Chapter 1

"You should go in. The owner doesn't bite."

Startled, I turned. The speaker was a lanky college kid with long blond hair, wearing a Love and Rockets T-shirt and ripped jeans, sitting at the other end of the bench.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

He gestured with his half-eaten sandwich at the record store across the little outdoor pavilion from where we sat. "I'm just saying, go in and check it out. You've been staring at the place for like twenty minutes. Daniel doesn't bite."

"Thanks. Maybe I will." I crossed my arms and resumed watching the store.

My body language was lost on him. "We're the last real record store anywhere around," he said with obvious pride. "New and used, all genres. We'll order anything you want if we don't have it."

I didn't reply. My attention was on the figure of a tall, well-muscled older man inside the store. In the past half hour, he'd helped customers, sorted through bins of new inventory, and cleaned the glass door. At the moment, he was ringing up a couple of guys and talking with them, maybe about their purchases. I hadn't seen him smile…or sit down for one moment. Shifters tended to have a lot of energy, but he seemed more restless than most.

Mr. Love and Rockets was talking again. "What are you into? I bet classic rock." He finished off the last of his sandwich in one big bite and gulped water from a reusable bottle.

He seemed friendly, I supposed, and might be a good source of information about his boss. "I am, actually," I said, turning toward him. "How could you tell?"

He grinned. "I've been working in this store since I was sixteen. I get a vibe about people, you know? And I'm almost always right. So, who are your favorites?"

"Pink Floyd, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Who, Queen, Fleetwood Mac."

"On vinyl?"

I feigned confusion. "Are there any other options?"

"Rock on. I'm Detroit." At my expression, he laughed. "It's really Henry, but Daniel's been calling me Detroit since forever."

"Are you from there?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I'm from here. I'm super into KISS, though, so I guess that's where it came from. Daniel claims he doesn't remember how he thought of it—just says Henry doesn't suit me."

I couldn't imagine a world in which this guy was named "Henry" either. "Daniel sounds interesting. He owns the store?"

Detroit nodded. "He's been running it for something like twenty years. It's his life."

That's what the file I'd received from my hacker contact Cyro had reported. Daniel had a simple life: the record store, a house on the outskirts of town, and a truck. No wife, no kids, no living family.

Except me.

"Daniel loves classic rock too," Detroit said, folding his insulated lunch bag. "He'd probably enjoy talking with you. Pink Floyd is his favorite band of all time. If you think Dark Side of the Moon is one of the best things ever made by a human, you and he will get along just fine."

My throat went dry. "The first vinyl album I ever bought was Dark Side of the Moon ."

"Then come inside and see what we've got. Bet we have albums you need. I'll even slide you a first-time customer discount." He stood and stretched. "You from around here?"

I shook my head. "A couple hours away."

"What brings you to town?"

I had an answer prepared for that question. "I planned to go on the ghost tour tonight."

"Mary Ann's tour? You'll like her. She knows all the local lore—and what she doesn't know, she makes up." He winked. "Coming in? I'll introduce you to Daniel."

I rose, but I made no move to follow him toward the store. I'd faced demons, ghosts, vampires, sorcerers, witches, poltergeists, angry werewolves, blood mages, panther shifters, an angel, a demon lord, and Vlad the Impaler, but the prospect of being introduced to Daniel Holiday made me want to run.

Running was not an option, however, because someone else might be coming after Daniel: my grandfather, crime lord Moses Murphy. For some reason he wanted Daniel dead for knocking up my mom with a half-mage, half-shifter baby. Why that would make Moses want to kill Daniel, I wasn't sure. I'd recently unearthed a forgotten memory from my childhood that indicated Moses would have killed all three of us back then if he'd known my real father wasn't John Briggs, the man who'd raised me as his own daughter.

Both my mom and my dad were long dead, murdered by Moses when I was eight. Now Moses knew I was part shifter, and he might be hunting for the man who'd fathered me. Luckily, ace hacker Cyro had found Daniel first. I had a chance to warn him that Moses or his goons might be headed this way.

As far as I knew, Daniel had no idea I existed, and I had absolutely no clue how to break the news. Since the day I learned about him, I'd rehearsed it a hundred times, saying it a hundred different ways, but none of them seemed right. My alpha werewolf partner, Sean Maclin, had kissed me goodbye this morning and assured me the right words would come to me when it was time. As I stared through the front windows at my probable biological father, however, my brain was totally blank.

