Chapter 2

I woke from a vivid nightmare to find myself bathed in a cold sweat. My arms and legs seized painfully as my body tried to shift to wolf form.

Damn it, not again .

I gritted my teeth and clutched the bedding, trying to ride out the pain and spasms. A tiny sound escaped my clenched jaw—a cross between a whimper and a growl.

Sean had already pulled me close and wrapped warm, comforting alpha magic around me. He must have sensed the problem before I'd even woken up.

Though I wasn't a werewolf, he'd had to treat me much like a newly turned shifter since my wolf started trying to force me to shift in my sleep. I struggled to understand the changes to my magic, body, and mind caused by the sorcerer magic I'd absorbed. My wolf's restlessness wasn't helping matters.

Sean pried my fingers loose from the comforter and gripped my hand. "Hold on to me," he murmured, rubbing his chin on the top of my head.

I squeezed his hand gratefully. I still wasn't used to turning to others for comfort, though I knew it made Sean happy and deeply contented to take care of me.

Usually these episodes passed relatively quickly, but this time the discomfort seemed to be getting worse instead of better. A particularly severe spasm made my back arch. Pain lanced down both of my legs. I cried out.

Sean cursed. His eyes flared bright gold in the darkness of our bedroom.

My wolf responded by pushing me aside roughly to look out through my human eyes. The feeling of displacement caused a wave of intense dizziness and heat. My vision turned gold around the edges.

" Be calm ," Sean told her, his voice resonant with alpha magic.

Before, she'd obeyed immediately and stopped trying to force my body to shift. This time, however, she responded with a low growl. She prowled in my mind, her ears back and lip curled to show a few teeth. My skin prickled painfully.

Sean snarled. Alpha power rose, but not the comforting warmth I was used to. Instead, it seared me and pushed my wolf back with brute force. He'd never done that to her before. She whined in pain and unhappiness.

"Stop," I snapped, but he kept pushing until she hunkered down. He wasn't just dominating my wolf; he was dominating me too, and I was instantly furious. I wouldn't be mastered by anyone, for any reason—not after twenty years of captivity by my grandfather.

My wolf growled, but she retreated into the shadows in my head, her tail between her legs. Finally, my limbs stopped seizing. I went limp in Sean's arms, gasping for breath and shivering. My arms and legs ached down to the bones. He tried to pull me against his chest, but I was angry and resisted. "Why did you do that?" I asked, my voice rough.

"Because I had to. I should have done it before, but I knew how much it would bother you." He rubbed his chin on my head again in a very wolfy attempt to comfort me. "You're like a new shifter, though you don't actually shift. You and your wolf have to form a partnership, and you're the dominant partner. You haven't learned that role yet—or how to make it clear who's boss—so I have to do it."

I still shivered, though it wasn't cold in our room. He pulled the covers over us and wrapped himself around me, trying to warm and soothe me with his body heat. "The wolf is an intelligent animal, but she's still an animal," he said, his lips against my hair. "She can't be the one in control. Even if you don't shift, she's dangerous. She's hurting you because she doesn't know or understand what she can and can't do. She could hurt someone else unless you set boundaries. The next time this happens, you have to do what I just did. I'll teach you how, just like I would a new werewolf." He kissed my hair. "I love you with every fiber of my being, but I can't coddle you, not when it comes to your wolf. There's too much at stake."

"That's an understatement." I took a shaky breath. "The Council already wants me out of your pack and your life because I have a wolf made of pure magic. Imagine what they would do if they thought I couldn't control her."

He snuggled us deeper under the covers and rested his head on mine. "You will learn to control her. And the Council are not going to do a damn thing—not to you, or to any of us. You, Nan, and I will see to that."

Our pack's new beta, Nan Lowell, had taken over the role when longtime beta Jack Hastings died fighting the sorcerer Mira?. Nan's transition from pack member to beta had not gone smoothly—not because of trouble from within our pack, but because Nan was female, and that seemed to make a lot of people angry. Fortunately, nothing they said seemed to affect her or undermine her confidence in the least. From the day she became beta, she'd been as dominant as Jack had been, and still as nurturing as ever.

