He did. His shoulders went down a fraction of an inch. “Thank you,” he said again. “Tell Aden…tell Jana…” He hesitated, looking helpless.
“I’ll tell them,” I promised.
He gave me a jerky nod and reached for the door handle of the SUV.
“Take care of yourself, Allan,” I told him.
“You too, Ms. Worth.”
He opened the door and climbed in. The SUV pulled away, accelerating down the hotel’s circular drive and turning left onto the street without pausing.
Sean’s hand brushed against mine. “You okay?”
I appreciated the reassuring touch, but between Garrett’s news and my worry about Aden and Jana, who were due to arrive any minute, I was a bundle of nervous energy. I took a shaky breath. “Not really.”
“Incoming,” Jack rumbled.
I straightened and Sean moved a little closer to me as another SUV pulled up alongside us.
The front passenger door opened and closed and Nora Keegan came around the back of the vehicle. Her sharp eyes took in Jack and Sean before meeting mine.
“Does Bell have you making deliveries now?” I asked, trying not to think about how badly I wanted to cut her into a million tiny pieces.
Her smile made Jack growl. “I asked for the privilege of making this one,” she told me. “How could I pass up the opportunity to finish our conversation from Sunday?”
I gave her my own toothy smile, the one Charles had once said reminded him of a vampire. “I’d love to chat, I really would, but unfortunately we’ve got quite a lot of work to do before tomorrow and I’m simply swamped. Rain check?”
Her eyes glinted. “Absolutely. I’m going to hold you to that.” She tilted her head. “We’ll be fighting side-by-side soon, Alice. What a sight that will be. I almost feel sorry for Murphy’s people.”
“Cut the chatter, Nora. Where are Jana and Aden?”
Her mouth twisted. “So businesslike. Very well.” She opened the rear door of the SUV. “Let’s go,” she said sharply.
Slowly, Jana Peters stepped out, wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans that didn’t fit her very well. She looked like she’d lost ten pounds in the past week, but her eyes were still fiery. She had an iron grip on the hand of a familiar curly-haired boy in a Star Wars T-shirt. His eyes were wide with terror.
“Hi, Jana.” I smiled at her son. “It’s nice to meet you, Aden.”
He clung to his mother and said nothing.
I didn’t know what he’d been through in the past seven days, but the kid was going to need help to deal with the trauma of his captivity. My earth magic surged and the ground quaked beneath our feet. I pulled my magic back, afraid of scaring Aden even more.
Nora shut the door of the SUV. “Having problems controlling your magic tonight? I have to say I’m concerned, given what we might be facing soon. You should work on that.”
“Please get them into our vehicle,” I told Jack.
Jack opened the rear door and folded the seat up. With surprising gentleness, he lifted Aden into the vehicle so Jana didn’t have to let go of his hand and helped them get settled in. Jana wrapped her arms around her son as Jack put the middle seat back in place and closed the door.
I reached for my door handle, but Sean beat me to it. As he opened my door, Nora said, “Look at you, the mighty mage, being minded by the wolves.” Her voice dripped with derision.
It was the sort of petty comment that didn’t merit a response, so I ignored her and got into the SUV. Sean shut the door. He waited until Nora went around to the passenger side of their vehicle and got in before he climbed into our SUV and closed his door.
He turned to me. “You good?”
I blew out a breath. “Yeah.”
When the other vehicle drove away, Jack got in next to me. I twisted around in my seat as Ben shifted gears and headed for the street. “Jana? Are you guys okay?”
The streetlights shone on the streaks of tears on her face. She stroked Aden’s hair and held him tight, her eyes bright and angry. “Yes,” she said firmly, and I almost believed her. She was being strong for her son’s sake, but she was a long, long way from okay.
She looked out the window. “Where are we going?”
“Someplace safe,” I told her.
Her shoulders sagged. “Where will we ever be safe from him, Alice?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “But I know someone who does.”
It was a forty-minute drive to the private airport where we’d be meeting the person who would help Jana and Aden stay safe from Bell.