"For Pete's sake, Alice, show some fortitude." Malcolm crossed his arms and glared at me from where he floated a few feet to my right. "You heard Detroit Rock City over there—Daniel doesn't bite and he's got a sense of humor and he likes Pink Floyd. What else do you want?"

"A less judgmental ghost sidekick," I muttered.

Detroit turned around. "What was that?"

"Nothing." I ignored Malcolm's exaggerated eye roll and took a deep breath. "Sure, I'd love to check out your store."

"Awesome." Detroit headed for the front door of Blue Moon Records, whistling. "Oh, hey, what's your name?"

"Alice," I told him. "Alice Worth."

He opened the door and held it for me. The familiar sound of Aerosmith drifted through the doorway. I smiled.

Was it possible to inherit a love of classic rock through genetics? I certainly hadn't gotten that from my parents, and I sure as hell didn't get it from Moses.

Detroit made a gallant sweeping gesture. "After you, Alice."

"Thanks, Detroit." I let Steven Tyler's vocals carry me inside.

The moment we walked in, Daniel sent Detroit to the post office to ship some online orders. As nice as the shop assistant was, I was relieved not to have to make conversation.

Daniel was still talking with his customers, who were regulars judging by the way they chatted. I busied myself bin-diving in the classic rock section of the shop's used records inventory and listened to their discussion about the highlights of Black Sabbath's lesser-known tracks. Unsurprisingly, Daniel was highly knowledgeable on the topic. Though he didn't laugh or smile and seemed generally very solemn, he was friendly. We were the only customers in the shop at the moment—not entirely unexpected for a weekday morning.

I hadn't necessarily planned to buy anything, but darned if they didn't have several albums I really wanted, all in excellent condition. I made a stack and continued browsing.

Malcolm prowled around the store, "checking the perimeter," as he called it, and reported nothing strange and no wards. He floated beside me, arms crossed again. "You're stalling."

"Hush," I muttered. "He's busy with customers."

"They're just yakking. I'm sure if you went up there, he'd send them on their way and talk to you."

"What part of this seems like it would be easy?" I asked testily, still in an undertone, as I flipped through records. "I'm working up the nerve to go up there, okay? And I've still got six more bins to go through. They've got a huge inventory."

Malcolm sighed. "I know this isn't easy, but I think you're getting more nervous the longer you think about it. Just go ask him about some random album and chat for a bit. Break the ice." He glanced behind me. "Scratch that. He's coming to you."

I spun and locked eyes with Daniel, who was striding down the aisle toward me. The other customers were on their way out the front door, purchases in hand.

Before the plastic surgery that turned me into Alice, the disgraced—and deceased—scion of the wealthy Worth family of Chicago, I'd looked a lot like my mother, Moira, except my eyes were dark coffee brown instead of blue-gray. When I saw the photos of Daniel in the file Cyro had sent me, however, I recognized my own dark brown eyes staring back at me. I also saw some of my own face—or at least the face I used to have—in Daniel's. In that moment, I knew with more certainty than if I'd had DNA test results in my hand that Daniel was my biological father. And days later, I stood in his record store, wondering how the hell to tell him who I was and why I was here.

He wore a plaid shirt, jeans, and boots, as if he planned to go for a hike after work, or maybe out into the countryside to shift and hunt. Besides his physique, the only indication he was a shifter was the way light reflected in his eyes. I was sure he'd already caught Sean's scent on me, but he didn't comment on it.

"Can I help you find something?" he asked.

I showed him what I'd chosen. "Just adding to my collection. Your store is amazing."

"Thank you. I'm very proud of it." He looked over my albums. "Some excellent choices. Are you new to collecting vinyl?"

"I only started buying albums about five years ago. I didn't really have the means before that." I'd had no way to buy records while a prisoner of my grandfather, but I'd started building my collection as soon as I had my own place.

He nodded gravely. "I understand." He probably assumed I meant I hadn't had the money. "What other albums are missing from your collection?"

I smiled. "So many, it would take all day to list them. I can tell you a couple that are at the top of the list, though."

