by Lisa Edmonds
“I appealed to his sentimental side.”
He sighed. “Some things never change, I guess.” Lake’s superpower seemed to be the ability to detect when I was lying and it looked like his radar was still finely tuned. “Not even a believable lie this time, though. Want to try again?”
I thought about it. “I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse?”
Lake pinched the bridge of his nose.
“She did,” Sean said mildly. “Bell is a businessman. For the right price, everything is for sale to a businessman, even people.”
“I’m sure he asked a high price.” Lake leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms. “My former colleagues here in the city are still looking into the infamous Storm Girl incident from last month. She saved a hell of a lot of lives and took out Moses Murphy’s daughter Catherine with a bolt of lightning. Rumor has it Catherine’s barely alive, hooked up to a room full of machines in Murphy’s compound in Baltimore.”
I was very interested in that news. I hadn’t heard anything about Catherine’s condition since Cyro’s warning in the Bahamas that my aunt had awakened. I still wasn’t sure how Catherine had survived the lightning strike in the first place. My best guess was I hadn’t hit her directly and she’d had some kind of hardcore protection spells either tattooed or in the form of jewelry. Lightning was a flashy weapon, but it was hard to aim without a focus.
Lake’s eyes locked on mine. “Rumor also has it that both Murphy and Bell want to get their hands on Storm Girl—Murphy for revenge and Bell because he needs bigger weapons against Murphy. Bell might be willing to part with a powerful null like Aden for Storm Girl’s help against Murphy.”
When I didn’t reply, his expression darkened. “I wanted to be wrong about who Storm Girl was and whether she’d traded herself for Aden and Jana’s freedom, but there’s only one person who could summon a hurricane and smite someone with lightning, and only one person who would put herself in so much danger to save complete strangers.”
“Some people just don’t know when to quit,” I said, smiling slightly. “Sounds like Storm Girl has more power than sense.”
“No argument from me.” He sighed. “Whatever you’re planning, keep Sean at your back. If you get in too far over your head, you know how to find me.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Trent.”
Jana made her way down the steps of the jet and came over to us. Her face still looked drawn, but she was smiling.
“Aden’s in heaven,” she told Lake. “Your wonderful pilot is showing him the flight management system and something called an infrared imager. He’s up there memorizing all the stats about the plane.” She turned to me. “The co-pilot told him he could be a veterinarian and a pilot and now he wants to be a vet who flies around to see all his patients.”
I laughed. “Kids are amazing. He sees no reason why he can’t do that.”
Her smile faded. “Alice, I can’t possibly thank you enough for getting us out of there and introducing us to Agent Lake.”
“Seeing you and Aden together is all the thanks I need. I’m just sorry I couldn’t keep Nora from taking you and that Aden had to spend a week in Bell’s hands before I could get you out.”
“We’re going to be all right.” She squared her shoulders. “Agent Lake told me we’ll get counseling. I wanted to ask you when Aden was distracted: do you know anything about Allan?”
I explained how Garrett had gotten himself captured trying to arrange their release—and that he’d decided to work for Bell to protect Aden.
Jana took a shaky breath. “Oh, Allan. That big idiot.”
“He’s a brave man. He wanted me to tell you he’s going to be all right and he loves Aden very much.”
She wiped her eyes. “Am I ever going to see him again? Or you?”
I shook my head. “Probably not. The witness protection program is a one-way ticket.”
“To keep Aden safe, I’ll do whatever I have to do.” She touched my arm. “Thank you, Alice. From the bottom of my heart.”
Aden appeared, his eyes scanning the hangar for his mother. “Mom!” He scrambled down the jet’s steps and ran to Jana, his eyes wide. “JC said this plane can fly as high as fifty-one thousand feet and go almost the speed of sound!”
Jana ruffled Aden’s curly hair. He scowled and ducked away. “Mo-om!”
“Aden, say hello to Miss Alice,” Jana said. “She’s a friend of Miss Natalie and she helped me find you.”
