by Lisa Edmonds
When I was standing on my own, he opened the door of the cage and ushered me out. I made it one slow step at a time, letting him half-support me with one arm around my waist. I was happy that Sean seemed to have recovered from his ordeal. If he felt any weakness or shakiness, I couldn’t see it. The power we’d shared after I put on the cuff must have helped him regain his strength.
Valas was long gone. Her part in this was over. Whatever the magic was that killed me and then resurrected me once the cuff fell off, she hadn’t needed to be physically present for it to finish its work. All that remained was for me to fulfill my obligations to her. I put aside thoughts of our bargain until this mess was cleaned up.
Nan pushed her way through the group and met us just outside the cage door. I thought she was there to greet Sean, but instead she put her arms around me and squeezed gently. “Alice.”
I returned her hug a bit awkwardly. “Hey, Nan.”
She released me and smiled tearfully up at Sean. He smiled back briefly. His expression hardened as Jack moved to the front of the group. For the first time since I woke up, I got a good look at the beta’s face.
Four faint scars cut across the left side of his face, slashing diagonally like someone had clawed him exactly how and where I had in my dream. With their ability to heal it was rare to see a shifter with scars, but wounds left by magic were the hardest to heal completely, as the scars on my back could attest. It didn’t seem possible that I had inflicted physical harm on him in a dream, but what other explanation could there be?
While I was processing that, Sean stepped forward to meet Jack toe-to-toe. Jack had a couple of inches and maybe twenty pounds on Sean, but Sean still seemed larger somehow.
“Where did those scars come from?” Sean asked.
Jack jerked his head at me. “Ask her.”
Sean glanced my way. “Alice?”
Maybe they would be able to explain how it happened. “Last night I had a dream that I was here speaking to your wolf. Jack attacked me in the dream. I slashed his face in self-defense. I had no idea it was anything but just a dream until now.”
“You found a way to use the pack bonds against us,” Jack snarled at me. “I was defending our pack.”
“I wasn’t attacking you or anyone else in the pack. I didn’t even do it on purpose. I was asleep.”
“It shouldn’t be possible for you to contact Sean through the pack bonds,” Ben said, moving to stand next to Sean and Jack. “You’re human and you’re not his mate—not yet, anyway.”
I raised my hand and concentrated. Golden magic ran along my fingertips. “I’m no ordinary human.” I’d only just learned how to use shifter magic, but they didn’t need to know that.
My simple demonstration had a seismic effect on the pack. On the faces of those I knew, I saw astonishment, wonder, and happiness. Several others seemed equally pleased. The older couple whose names I didn’t know exchanged a glance. Jack, of course, only grew angrier.
Delia stepped out of the group to stand next to her husband. The look she gave me was pure venom. “So she knows a few magic tricks. That doesn’t make her worthy of you or the pack, and it sure as hell doesn’t give her the right to wear the cuff.”
“Watch yourself,” Sean warned. “A month ago, Alice risked her life to save Felicia from the West-Addison harnad. She just died for me and the pack. Everyone here is in her debt, twice over.”
“She doesn’t look dead to me,” Delia retorted. “It was just some cheap stunt, Sean. She’s trying to trick you and all of us.”
“You felt her die, Delia,” Ben said. “We all did. That was no stunt. I don’t know how she did it; maybe she’ll tell us someday. But the fact of the matter is, she was dead for close to seven minutes in order to free Sean from that cuff.”
Holy shit, seven minutes? Not only had I been dead, I’d started going cold before the damn cuffs fell off and Valas brought me back. That wasn’t mostly dead; that was all the way dead. Hearing news like that was enough to make me need a stiff drink or three.
I wondered if the cuffs had been spelled to wait a certain amount of time before falling off to prevent someone from doing what I’d just done. I felt a bit smug that I’d tricked that blasted shifter magic.