He didn't return my smile. Given what I'd read in the file Cyro sent me, his solemnity wasn't unexpected. Even thirty years later, the memory of seeing most of his pack slaughtered would be raw. He'd lost everyone because of Moses.

Other than some DNA, we had that in common too.

Think of it like this , Sean had told me last night as we lay in bed. You are a gift to him. He believes he's alone in this world. He has no pack and no family, as far as he's aware. Not all lone wolves are lonely, but my gut tells me this is a lonely man. I don't see a scenario where your news isn't welcome, once the shock wears off.

Sean had offered to come with me, but the presence of an alpha would complicate things considerably. I'd decided to just bring Malcolm, who'd drifted over to a different area of the store to give us the illusion of privacy.

"What's on your list?" Daniel asked.

I named a few albums. We found two in the used section and one more in the back, in a crate of new inventory he hadn't had a chance to go through yet. I ended up with a healthy pile of seven albums, all in great condition.

Detroit wasn't back yet, so when another customer came in, Daniel went to help him while I looked over the flyers plastered on the front counter. Most advertised local bands, record swap meets, and other locally owned shops. A couple of bands were holding auditions. One specified they needed a drummer with a working vehicle capable of transporting the band to gigs. I chuckled.

Daniel's voice startled me. "Do you play an instrument?" He went around the counter to ring up my purchases. The other customer left empty-handed, apparently unable to find what he was looking for.

"No. I sing a little."

"Ever sing with a band?"

"Never got the chance to try. I think it would have been fun."

He gave me the total. "I assume Detroit offered you a first-time customer discount."

"He did, but I know a small business counts pennies, so I won't hold you to it."

"I count happy customers." He hit a few buttons on the register and told me the revised total. "Cash or credit?"

I handed over my card and he ran it. As the slip printed out, he studied me. "Did you find out what he sent you to find out?"

I blinked. "Who?"

"The alpha of whatever pack you're associated with." His expression hardened. "I assume he sent you to do a little snooping on the local loner. You didn't make much of an effort to clean off his scent, so he must have wanted me to know. Tell him I'm not interested in joining his pack and not to bother sending any more cute girls to entice me."

"It's not what you think." I signed my name on the receipt and handed it back. "That's my partner you smell, and he didn't send me."

His expression didn't change. "Your partner? Not your mate?"

"Not yet. Maybe someday. We just bought a house together." I wasn't sure why I told him that. It just came out.

"The Council's letting him have a human mate?" Daniel sounded skeptical.

"They don't exactly approve," I said, which might be the understatement of the century. "And I'm not exactly human."

For the first time, his dark brown eyes glowed golden. "What are you, then, besides a mage?"

I took a deep breath. "That's why I'm here, actually."

Before I could say more, three SUVs pulled up in front of the shop. Warning bells went off in my head. Daniel turned to see what had caught my attention and snarled.

Men and women emerged from the SUVs. I didn't know any of them, but I recognized a team of cabal soldiers when I saw one. Shit.

The passenger door of the middle SUV opened. Nora Keegan, my grandfather's newest lieutenant, stepped out.

Double shit.

Nora was a high-level blood and air mage. She'd been one of local boss Darius Bell's top lieutenants but had switched allegiances and killed Bell on Moses's order as part of his takeover of the city. She'd also been present when Malcolm was tortured to death on Bell's orders and kidnapped one of my clients right from under my nose. We had a lot of unfinished business.

Our eyes met through the window. She looked very surprised to see me, which told me they hadn't followed me here. Moses had tracked Daniel down and sent Nora to bring him in.

Nora smiled at me and raised her phone to her ear. I knew who she was calling: Moses.

Triple shit.

Daniel turned to me, his eyes bright gold.

"You've got to get out of here," we said at the same time.

"They're here for me," Daniel said. He must have recognized someone in Nora's goon squad, or he knew Nora worked for Moses now. He might have been keeping tabs on Moses's organization.

I shook my head and spooled magic. "They're here for us now . Go. I'll hold them off."

"The hell you will," he snarled. "That's Moses Murphy's top lieutenant out there." So he did know who Nora was.

"I know. The first time we met, I cut off her left hand and she blasted me through two walls." In the interim, I'd absorbed the magic and power of a sorcerer I'd killed and developed some new abilities. I looked forward to evening the score between us.

