Chapter 33

I woke up in Heaven—which was kind of a surprise, all things considered.

I smelled coffee, and I was in bed next to Sean, with his arms wrapped around me and his nose against the back of my neck. Warm sunshine spilled through the open windows. Birds sang outside, a gentle fall breeze wafted through our room, and Esme was curled up asleep at the foot of the bed. Yep, Heaven for sure.

Sean let out a snore as loud as a jet engine, right next to my ear. I winced.

Either Heaven had a sense of humor, or I wasn't dead. The latter seemed more likely the more aware I became of how sore my upper body was—especially my chest and back.

I didn't want to wake Sean, so I gingerly moved my head and pulled aside the neck of my tank top. Two faint round scars marked where the bullets had punched through my chest. A couple of inches lower, and one or both would have gone through my heart.

Either my movement woke Sean, or maybe he'd sensed I was awake. His snore cut off mid-roar. He raised his head, his hair sticking out in all directions and eyes bright gold. "Alice?"

"Hey." I kissed his jaw. "Do I smell coffee?"

He pulled me against his body and buried his nose in my hair, breathing in my scent. I rubbed my nose against the warm skin over his heart and kissed his chest. We lay like that for a long time, just holding each other, with my lips over his heart and his breath warm on my ear.

I could have gone back to sleep, and Sean probably would have too, but I had questions.

"Who shot me?" I asked finally, my voice muffled by his chest.

He growled. "We don't know. Our priority was keeping you alive, and that took all of us. By the time we found the sniper's nest, he was long gone. Daniel tracked him across the neighbor's property behind us, to where he had a vehicle waiting. No one saw the vehicle, or anyone suspicious. No leads so far, but we'll find out who sent him." He squeezed me. "It wasn't your friend on the Harley—that much we know."

"Of course it wasn't." I tried to sense Ronan's now-familiar silver-blue magic trace, but there was none anywhere nearby. Where the hell had he gone? I hadn't necessarily thought he'd stick around and play bodyguard, but I hadn't expected him to leave without even saying goodbye. I wasn't sure what his abrupt disappearance meant, and it made me uneasy.

"I felt Malcolm using healing magic on me," I said, since I could do little about Ronan's vanishing act. "Where did you get a blood magic healing spell with your own magic in it?"

"I bought some after Caleb attacked you, when you had to rely on Vaughan to save your life." He nuzzled my hair. "I promised myself you would never have to drink vampire blood again for healing if I could help it. I used one of them to heal your injuries when Mira?'s witches dropped you off on the side of the road in Landers. I used another one last night—the strongest one I had. It took every bit of it, plus Malcolm's healing spells, to save you."

I frowned. "Why didn't it hurt me? Strong blood magic healing spells are agonizing."

"I had that one made so I would feel the pain, not you." He kissed me before I could yell at him. "Don't tell me I shouldn't have done it. It's my choice to make, and I'd do it again a hundred times."

He would, and there was no use fussing at him about it now. "Where's Daniel?" I asked.

"Out patrolling with Joshua and Jesse Hayes. Ben and Felicia are downstairs. Nan and Karen will be here later."

"Not Karen," I protested. "She's pregnant. Get someone else to take her shift."

He kissed my hair. "She insisted, Alice. Everyone's upset. They all want to do their part. You know that."

That was a fair point. Karen would be pissed if he told her she couldn't help. "So, since we have no leads at the moment, who do we think tried to turn me into Swiss cheese?"

His chest rumbled. "Murphy."

I shook my head. "He needs me alive. No way in hell he sent a sniper to take me out. Killing me will be his last resort, and I don't think he's there yet."

"The vamps?"

"I doubt it. Valas and I made a deal when I got back. She removed our binding, agreed to let me stay an independent contractor, and swore no retaliation against me or anyone I'm associated with."

His brow furrowed. "I thought your trip through the mirror to get that scroll was in return for her help in saving my life."

"It was. Turns out, she needed the scroll to save her from curses Mira? put on her before he died. The damn thing was destroyed over there, though, so when I got back, I saved her life in return for some things I wanted."

"If that's what you decided was your best course of action, I support you. I look forward to hearing the whole story." He ran his nose along my hairline to breathe in more of my scent. "What other suspects do we have, then, if it wasn't Moses or the vamps?"

"Someone on the Council?" I ventured. "Or someone from another pack who's angry at you or me, like one of the Anderson brothers?"

"It better not be." His voice was half growl. "What about someone you've crossed paths with on a case?"

"Maybe. Can't think of anyone off the top of my head who's that pissed at me, though."

He growled. "It was cowardly."

"No argument from me. I prefer a straight-up fight." I stretched gingerly. "Thanks for keeping me alive."

He caught my hand. "You gave up," he accused, his expression suddenly hard. "I can't believe you gave up. Your last words to me were ‘It's okay.' The hell it was okay." He snarled. "You let Tura's prophecy convince you we couldn't save you."

He was right. If the situation had been reversed, I would have been beyond furious at him.

"Before you left for the Broken World, you told me to believe in you," he added. "I do believe."

"I know you do," I said quietly.

He held my chin. He was angry, and he was hurt. "Tell me why you didn't believe in me, then. Tell me why you'd believe an angel you met once, for five minutes, over me."

My chest ached because I'd caused him pain. "I was lying in the exact spot Tura told me I would die, with two high-caliber bullets through my chest. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see or hear. I didn't even feel any pain. I've died before. I know what it feels like, and that was how I felt last night."

