by Lisa Edmonds
“Agreed,” Moses said briskly. “Nora, go to the helo. I’ll join you shortly.”
“Of course.” She headed for the door to the house.
As she passed, I said, “You know his lieutenants have an average life expectancy of less than two years, right?”
She smiled. “I’ll be seeing you again really soon, Alice. Stay precious.” She disappeared into the house. After a moment, I saw her shadow go past outside, headed for the helicopter.
Moses looked at Amira and her companions. “And if you’ll excuse us?”
With a small nod, Amira withdrew, closing the doors behind her.
I turned to Moses. “Say what you came to say.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “No begging for your wolf’s life or your own. Bell was right; you are proud.” His expression hardened. “Prouder than you have any right to be. I’ll take quite a lot of pleasure in teaching you not to be so proud.”
Don’t count on it, I wanted to say, but I held my tongue. Goading him would not help me free Ben or protect Sean and Malcolm.
“Nothing to say to that?” Moses asked, his tone mocking. “Very well. You’re protected today by the vamps, but they’re mercurial. Tomorrow Valas may discover keeping you as a pet is more trouble than it’s worth. The same goes for the shifters.” His eyes went to Sean. “Half of the Were Ruling Council would rather see you dead than an alpha’s mate. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if someone takes matters into their own hands—or claws, as it were.”
Behind me, Sean growled low. “Don’t threaten Alice.”
“No threats, only truths. It’s only a matter of time.” Moses’s voice turned poisonous. “In the meantime, I will enjoy taking everything from you, Alice. Everything you’ve built, everyone you’ve allowed yourself to love. You’ll lose it all, piece by piece. And I won’t stop until you come crawling back to me and beg me to own you again, and this time it will be for good.”
Fury and terror turned me to stone. My lungs refused to draw in air. My vision tunneled. He could have turned me to ash in that moment and I would have been too horrified to react.
He knew.
My grandfather had found me. I’d run all the way from Maryland to California and hidden myself as best I could, but he’d still found me, and he was going to take everything away. My breath rattled in my chest.
Sean stepped up beside me. “She will never belong to you ever again,” he told my grandfather. “You will not take one more thing from your granddaughter—from Alice—as long as you live.”
My horror gave way to shock. Sean knows? The one-two punch left me stunned.
I sensed a spike of realization from Malcolm. My ghost hadn’t known who I was until this moment, but somehow, Sean had figured it out.
If Moses was surprised Sean knew my identity, he didn’t show it. He ignored Sean and smiled at me. “You’ve changed your face, but I recognize your eyes.” His voice was full of triumph. “Don’t you wonder how I found you? You did an excellent job of faking your death, but I knew you were alive. I sensed it in my blood. You hid yourself well, with all these masking spells and the plastic surgery and your stolen identity, but there are objects of power stronger than even the most potent spellwork.” He leaned forward. “You didn’t really think you could hide forever, did you? You knew I’d find you someday. Stupid girl.”
Anger pushed my fear aside and I found my voice. “Go back to Baltimore,” I told him, my eyes warm and glowing. “Stay away from this city.”
His smile widened. “Your vampire friend Charles Vaughan even sold me a magical object I thought would help me find you, but even it wasn’t quite powerful enough to do more than confirm you were here, in this city.” His mouth twisted. “I was so close, but I couldn’t pinpoint who you were—not until you pulled lightning from the sky and almost killed Catherine with it. You were always so good with lightning, Ava Selene. Just like your mother.”
Shifter magic ignited in my chest and coiled up through my body. My vision went gold around the edges. “Don’t you ever talk about my mother, Moses. You have no right.”
My grandfather studied me. “I wondered how you managed not to get infected by the wolf who attacked you. It would seem you didn’t escape being infected after all.” His head tilted. “Or maybe your whore mother was better at keeping secrets than I thought…which would make you part mage and part shifter.” He spat out the last like it was poison.
In the memory I’d seen in the magic mirror, my mother had said if Moses knew who my real father was, he would kill all three of us. For some reason, Moses hated the idea I might be part shifter. I’d have to think more about that later, once Ben was safe.