Malcolm floated over next to me, his magic prickling my arms. "I can take out the humans with sleep spells," he told me. "Then we unleash hell on Nora and the other mages."

Daniel looked right at where Malcolm was. He couldn't hear or see my ghost, but shifters were sensitive to the presence of spirits.

"I've got a mage ghost here backing me up too," I said to Daniel. "We can handle them. Do you have another way out of here besides the front and back doors?"

Outside, Nora finished her brief call and stuck her phone back in her pocket. She waggled her fingers at me. Air magic coiled around her arms and her eyes turned white.

With a snarl, Daniel vaulted over the counter, picked me up with one arm, and ran toward the back of the store, moving so fast I didn't have time to protest. Malcolm was right behind us. Thank goodness Detroit wasn't back from the post office yet.

The front windows exploded in a massive burst of air magic that swept through the store, destroying everything in its path. Shards of glass flew toward us in a blizzard of potentially lethal edges. Daniel swung me in front of him and grunted as glass embedded itself in his back.

He kicked the door to the office open and shoved me into the small room. Gunshots rang out. He staggered in after me, slammed the door, and locked it with several solid-looking deadbolts. Belatedly, I noticed the door and the frame were reinforced steel. The office was a panic room, apparently.

"If they've got a high-level earth mage with them, they'll be able to get in here," I told him. He probably knew that, but it didn't hurt to emphasize that concern.

Inside the room, I couldn't hear anything from the store. I assumed Nora and her crew were destroying everything and surrounding the panic room.

Daniel pulled a pocketknife from his jeans pocket. He tossed it to me and turned his back. "Cut them out," he ordered, his voice hoarse.

His shirt was soaked with blood. His back had large shards of glass embedded in it, but the two bullet holes were the immediate problem. I pulled out the glass so he could start healing and ripped his shirt open. The skin around the holes was black.

"Silver bullets," Malcolm said grimly. "Son of a bitch."

"I guess their orders were to bring you in dead or alive. Brace yourself." I sliced across one of the entrance wounds, stuck my fingers into the opening, and used my earth magic to sense the silver. How he'd known I'd be capable of rendering this kind of first aid I had no idea, but shifters usually had good instincts about people. Or maybe it was some kind of test.

Daniel snarled. "Hurry."

"I am hurrying." I pulled the first bullet to my fingers using my earth magic. Daniel grunted.

Thankfully, the bullet was intact and easy to remove. I tossed it on the desk. "One down."

I tried to repeat the process with the second bullet, which was also still in one piece, but it had shattered his right shoulder blade and gotten lodged in something—probably his collarbone. "It'll be easier from the front," I told him.

He turned to face me. "We need to go before they figure out how to get in here." He wiped his mouth, leaving a streak of blood on the back of his hand. One or both of the bullets had punctured something important.

"I know." I cut into his upper chest and stuck my fingers inside his flesh. One quick pull with my earth magic and the bullet came loose. I dropped it onto the table beside the first one. "Done."

Daniel balled up his bloody shirt and pressed it to the wound on his chest. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Nora is a monster. You should've let me kill her."

"I want answers about why you're here. You can kill her some other time."

He grabbed a tall metal cabinet and swung it away from the wall, revealing a ladder. He climbed up a few rungs, pushed a ceiling tile aside, and punched in a code. A door swung up, revealing a tunnel leading up.

Daniel jumped down off the ladder. "You go first. I'll follow."

I turned to Malcolm. "Go up and make sure it's clear."

"You got it." The ghost zipped away up the tunnel. A few moments later, he returned. "The tunnel leads to a hatch on the roof. It's clear for now. I'll go back and keep watch."

"Okay. Be careful."

He zipped away again. I started up the ladder. When I got to the tunnel, I glanced back to see Daniel pour liquid from a small container onto the bloodstain on the floor. I smelled gasoline. He tossed the container aside, left his bloody shirt on the floor, and started up the ladder behind me.

I climbed up the tunnel. When Daniel got to the tunnel, he took a metal lighter from his pocket. He flicked it, dropped it into the room below, and slammed the trapdoor on the flames. The panic room's air vents would supply oxygen, ensuring the fire consumed the contents of the office, including Daniel's blood and whatever else was in there he didn't want Nora to get her hands on.

He looked up at me, his golden eyes bright in the near pitch-darkness of the tunnel. "What are you waiting for?"

