by Mary Hughes
Chapter Eleven
“Ms. Singer, you’re free to go. But stay in the Muskegon area.”
Surprised, Emma rose as the officer opened the cell. She’d used her one phone call to contact her new alpha, but she was a mere iota. She thought he’d wait until morning to send her a lawyer. And she expected it to take at least a day for the lawyer to arrange her release.
The last face Emma expected to see was Gabriel Light’s. But at the rush of relief and gratitude she felt, she knew it was exactly the face she’d needed to see.
“Dr. Light!” She hurried toward him, barely stopping herself from wrapping arms around him and clinging like a pup. “Mr. Omniss met me coming out of the store. He accused me of taking the Wrapphone.”
“I know.” His hand closed briefly around her upper arm, steadying her. “The man’s an ass.”
“How did you know I was here? Did he tell you he got me arrested?”
“Him? No.”
“Then how did you find me?”
He jerked a shrug like his broad shoulders were really tight. “Omniss has police contacts. But I do, too.” He left it at that, but his grim expression told her there was more to it.
He started out. She trotted after, his long-legged stride making her take three steps for every two of his. He really was quite tall.
He saw, and with a grimace, slowed.
“Well, thank you. I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me a thing.” His grimace deepened. “I should’ve been monitoring the situation closer. This is my fault. Take the day off—with pay.”
“I’m fine, Dr. Light.” Did he not want her at the store? Embarrassed by her arrest? “Besides, what about Tanner’s story? If he’s telling the truth, he’s not the thief. Which means the thief is still out there. We need to set another trap—”
“Look, I’m thinking maybe we should let the professionals handle it.”
That hit her like a slap. “Dr. Light, is something wrong?”
“Wrong?” He laughed, no humor in it. “When we thought the thief was a boy, it was one thing. But if we’re dealing with an adult with any kind of power at all…” He grimaced. “We need to step back. Let the police do their job.”
“They did—and I got arrested,” she said tartly.
He winced. They got to the doors and he automatically opened one for her. “I got you a taxi.” Following her out, he pointed into the parking lot, where a cab idled. “It’s prepaid.”
She stopped to gape. “Dr. Light, I live in Scottville. That’s over sixty miles from here.” It would cost him big bucks.
He smiled wanly. “An apology for making you go through this.”
“You didn’t. Mr. Omniss did.”
He jerked a single-shoulder shrug. “We’ll agree to disagree about blame. Oh. Before I forget. This is for you.” He drew something shiny out of his pocket. “It’s not fancy. Stainless, not silver.” His tone was apologetic as he handed the thing to her.
It was a bracelet, the kind with medical alerts. She took it and saw her name engraved on one side, a phone number on the other. “What’s this?”
“All hires get one. Usually at the ceremony where we make you a permanent employee, but after what happened tonight, I thought…well, you can call that number for any trouble. Legal, car breaking down, whatever.”
“Thanks.” Did this mean he was thinking of hiring her permanently? Her spirits rose.
“But seriously. Don’t come in tomorrow. I mean today. Maybe stay home until this whole thing is over.”
And that made them plummet again. “Dr. Light, please don’t ask that of me. I can’t stand by and do nothing.” Emotions goosing her, she added, “It’ll drive me nuts.”
That surprised a laugh out of him. With a smile that turned sad, he said, “I don’t suppose you can.” He helped her into the cab. “Come in if you have to. But I’d rather you didn’t.”
As the taxi drove off, his words resonated in her head. I’d rather you didn’t.
* * *
Gabriel saw Emma off before climbing into his sports car and returning to the Choice Buy store. Her eyes had been hollow and her face pale. Her experience in lockup had obviously scared her and caused her a good deal of pain and grief.
He was going to flay Omniss alive for putting her through that—right after he caught the Wrapphone thief.
He knew her work ethic meant she was coming in, and he wasn’t going to put her in harm’s way again if he could help it. He let himself into the store and returned to his office.
To his relief, the boy Tanner was still snoozing on the couch, sprawled out on his back and gently snoring. He wondered if the kid didn’t normally have a safe place to sleep.