On the way, Jana held her son, who still hadn’t said a word, and told us what happened after Nora took her. She’d woken up in an apartment that turned out to be underground. She didn’t know where it was; she’d been unconscious when she arrived and blindfolded when they took her out. She’d had a spell cuff locked onto her arm, suppressing her magic completely, though she had only low-level earth magic. Her captors didn’t take any chances.
Since the apartment was underground, she had no idea what time of day it was—only the time according to the clocks in the apartment, which might or might not have been correct.
All the first day, no one came to see her. At ten, the lights dimmed and went out for eight hours, then turned on again at six, signaling morning. She had sat alone in the dark for eight hours that first night, too angry and afraid to close her eyes.
On Monday, she’d received a visit from one of Bell’s lieutenants, a man who didn’t give her a name. He showed her a video of Aden on his phone, showing the kid alone in a similar apartment, frightened but unhurt. He allowed her to record a message for Aden, and then explained that as long as Aden did as he was told, neither of them would be harmed. She’d begged him to let her see her son. He told her if Aden cooperated, she would be allowed to see him, perhaps in a day or two.
Later that day, the man returned and showed her another video—this one of Allan Garrett—and told her Garrett was a strong null like Aden. After threatening Aden if she refused, he’d instructed her to call me to say she’d accepted a job from Bell. Jana had tried to refuse until the man let her see Aden, but after more threats, she’d given in and made the call.
She’d had very little contact with anyone for the next several days except for occasional visits by the same man, who showed her videos of her son and Garrett obediently demonstrating their nulling abilities. She was given clothing, food, and a television equipped to stream movies and TV shows, but had no way of making any contact with anyone. Her only interactions with the unnamed lieutenant were brief, but at least she knew her son was alive and the lieutenant let her record videos for Aden, telling him she was nearby and to keep doing what they asked him to do.
As she described what she’d gone through, her voice was calm, probably for Aden’s sake. I kept tight control over my magic as she talked, but listening to her describe her captivity conjured up some very unpleasant memories of my years in my grandfather’s compound. At least I’d had windows to look out of, I thought, as Jana described how on the fourth day she thought she was starting to go crazy in that posh, windowless underground prison.
Other than the videos, Jana had no contact with Aden until tonight, when the lieutenant came to her apartment, blindfolded her, and told her he was taking her to see Aden. He’d led her down several hallways, up some stairs, and into an underground parking garage, where she’d been loaded into the SUV. A few minutes later, Aden was brought to the SUV and Jana was finally able to hold her son for the first time in a week.
When she’d finished telling us about her captivity, Jana held her son and rested her head on his. He’d turned his face toward her chest, his shoulders hunched. I turned around to face the front and give them privacy.
Sean reached back and took my hand. His comforting magic swirled around me and I drew on it gratefully. Rage and sorrow filled me until my insides felt like they were rotting, as if the dark magic of the Tepes stone had returned. Sean’s golden
magic pushed that darkness away.
When we turned into the entrance to a private airport, Jana raised her head. “What are we doing here?”
I turned back around. “I made a deal with Bell to get you and Aden released, but I can’t guarantee he won’t try to come after Aden again. I only know of one way for you and Aden to be safe, and only one person I trust to keep you away from Bell and any other cabal.” I glanced at my phone. “Hangar Two, Ben. He says just drive through the main door.”
He found Hangar Two and drove inside. A Gulfstream jet waited inside, its door open and steps unfolded. As we parked next to the office, airport employees closed the hangar doors, blocking us from view.
“Stay inside for a minute, please,” I told Jana.
Sean, Jack, and I got out. Ben stayed inside with Jana and Aden, and Jack stood next to our SUV, on guard.
The door of the small office opened. Special Agent Trent Lake appeared in his trademark navy blue SPEMA jacket, slacks, shirt, and tie.