We climbed the ladder quickly. The record store was on the ground floor of a four-story building, so we only had to climb three stories to get to the roof.

When we reached the top, I found a glowing number pad on the wall. "Code is one three nine five," Daniel told me.

I punched in the number and the hatch unlocked. I turned a handle and pushed it open. Daylight blinded me.

Malcolm was waiting. "All clear. Hurry."

Squinting, I clambered out to the roof. Daniel emerged right behind me and shut the hatch. Shouts drifted up from the street. Sirens blared in the distance.

"Follow me." Daniel headed for the far end of the roof. Clearly, he had an escape route already planned in case something like this ever happened.

I scurried after him with Malcolm at my side. "What's the plan?"

Daniel didn't look back. "Get off this roof and get the hell out of here."

"They'll be watching your vehicle," I reminded him.

"I know. I have a backup plan."

I glanced at Malcolm. "Go check and see if there's anyone lurking around my car. If there is, come back. If not, stay and keep an eye on it until we get there unless I summon you."

"Will do." He vanished.

We reached the edge of the roof. I didn't see any way of getting down to street level. There was another building across the alley, but it was a good twelve feet to that roof and a forty-foot drop.

Daniel turned to me, his expression cold. He'd lost everything again. His beloved record store was gone. Even if we evaded Nora, he couldn't go home—they'd be waiting for him there. For thirty years, he'd made the best life a man could after watching everyone he'd ever loved die, and in a matter of a few minutes, it was all gone.

"Why did you come here?" he asked. He didn't sound angry, just resigned, as if he'd known this day would eventually come.

None of the imaginary scenarios I'd rehearsed involved standing on the edge of a roof while Moses's goon squad destroyed Daniel's record store. Soon Nora would realize we weren't in the burned-out panic room and start looking for possible escape routes, if they hadn't already.

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a four-by-six photograph of two adults and an eight-year-old girl. It was a duplicate of the original, which had been damaged in my escape from Moses's compound five years ago. I held it up so he could see it.

"My mother's name was Moira Murphy," I told Daniel. "That's her husband John Briggs with us in the photo. He raised me as his child, but I wasn't."

I reached for the golden shifter magic in my chest. My eyes grew warm, and I knew they'd developed telltale golden rings. "I'm your daughter," I said.

The hard mask vanished. A parade of emotions crossed his face: shock, disbelief, grief, anger. A flash of fear. Not for himself—for me.

"Where's your car?" he asked finally, his voice tight.

I pointed. "A couple of blocks that way. I wanted to walk."

"All right." He gestured at the other roof. "We have to get moving."

I spooled air magic. "You go first."

He growled. "No way in hell I'm leaving you behind." Again , his expression said.

"I'll be right behind you. I think I can jump it with my air magic. If you're there waiting, you can catch me if I put a little too much oomph into the jump." Which sometimes happened when adrenaline got into the mix. Unfortunately, I knew that from painful experience.

Daniel held out his hand. "If you trust me, I'll get us both across."

Though the injuries had begun to heal, he'd been shot twice with silver bullets and had his back sliced to ribbons by shards of glass. When I looked into his eyes, however, I knew he wouldn't have suggested it if he didn't know he could get us across safely.

I'd known him thirty minutes and he was asking me to put my life in his hands. Then again, I'd hired a hacker to track down my biological father and then driven three hours to meet him. What was one more leap of faith?

I took his hand. "Okay."

He didn't give me time to think about it too much and swung me onto his back. I locked my arms around his shoulders and my legs around his waist. I'd done this with Sean a few times, but for fun and certainly never to jump between buildings. Like most shifters, Daniel's body was solid muscle, and though he was quite a bit older than Sean, he was powerful and strong.

Without giving me time to reconsider, he circled back to pick up momentum, adjusted his pace to account for my weight, and ran full speed toward the edge of the roof. He launched off the low parapet wall, flew over the gap between the buildings, and landed with plenty of room to spare on the other roof.

I let go of him and slid to the roof. His blood stained the front of my shirt, but that was low on my list of problems at the moment. "Thanks for the lift. What now?"

He gestured at a rooftop door. "Down those stairs and out to the alley. My buddy who owns the deli won't mind if we borrow his truck to get out of here."