Sean nuzzled my neck. "Will you be able to get back to sleep?"

"I usually can't after these things, but I'll try. Maybe it will help knowing what I need to do if it happens again." I wiggled into a more comfortable position against him and tried to relax.

Unfortunately, something else was keeping me awake these days besides my wolf's new habit of trying to make me shift in my sleep. I was keeping something from Sean, something very serious and potentially explosive, and I had absolutely no idea how to break the news.

I'd recently figured out that Charles Vaughan, a longtime acquaintance and a member of the Vampire Court, had been messing with my head. His goal had been to undermine my resistance to his advances, get me under his control and, more recently, force me to sabotage my relationship with Sean. I would have noticed any overt influence, so he'd done it subtly, one tiny push at a time.

I'd liked Charles, even been fond of him—or so I'd thought. Now I didn't know what had been real and what was a result of his manipulations.

Two things I knew for certain, however: I would never trust Charles again, and I had to tell Sean the truth. Sean hated Charles for a long list of reasons, most especially his well-documented history of taking advantage of me in moments of vulnerability. I wanted to wait until I'd had a chance to confront Charles about it myself, so it would already be resolved, but that wasn't fair to Sean.

I owed him the truth and my trust, but after twenty years of captivity and abuse at my grandfather's hands, both were so damn hard for me to give, even to Sean, and even now. I made a frustrated sound.

Sean kissed my ear. "As much as I love your little growl, I know something's chewing you up. Talk to me. Let me help."

Damn it, why was I so hesitant to tell him the truth? Even if he was angry—which he most certainly would be—I knew he wouldn't do anything irrational.

I had a sudden thought: was my reluctance part of Charles's manipulation? I was starting to wonder if anything I thought or felt related to Charles was real or not, and that made me even angrier than I already was.

Sean squeezed me gently. "Alice." His tone had changed. He knew something was very wrong, and now there was no way he would let the subject drop.

I unclenched my jaw and forced the words out. "Charles has been messing with my head."

His body went rigid, like he was holding himself back from violence by sheer force of will. "In what way?" he asked. I almost didn't recognize his voice. It was hard, cold, and deadly.

"When I was in Mira?'s prison, I was behind powerful wards that disrupted all my magic and metaphysical connections to everyone." My voice sounded strained with the effort it took to speak. "I couldn't feel our bond or my bond with Malcolm. As I lay in my cell and thought about you, though, I realized I suddenly had none of the second thoughts about moving in together I'd had just the day before when we talked about the new house. It reminded me of how I felt after Carly removed the hex Lily put on me when she tried to break us up—like I was suddenly able to think clearly. The only thing that makes sense is Charles has been subtly influencing me. For how long, I'm not sure, but months at least. Possibly years."

Fury rolled through his body in waves I sensed as his muscles tightened. He literally vibrated with anger. Magic and alpha power surged, and I thought for a moment he might shift.

Instead, he let out a long, low snarl. "I've wondered if that was possible," he said finally. "When you came back from being Mira?'s prisoner, with no memories and the slate wiped clean, so to speak, you were instinctively suspicious of Vaughan. Not just because you didn't remember your past, but because whatever he's been doing to your head, Mira?'s magic reset it. Vaughan was angry when he interacted with you and you didn't respond to him like you had before you disappeared. Now I understand why." His chest rumbled. "He realized he'd lost the ground he'd gained with you with all these months and years of messing with your thoughts and emotions."

Too angry to stay still, Sean got up and stalked back and forth across the bedroom, his eyes glowing like golden suns in the dark room.

"I'm sorry I waited so long to tell you," I said as he paced. The more I talked about it, the easier it got, as if I'd broken through Charles's influence and freed myself. "I don't know if what he did made me reluctant to tell you the truth, or if that was my own fears. It's hard for me to know what's real and what's not now when it comes to anything related to Charles or the Court. I have to assume my suspicions and anger are my own, and everything else was a result of his influence."

He stopped pacing, his back to me. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and returned to the bed. He sat on the edge and pulled me into his lap. "I am so damned sorry. After what you've been through, control over your own body and mind is more important to you than almost anything. That makes what Vaughan did that much worse." He nuzzled my neck. "You must want to kill him slowly for betraying you so cruelly. I know I do."