Gabriel took the fake Wrapphone from his locked drawer. He’d already put a psychic eye on the phone, a sort of magical GPS. But if he was dealing with a witch, the eye was too easy to find and remove. So he layered a second psychic eye under the first—and hid it with a blanket mirror spell. “Take that, you son of a bitch,” he murmured.
When Tanner woke around six a.m., Gabriel locked the bugged fake phone in his desk and took the teen out to a 24-hour diner for breakfast.
Tanner ate like one leg was hollow. Gabriel only smiled. He’d been like that at that age, too.
After breakfast, he stopped at a corner drug store to pick up hygiene supplies for the teen. Returning to the store, Gabriel handed the bag to the boy and showed him the bathroom. “Get cleaned up. You’re going to work today, and you’re going to work hard.”
“But I get paid, right?” Again that poignant look in his eyes, of hope so often disappointed, piercingly sad to Gabriel.
“Don’t trust me? Here’s a twenty now.” Gabriel took out his wallet and handed the boy a bill. “There’ll be another one of those for every two hours you work.”
“Really?” The boy’s voice lit with amazement. Then he seemed to hear the eagerness in his own voice, and he slouched back with a feigned sneer. “Dunno if that’s worth my time. I can make twice as much with the gang.”
“Sure—but can you tell your mother where you got the money?”
Tanner blinked.
Gotcha, Gabriel thought with satisfaction. He’d see how the teen did today. Maybe, with time and patience, he’d be able to steer him toward a better path. “Get cleaned up.”
Gabriel got the boy a trainee shirt. When his first assistant manager, Pan, came in for the day, he told him what had happened and asked him to keep the boy productively busy. Pan was also his panther familiar, and a wise creature.
Pan simply drawled, “Fine. But I get extra for this.”
Then Gabriel took the fake bugged phone out of its locked drawer and set it on its stand.
Waiting for closing.
Emma arrived at her usual time. Despite not wanting her in harm’s way, he felt a zing of pleasure seeing her.
Still, he couldn’t afford her being here if the mage showed up. Resolutely he turned away. The little sag to her shoulders as he did knifed him in the chest. But it was for her safety.
Five p.m. came, and Pan brought the teen Tanner to him. His familiar nodded. Gabriel counted out four twenties and offered them to the boy. “If you come back tomorrow, there’s more.”
The eager light in the boy’s eye came again and got stronger.
“How’d he do?” Gabriel watched the teen leave, peeling out of his trainee shirt as he went. Patience, Gabriel reminded himself. Persistence, and much, much patience.
“The kid bitched. But he worked.”
“Okay. That’s as good as it gets, for now.”
“Oh—that ass Omniss came in just long enough to tell me to tell you not to expect his insurance company to cover your new Wrapphone.”
Gabriel snarled. “The coward knows I’d have decked him if I saw his face.”
“Yeah. I’m heading out. You coming?”
“Sure.” He walked with Pan out the front doors, then smacked his forehead with a palm. “I just forgot some
paperwork. You go on without me.” Gabriel had prepared the lie ahead of time.
But even so, his familiar knew him too well. Pan arched a single black brow. “Right. Well, have fun.”
Gabriel returned to his office—where he instead hunkered down to wait. The thief hadn’t come last night—maybe because Gabriel had closed the store himself.
Better that Carol locked up anyway, seeing as she’d taken his offer last night as a sign that he mistrusted in her.
He snuck out around seven to get a bagel sandwich and coffee to go from the coffee shop. He almost wished he’d asked Emma to stay. She would have enjoyed coffee and a bagel with him. Almost as much as he’d enjoy her company.
But safety first.
Sneaking back into the store, he dodged employees, especially Carol, locked himself into his office, and gnawed at his dinner. Maybe nerves, maybe too much caffeine, but he put the paper cup and bagel aside, both half-finished.
When Carol did the all-call, he turned on his camera monitor software. He watched her arm the building’s exterior alarms then leave.