Before we went to the door, we peered over the edge of the roof to check the alley. It was empty and silent.

"Hey, what happened to the sirens?" I asked.

Daniel growled. "Murphy probably made some phone calls. The cops aren't coming. Let's go before they figure out where we've gone."

He opened the door, revealing a dimly lit stairwell. I followed him down. We moved silently and quickly.

At the bottom of the stairs, Daniel paused with his hand on the doorknob, listening for any sounds in the alley. Hearing nothing, he unlocked the door and opened it.

Two of Moses's goons stood on the other side of the door. They looked as surprised to see us as we were to see them.

I unleashed a blast of air magic that sent them both flying back to smash into the wall on the other side of the alley. They hit the ground and lay still, either dead or out cold.

I heard slow clapping and turned. Nora stood in the mouth of the alley, flanked by four more goons with guns raised. "Alice, it's lovely to see you again. It feels like fate keeps bringing us together."

I rolled my eyes. "It's not fate; it's that your dick bosses keep sending you on little errands."

Her smile vanished. "My orders are to bring him in. You can come too, if you like." She pulled a pair of spell cuffs from her belt and twirled them around her finger. "Just slip these on like a good girl and I'll make sure you get there without so much as a scratch."

"I think we'll take door number two," I said, inching in front of Daniel. He growled.

"There is no door number two, sunshine." She dangled the cuffs. "It's my way…or the dead way."

"Moses needs me alive," I murmured to Daniel. "She can't kill me, but she can kill you. I'll buy you some time to get out of here. When you can, get to Sean Maclin, my partner. Our pack will protect you."

He snarled. "I'm not leaving, and I'm not bringing danger to any pack, especially not yours."

"Come on, Alice," Nora called. "Don't make me insist. I don't know why you're here, but it's time for you to either run along home or decide to come with Mr. Holiday and visit my boss. I know he'd love to see you."

She had no idea how badly Moses wanted me, or why. Moses had to make sure no one knew I was really his granddaughter, who'd supposedly died five years ago in an accident at his compound in Baltimore. If that news got out, everyone would be after me, from the feds to every cabal in the country, and every Vampire Court too.

"Do you have somewhere safe to go?" I asked Daniel.

He growled and didn't answer, but I saw from his expression that he did have a place to go.

"Do this for me," I said. I knew it wasn't fair of me, and the last thing I wanted to do was to send him away when we'd only just found each other, but I wanted him far away from Nora. "Come find me soon. We have a lot to talk about."

He planted his feet shoulder width apart. "You can't fight them all by yourself."

I smiled. "I'm not by myself. Trust me, Daniel." I paused. "The first album I ever bought was Dark Side of the Moon . When you come find me again, we'll listen to it together."

He stilled, his face a mask of both pain and wonder.

"Go." I repeated. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two mages and two goons at the opposite end of the alley. Malcolm floated behind them, unseen and waiting for my signal. He gave me a thumbs-up.

I turned back to Nora. "A while back, I told you we'd have to take a rain check and finish that conversation another day."

Magic spooled around my arms in every color of the rainbow. My cells buzzed with the magic I'd absorbed from the sorcerer I'd killed. The power was enormous and strange and I was only just beginning to learn how to use it.

It was also slowly killing me, but that was a problem I'd have to solve another day.

My wolf raised her head and growled. My eyes grew warm and my vision went gold around the edges. "How about we finish it today?" I asked Nora.

She stared. The goons with her exchanged glances.

Beside me, Daniel smiled at her. It was a purely predatory smile—one I used myself from time to time. I guessed I knew now where I'd gotten it from. If he was weirded out by my magic or my wolf, he didn't let on.

"You want to play?" I asked Nora. "Then let's play."

Instead of leaving, Daniel dropped to his knees and shifted in a surge of golden shifter magic. His wolf was enormous: dark gray with a band of black fur across his shoulders. He flattened his ears back against his head and showed Nora all of his teeth.

It occurred to me Daniel had just as much reason to hate Nora and anyone else from Moses's cabal as I did. Fair enough—we could do this together.

My wolf prowled restlessly. My skin prickled like fur was pushing at it from the inside. She wanted out. I feared releasing her, because once she left my body I had no control over what she did. However, my desire to see Nora pay for everything she'd done outweighed my apprehension, at least for now.

Go play , I told her.