“Hi, Miss Alice,” Aden said dutifully.
“Hi, Aden,” I replied, smiling. “Are you excited about getting to ride on that awesome plane? I’ve never been on a plane like that.”
“Me neither,” Sean said, sounding sad. “I bet it’s really hard to fly a jet.”
“JC says it’s not hard,” Aden stated. He clearly already idolized the pilot. “I’m going to learn how to fly a plane someday.”
Lake checked the time. “I hate to say it, but we’re going to have to start prepping for departure,” he told me.
I blinked back a few unexpected tears and gave him a hug. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” he said as he released me. He held out his hand toward Sean. “It was good to see you again, Sean.”
Sean shook his hand. “You as well, Trent. This means a lot to both of us.” He slipped an arm around my waist—not possessively, but because he sensed saying goodbye to Lake hurt my heart.
Aden pulled Jana across the hangar, chattering again about the plane’s specs. I waved as they climbed into the jet.
Lake smiled at me. “You look happy, Alice.”
“I am.” I took a deep breath. “Despite everything, I am happy.”
“I’m glad. You deserve all the happiness in the world.” He touched my arm. “Take care of yourself.”
“I will,” I promised.
Lake boarded the jet and we got into our SUV. As airport employees rolled the hangar doors open for us, Jack asked, “So what’s the plan?”
I rubbed my eyes. “For now, go home and get some sleep. There’s a lot of preparation to be done before tonight. It’s going to be a busy day.”
22
We got back to my house just before six. Sean drove past the Vamp Court SUV parked on the street out front and pulled into the drive.
“Bastards,” Ben muttered. Apparently I wasn’t the only one still pissed about Monroe throwing me under the bus.
I heard three quiet growls from the others in the vehicle and came perilously close to chuckling at the chorus of werewolf displeasure. I coughed to cover my reaction.
“Need a lozenge?” Sean asked dryly, offering me a cough drop from the center console.
I coughed again delicately. “No, I think I’ll be okay.”
Sean parked in front of my carport and we all got out. “You guys headed home?” I asked Ben and Jack.
Both shook their heads. “We’re on guard duty,” Ben told me with a grin. “Somebody has to guard Sean while he guards you.”
I sighed and headed for my front door. “Up to my ears in werewolves again. I used to lead such a quiet life.”
Sean’s hand found mine. “Do you miss it?”
I pretended to think about it as we climbed the front steps. “Sometimes, but I think it might be growing on me.”
He chuckled and kissed my forehead. I unlocked the door and we went inside.
When the door was shut, Sean turned to Ben. “We need you in top form for tonight. Jack can take watch while you get some sleep in the guest room before the Court and Bell send over their intel.”
“What else is on the agenda for today?” Ben asked.
“Alice and I have errands to run this afternoon. Other than that, nothing until tonight.”
“Let’s rest while we can,” I said. “Jack, make yourself at home in the kitchen and anywhere else in the house, but don’t touch the basement door. It’s warded.”
He nodded. “Get some sleep, Alice. I’ll keep watch.”
Jack headed to t
he kitchen to make coffee while Malcolm went to the basement to work on spells and the rest of us went upstairs. I showed Ben to the guest room and bathroom, then Sean and I went to my room to change and crawl into bed.
Sean curled up behind me and nestled me against his warm body. Despite my exhaustion, sleep didn’t come immediately. Sean was still awake too. We lay quietly for a while, each lost in our own thoughts.
“This is a brave thing you’re doing,” Sean said, his voice startling me out of my reverie. “There’s nothing new about you being brave—I’ve never known you to be anything else—but I’m not sure I tell you that enough.”
“The night I went to Jack’s house to get you out of the cuff, Valas told me I was fearless,” I said quietly. “I let her think that, but right now I’m anything but fearless. I’m scared.”
Not long ago, I couldn’t have imagined ever admitting that to any person. Such total honesty left me feeling more vulnerable than I’d felt in recent memory, like I’d just bared my throat to a lion…or a wolf.