"Obviously, I was furious when I figured it out. If he'd been in front of me in that moment, I might have done exactly that," I admitted. "I'm much calmer now—more just done with him than vengeful."

Sean snarled, his muscles going rigid again. "He has to answer to our pack, and to me ."

Startled, I moved so I could see his face. "Isn't it enough if he answers to me? That's always been enough before."

"Not this time."

I scowled. "I don't need anyone to fight my battles for me."

"This isn't just your battle." His expression was cold. "It's mine, and our pack's. An attack on anyone under my care is an attack on all of us."

Irritated, I started to get off his lap, but he held me. "Let go," I said.

After a moment, he released me. I walked over near the windows and turned around, my arms crossed. "Since when am I under your care? I want to deal with it myself. I don't want it to be a pack issue."

"It's already a pack issue." He rose from the bed. "The moment you accepted the role of pack associate, anything that happened to you became a pack issue. Just because I've let you talk me out of doing what needed to be done on multiple occasions doesn't mean it was the right decision. I'm done allowing Vaughan to blatantly disrespect you, me, our pack, and the Council. It's possible he keeps harming you because I allow him to keep doing it, and it ends now." He picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts.

"Sean, wait."

He looked up, his thumb hovering over the CALL button. "Why?"

"Doesn't what I want you to do matter?"

"Of course it does." The words were clipped. "It always has, and it always will. But in this case, what matters more is that I do what has to be done—what I should have done months ago."

"Which is what?"

"Inform the Court one of its members has committed an unprovoked act of violence against a member of the Tomb Mountain Pack, in violation of both human law and the Council's treaty with the Court, and demand Vaughan go on trial before the Council."

"I don't want the Court or the Council to know what Charles did," I argued. "Admitting in open court that Charles messed with my head is admitting not only a failure on my part, but also a weakness. I don't like parading my weaknesses in front of people—especially people who would love to know how to get to me. If what I want isn't important enough to stop you from making that call, then maybe you don't want everybody and their uncle to know I let Charles play me like a violin."

Sean was silent for a long time. "Don't make it sound as if I'd be choosing what I want or what's best for our pack over what you want," he said finally, his expression hard. "That's not fair. You know damn well you are the most important person in my life."

"I do know that." I took a deep breath and let it out. "I'm sorry I phrased it that way. But don't you agree we'd be better off if no one knew what Charles did, as long as I confronted him about it and made damn sure it never happened again?"

"I will confront him," Sean stated. When I opened my mouth to object, he raised his hand. "Alice, I'm trying to meet you partway, because I accept your argument that letting others know what happened might cause you harm. You have to compromise too. Swallow your pride and let me do what I need to do as the alpha of our pack."

I'd asked Sean to swallow his pride a dozen times for me, and he'd done it. He'd probably done it a dozen more times without me knowing. Of all the things Sean had done for me, that was probably the most difficult—not just because it went against every instinct in his body, but also because it had the potential to undermine his authority with the rest of the pack, other packs, the Council, and the Court. I'd known that, but suddenly the reality of what he'd been willing to do for me really hit me hard. He asked so little of me, and I'd resisted giving even that much. The realization of how selfish I'd been was physically painful.

I turned away, but there was no hiding that level of emotion from him. He tossed his phone on the bed and wrapped his arms around me from behind. "Stop," he said, his head resting against mine. "Don't feel guilty. You're still getting used to this new life and being cared for."

I sniffled. "Don't make excuses for me when I'm a shitty person. That just makes it worse."

To my surprise, he chuckled. "So it would be better if I called you out for being a shitty person instead of giving you the benefit of the doubt?"

Inelegantly, I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "Yes."

"I'll remember that. If you're ever a shitty person, I'll tell you so." He kissed my hair. "And for the record, I don't believe for one minute Valas doesn't know what Vaughan was doing. I don't think he does anything that would have ramifications for the Court without her say-so. He may have even done it at her direction. Did he have his own motives, like getting you into bed? Probably." He growled. "Valas has her own reasons for wanting you under the Court's thumb. Now you're bound to her. Even if that binding doesn't give her as much control over you as she thought it would, you're still hers, by vampire law. Which pisses me off to no end, even if it was your decision and the only way to free you from Mira?'s control."