“Our pack would benefit from those cuffs,” Jack told Sean. “If the right people wore them, we’d be stronger. Faster. More stable. Our dominance over the other packs would be beyond questioning. You felt the power, all of you.” He turned his bright amber stare on the others. “Tell me you don’t all want that power for our pack.”
No one spoke at first. Several of them exchanged glances, even Felicia, Karen, and David. I remembered the power too, how it filled me and made me feel like I could face anything or anyone, as if my magic was endless.
Power like that was a drug; I’d learned that the hard way. Once you got a taste of it, you could never have enough. You’d kill for it, betray anyone and everyone, inflict unimaginable suffering to get more. My grandfather was a prime example. So were Adelbert and the Kasten and the harnad blood mages John West and Spencer Addison. Even I had felt a taste of that desire for power when I’d been injected with the drug Black Fire and experienced what it was like to have so much magic that my body couldn’t even contain it all.
Sean wanted his pack to be safe and strong. Jack wanted power and to bring other packs to heel. That and his lack of compassion would make him a disastrous alpha.
Karen spoke. “Not if it means locking those cuffs on Sean and his mate.” Her voice was quiet but firm.
Jack glared at her, but then Nan said, “Not if Sean says it’s the wrong choice for us.”
Ben joined in. “Not if the purpose of that power is to subjugate anyone else.”
Karen’s brother Patrick spoke up. “Power like that will only end up destroying us.”
One by one the rest of the pack shook their heads, leaving Jack and Delia alone in their desire to use the cuffs.
“You got your discussion,” Sean told Jack. He addressed the rest of the pack. “While I’m glad to hear that almost everyone is in agreement, the decision about what to do about the cuffs is mine to make, with Alice’s input because there is magic involved and because she has earned the right to have a say.”
Jack’s anger was still palpable, but he said nothing. His silence worried me. Delia tried to stare me down, but she couldn’t hold my gaze for more than a few seconds before she looked away.
“Everyone, please go upstairs so I can speak to Alice privately,” Sean said. “Those who need to leave may do so. Ben, I’d like you to stay, and Karen too.”
“I’ll tell Cole I’ll be a bit longer,” she said. “It’s no problem.”
“I’ll stay,” Ben added. “I’ll let Casey know not to wait up.”
The pack headed for the stairs. Karen squeezed my hand as she passed.
When the door closed behind Ben, leaving us alone in the basement, Sean rubbed his face and turned to me. “Where do things stand with Kent Stevens?”
I might have known that would be his first question. “He’s dead.”
He stilled. “Alice, tell me you didn’t use yourself as bait.”
“It was a Court-run operation. I was safe—”
“Don’t lie to me, Alice. Not about this.”
I was starting to feel a little wobbly. Being dead could take a lot out of you. I glanced at the couch. “Can we sit, please?”
We moved to the couch and sat. “Tell me what happened,” he said.
I told him the whole story, from when Arkady picked me up at the storage unit through Stevens getting munched by the garden. He inspected my arm and hip and saw for himself that the wounds were healed.
He got up and paced, his anger prickling on my arms. “You knew I didn’t want you to do that. It was the Court’s responsibility to catch him. It should have been Vaughan out there, not you.”
“Stevens escaped me too, that first day at Mike Robinson’s house,” I reminded him. “And as long as it
was my life on the line, that made it my responsibility to help catch him. Do I think Charles should have been the bait? Yes, but that wasn’t my call. It was Valas who decided he needed to stay sequestered. I don’t know why, and they’re not likely to tell me.”
When he didn’t reply, I added, “I needed him caught or dead, Sean. I knew that cuff was hurting you and I couldn’t save you and watch out for him too. I couldn’t do what I needed to do to help you with bodyguards dogging my every step. I was tired of waiting.”
“Do you think it was easy for me to wait it out on the sidelines?” he demanded. “Don’t you know how badly I wanted to find Stevens and tear him apart for hurting you?”
“Of course I did; that’s why I took care of it. You have enough trouble with Jack and the cuffs without having to worry about Stevens and me too.”