He nuzzled my neck and kissed me lightly on the delicate skin over my carotid, in one of those eerie moments that had become more and more frequent where I thought maybe he’d overheard my thoughts. “I know you’re afraid. Anyone would be, facing what we’re facing. I won’t tell you not to be afraid because there’s nothing wrong with fear. You use fear to keep your head clear and your senses sharp. It doesn’t paralyze you like it does some people. I will tell you that you are not going to face him alone. You’ll have me, Malcolm, and Ben at your side. You’re a part of a team—the leader of a team. Our strength is yours.” His arm tightened around my middle. “Do you believe me?”
“I do,” I said softly.
I was still very apprehensive about having Sean, Ben, and Malcolm with me tonight—especially Ben, given he and Casey had just gotten engaged and I wanted them to have a long, happy life together—but it did help to think I wouldn’t be going into the battle alone. I’d always imagined if I ever faced Moses, it would be by myself, so the thought I was going into the fight as the leader of a team was nothing short of a complete paradigm shift for me.
Sean’s words echoed in my head: You are not going to face him alone. I wasn’t sure if he meant Bell or Moses, or who was the bigger threat. Moses was more powerful, but Bell was going to stab me in the back as soon as he figured out how to do it and get away with it. He’d given in on releasing the nulls too easily. He had something up his sleeve; I just didn’t know what.
Warm, golden comfort wrapped around me like a heated blanket. I sighed. “Thank you.”
Sean snuggled me closer, his nose against the back of my neck. He’d told me that was where my scent was strongest, which meant both he and his wolf needed reassurance too.
I laced our fingers together and kissed his knuckles. His hand tightened on mine. “My Alice,” he murmured.
Wrapped in a cocoon of warmth and comfort, we slept.
I pressed the little buzzer beside the door and stepped back.
“Try to look a little less threatening,” I murmured to my entourage as we waited for a response. “He’s a man in his eighties. I don’t want to give him a heart attack. Can’t you dial back the scary?”
“We’re werewolves, not poodles,” Ben complained. “We can’t help but be threatening.”
“What if I gave you a floofy haircut?” I muttered.
Jack audibly growled, but the searing feeling of shifter magic decreased. I almost sighed in relief.
Sean, Ben, and Jack were on high alert watching for Bell or his people, though I’d told them I was fairly certain he’d wait until I broke the wards on Moses’s building before trying to double-cross me. I’d quickly discovered one edgy werewolf I could deal with, but three of them together created a kind of feedback loop and I was in immediate danger of drowning in shifter testosterone.
Finally, the door buzzed and the lock clicked. I opened the door and stepped inside Benjamin Winchell’s antique shop.
“Miss Worth, what a wonderful surprise.” Winchell was halfway to the front door, weaving between the tables. He wore a button-up shirt and slacks, his reading glasses tucked into his breast pocket. “And you’ve brought friends. Welcome. It’s a lovely day for antiquing.”
I heard a low growl from behind me. Sean glanced back at Jack and the rumbling cut off abruptly.
“Werewolves don’t go antiquing,” Jack muttered.
“Some werewolves do,” Ben argued. “Where do you think Casey and I got that armoire you and Delia admired the other day?”
Winchell and I shook hands. His air magic tingled on my skin. “Have you come back to take advantage of that twenty-percent PI discount?” he asked.
I smiled. “Possibly. I’m actually here looking for an item I saw last time I was in your shop. It was a cuff about three inches wide, made of copper.”
He nodded. “I know the cuff you’re referring to. Unfortunately, I sold it a few days ago. However, I have another item, very similar, that might fit your needs. It’s in my safe. Would you follow me?”
I’d warned them about the number of magical objects in the shop, so the shifters were careful not to touch anything as Winchell led us to the counter at the back. They shied away from tables and shelves as if the items on them might bite. It would have been comical if not for what had happened a month ago. We’d all learned a couple of important lessons from the cuff that had latched itself onto Sean’s arm—most importantly that magical objects, even seemingly innocuous ones, could have hidden dangers.