“You said what you came to say,” Sean said, his voice an octave lower than normal. “Now give us Ben and get the fuck out of here.”
Moses raised his hand. Outside, the rotors of the helicopter began to turn. “Mustn’t miss my ride,” my grandfather said. “We’ll talk again soon, Ava. You’ll be glad to know I rebuilt your rooms in my compound, with a little more security. They’re waiting for you.”
Sean gestured at the side door of the conservatory. “Go, Murphy.”
With a mocking half-bow, my grandfather headed for the door. Malcolm trailed behind us as we followed Moses out into the yard.
Amira stood on the lawn with her Hunters, Arkady, and Matthias, watching the helicopter power up. I saw no sign of Allan Garrett. My stomach twisted when I realized he was probably on the helo too, now property of my grandfather.
My steps were robotic as we crossed the yard. Moses had found me. Sean knew my true identity—and apparently had for some time. And now Malcolm knew too. My secrets were out to the people I cared about most, who were now at the top of Moses’s hit list.
For a moment, I almost told Moses I’d go with him if he’d spare Sean, Malcolm, and the rest of my friends. Even if I got on that helo, though, Moses would take them out anyway because he knew it would hurt me. At least if I stayed here, I had a chance to protect the people I cared about.
Malcolm touched my arm. Alice, what should I do?
Stay away from him, I told him. Even my voice in my head sounded hollow. He’ll discorporate you if you go near him.
We followed Moses to the helo, our heads bowed as the wash from the main rotor blasted over us. When I’d been at the compound, Moses frequently used a small executive helicopter to travel quickly between the compound and the city. This helo was much larger—an Airbus with sliding doors and three rows of seats.
When Nora slid the door open, I saw Garrett slumped in one of the seats, a bloody gash on his temple where someone had knocked him out. He was cuffed with spell cuffs chained to the floor.
The back row had been removed to make a cargo area. Kade crouched in the back, holding a gun to Ben’s head. The wolf was unconscious but alive. Kade winked at me.
Sean snarled. “Hand him over,” he shouted over the noise of the rotors.
“I’m not out of harm’s way quite yet,” Moses called back. He grabbed a handle just inside the door and pulled himself up and into the helo. One of his guards steadied him as he turned back to face us. “Here’s what it feels like to lose,” he said.
The helo took off. Sean jumped with all his strength, but his fingertips just missed the helicopter’s landing skid. He threw his head back in a howl of fury as the sliding door closed and the helicopter rose.
I screamed in pure rage. My earth magic surged and the ground trembled so hard that it knocked Arkady and Matthias off their feet.
I had air magic; I wanted to swat the helicopter from the sky, but I couldn’t, not with Ben on board—which Moses knew very well.
There was no way we’d see Ben alive again. It might be more merciful to take the helicopter down now. At least it would be a quick death. I thought of Moses torturing Ben and the earthquake beneath us intensified.
As the helicopter headed for the trees, the sliding door was wrenched open from the inside. The helo lu
rched and wobbled in mid-air and someone jumped from the open doorway: Ben, naked and in human form. He must have come to, realized he had this one chance to escape, shifted, and decided to jump.
I heard gunshots. Kade was hanging out of the helo and shooting at Ben as he fell.
It was at least fifty or sixty feet to the ground. Ben might survive with only broken bones, if he landed on soft ground and not rocks. He could shift and heal. Or he might be killed outright—the fall was just too far, even for a werewolf.
Now that Ben was out of the helo, I could take it out with air magic. Hard on the heels of that realization was another: I could not let Ben fall to his death, not even if it meant killing Moses. I could try to save Ben or kill Moses, but not both.
Sean ran past me, moving at superhuman speed, but he wouldn’t be able to get under Ben in time to catch him. Even if he did, I worried the impact would kill them both.
I grabbed the closest ley line and loosed air magic in a powerful stream upward toward Ben in an attempt to slow his fall. I thought it was working, but it was hard to tell in the darkness.
Ben hit the ground with a horrible thud I felt in my gut. The helicopter accelerated sharply and flew away over the woods, headed for the city and out of the range of my air magic.