Though we’d spoken on the phone earlier in the day, I hadn’t seen him in two months, since he left the city to become the assistant director of the SPEMA field office in Seattle. If it hadn’t been for Sean—and the fact I was Moses Murphy’s granddaughter, in hiding from every federal agency, including SPEMA—we might have had something special. He was a good man who still had a claim on a small corner of my heart.
The tall, blond federal agent broke into a smile when he saw me. “Alice,” he said, striding across the floor to meet us. He held out his hand and we shook. “You look sharp. I like the suit.” He shook hands with Sean. “Mr. Maclin, it’s good to see you again.”
“Sean,” Sean corrected him. I’d worried Sean might feel less than friendly toward a former romantic rival, but I saw no sign of any resentment or distrust. Perhaps like me, when he’d gone to talk to Lily at Karen and Cole’s house, he knew he had nothing to worry about. “How’s Seattle?”
“Virtually lawless these days, but we’re cleaning it up.” Lake winked at me. “Alice’s recent disposal of the vampire Vincent Barclay helped quite a bit, frankly. I owe you a gift basket for taking him out. The vamps didn’t give you any grief about it, did they?”
I shook my head. “The Court ruled it was self-defense. I was concerned about reprisals, but although Barclay had a lot of allies, he didn’t have many friends apparently, since no one seems too upset about him being dead.”
“That’s definitely true. Not many tears were shed in Seattle at the news of his true death, I assure you.” Lake glanced at the SUV, his face growing serious. “How are Jana and her son?”
Magic sparked on my hands and a cold wind blew over us. “Aden’s so traumatized he can’t even talk and Jana’s hanging on by a thread. They’ve been separated the whole time and have only been together for about an hour.”
“Does Jana know they’re going with me?”
I shook my head. “She’s still processing the fact she and Aden are out of Bell’s hands. I wanted to have you talk to her privately to explain, but I don’t think I want to even try to separate them, not after all they’ve been through.”
“Neither do I. I’ll talk to them together.” He gestured at the little hangar office. “It’s not the most comfortable place to talk to a traumatized child and his mother, but I’ve got it arranged as best I can.”
I smiled at him. “Thank you, Trent. Let me go get them and I’ll bring them to the office.”
Lake waited as Sean and I returned to the SUV. Ben got out and folded up the seat so I could lean into the open door and speak to Jana.
“Jana, that agent is a good friend of mine,” I said. “His name is Trent Lake and he’s the assistant director of the field office in Seattle.”
Her mouth was a grim line. “SPEMA.”
I nodded. “I don’t trust feds any more than you do. Probably less, actually. But he’s a good man and he would like to take responsibility for keeping you and Aden safe.”
She nailed me with a hard stare. “Can I trust him with my son’s life?”
“Yes. I trust him with mine. There are only three or four people in the entire world I would say that about, and he’s one of them.”
She glanced at Aden. “Do you want to go meet Alice’s friend Trent?”
He shook his head. She looked at me helplessly.
I turned and motioned for Lake to come over to the SUV. He headed in our direction. I mimed taking off my jacket and he removed the SPEMA jacket and tossed it on the seat of a small forklift so it wouldn’t scare Aden.
He joined me at the open door of the SUV. “Hey, Aden,” Lake said, giving him a smile. “I’ve really looked forward to meeting you.”
Aden blinked at him.
“My name is Trent.” Lake leaned on the door. “I know you’ve had a tough week, but I’m here to make sure you and your mom are safe. Would you like to come on board my plane and sit in the pilot’s seat while I talk to your mom?” He leaned forward and lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Sometimes I sneak in there and pretend I’m flying an X-Wing fighter, but don’t tell the pilot.”
I was almost certain he’d made that up—I’d told him ahead of time about Aden’s love of Star Wars and anime—but there was just enough of a twinkle in his eyes to make me wonder if he hadn’t really done it.
Aden looked at Jana. “Can I?” His voice was timid.
She smiled and gave him a little squeeze. “As long as you don’t touch anything.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Aden promised. He climbed out of the SUV and waited while Jana got out. He took her hand and they followed Lake to the jet.