“A moment, please,” Winchell said. He disappeared down the short hall toward his office.
Sean looked around the shop. “How many of the items in here are magical?”
“Quite a few,” I told him. “I sense low-level magic all over the place. Malcolm told me the safe in the office has heavy-duty wards, which means he’s got the good stuff stashed away back there.”
Winchell returned carrying two small boxes inscribed with runes that hid the magic trace of the objects inside. He brought them to the counter, opened the lid of one, and pulled back linen wrappings to reveal a lovely armlet spiral cuff made of copper and gold. Unsurprisingly, given its materials, the cuff resonated with earth magic, which was what I was looking for. Ben and Jack took a collective step back, and I was sure Sean wanted to.
“Don’t worry, it’s safe,” I reassured them. They stayed back, still wary.
Winchell’s eyes twinkled as they met my gaze. “I think the cuff suits you.”
“I think so.” I passed my hand over the cuff slowly, exploring its magic. Like the cuff I’d seen in the shop a week ago, it was designed to store energy. And unless I was very much mistaken, it was capable of storing a lot of power—far more than I had anticipated, because of its design. The copper spirals would store power, but what interested me the most was the gold torque at the end of the cuff. “I think this might be exactly what I was looking for.”
Winchell smiled. “In that case, you’ll want the other one as well.” He opened the second box and revealed a cuff that was the mirror image of the first.
My heart rate sped up. As the cuffs that had once bound Sean and I together had proven, a pair of cuffs was more than the sum of its parts. More powerful than simply two single cuffs, their combined magic was just the sort of advantage I’d need.
I sensed a spike of alarm from all three werewolves at the sight of the second cuff. “They’re earth magic cuffs, and they won’t have any effect on shifters,” I assured them. I turned to Winchell. “May I try them on?” I asked.
“Of course.”
They were designed to be worn on the forearms. I pushed up the sleeves of my shirt to my elbows. Carefully, I took the first cuff from its box and slid it onto my right arm. The metal was warm. Since the cuff was resonant with earth magic and I was an earth mage, putting the cuff on felt like slipping on a comfortable old sweater.
“Move back,” I told Sean.
The shifters took a few more
steps back. When I picked up the second cuff, the metal in both began to hum.
Winchell met my eyes. “Have care.”
“Always,” I promised.
I slipped the second cuff onto my left arm. The humming intensified and earth magic buzzed on my skin. “I’ve used cuffs like this before. The torques may close around my arms,” I warned Sean, so he wouldn’t be taken by surprise.
“All right.” Sean’s voice was more than half growl. He was definitely reliving his own nightmarish experience with arm cuffs. I was glad to see Winchell didn’t seem alarmed by Sean’s golden eyes or growly voice.
I reached for the magic and spoke the word I’d seen inscribed on the inside of the right cuff. “Potentia.”
The gold torques closed around my forearms and the coils ignited bright green. I sucked in a deep breath as the energy contained in the cuffs pulsed against my skin. There wasn’t much since they’d been on a shelf unused for an indeterminate amount of time, but I could sense their enormous potential for storage. The bright green magic faded, but the cuffs continued to hum slightly.
“I’m fine,” I said for Sean’s benefit. I raised the cuffs so he could get a closer look at the gold torques, which were now rings fitting snugly on my forearms. “The coils store power and the rings will focus that power.”
A muscle moved in Sean’s jaw. “How will you remove the cuffs?”
“A lot more easily than the last set we had to deal with.” I took three deep breaths and focused on the magic held in the torques. The spellwork fractured and the torques opened.
Sean exhaled. “I like these cuffs a hell of a lot better than the other ones.”
“Makes two of us.” I looked over the counter at Winchell, who’d settled onto his tall chair to watch as I tried out the cuffs. “So, Mr. Winchell, about that PI discount…”
Our second stop of the afternoon was a blue bungalow just a few miles from the Brew a Cup coffeehouse.