He spun around to face me, his eyes bright and furious. “Alice, damn it, do you think I couldn’t handle Stevens and my own pack? You’re always reminding me that you’re a high-level mage and I should treat you as one, but you don’t treat me as an alpha. You keep thinking that you have to protect me. It’s not just an insult; it diminishes me in front of my pack and in the eyes of others, from the vampires to the Were Ruling Council.”
Shocked, I said, “I never meant it as an insult or to make you look weak.”
“Of course you didn’t. You’re too busy thinking that you have to save everyone and protect everyone. I love that about you, but sometimes there are other considerations beyond your compulsive need to throw yourself on every grenade.”
Still angry, he returned to the couch and touched my face. I leaned into the warmth of his hand. Finally, he exhaled. “You put on the matching cuff and then died for seven minutes so we’d both be free of them. I want to be angry with you for doing that, but I can’t. Just tell me it was the only way.”
I covered his hand with mine. “It was the only way.”
“Whatever magic you used to kill and then resurrect yourself, you could have used it on me.”
I realized then that he had no idea that Valas had been here. Had she wiped his memory somehow, or had he not been aware of her presence?
“The hell I could,” I snapped. “As if I would ever have done that to you.”
“Yet you have no problem doing it to yourself.” He shook his head. “All right. Now explain how you found the second cuff.”
This was the part I had been dreading. “After Kim Dade, the Court researcher, found out there was a matching cuff, I did some research online and found an expert in shifter magic who had a tracking spell. I found out that it was here, in the city.”
He read my expression. “Tell me what you’re not telling me, Alice.”
“Charles had the cuff.”
His face was like a glacier. “Did he know all along?”
“He suspected there was a second cuff and tried to find it before I did so he could sell the set to whichever pack would pay him the most. He only found out last night, just before we set the trap for Kent Stevens, that without it you would die. As soon as that was over, he had Kim call me with the news.”
“And how long did he have the second cuff?”
“Since this morning, he said. The second the sun set tonight, I went to get it from him.”
Sean leaned forward and inhaled.
Shocked and furious, I jumped up and nearly fell when a wave of dizziness made me grab for the arm of the couch. “What did you think, that I had sex with Charles to get the cuff?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t think that, but there is no way in hell Vaughan gave you that cuff without getting something big in return.” He read my eyes and his expression went flat. “He bit you.”
“Sean—”
He stood, his hands balled into fists and fury rolling off him in waves. “The first time he bit you, it was an unforgivable violation—you said so yourself. And now you let him bite you again?”
He turned and punched the door of what turned out to be a storage closet. He pulled his fist out and punched it again, demolishing it completely.
“Sean, hear me out. I knew that was what he wanted and I was ready to negotiate. He drank from me, but it was just a bite, nothing else. We were fully dressed. I didn’t allow him to give me any pleasure with the bite. It was nothing but…nothing but pain for me. When it was done, he handed over the cuff and I left. It was a business transaction.”
No answer.
His silence infuriated me. “Damn it, you were dying. I had no choice.”
He spun around, his eyes flashing fire, but I kept talking. “It was nothing but a bite and a pint of blood. You would have done the same for me, if our roles were reversed. Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn’t.”
“That would be different.”
I put my hands on my hips. “How would it be different? Because you’re a man, or because you’re an alpha?”
He ran his hands through his hair. I’d just caught him in a double standard and he knew it. “You are a high-level mage and an associate of the pack. You are not just some vampire’s meal.”
“No, I’m not a meal. I’ve never allowed any vampire to bite me, not ever. I’ve been offered sums of money that you wouldn’t believe. Gifts fit for kings. I turned them all down. But I did this for you, because…” I stopped.
“Because why, Alice?” he asked. “Tell me why.”
“Because the thought of losing you was more than I could bear. Because Charles thought he had me right where he wanted me and I showed him he was wrong. Because you are the one chance at happiness I’ve ever had, and I’d be damned if I was going to let you down when you needed me.” When he didn’t respond, I added, “And because if he got hold of the cuff first, Jack was going to put it on Lily Anderson.”