Sean got to Ben first. I wasn’t far behind. Ben’s legs and at least one of his arms were broken, but he was alive. The second thing I noticed was he wasn’t wearing the collar with Carly’s amulets. Someone, maybe Kade, had guessed its purpose and removed it. Ben clutched it in his hand. Somehow he’d had the presence of mind to grab it before he jumped, but the spells must have broken when it was removed.
Then I saw the bullet holes: three of them in his torso. The wounds were black around the edges and the poison was spreading fast.
“Silver,” Sean snarled. “He can’t shift with the silver in him.”
“Move,” I told him. “I’ll get the bullets out.”
Sean moved aside, gripping Ben’s hand tightly.
Ben’s eyes fluttered open. He saw Sean and grinned weakly. “As God is my witness, I thought werewolves could fly,” he said thickly. He coughed up blood.
“Alice, whatever you’re going to do, do it quickly,” Sean urged.
I formed a blood magic blade on the fingertips of my right hand and sliced carefully across the wound in Ben’s abdomen. Ben’s back bowed and he made an agonized sound.
I stuck my fingertips into the wound, searching with my earth magic for the telltale sensation of silver and hoping the bullet was intact. I sensed the bullet’s location and pulled it to my fingers with earth magic. Ben groaned.
My fingers emerged from the wound with the bullet. I dropped it into the grass. “One. Hang in there, Ben. Just two more.”
Ben touched my arm. “Tell Casey I love her,” he rasped.
My throat tightened. “She knows, and you’re going to go home and tell her yourself.”
I sliced into the second wound, the one on his left side, and repeated the procedure. This bullet was stuck in something—maybe a rib—but I pulled a little harder and it dislodged. Ben twitched and moaned.
I dropped it beside the first one. “Two.”
The third one was near the center of his chest, close to his heart. I’d saved that one for last even though it was probably the bullet that was killing him fastest, since he’d need to shift the second I got it out.
I didn’t wait. I cut into Ben’s chest, going through his breastbone, and searched for the bullet. I was immediately certain it wasn’t in one piece; the silver sensations came from several directions. I pulled the fragments toward my fingertips.
Ben inhaled sharply, the breath rattling in his chest. His heart stuttered.
If he died, I would scorch the earth until I found Kade, Nora, and Moses, and then I would strip the flesh from their bones while they still breathed. The force of my fury almost terrified me.
The pieces of the bullet collected between my fingertips. I pulled my fingers from Ben’s body and dropped the fragments into the grass. “Shift,” I said hoarsely.
“He’s not strong enough.” Sean leaned over Ben, his eyes going bright gold as he locked gazes with the younger man. Alpha magic rose and pulsed. Sean was calling Ben’s wolf and forcing him to shift to save his life.
With a surge of golden shifter magic, Ben shifted. His wolf lay in the grass, his sides heaving with heavy, labored breathing. His wounds appeared to have healed, but he’d been moments from death and it would take him time to recover.
I wiped my bloody hands off on the grass as best I could and lay down next to Ben. The urge to comfort him was so strong that I pressed my forehead to his and ran my fingers through his fur. His eyes were full of pain, but they were bright.
Sean lay down with us, his hand on Ben’s head. Warm alpha magic wrapped around both Ben and me. “Alice, thank you,” he said roughly.
I laced our hands together and rubbed my head against Ben’s. “You’re never going to believe this,” I murmured to the wolf. “Remember the other night when we were at Charles’s house and I broke the Tepes stone? Don’t tell anyone, but I think Dracula talked to me. Well, he threatened me, actually, but that’s still pretty cool, right?”
The wolf showed me his teeth, his tongue lolling. I realized he was grinning.
Malcolm hovered beside us, nearly transparent. He’d almost burned himself out protecting us from the fire. “Trust Alice to find a way to piss off the most famous vampire in the world,” he said dryly, his voice faint. “We’d better stock up on silver and stakes, just in case.”
Arkady knelt at my side. “Can I do anything to help?”