With a growl, my wolf leaped out of my chest in a brilliant surge of magic. She was the same size as Daniel's wolf, but made of pure golden magic. She landed on the pavement, raised her head, and howled. I might be biased, but I thought her howl was the most beautiful and terrifying howl I'd ever heard.

Two of the people with Nora turned to run. She formed a blood magic blade and cut them in half before they had a chance to take two steps. Apparently, just like Moses, Nora did not suffer cowards to live.

The humans at the other end of the alley dropped, thanks to Malcolm and his sleep spells. The two mages, who couldn't be spelled because of their natural shields, headed in our direction, spooling magic.

"Sic 'em," I told Daniel's wolf. "I'll deal with Nora and the others."

He snarled, turned, and headed for the mages.

Judging by Nora's expression, she was trying to think of a way to take out my golden wolf. My wolf, on the other hand, eyeballed Nora like she thought she looked tasty.

"What are you?" Nora asked me, her eyes on the golden wolf. "And what the hell is that thing?"

My wolf showed her teeth.

"I'm a mage with some special skills, and this is my wolf. And that —" I hooked my thumb over my shoulder toward where Daniel's wolf was snarling at the mages "—is someone you aren't taking back to Moses, so maybe you should just run along and tell him if he wants Daniel, he can come get him himself instead of sending his lackeys to do it."

Needling Nora about being an underling was one of the few ways I'd found to get a reaction from her. People like her didn't let others get under their skin very easily, but she had an ego. Poking it was one of my favorite pastimes.

Nora's eyes turned white. I didn't know how much power she'd expended earlier blowing out the front windows of Daniel's store, but she could pack quite a wallop. Then again, so could I. Thanks to the sorcerer magic I'd absorbed, I had some new tricks up my sleeve.

I spun my blood magic into round blades on my fingertips. Nora smiled. As far as she knew, from this distance and without a focus, the blades couldn't harm her or her companions.

Surprise, bitch.

Dark magic flared on my hands, igniting glyphs on the blades. With twin quick movements and a burst of air magic, I threw them at Nora, and two more right after.

She reacted fast, her reflexes enhanced—I suspected—by drinking vampire blood. Her air magic sent the first two blades into the walls on either side of the alley. The second set of blades ended up in the chests of the man and woman on either side of her. They went down, gurgling.

Behind me, Daniel's wolf tore into someone with a snarl that made my hair stand on end. I glanced over my shoulder. One mage lay on the pavement, unconscious, thanks to something Malcolm had done. The other stopped screaming abruptly when Daniel's wolf tore out his throat. The wolf raised his bloody muzzle and howled. Malcolm appeared at my side, looking quite pleased with himself.

"You are just the most stubborn person," Nora said, shaking her head. She was spooling air magic again. "Why do you insist on doing everything the hard way? Don't you know you'll only end up suffering more in the end?"

"Why? Are you planning to talk me to death?" I jerked my head in Nora's direction. "Kill her," I told my wolf.

She headed for Nora, growling low.

Nora unleashed a blast of air magic. I formed an air magic shield in front of me, but I wasn't her target.

Instead, the magic hit the corner of the building whose roof we'd jumped onto. The impact was like a bomb going off. The entire corner of the building crumbled. I had no time—and no where —to run.

I hit the ground, grabbed a ley line, channeled its power into my air magic shield, and curved it over my head. Falling bricks couldn't hurt Malcolm or my wolf, but they could hurt me.

Debris piled on top of my shield. It wavered, threatening to give way and drop a ton of rubble right on top of me. I curled into a ball and made the shield as small as I could to focus my magic.

I gritted my teeth and channeled more ley line power. The pain was intense, but it was better than being squashed flat. Had the building stopped falling, or was the pile on top of me getting heavier? I couldn't tell.

My wolf came back. She spiraled up my arm and disappeared into my chest. The sensation was of a puzzle piece finding its home. Her power combined with mine and the shield held steady.

I could use air magic to try to blast away the debris on top of me, but I worried I would lose the shield if I did that. I couldn't tell how deep I was buried. If I lost the shield without clearing an opening big enough to get out, the result would be an Alice pancake. On the other hand, I had to get myself out soon, before I ran out of air or my shield broke.