Sean’s face went blank. Alpha magic rose and I stumbled, almost falling to one knee.
Finally, he spoke. “Jack was going to put the second cuff on Lily?” His voice was deadly.
“Yes. Jack wouldn’t let me come see you, but Karen called and warned me that—”
Ben’s voice interrupted me, calling to us through the basement door. “Sean? A Vamp Court SUV just parked in the driveway and there’s a vampire—”
CRASH. It sounded like someone had come through the front door without bothering to open it.
“Where is Alice?” It was Charles, upstairs. His voice was almost a roar. “Where is her body?”
Sean started for the stairs, still cold with fury.
“Wait,” I said.
He turned around. “What?”
“He doesn’t know I’m alive,” I said softly. “That means he’s lost his connection to me, the one he got by biting me while I was in a coma. He felt me die and he still thinks I’m dead.” I smiled. “He’s not in my head anymore, Sean. I’m free of him.”
“Good.” He came back and scooped me up. “You’re in no shape to climb stairs.”
I would have protested except he was right, so I let him carry me up the steps. When we got to the top, he pressed his lips to my ear. “Our conversation is not finished,” he murmured. “But I have a beta I have to deal with, and a vampire who needs to understand once and for all that three’s a crowd.”
He kicked the basement door open and stepped into the kitchen.
22
Charles had indeed broken through Jack and Delia’s solid oak front door, reducing it to a pile of splintered wood and broken glass. He stood in the front room with Bryan at his side, facing off with Jack, Delia, Ben, and Karen.
Gone was his trademark icy calm. He was shrouded in shadow, his face a mask of pure rage and eyes pitch black. Dark magic made the air heavy.
The werewolves’ eyes were golden but they held their ground and their human forms—at least for now. I had to grudgingly give Jack credit for not attacking Charles, despite the vampire’s intrusion into his home.
When Sean stepped into view, Charles looked past the others and spotted us. It took several seconds for him to proces
s the sight of me alive. His anger gave way to relief and then confusion.
Bryan, for his part, looked as close to nonplussed as I’d ever seen him. He stared at me like he thought I was a ghost.
Sean spoke first. “Get out of this house, Vaughan. You’ll be hearing from my attorney about the damages to the Hastingses’ property.”
If Charles heard what Sean said, he didn’t acknowledge it. “Alice,” he said, his voice rough with only a hint of its usual suave tones. “I do not understand.”
Sean lowered me down carefully and steadied me with one hand on my back. He knew me well enough to know I wanted to face Charles on my own two feet. His touch made my skin warm and tingly. Maybe a fragment of our bond from the cuffs remained, or maybe the magic of the cuffs had awakened some trace of shifter blood in my veins. If so, that was something I would have to figure out later once Charles and Jack were dealt with.
“What don’t you understand, Charles?” I asked. “I told you I would do whatever I had to do to save Sean’s life.”
“A statement that turned out to be far from mere hyperbole.” He took a few steps toward the kitchen. At Sean’s nod, the others reluctantly moved aside so Charles could approach us.
He entered the kitchen and stopped on the other side of the center island. “I felt your death, but not your return to life. Our link has been terminated as if it never existed. No human magic I have ever known would be capable of this. How is this possible?”
I’d been wondering that myself. Valas must have severed the connection, but I hadn’t thought to ask her to do so; I hadn’t even known it was possible. Why she’d done it was a question I wanted an answer to. She must have thought it would benefit her in some way. That would be something else I’d have to fret about later.
“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” I told Charles truthfully. We might no longer share a telepathic link, but he could still sense emotions and deception. Good thing I excelled at partial truths and evasive answers.
“I certainly never thought you capable of giving your life for his.” Charles glowered at Sean, who returned his gaze impassively. “There was no guarantee that your life could be restored. You might have truly died. He is not worthy of such a sacrifice. You are worth ten of him.”