I shook my head. “We’re going to be okay.”
She touched my arm. “I’m sorry, Alice. Amira ordered us stay back. She said you had to deal with Murphy so he knew what he was up against. I wanted to do something, but I thought she might be right.” Her eyes were dark with fury. “If he’d harmed you, she would have killed him.”
“She wouldn’t have gotten the chance,” Sean said, his anger searing my skin.
“It’s okay,” I told Arkady, and I meant it. “Amira was right. I had to face him tonight myself.”
From back toward the house, I heard tires crunching in gravel and the sound of several large SUVs arriving. Vamp Court vehicles had come to get us, since Haggar and his mercs were probably long gone.
Arkady rose and rejoined Amira and the others. They headed for the SUVs, talking quietly.
I felt sick. Moses knew who I was. Sean knew. Malcolm knew. The life I’d had for the past five years was over.
“What now?” My voice sounded hollow.
Sean kissed my temple. “Now we go home.”
25
The next afternoon, Sean and I lay in the back of his truck on a queen-sized mattress. Our clothes were draped over the side of the truck bed. We basked in the sun, my head on his chest and his arm around me.
Sean pressed a kiss to the top of my sun-warmed head. “Penny for your thoughts.”
“My life has turned upside down so quickly.” My voice was quiet. “At this time yesterday, we’d just gotten back to my house from Carly’s place. And just a few hours later, everything changed and we almost lost Ben, because of him.” Blood magic sizzled on my skin at the thought of Moses.
“Everything has changed, and nothing has changed,” Sean said. “I’m still me, you’re still you, Malcolm’s still Malcolm. Vaughan’s still untrustworthy, Valas is still three steps ahead of everyone else, and Ben’s still obsessed with Dracula. Those are the things that are most important to me. Your grandfather was a threat before and he’s still a threat now. The only difference is now you know that you being his granddaughter has zero effect on how I feel about you.”
I took a shaky breath. “I was going to tell you soon. I was almost ready.”
“I know.” He ran his nose along my hairline. “I’m glad it worked out the way it did, as awful as last night was, because now you know I’ve know
n for a while and it didn’t change anything. I was afraid if I told you I knew who you were, you’d panic and bolt, or you’d try to push me away again to protect me and the rest of the pack.”
“I thought about it,” I admitted. “But I couldn’t, as much as I wanted to keep you safe. I’m selfish.” My throat tightened.
He pulled me a little closer. “No, you’re not selfish. You are the opposite of selfish. It’s not selfish to be happy and loved. I understand why you think so, though, knowing what your life was like before you came here, or at least some of it.” He kissed my hair again. “You can tell me anything, whenever you feel ready to talk.”
“How long have you known?” I’d been afraid to ask him that last night, even after we’d returned home.
His answer surprised me. “I started to suspect when we were looking for Felicia and the others taken by the West-Addison harnad. I knew you’d once belonged to a cabal; the scars on your back and everything about how you interacted with others told me that long before you let it slip. You’d been in the city five years, which fit the timeline. More recently, the way you say his name, the look in your eyes when someone else mentions him—even when you tried not to react, I saw anger and pain. Every little clue matched up, but I couldn’t be certain, not until you told me your real birthday.” He squeezed me gently. “Ava Selene Murphy’s birthday is a matter of public record, even if not much else about her life is known.”
I forced a light tone. “I think I knew on some level that by telling you that, I was giving you the last piece of the puzzle you’d need to put it together. After twenty years doing private security, background checks, and investigative work, I would hope you’d be able to figure it out.”
He moved so he could see my face. “Do you believe me when I tell you that I love you not in spite of this, but simply for who you are?”
My eyes filled with tears. “Yes.”
He kissed me hard. “I have waited a long time to hear you say that,” he said, settling back. “If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Moses is going to do his damnedest to make sure no one finds out you’re alive. He won’t want anyone else coming after you. He’s got to be worried the vamps will figure it out.” He growled quietly. “I’m worried about that as well. They collect powerful mages too, and I don’t think they’re any more ethical than cabals in how they recruit them and keep them on the payroll.”