Just as I was about to try an air magic blast, Malcolm's head and shoulders appeared in the tiny space occupied by my body and the air I had to breathe. I could barely see him through the dust.

"I knew it! You're alive," he crowed.

I coughed. "For the moment."

"Daniel's digging you out. Hang on—let me tell him where you are." He disappeared.

I heard the faint sounds of pieces of debris moving. The sounds got louder and closer. The pile on top of me lightened, and chunks of rubble crashed as Daniel picked them up and threw them aside. Holding the shield became far easier as he cleared the wreckage.

Suddenly, sunlight and relatively fresh air streamed through an opening above my head. "Alice!" It was Daniel's voice, growly and worried.

I coughed again. "I'm here. I'm okay."

The opening got bigger until there was nothing left above me. I let go of the ley line and let my shield dissipate.

Daniel appeared, covered with sweat and dust, his eyes golden. "Can you get out?"

I got to my feet, woozy from channeling the ley line and holding the shield for so long. The entire corner of the building lay in a pile around me. Sirens wailed in the distance again, and I had a feeling they would be responding to this scene.

"Nora's gone?" I rasped, doubling over to cough out dust.

"Yeah, she gave up and hightailed it out of here," Malcolm said. "I think we should do the same before the cops and feds arrive."

Daniel helped me climb out of the rubble. Bystanders and employees of the businesses housed in the building picked their way through the debris, looking for anyone else trapped in the wreckage.

Thankfully, Daniel had found some basketball shorts to wear, sparing me the sight of my father naked. They weren't his size; maybe he'd found them in his friend's truck. When he'd shifted, his wounds had healed, though the silver bullets had left scars.

I followed Daniel to his friend's truck, parked at the other end of the alley in a small lot. "Come back with me," I urged. "Moses won't stop hunting you. For some reason, he's angry I'm part shifter, and he wants to take it out on you."

Daniel leaned against the truck. "I can't believe I have a daughter. All these years…you're sure?"

"I'm sure. I have it on the highest authority." That highest authority happened to be an angel named Tura, but I didn't think now was the time to tell him that. He'd had enough revelations for one day.

"Why the hell didn't Moira tell me?" he demanded, his eyes blazing gold. He was angry now that the shock had worn off. I couldn't blame him. "I never would have left. I never would have abandoned her, or you. Why? " He snarled.

"She wanted you to live—to get away from Moses and have a life. I don't know why, but she believed Moses would have killed all three of us if he'd known you were my father. She and my dad kept it a secret until the day they died. I only found out recently because of a spelled mirror that showed me a forgotten memory of overhearing them talking."

"She had no right to keep this from me." He scrubbed his face with his hands. "You look nothing like the picture you showed me." It wasn't an accusation, just a question.

"When I escaped from Moses, I had to steal someone's identity to hide from him. I had plastic surgery and became Alice Worth, who died in Chicago five years ago. My real name is Ava." I swallowed hard. "Come home with me."

He shook his head, his expression grim. "I'm better off on my own. I don't want to bring more danger to your door."

"I used to think that way too, but I was wrong. Out there, you're alone. If you come home with me?—"

"Alice, stop," he said quietly. "I will find you again soon, I promise. I have to sort some things out."

The sirens were loud now, and there were a lot of them. "We've got to go," Malcolm urged.

Apparently Malcolm had taken some energy from Daniel, because my father heard him. He turned toward Malcolm and pointed at him. "You keep her safe, and tell Sean Maclin he'd better do the same."

"Yes, sir," Malcolm said. "Come on, Alice."

Daniel cupped my cheek with his hand. "You may not look like her, but I recognize Moira in your voice, and the way you faced Murphy's soldiers without fear," he said, his voice rough. "Go home. I'll see you when I can."

There was no use arguing with him; I could see that in his eyes. I told myself he was leaving to protect me, but it hurt nonetheless. I'd never imagined he'd refuse to come home with me.

"Let me know you're okay, at least," I said finally. "Get me a message when you're somewhere safe."

"I will." He got in the truck. The engine started with a rumble. He gave me a nod and floored it in the direction of the lot's exit. In seconds, he'd turned the corner and disappeared.

I wanted to punch something. "Damn it."

"Yeah." Malcolm touched my shoulder. "You okay?"

"Not even remotely." I headed for my vehicle with Malcolm trailing along behind me.