"I'll figure out a way to undo the binding," I reminded him. "It won't happen overnight, because it's going to be tricky, but remember she can't control me like she could a human or even a less powerful mage. If she ever tries to force me to do something against my will, I'll burn out the binding and deal with the consequences."

"I'm glad to hear it." He nuzzled my hair. "Ready to try and sleep? We can catch a few more hours before it's time to get up."

We returned to the bed. Sean sent a text message, received an immediate reply, and put his phone on his nightstand.

As he curled up behind me and pulled the covers over us, I asked, "Did you set up a meeting with Charles?"

"Tomorrow night at his estate."

"Am I going with you?"

He kissed my jaw. "Of course you are."

"Okay." I hesitated, then asked, "Do you ever wish I wasn't…the way I am?"

"Not even a little bit, Miss Magic." He nestled his nose into the back of my neck, where my scent was strongest. "I love you."

I smiled and closed my eyes, willing myself to relax and take comfort in his love and strength. "I know."

"Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go," Malcolm sang from the front passenger seat of my borrowed Maclin Security SUV. My car had been stolen and burned by people working for the sorcerer who'd kidnapped me. I hadn't had a chance to go car shopping, or even decide what I wanted to buy, so I was using one of Sean's company vehicles.

I sighed and tipped my travel cup up to get the last few drops of coffee at the bottom. "Are you going to be cheerful all day?"

He grinned. "Probably."

"Damn it." I grabbed my bag and another full cup of coffee and got out.

He floated around to the driver's side as I shut my door. "You know you love me."

"It's a good thing I do, especially at moments like this, when you're way too damn cheery this early in the morning." I put my bag on my shoulder and headed for the front door of Maclin Security.

Malcolm snorted and followed. "I'm sorry—I guess I forgot it was the crack of nine."

"Some of us didn't get much sleep last night, remember?"

He sobered. "You're right. I'm sorry. And Sean had to be here at seven thirty for a meeting."

"Which is why I brought him this, plus two fresh blueberry scones." I raised the full cup of coffee I'd bought at Brew a Cup, the fantastic coffee shop owned by my friend Carly Reese. "I figured I owed it to him for keeping him up half the night, and not in any fun way."

"You know that man doesn't hold it against you," Malcolm scolded as we reached the main door. "And I'm sure he'll be happy to let you make it up to him properly tonight." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Can we not talk about my sex life right now?"

"Hey, at least you have one," he griped. "I may be dead, but I still remember the good things about being alive."

I opened the door and went inside. Cass Reynolds, Maclin Security's office manager, was watering the plants in the lobby when I walked in. I adored the petite redhead, who was perpetually cheerful and made coffee better than most coffee shops.

"Morning, Alice," she chirped. "I was going to tell you I just made a fresh pot, but I see you brought some with you."

I waved the cup. "This is for Sean, so I will help myself to your delicious coffee, thank you. Is he still in a meeting?"

She checked the soil of a plant and gave it some water. "He's in his second meeting of the morning, but they should be out in a few minutes. I'll let him know to swing by your office when he gets a chance."

"Thanks, Cass. You're awesome."

"I know." She winked and headed for the break room to refill the water can.

I headed down the hall to the right with Malcolm trailing along behind me.

When we reached the third door on the right, I stopped in my tracks and stared. When we'd left yesterday, my office door had looked exactly like all the others in the building: plain and unremarkable except for the little placard beside the doorframe with the room number, A05.

That plain office door had been replaced overnight with an opaque glass door with a steel frame and handle. The upper part of the glass had my company logo, and beneath it the words LOOKING GLASS INVESTIGATIONS.

"Hey, looky there," Malcolm said, grinning. "You're officially official now."

"Did you know about this?" I demanded in a whisper, in case anyone was within earshot.

"Of course I did," he said with exaggerated patience. "I'm sure Sean wishes he was here to see your face when you saw it for the first time, but I'll tell him your reaction was exactly what he expected: disbelief and dismay."