Sean’s hand found mine and squeezed. He leaned down to murmur in my ear. “I know we’re facing rough days ahead, but seeing Jana and Aden together and away from Bell makes it all seem worthwhile.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “Yeah, it does.”
As we watched Aden, Jana, and Lake climb up the steps and into the jet, my phone beeped with an incoming message. I read it and exhaled. “Bryan said half of the nulls have been freed and the remainder are just arriving at Northbourne. They’ll be kept in private apartments, he says, not in the holding cells.”
“Bell came through.” Sean shook his head. “This has all been much too easy. He’s got something planned, Alice. I just don’t know what it is.”
I gripped his hand. “I know.”
From the direction of the jet, I heard Lake laugh. Aden’s voice sounded excited, as just about any twelve-year-old would be getting to explore a jet.
I smiled. Somewhere, Bell was plotting—I knew it as surely as I knew Lake would protect Jana and Aden. But right now, I put a check mark in the win column for Team Alice.
We waited by the SUV while Lake talked to Jana aboard the jet.
“Take Ben with you when you go after Murphy.” Jack’s voice startled me. He stood to Sean’s left, arms crossed. “I’d prefer to go myself, but we can’t have both the alpha and the beta there and leave the pack undefended.”
The younger, dark-haired werewolf nodded. “I’ll go. Someone needs to watch your back while you’re watching Alice’s. There are too many people who are just as likely to try to take you out as fight at your side, regardless of what agreements they’ve signed.”
Before Sean could respond, I turned to him. “Can I speak to you?”
He nodded. “Let’s step inside the hangar office. Keep a sharp eye out, gentlemen,” he added.
Both werewolves nodded. Sean and I walked to the small office and he closed the door.
“Sean…” I began, then stopped. I didn’t know how to say what I was thinking and not have it come out wrong.
He laced our fingers together. “You’re worried about Ben. You feel like you need to protect him, and you already have to protect me, Malcolm, and maybe Arkady and Matthias too, in addition to breaking the wards. You want me to tell him to stay here.”
“I do, but at the same time, I know I can’t and I shouldn’t. Just like you and Malcol
m, Ben gets to choose when and where he fights and I have to let him.”
He squeezed my hand. “I’m not going to pretend any of this is easy or that I’m not worried, because it’s definitely not easy and I am worried. I’m responsible for the safety of my pack. If Ben wants to go, I won’t refuse. I know you don’t want to hear this, but he’ll be able to help keep you safe.”
He was right—I didn’t want to hear Ben would be charged with protecting me. Why did I merit his protection? Why should anyone risk their life to save mine?
Something cold thumped me on the back of my head.
I let go of Sean’s hand and spun around. “Damn it, Malcolm!”
He materialized in front of me, arms crossed. “Remember what Carly said about quieting the voice in your head that tells you that you’re unworthy?”
I scowled. “Are you reading my mind now?”
“He didn’t have to read your mind.” Sean moved to my side so he could see my face. “You’ve risked your life over and over again for the people you care about: me, Malcolm, Trent Lake, Natalie Newton, Jana, Aden, Charles Vaughan… You even risked your life to rescue Nan’s daughter Felicia, who you didn’t even know at the time. You’re risking your life to save this city from Murphy. You don’t have a monopoly on putting yourself in harm’s way to keep people safe, and you are absolutely worthy of being protected.” He cupped my face with his hand. “Let us care about you, Alice.”
I swallowed hard. “I’m trying.”
Someone tapped on the door. “Alice?” Lake called.
Malcolm went invisible. I opened the door.
Lake glanced at us, his eyebrows raised. “Am I interrupting?”
I shook my head and stepped out of the office. “We just had to talk over some stuff in private. How’s it going with Jana and Aden?”
He smiled. “Aden’s over the moon talking with our pilot, JC. We may never pry him out of the pilot’s seat and JC is enjoying showing off his fancy plane. Aden thinks he’s some kind of wizard.” His smile faded. “Jana told me you arranged for Bell to release her and Aden. How did you manage that?”