Counting slowly to ten, he continued to watch the monitors, waiting in case she’d forgotten something and came back.
All was quiet.
He stole out to observe the phone area.
He started out crouching. Then, as his feet began to tingle with the lack of circulation, he slid onto his knees, then onto his butt. The day had been warm and the air condition system hadn’t quite kept up with it. The ventilation system whirred. The heat and burr of sound made Gabriel drowsy. He was starting to nod off when he felt a rush of magic along his skin.
His eyelids shot up. The air stirred near the phones.
A magical portal whirl open.
A hooded, dark-robed man stepped through a few feet from the fake phone. Talismans hung around his neck like a livery collar. Gabriel silently slid his feet under himself, peering closer. Beneath the witch’s hood…he was masked and wearing gloves.
Both magically and technically savvy? Sausage and egg McDamn.
The man gestured at the PHO01 security camera. Paused. Frowning, Gabriel readied his wand.
The witch circled his arm, hard and fast, barked “Break!”
A sudden shattering and tinkle of glass hitting carpeted concrete signaled every camera in the area bursting.
Chocolate frosted fuck. So much for Gabriel’s camera protection spell. The witch was strong.
He touched his freeze spell amulet and whipped up his wand.
Just as Emma leaped from behind the DVD sales bin, dashing toward the masked mage.
Chapter Twelve
Shock hit Gabriel, arresting his wand midair, as Emma dashed toward the unknown witch. She’d crept back in without him, Carol or Pan knowing? Brave…and foolish.
The mage touched a medallion on his collar then slashed his wand in a tight circle. Air seemed to solidify into a spear of wind.
Air mage, Gabriel thought. Hopefully, that was the only element the witch had. A royal witch like Gabriel, with power over multiple elements, was much, much more dangerous.
The witch jabbed his wand at Emma. The spear arrowed toward her.
She saw it coming and twisted mid-stride, trying to avoid getting impaled. She started falling, but Gabriel could already see she wouldn’t get clear in time.
Save her. His mind went into overdrive. Shield spell?
No. Without knowing how strong that air spear was, or if it was reinforced with another element, he couldn’t be sure his shield would hold. Besides, she’d see the spear bounce off a shield or bounce off it herself. With her quick brain, she’d know a second witch had protected her. Made it pretty obvious who.
He’d had countless opportunities to tell her the truth—and hadn’t. She’d feel hurt, betrayed. Maybe worse.
If it had been the only way to protect her, if he was sure the shield would hold, he’d have done it in a heartbeat.
But Gabriel was a battle mage. He had plenty of options.
He slashed his wand, jetting pure magic on an intercept course with the spear, with a muttered, “Skew.”
The enemy witch’s spear hit Gabriel’s magic—and slid sideways.
Gabriel bared his teeth in a savage grin. Yes.
The spear slammed straight into a display of high-end cameras.
No. Gabriel stifled a curse. His insurance company was going to have a fit.
The cameras exploded on impact. Plastic, glass, and computer chips spewed out, hitting the floor in a spatter of pricey tinkles.
He was already dashing for Emma as she tumbled to the floor—and rolled immediately onto her feet, launching herself again at the enemy witch.
But the witch had already flashed his wand at the fake Wrapphone with a rasped, “Tornado.” A cyclone whipped up over the phone display.
The phone, stand, and cable shuddered violently in the whirling wind.
Touching a talisman under his vest, Gabriel triggered a clamp spell. He slashed out his wand, aiming the spell…
Just as Emma leaped for the fake phone.
Gabriel jerked his wand to one side. The clamp spell hit the phone next to the fake Wrapphone. He breathed a sigh of relief. Whew, caught it in time.
The clamp spell’s momentum sent the phone slamming into the phone beside it. The two fused into a lump of useless plastic and metal.
More insurance claims. He could imagine the paperwork mounting up.
In a violent whirl of wind, the fake Wrapphone’s stand vibrated so wildly the cable popped off—just as Emma thrust her hands into the tornado of wind.