I made a little growly sound and tried my key. It unlocked the door. "I wasn't dismayed," I protested.

"Uh-huh." He followed me inside the office.

I hung my bag on my chair and opened the curtains to let in some light.

"Don't get me wrong," he added. "I'm proud of you for making this leap and renting office space in Sean's building, but you're still having trouble committing to it. That's why you've still got stuff in boxes, and you tiptoe around like you're in someone else's space instead of your own. Now this is your office. You're paying rent and your name's on the door."

I sighed. "Is that why he did it? So I'd stop acting like I was borrowing an office from his company?"

"It was a gift from the heart, like everything he does." Malcolm floated over to me. The sunlight shone through his transparent body and made him glow. "But sometimes you need a little nudge to take that final step."

"This was a bit more than a nudge, but I can't say you're wrong." I sat back in my very comfortable fancy new chair and surveyed the office. It was a good size—not too small, not too big—and had its own bathroom. The windows let in morning and early afternoon light, and I didn't mind the view of Maclin Security's loading dock.

I'd been evicted from my old office a few months ago during a wave of violence against mages and vampires. I'd left my things in storage in the interim while I tried to find a new office. Many commercial landlords had balked at renting space to a mage private investigator, citing safety concerns.

I'd initially refused Sean's offer to lease an office in the Maclin Security building, but I'd come to understand my reluctance had come more from my irrational fear of commitment than not wanting to mix my personal and professional lives. My grandfather's torment had left some pretty significant scars, both physical and psychological. I'd gotten much better at trusting Sean and Malcolm, but it was hard to let go of the fear of betrayal and the instinct to avoid tying myself down.

I'm fairly well tied down at the moment , I thought, somewhat ruefully. Sean and I had just signed the paperwork on a house, I'd contacted a realtor about selling my home, and I was bound to Valas—albeit not without an exit strategy for the latter.

Rather than think about that, I sent a text to Ben Cooper, who was third in our pack and the head of Maclin Security's installation division.

Me: Can I borrow a hammer?

His reply was nearly instantaneous.

Drac Fanboy: Be right there.

Scissors in hand, I went to the stack of boxes in the corner and started opening them. In the second box, I found what I was looking for: my mage private investigator's license, in its battered frame. Sometimes my clients didn't get the answers they wanted, and they tended to get salty about it.

Ben knocked on the doorframe and stuck his head in. He grinned. "Hey, Alice." He glanced around. "Malcolm here?"

"I'm here," Malcolm said cheerfully from over by the window. "What's up, bro?"

Ben waved a hammer. "As requested." He gestured at my license. "Is that what you want to hang? You have some hooks?"

"Somewhere." I dug around in the box and came up with a package of picture hooks.

Ben took them. "Where do you want it?"

I showed him the spot on the wall to the right of my desk. He produced a tape measure and went to work.

In the meantime, I unpacked boxes and decided where to put things in my new office. I had my back to my office door and I was focused on what I was doing, so when a warm pair of hands gripped my hips, I jumped.

Sean nuzzled the back of my neck. "Mmm. Hello, beautiful. You smell good."

I smacked his hand where it rested on my hip, but I smiled. "Not professional," I reminded him.

He kissed my shoulder. "If I could make looking at you my full-time job, I'd do it."

Despite his teasing, when I turned, I could tell by his expression something was wrong. He let me know with his eyes that we'd talk about it in private later. "Cass told me you brought coffee," he said instead.

I gestured at the cup on my desk. "It's that new ultra-bold blend Carly's trying at her shop. It's a little too strong for me, but I thought you might want to try it."

"I do." He sniffed. "And do I smell scones?"

I went to my messenger bag and produced the scones in a little paper sack with the Brew a Cup logo. "Fresh baked this morning. I didn't even eat them on the way here."

"You are my favorite mage." Sean took a drink of the coffee and nodded appreciatively. "Excellent. I'm a fan of Carly's new blend." He smiled as Ben finished hanging my MPI license and raised his coffee cup in a toast. "Name on the door and credentials on the wall. Looking Glass Investigations officially has a new home."

"Thank you for the door." I touched his hand. "I love it."

"Do you?" Sean's tone was light, but his eyes searched my face.