"Then that was all the more reason to believe in me." His fingers slid through my hair to cup the back of my head. "Don't ever stop believing in me again. I will never let you down while there's breath in my body."

My eyes filled with tears. "I know."

He leaned down to kiss me.

Without warning, Daisy emerged from the shadows in my mind. Shifter magic surged. I braced for her to try to force me to shift, but she didn't. Instead, she carefully nudged me aside so she could look out through my eyes.

Sean raised his head and met Daisy's stare. "There you are, beautiful," he said, his own eyes golden and shadowed in a way that told me his wolf was looking at us too. "We'll go for a run later if Alice is healed enough for you to emerge. If not, be patient."

Daisy curled her lip, but not in a threat. Mate, she said.

Sean smiled. "It's good to have you both home."

With her tail held high, she returned to the shadows. My shifter magic faded.

"You must have worked things out with her," he said. "She seems content."

"I don't know about working everything out, but she got to be her own wolf for a while, and we got to know each other. That's a couple of big steps in the right direction." I rubbed his bristly cheek with my knuckles. "Seriously, though, is there coffee? And is Malcolm around?"

His expression darkened. "No, he's not."

"What?" I sat up. "What's wrong with Malcolm?"

He ran his hand through his tousled hair. "I'll let him tell you. Summon him, and he'll come."

My stomach in knots, I picked up Malcolm's crystal from my nightstand and tugged twice on his trace in my mind.

More than a minute passed. My anxiety was through the roof, and Sean's ominous silence did nothing to help.

Finally, the crystal buzzed. " Release, " I said.

Malcolm appeared beside the bed. I expected him to greet me with relief, or tease us about being in bed, but he didn't. He looked awful—angry, grief-stricken, and lost.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"The bordello's empty," he said tonelessly.

My brain took a second to comprehend what he was saying. "The ghosts? All the ghosts are gone?"

"All gone. Liam's gone." He floated back and forth. "Someone cleaned the place out. Maybe blood mages, maybe someone else—I don't know. There are no traces left behind, not even of whoever cleaned out the ghosts or how they did it. No traces to follow, even, and I've looked, and looked again."

Shock left me speechless. All those ghosts—dozens, or even hundreds of them—gone.

Malcolm drifted to the windows on the far side of the room. Sunlight streamed through him, making odd patterns on the floor. "When you called to me just now, I was searching for clues or trace. I hoped Liam had escaped and would return to the bordello to see if I came looking for him. But he hasn't been back."

The only person who could have given the order to clear out the bordello was my grandfather. Moses had originally bought the place to turn into a hotel, but the wall-to-wall ghosts had made that venture impossible. No contractors would work on the project, and the building had sat empty for years.

I suddenly had a terrible sinking feeling. "Moses may intend to use the bordello as his West Coast headquarters now that Darius Bell is dead. The location is perfect for that use. Easily fortified and defensible, and accessible by road and air."

I got out of bed and joined Malcolm at the window. "I'm so sorry," I told him, painfully aware of how inadequate my words were. "I don't know what to say."

"I really cared about him," Malcolm said. I'd never heard him sound so broken. "I never told him. And when I left to go with you to the Broken World, he was angry with me because I was risking myself to go. He thought I should stay here where it was safe. All along, it was Liam who was in more danger, and I wasn't here when he needed me."

"It's possible he's not gone," I reminded him. "Moses may have had blood mages discorporate the poltergeists and wraiths and put the strongest ghosts into crystals. It wouldn't be like him to waste resources."

The moment the words came out of my mouth, I realized I'd said the wrong thing. "I didn't mean ghosts are resources," I said quickly. "Malcolm?—"

He vanished.

"Son of a bitch!" I picked up the closest thing at hand—my jewelry box—and threw it as hard as I could, with some of my air magic in the throw. The box exploded against the wall and left a dent in the drywall. I threw a book and a bottle of hand lotion too, and then I took a swing at the wall.

My fist connected with Sean's palm. "There's a stud right there," he said, gripping my hand when I tried to pull away. "If you want to throw some punches, I've got the heavy bag set up in the workout room, or you can punch my hand as hard as you want for as long as you want. But I am not going to let you hurt yourself."

My chest heaved. "Moses." I was so angry, I couldn't finish the sentence.

"I know." He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight.

"I shouldn't have said that about resources. I didn't mean it that way."

"He knows you didn't." He rested his chin on top of my head. "Malcolm needs space and time to grieve. You know what that feels like. Just be there for him when he's ready."

Footsteps approached our door. "You guys all right?" Ben called. "Sounded like World War Three up here. We wondered if Sean needed backup."

"We're fine," Sean told him. "Alice had to blow off some steam. We'll be down in a bit."

"Gotcha. Tell her there's coffee if she wants it and whisky if she needs it." His footsteps retreated down the hall.

I rubbed my face. "I have no idea what time it is. Is it too early for whisky?"

"Never." Sean kissed my forehead. "But you need to eat first, love. I'll make you anything you want, if we have the ingredients. If not, I'll send someone to the store to get what we need."

"Breakfast burrito," I said. My stomach growled loudly. "Better make that two."

He laced our fingers together and walked me to the door of our room. Esme rose, stretched, and followed us.

"Two breakfast burritos coming right up," Sean said.

My heart ached for Malcolm, but I smiled up at him. "I love you too."