“Emma, no!” Gabriel leaped for her. He would have grabbed her hands to pull them out of the damaging wind.
But he saw last minute her arms sprouting hair and her hands claws, as she called on her wolf’s strength to clamp the phone to its stand. Gabriel marveled at her speed and ability to partially shift. He grabbed her shoulders instead, steadying her. She might be a small woman, but her wolf was strong.
The enemy witch snarled. Gabriel braced himself for a new attack.
Instead, the wind suddenly cut.
Emma stumbled. Gabriel’s own feet stuttered. The witch shoved her, hard.
The phone popped from her fists.
“Ha!” The enemy witch made a pulling motion and the phone sucked into his hand. With a cackle of triumph, he dashed off.
“STOP!” Emma cried. Regaining her balance almost immediately, she spun and bounded after him.
Gabriel dashed after her.
The witch twisted as he ran, aiming his wand at her.
Another spear? The narrow aisle meant skewing it would only hit her with shrapnel. Gabriel knew he’d have to get her bodily out of the way instead.
“Emma, look out!” Not even bothering to hide his wand, he used it to wave something off a bottom shelf in front of her to trip her—just as the enemy witch released the spell.
Emma stumbled over the item—a thousand dollar tablet—and went to one knee as a huge gust of wind blew over her.
Gabriel had time to think Thank the stars, that would have flattened her before the wind plowed into him, so forceful it lifted him into the air.
An instant later he landed on his tailbone with an impact that rang pain up his spine.
Emma was stumbling up. Still first in the witch’s line of fire.
Shunting aside his pain with a facility born of a hundred mock duels. Gabriel scrambled to his feet, readying his magic. He was screwed if she found out he was a witch, but better that than her suffering injury or worse.
But the other witch reached the end of the aisle, turned the corner, and disappeared.
Gabriel let go of his power, his ready magic evaporating, and started toward her.
She wavered on her feet, nose up. He realized she was testing the air. Then she turned and limped toward him. “He’s gone.”
He was outraged that the enemy witch had tried to hurt Emma. But seeing her limp…he’d done that, by tripping her.
Furious with himself, he swore. “That was a fucking disaster.”
He was yelling at himself, but her shoulders sagged.
“Yes. The bait phone is gone. I tried to save it…”
“Oh, Emma.” He strode to her, immediately contrite. “I know. You were wonderful.” He stopped just short of gathering her in his arms. “Are you okay?”
Her big eyes rose to him, glossy. She released a relieved-sounding breath. “I’m fine. I thought you were yelling at me.”
“No. Never.” He did touch her then, because he had to, a light clasp on her slim shoulder.
She searched his eyes. A tremulous smile curved her lips, and he felt like howling in triumph.
Then she sighed. “But now we’re back to square one.” She bit her lip. “I mean you are. I thought I could help, but…”
She trailed off, her expression so sad and forlorn that he thought, ah, hell, and gathered her into his arms anyway. He only allowed himself a brief hug, trying very, very hard not to feel how soft and right she felt. He might be able to disguise his scent of desire, but no way he’d be able to hide the big ol’ how-ya-doin’ in his pants, not pressed together like this, rubbing almost intimately…his groin wrenched with desire and he sprang back, releasing her.
“It’s we,” he said. “We’re not done yet. Come on.” He started toward the back.
She trotted after him. “Where are we going?”
“My office.”
“You put a tracer on the phone?” Her tone was admiring.
Normally he wasn’t vain or someone who needed attention but coming from her, that made him puff up.
“Two. One obvious, one hidden.”
As he let them into his office, she said, “So, um. Are you really mad at me for interfering in your ambush?”
He shook his head. “I told you to go home because I was worried. That thief…he’s dangerous. Did you see how he was both masked and gloved? And he had some kind of air-cannon weapon.”
He sat down in front of his computer and brought up an app he’d written that displayed a map of the city and connected with his psychic eyes. As the screen refreshed, he surreptitiously touched a talisman on his belt. The talisman was linked to the tracker spell on the fake phone and was keyed to show the location on the map app.