"I do," I assured him. "It's a lovely and very thoughtful gift."

"I'm having your company name and logo put on the front window as well. They're doing that this weekend. That way your clients will know they're in the right place when they park out front."

I squashed the panicky fight-or-flight reaction in my tummy and smiled back. He wasn't trying to tie me down; he was making a home for me. "That's really sweet. Thank you."

"You're welcome." He glanced at Ben. "Can you give us a minute?"

"Sure." Ben spun the hammer in his hand. He enjoyed making things, even if it was just putting something on the wall. "Give me a call when you're done so we can go over next week's scheduling. See you later, Alice."

"Thanks again for your help. It looks great." The license was nice and level and centered. Much better than I probably would have done. If I'd hung it crooked or off-center, Ben would have probably taken it down and re-hung it anyway, so it was easier to just let him do it right to start with.

The moment he was gone, I turned to Sean. "What's going on?"

He gestured at my fancy chair. "Want to sit?"

"Sure." I went behind my desk and sat. He settled into one of my client chairs and Malcolm hovered to my right.

Sean rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Ron and I had a meeting to talk about some changes we've seen regarding our clients. There's always some turnover, but suddenly we've lost several large business accounts and haven't gotten some new ones we were fairly certain we'd get. I didn't think much of it, other than to be frustrated, but this morning we lost another account—one we've had almost since the day we opened. I called the CEO personally, and after some bullshit, he implied he'd gotten pressure to switch security providers. I called one of the other companies who dropped us and was told the same thing."

"Pressure from who?" I asked, frowning.

Sean said nothing.

Realization dawned. "Son of a bitch." Magic sparked on my hands, and a cold breeze blew through my office. "That bastard ."

"Moses?" Malcolm asked.

Sean nodded. "No one we talked to wanted to say very much, but someone made sure Ron heard it was because of you."

I got up and paced. "Because of me? That doesn't make any sense." No one but Sean and Malcolm were aware I was Moses's granddaughter, and the fact I was the powerful mage nicknamed "Storm Girl" was known only by a handful of people.

"It does if Ron thinks it's because the Were Ruling Council doesn't approve of our relationship, which is what he was told. I can't tell him differently, for obvious reasons." Sean flexed his hands.

"So, from Ron's perspective, the company you've spent the last fifteen years building is losing clients and money because of me." I wanted to smash something. "I knew Moses would find a way to drive a wedge between us. I didn't expect him to go after your business. I guess I should have."

"There's no wedge between us," Sean stated. "And Ron knows it's not your fault. He doesn't hold it against you."

"For how long, though? It's already cutting into your bottom line. What happens when you have to forgo raises or lay off employees?" Magic swirled around my clenched fists. "It's only going to get worse. What if Moses starts going after other members of our pack?"

Sean got up and touched my hand despite the magic that snapped at his fingers. "If Moses targets our people, they won't turn on you—they'll be angry at him."

"I have to kill him." Too angry to accept his comfort, I pulled away and leaned against the wall. "I have to kill him before he destroys everything. I had a chance the night he killed Darius Bell out at the bordello, but he had Ben. Somehow I have to get another shot at him when he doesn't have a hostage. I'll have to outsmart him."

He kissed my forehead. "And we will," he promised, putting subtle emphasis on the pronoun we . "In the meantime, we strengthen our pack, live our lives together, and revel in the knowledge of how pissed off he is that you're happy and free."

I took a deep breath. My magic faded and stopped sizzling on my skin. "That does feel good to think about," I admitted, smiling despite my anger. "A happily-ever-after, or even a happily-for-now, is maybe the best revenge I can think of, short of turning him to ash." I rubbed my right arm.

"What's wrong with your arm?" Malcolm asked, frowning.

"I must have tweaked it picking up those boxes." My back ached too. I flexed my elbow a few times. Was the pain from unpacking, or from Mira?'s poisonous magic? I couldn't tell.

Rather than worry them, I added, "Welcome to my thirties, I guess. I know I've got a big bottle of ibuprofen around here somewhere."

"Second box on the right," Malcolm said helpfully.

I sighed and reached for the box, hoping my flippant excuse sounded more convincing than it felt.